Crazy Christmas Week!!

Dear Mom, Dad, and Preston,

I will begin by answering all of your questions. My next transfer is in 2 weeks on January 13. That is when i will finish my training. I don't know if i will be transferred or have a new companion yet but i will know that this Friday. As for a number of missionaries in my district we have 6. We have 20 missionaries in the zone and about 170 in the mission. For New Years we have to be in early on New Years Eve and have to clean our pension because we are going to have inspections then we cant go out till later on New Years Day. We have about 5 investigators that we visit frequently but only 2 that are progressing. Then the rest are less active members, there are about 6 families. Then we finish with members which differs every week because they fill up empty space. The best food i have eaten down here is the asado. Its a BBQ. The people down here really know how to BBQ. There is sooo much food and its amazing. The worst is probably this casserole thing that we didn't know what it was. As for the shoes i have no idea.

Alright now for my week. It was crazy and fun. We made two care packages full of food and detergent for two ladies, Gema and Celia, that we are teaching because they are having economic problems right now. It was great to see their faces and to give instead of be given. 

We also found a new investigator this week. Her name is Andrea and when we talked to her she was full of questions about the gospel. She was really attentive and answered all of our questions during the lesson and invited us back. One of the questions she asked was, Why do Catholics baptize children when they are babies, they don't have sins do they? It was awesome to see how willing she was to listen to us. We have high hopes for her and her family.

It was great to get to talk to you guys on Christmas and experience that. It was weird being away from home but it was kinda cool too. It was a new experience and i enjoyed it. For Christmas Eve it was just me, my companion, rice, and a big fire. We had fun and talked about the gospel. 

As for the rest of the week, it went the same. We went preaching and taught lessons. We also went to mutual and taught about the birth of Christ. Then we had a End of the Year ward party. It was crazy. Lots of food, music, and dancing. 

Oh, i forgot to tell you guys that i got to go to the temple on Friday and see the new movie. It was good. The temple is always a great place. We also got to help with sealings. I got to be a witness during a couple of sealings. It has been a great experience so far in Chile and i look forward to more.

Thanks for all you do,

Love,

Elder Ashworth

 

So a funny story.....The members in Chile cannot say his last name of Ashworth. I guess they butcher it.  So they call him Elder Ash. So he went out and bought a hat to mimic the same hat that the boy named Ash on Pokemon wears. So the third picture down is him wearing the Pokemon hat. :)

 

Christmas!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well to answer your questions everything is going fine here in Chile. Im not having any problems with anyone. Yes, it is hard at times but thats the mission. Also i am not having any problems with fleas so i do not need flea collars. That sucks that the power went wacky in grandmas house, its not the best time for something like that to happen. It looks like Preston had fun scubadiving for mutual. That is something i never got to do but i think would be fun. Once again thanks for all the Birthday wishes. Also tell Seth that he works really fast, hes only been home for 4 months ;).

Now to share a little bit of my week with you all.

On wednesday a sister in the ward help a little Birthday party for me with cake and food. It was fun and I got a tie from one of the missionaries in my house. Then on saturday another sister did the same thing for me again and her family gave me a stuffed animal, a donkey with red, white, and blue. The people here are awesome. On Sunday we had a great lunch with a family in the ward and i drank my first champaign (champin), it didnt have any alcohol, but it was supposed to be funny - drinking on your Birthday. Also on Thursday we went caroling to the widows of the ward with the young men and young women. It was really fun but wierd at the same time because of the heat.

Friday was fun because we had a mission conference for Christmas. In the morning we played sports: soccer, football, frisbee, and more soccer. Then we had a great lunch and watched a movie. We watched Remember the Titans in spanish. It was funny but you lost some of the humor with the language change. After we had a gift exchange and i got a candle that smells really good. We then had dinner which was good and recieved mission gifts: a journal, bag, and t-shirt. To end the day we had devotional about peace and trials. We will all have to go through peace but we can choose to have peace about them.

This week will be good too. I get to speak to you guys. We are thinking about 1 in the afternoon your time. So be ready for a call at 1 oclock. we will be using skype so we can see each other. It will last one hour and will be a great christmas present.

Thanks for all you guys do for me. I love you all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Elder Ashworth

P.S. I got shot at last week!................By an airsoft gun :)

Pics: Birthday Cake, party!, and gifts.

 

My Champin! My alcohol free champagne

Missionary Stories

These stories were in a  previous email but I shared them with our family at our Christmas Party first before I share them with you. So here you go, Brianna

Also some funny contacting stories. We went up to this one house and a little boy answered the door we asked if his parents were home and he said no. So we asked if his grandma was home and he said "yes". We asked if we could talk with her and looked inside the side then looked out and told us that she only speaks russian. We asked if he spoke russian too, he said "yes". We then asked if he could speak some to us and he said "i dont know". we then said goodbye and left laughing once the door shut. Some of the things people come up with so they dont have to talk to the missionaries. 

Another one is that we came up to this door and knocked. We weren't paying attention but the dog of the house, a rottweiler, came up to the fence and peed on my comps shoe. I laughed and he was kind of ticked but oh well, it wasnt my shoe. The last on that i will share is we made a contact with a young mother who had a baby. While we were talking to her i told her "the Gospel will help to become closer to you" instead of "closer to God". We laughed afterward because my comp told me that i was trying to make a move on a married young mother. We just have to laugh when we make mistakes with the language.

Knock, Knock!

Dear Family and Friends,

Its nice to hear that you are all doing good and that everyone in healthy and happy for the Christmas season. I guess i wont be answering questions this week since nobody had any. But Thanks for all the Birthday wishes. This year our mission Christmas party is on the 20th. We get to spend the day playing sports, eating food, singing, watching a movie, exchanging gifts, and having a devotional. It will be a good day and lots of fun. Oh, and sorry its so cold up there, I'm roasting down here.

Now for my week. We spend a lot of time contacting. we go knock, knock, knocking on doors. We walk so much that my shoes are going to wear down fast. But its paying off. We found two less active members who gladly recieve us and allow us to teach them. They are nice and are hopeful to get them reactivated. Then we also found a new investigator. He has friends that are members of the church and he had never heard of Joseph Smith. So we taught the first lesson and he said that wee could back even though he also said that he was really busy with work. So there is hope in the future with him also. 

This last week on Saturday we took a recent convert to the temple to attend a Christmas Devotional out on the grounds. It was the first time that she had ever been to the temple. She was so excited and it was great to share in her joy. The Devotional was good. Elder Ceballos of the Seventy spoke and there was a lot of singing. Elder David Archeleta sang about 5 songs. It was really cool and helped to get us in the Christmas spirit. We also attended our stake Christmas activity. It was good and they sang English Christmas Carols in English and they also sang the Grinch song from the movie in Spanish. It was funny and helped with the Christmas spirit also.

In all this week was a good one. We had success and had a great time. I hope you all have a great week and have fun at the Family Christmas party.

Love you all,

Elder Ashworth

 Pics: Birthday of Elder Real (Spaniard) with his comp and Sister Carolina, me and a Christmas tree

Going Fast!

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry to hear that it is so cold there and that pushing the snow is your hurting your back because its really freaking hot here. Its about 90 degrees every day. Im glad to here that everything is going well. And congrats on your success in the Christmas Classic Preston. 

As for me here this week was a trying week. All of our investigators dropped this week so we didn't have anyone to really teach. And to make matters worse i got a really bad headache, almost a migraine, and had to stay inside the house for the day on Tuesday. We have been contacting all week and have seen some success. We found this one guy who is a member of the church but has been inactive for a long time. He has a wife and daughter who are not members of the church. He wants to change and invited us back to have a lesson with him and his family. We are hopeful about this family and getting them into the church. We also found another inactive lady who told us that we could come back and two other investigators that said that they were interested and set return dates. So hopefully something will come out of all of this work.

Well i hope everything keeps going good for you guys in Iceburg. Have a Merry Christmas and remember the true meaning of Christmas. If you could give anything to the Savior this year for Christmas what would it be? Think about it, after all it is his birthday and everyone deserves a present on their birthday.

Love you all,

Elder Ashworth

Pictures: My mate cup with mate, Me and my comp drinking mate (mate is a drink down here that every drinks its make out of Yerba(weed) and it helps you wake up in the morning and keep you regular), and me on Gran Avenida.

December

Dear Family and Friends,

First off HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!! I hope you have a great Birthday!

Second, GOOD LUCK PRESTON!!! You will do great in the Christmas Classic!

Well I have officially survived the first change of the mission field. Im still in the same area with the same companion. So yeah, nothing new. Changes are every six weeks. And each change you have the chance to be moved to another sector with a new companion. But my mission president likes to leave you in one place for awhile. There are some missionaries here who have been in their sector for almost a year. My companion, Elder Schildan, Iis starting his fourth change here which by the end of this one will make 6 months here. As a missionary we have about 17 changes before we are sent home and the next one is the second week of January.

Mom you wanted to know what a normal day for us is like, so here you go. We get up at 730 excercise and eat breakfast and get ready. Then at 9 we start study, an hour for each one, personal, companioniship, language. Then we have lunch at 130 with a member and are out working in the field till 930. And to end the night we go to bed at 1130. That is a normal day, our prosilyting differs but is pretty much the same. Walk, teach, door shut on us, walk some more.

My Thanksgiving was great, i had a little bit of rice and a hamburger patty. We didnt get dinner or anything. We just cooked some rice because we didnt have much food. So Thanksgiving was a little different this year. Im glad you all had a great time eating and playing games. 

The mission is deffinately not an easy thing. We couldnt get into any doors on Saturday and Friday and Sunday we got into one each day. Things are going slow but we have the trust of the ward and are helping the ward grow. This week we had the highest attendance ive every seen, 65 people, with about 3 or 4 of them were our investigators. So things are looking up. 

This week i did some things i didnt think i would do in my first six weeks as a missionary. I gave three blessings, all in spanish, two were blessings of comfort and one was a blessing of healing. When we asked them who they wanted to give them the blessing they pointed and said HIM, since nobody here can say my name. It was a cool experience and i know i had the lords help because i wasnt that nervous and said the things i needed to. Then on Sunday i taught the Gospel Doctrines class. At the beginning of class my companion said ¨My companion is substituting today for the sister¨, then sat down. It was a little nerve racking but everyone said i did good and they understood me. Even the investigator there said that she understood.

So yeah, Everything here is going good. Its hot and the sun just stares down at you. The bugs are coming out and i found two cockroaches in the shower this morning when i went to shower. But yeah everything is going great and i cant believe its already December.

I love you all and thanks for all of your support,

Elder Ashworth

Picture of me on the street

THANKSGIVI​NG!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

I start by answering all of your questions. I live in a house with 5 other missionaries. Its an older house but serves its purpose. The nieghborhood is good and its not a dangerous nieghborhood. The food is really good. We eat very well for lunch. Usuall ya lot of food to the point where we are stuffed. No, I havent had a problem with bedbugs and im not sure what letter you are talking about. I have only recieved two of yours. My companion said that from his knowledge we do get to Skype for Christmas from a members house. And to answer the last question this week has been way better and we do get to celebrate Thanksgiving, I believe. I hope i answered all questions.

As i was saying this week has been way better. We had 3 times as many lessons and found a new inactive family who wants become active again. THey have been sealed in the tmple and want to baptize their daughter when she turns 8. We also took two investigators to a baptism and they liked what they felt and saw and asked how they can be baptized. So we are really hopful and excited right now. This week Elder Schildan decided it was time for me to take the reins. I get to lead out with the lessons and with companionship study. The reason for this is because it will help me with the spanish. We have discovered that i can speak good spanish and understand better if im the one who is talking so, I get to talk more during our visits. Its hard but im seeing progress. He keeps telling im doing a great job and the people tell me that i speak really good spanish. Infact an older lady told us that i speak better spanish then my companion does.

We are excited for the coming weeks and are ready to go again this week.

This week as a companionship we talked about desire. My companion told me that he sees the desire in me to learn and improve in spanish and teaching. This is what lead to me leading out with the lessons. We read in 1 Nephi 10:17 and 1 Nephi 11:1. in these scriptures it talks about Nephi was acted upon by the Holy Spirit when his father talked. So because of this he was desirous to see and hear the things his father saw and heard. With this desire he acted in Faith and Courage. Because he acted on this desire he was taken to a place he had never before seen or been. So we decided that since i have the desire that i need ot act in Faith and Courage in the Lord and the Lord will help me do great things. My companion also told me that he has realized that people tend to pay more attention to me then him since they have to listen closly to understand me. He said that we will use this to our advantage by using weak or small things(me) to confound the wise or bring to pass great things(salvation). I just hope everything goes good.

Im sorry to hear that you guys have been sick. I hope you all get better. Thanks for all the support from everybody. Tell the ward thanks for their support. Tell the family hi for me and have fun eating pies without me. Good luck with everything and the snow. Its about 90 degrees down here so its a little wierd.

Love you all,

Elder Ashworth

 

These are some pictures of where I live. My companion is on our street.

 

 

Mixed Emotions

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, im sorry to hear it has already snowed there because we are above 30 degrees celcius every day (which is hot) and it is only going to get hotter. Glad everything is going good and im sorry you are sick again mom. To answer your question daad, I do get to see the kids from the MTC alot becasue our mission is really small and i have a couple in my Zone. Thanks for the pictures they make the day better when i get to see you guys. Oh and Preston, what the heck happened!? The picture of you on the fourwheeler. I had to think twice before i was sure it was you. Your growing up man and im proud of you. Keep up the good work and i love you.

Now im going to start with the bad news. This week sucked. IM not going to sugar coat this week. It was really hard emotionally and spiritually this week. Every appoinment we had planned for the days fell through. We got to teach 3 lessons this week when we had it set up to teach 20. Its just hard here, the people arent home or they are running all over the place because everybody works here. But yeah this week has been ruff but we changed our game plan and are looking forward to a better week.

Now for the good stuff. The week started great with a devotional with Elder Holland. His talk was amazing and he feels very stron about missionary work. He even pounded the podium, it was awesome. He talked about how if the only person we convert on our missions is opurselves then he would consider our mission a success because the saddest thing is to see returned missionaries go inactive. How can someone who served the Lord for two years just leave? Its a great question. He told us that if we ever left the church and he found out he would hunt us down and put pepper in our empanadas. Then he talked about what makes a champion.What makes a champion is "stroke when you dont want to stroke. kick when you dont want to kick". A gold medalist in the olympics for swimming told the press this one line after he won a race. Elder Holland related it to missionary work. We must keep stroking and kicking when we dont want todo it anymore. Then he went into teaching with power and authority. And the last thing he told us was to "Go and asombro somebody!" It was really powerfull. Oh and asombro is astonish.

Then we had interviews with President Cook. They went good and he told he his son (Elder Cook) is in Rexburg right now serving his mission. He is serving spanish speaking and went into Broulims just the other day. He told me to tell you guys to keep on the lookout for his son.

My Spiritual Thought for the week.

I found a Liahona from October 2011 all about the Book of Mormon. I invite all to read it. It was amazing and has made me want to study the Book of Mormon more thoroughly. Because if we DO NOT read and study from the BOok of Mormon daily we will not make it in this life. THings are about to happen that will make things shake alot. If we do not have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon we will not be able to see it through as members of the church. A lot of us would fall away. So i am sending a loving but firm invitation to study and read from the Book of Mormon daily because i dont to see anyone leave this church.

Things are coming to a climax and we need to be ready and prepared for things we have never seen before.

I love you all and wish you luck in all of your endevours,

Elder Ashworth

P.S. I forgot. We had a going away BBQ for a missionary who goes home in two weeks. These are the pictures from today.

Middle of November! WHAT!

Dear Family and Friends,

¡Santa Vaca! Its already the middle of November and this is my third week in the mission field. Everything is going good down here in the Sur. We have gotten a few new investigators and are still meeting with the less actives and members. Our main goal is to strengthen the wards so we focus alot on the less actives, getting them active again, and the members, keeping them active. So we spend alot of time getting to know the members and encouraging the less active members.

This last week was a crazy one. On friday we went to a colegio (school). it had grades K-12 in it. We gave presentation on the United States. It was so funny to see all the kids with a look of awe in their eyes and you know the thought going through their heads is "GRINGOS!". It was cool to talk to the youth of Santiago and help in their school. Then we raced to a meeting with President Cook. The meeting was for all the newbies in the mission. We talked about what are expectations were and how reality isnt what our expectations were. It was a good meeting. Then Yesterday (sunday) while we were at church the bishop called us into his office and asked us to be couselors to the youngmens president! So yeah, I still get to be in youngmens while serving a mission, BOOYAH!!

I also would like to rub something into all of your faces. Tomorrow we are going to a fireside and at that fireside we will be talked to by, none other then, the big man, JEFFERY R. HOLLAND. Thats right i get to be talked to by Elder Holland or Jeff ( thats what the people call him down here). Im so excited for this opportunity and will share what i learn with you all next week.

As for things in Rexburg, im glad everything is going good with school, dance, and work. I have emailed my friends but havent gotten anything back so i dont know about that one. Sorry to hear its getting cold up there but thats what you get for living in Rexburg. Love you all and thanks for all you do.

Also mom can you get me the recipe for scones because i would have to make them from scratch and the Latinos have never had them.

Love you all,

Elder Ashworth

 

My new companion and me.

New Address

For anyone wanting to write Zach a letter here is his new address

ELDER ZACHARY ASHWORTH
CHILE SANTIAGO SOUTH MISSION
APARTADO POSTAL NO. 544
SAN BERNARDO, SANTIAGO
CHILE

CRAZY WEEK!

Dear Family and Friends,

Im sorry to hear that the weather there is pretty crappy and cold. Because the weather here is HOT! It is in the 80´s and im sweating like crazy. The nights are hot with a fan and im sleeping under only a sheet. That sucks that Grandma Ashworth died but Im glad that she can get away from the pain of this world. Send my love to your family when you get to Utah. Sorry you guys have been sick ever since i left, que fome (thats lame). 

Its cool you guys got to go down to Soda Springs and visit grandma, im sure it was nice to see them again. Also im sorry the picture made you guys cry. I thought it was a good picture but i guess everyone has their opinions. So if you want to think of it as a bad, ugly picture go ahead. Im just going to remember it as an awesome picture. Im glad everything else is going good for you guys. Im sure everyone is getting ready for Christmas now that its November. Holy Crap, Its November! Its so weird for it not to be cold but i guess its ok. On Sunday when we went over to a Hermanas house to eat lunch they turned on Christmas music. It was so wierd to hear Christmas music and be sweating in their house eating lunch. Also to hear all of their stories about hanging out by the pool for Christmas when im used to being stuck inside because its freakin cold. Lets just say this will be an interesting Christmas.

My week was pretty crazy. We had a ruff time. Everyone of our appointments got dropped, we were denied over and over again, and ignored by those who had set appointments when we arrived at their houses. It was spiritually, mentally, and emotionally hard. But we got through it and had a change of attitude. We just kept trying and things are starting to turn around. We have found about 3 or 4 new/future investigators and are trying to talk to everyone. We now almost have a full week of appointments to go to. The people we talked to were a girl who was crying in the park because of some family issues, the husband of a less active member in the ward who just lost his mom, a woman who has no religion but believes in God, and a man who is lonely and has lost his three sons so he doesn't believe in a God. So yeah, this should be a good week. 

They have this Flea Market thing that is just down the street from our house. Its HUGE! its called the Feria. You can find anything there, its so cool. Also we just learned that Elder Holland is coming down to talk to all of the missionaries in the south, east, west, and north missions of Santiago on November 12. IM so freakin stoked. It will be an awesome experience. 

Thanks for sending me those things even though i dont need a Christmas package. Im looking forward to talking to you guys around Christmas. It should be on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. It will be nice to see you guys. I think thats all for this week. 

Love you Guys,

Elder Ashworth

First Few days In The Field

Dear Mom, Dad, Preston, Ashtyn, and everyone else,

To answer some questions. Yes i can buy batteries here. I can buy pretty much anything. With the ties, it doesnt matter. You can buy some if you want if not just send me mine. Its hot down here. About 80 to 85 everyday. Im sorry you guys are all getting sick, que fome (thats lame). But on the other hand im glad everything is going well. Now for my week.

My new comp is Elder Shildan from Boise, Idaho. He speaks alot of english from me becasue he said i will learn spanish but he wants to help me learn the doctrines of christ and how to help people. We live a house with 5 other latino missionaries. The house is the oldest in the mission so its kinda run down but it works. I only spend about 5 hours awake i it, maybe.

The area is great and the people are really nice and helpful. I spoke in sacrament meeting and gave the closing prayer. Afterward the members came up to me and said that i speak better spanish then the last new gringo Elder. I have met with some of the families and they are awesome. I have also a few investigators and they are great too. The houses are tiny and some are just concrete floors with makeshift roofs. They basically live outside with wood slates over their heads. Not much else happened in my sector or with my ward.

On saturday we went to a sealing. My comp´s first baptism was geting married to his trainer. Wierd huh. But it was good. It was cool to see how the gospel can change lives. I got to witness my first sealing in spanish. The bad part was i didnt understand it all because he used some fancy words. But oh well. Then that afternoon we went to a baptism for two new converts in our district. They are investigators of two other missionaries. It was good to see how happy they were. SO my saturday was filled with covenant making instead of teaching. The teaching will come later this week.

The people here are so ready for the gospel. We had this one lady come up to us, tell us here problems and said she wanted us to help her. Perfect opportunity to share the gospel. Hopefully everything will work out with her.

I almost forgot. I tried my first churrisco and completo. They were good. A churrisco is like a roast beef sandwich, just way better. A completo is a hotdogs with tomatoes, onions, guacamole, mustard, ketchup, and mayonaise it was really good too. I dont know what else happened this week.

I hope you all are doing good and i love hearing from you. I think about you and miss you. Love you All!

Elder Ashworth

P.S. Preston driving. That is a scary thought. HAHAHAHA. Just kidding preston.

LAST WEEK AT THE CCM! 10/21/2013

Dear Mom, Dad, Preston, Family, and Friends,

To answer your questions. I believe that every P-Day will be on Mondays from here on out. Preston great job on decleating a couple of kids, im proud of you. Work hard and everything will work out. Another thing i would like is an actual picture of the photo i have on my ipod of the kid praying on his knees and that qoute that says "it doesnt matter how many times you fall, what matters is how many times you get back up." Thanks for the quote, it was good. Im glad you are all feeling better and im sorry i scared you mom i have no control over when my P-Day is they just changed it on us last week.

Now for my week. We went and got our BIP cards this week. They allow us to ride on the buses and the metro, so i got to ride on my first ever metro. The only words to describe it were: hot, sweaty, smelly, and crowded. But it was cool nonetheless. Then we went contacting during our little excursion on the metro and buses. Me and my companion talked to an active Catholic man but he seemed interested in the church so we got his information and address so the missionaries in his area can stop by his house. Then on Saturday we went contacting again. And we ended up talking to two Christian Preachers. It was a hard but good learning experiance. They didnt want to be taught only to swap ideas and beliefs. They also thought our time would be better spent talking to those who dont know Jesus. So we were just friendly, gave them a book of mormon and swapped beliefs. It was good because it is going to help us prepare for the field when we might have to do that.

Anyways we also went proselyting. We went to the Norte mission and went on splits with the missionaries there. We then went contacting while we walked to appoinments. I shared a scripture (1 nefi 11:17) and bore my testimony to a family then my companion did the rest. I also taught part of the first lesson. It was really cool. I have a long ways to go with spanish though when it comes to stuff outside of the gospel. But one of the best things was that the compnion i got split with is from REXBURG! his name is Elder Baden Ballard. i went school with him and graduated with his sister Blakley. We talked about Rexburg and i got him updated on some stuff he wanted to know. Also the houses are tiny and the people are really humble. Its hard to describe what i saw because we were in the poorer part of the norte mission. But i cant wait to see my mission.

This week we get to go to the temple twice this week. Then we have our farewell devotional on wednesday. Then on thursday we go to the field at 6 pm. It will be awesome and i will let you all know how it is.

Pictures are coming in a seperate email.

Love you All,

Elder Ashworth

 The elders, the tallest building in South America ( we ran to it, its about a 1 1/2 miles from Alcantara, we run every morning), and some other stuff.

It is so awesome to see him happy!!!! - Brianna

Last Week!!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

     Sorry the pics didnt come through, I will send them again. Also sorry about you mom and preston being sick. It sucks being sick. Also, Ashtyn, about the bed bugs we really do have them down here and we have to be careful because they will live in our beds and bite us at night :). And the weather here is GREAT!! We are in the 80s everyday and the sun is constantly out. Its kinda weird to have it this hot in October. I have a couple more things. One I now have to stay in the MTC for 2 more days becasue of a mission president conference in argentina so our mission president wont be in my mission the day i was supposed to go. Second, my P-days are on monday from now on so you will have to send emails before monday.

Anyways, now for my excperiences this week. We went contacting out on the street last Thursday and got turned down sooo much. In fact one lady laughed in our faces and just walked away. But when we were about to quit because we had to go to class we talked to a man. He was really interested in the church and liked the idea of prophets. So we talked to him about profetas y invited him to church. We also gave him 3 folletos, a Libro De Mormón, and got his address so that other missionaries can go to his house and teach him more. Can I say that it was AWESOME!! It was really cool to see how some people are just prepared and others are not. I hope he went to church since we as missionaries in the MTC have a different time for church then the rest of the people.

This last Sunday was all in Español. It was really cool. We watched the movie "The Testaments" and since it was all in Spanish I had to listen with the spirit iinstead of my ears. I got sooo much from it. It strengthened my testimony more. I even understood the spanish in the movie and in all of the lessons. But after the movie they had us write down our testimony of Jesus Christ so that our posterity can read later on in life. Then in sacrament meeting we had fast and testimony meeting. My entire distrito got up and bore their testimonies. It was the first time ive bore my testimony in sacrement meeting for i think forever. I did it in spanish and it was really cool.

Elder Gilbert, the elder who takes care of Alcantara, is doing great. His open heart surgery went well and everything will be ok. We also went to the temple again. And i did in all in Spanish too. I once again had to listen with the spirit and i undertood it all. It is so spiritual and really awesome in the temple. Its cool to see just how far ive come with spanish in the last 5 weeks.

I got to talk to my mission president yesterday for our interview before our missions. He is an awesome guy. He said the only rules we have are the white book, Preach My Gospel, and the spirit. He said i will see lots of poverty, The people basically live in little huts with dirt floors. He said that we will have baptisms but alot of our work is reactivation. But he made me soo excited to get out in the field.

Yesterday we also practiced lessons with Latinos. They are so awesome. They are really open to help you with your spanish. They helped me alot and they are really spiritual. One of them was baptized when he was 13 by the missionaries.

Well, i dont think i have anything else for this week. So i  hope everything is going good. Im sorry your football team didnt do very well this year.

Love you all!!
Elder Ashworth

Here is a picture of the front of Alcantara. He is the second from the left on the back row. :)

Crazy, Awesome, Spiritual Week - Week 4

Wazup Everyone,

First to start off I will answer all of your questions. Concerning my admission into Byu-Idaho the fall/winter is fine. Next, Preston im sorry isnt doing great this year but i hope you are having fun and i think about you all the time and hoping you are doing great in school and dance. With Conference I got to watch all sessions. They started at 1 for the morning session, 5 for the afternoon session, and 9 for the priesthood session. And they were all AMAZING1 I will go into detail later. With pictures, yes seeing some pictures every once in a while would be awesome. Thanks Ashtyn and Aubrey for the pictures you two wonderful ladies sent me. Ashtyn im sorry you lost your baby girl Kaiya, she was a fun dog and really sweet. Im glad my letters made it to you because i havent gotten any. But if you sent them to my mission home, i will get them all  in 2 weeks.

Now for an update on my happenings in Chile. We got new roommates, they are pretty cool. Then this morning we lost our family of Elders at Alcantara, they left for their missions. It was like my family was leaving me again. We had grown so close, but i know they will do good. Also me and my companion committed two of our investigators to baptism and are doing good with our lessons. Spanish is coming and i learn more each day, I can give a full lesson and hold a conversation now, its pretty sweet if i do say so myself.

These next two weeks will be crazy. I only have two weeks left!!! Then its off to el campo. We get to go street contacting twice, then get to go on the metro and go on splits with the local missionaries for a day and help teach real lessons. I cant wait! im excited and nervous all at the same time.

Im sending you guys another letter today. It is going to Ashtyn. There are a few pages in there for her and mom so I am asking her to copy just those pages and give them to mom. They just have a few spiritual experiences on them that would take to long to email. Not much else in the letter since everyday is about the same. The letters will be better out in the field. I know you guys are going to send me a Christmas package even though i told you not to, so when you send it to me will you include my mp3 player stuffed full of songs (EFY, Micheal McClean, Disney, Nashville Tribute Band, Hymns, Martins Cove, any spiritual songs you can find) and the charger for it? That would be great. I have realized that music helps to lift our spirits while here.Also that picture that i have on my ipod of the man who is kneeling on the ground and the qoute says "it doesnt matter how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up" i would like that pic sent to me too so i can have it in my room. Thanks. :)

Now for the BIG stuff. Conference blew my mind. Who knew that if you actually paid attention and went into conference with questions that you would get sooo much out of it. My testimony has grown about Conference. I know that if we have questions and prayerfully go into conference looking for answers to those questions. They WILL be answered. I have quite a few quotes I would like to share with you all that i got from conference.

-"Here you WILL find peace"

-"Never be afraid, only believe"

-"Men and boys must stand for truth and righteousness, Stand with women"

-"Square Shoulders and Positive Thinking"

"Trust that one day dawn will break brightly and the shadows will dispearse."

-"Doubt your doubts, before you doubt your faith"

-" It doesn´t matter how many times we stumble, but how many times we get back up."

-"Jesus Christ is our Champion"

-"Press Forward!"

_"Rise Up!"

-"Always look up!"

-"We truely need him every hour"

-"Sometimes all we need a hug"

-"Hold fast to the Rod of Iron"

-"Instead of solving our problems the Lord wants us to develope the faith we to trust in him"

-"Past is to be learned from and not lived in. And when we have learned what we need we must apply it to our future"

-"May Heaven´s Blessings Be With You!"

I know this church and true and I know it more every day.

Love you all,
Elder Ashworth

P.S. Here me and some of the crazy Elders in my district. The temple. My district and two of the best teachers ever. And i hope i got everything in this email. :)

For some reason his pictures didn't come through this time. Maybe next time. - Brianna

October 1, 2013 - Week 3 and more progress

Dear Family and Friends,

First off to answer your questions about how tall that Elder is he is 6 foot 11 inches tall. His name is Elder S. (name changed for privacy) and he is from California and has a scholarship to play volleyball at BYU Provo. And, yes, that is my whole district and we are all going to santiago sur except for one of the hermanas who is going to santiago norte. Also we eat rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, fish, and beans. Sometimes we get beef, chicken or turkey and pastries, which are really good. I cant believe it is so cold there. When we got here we used a heater every night because it was cold but it is hot during the day and it is always nice weather. I hope it doesnt snow soon because that would be a bummer. Sorry but i have no pictures for you this week. Ill be sure to take some this coming week for you. Also where is Sem going on his mission and has Trey recieved his mission call yet?

Now to fill you in on my week. After we finished emailing we went out on the streets for P-Day. I mailed a letter to you Mom and Dad and one to Ashtyn. While im in the CCM i will only mail one every two weeks. After we went to the post office place we went and explored some more then ate at McDonalds.  It still tastes the same here as it does in America but it was nice to have a change in food from the CCM. Then we stopped by the Distribution Center and bought new scriptures in spanish and will be buying cases for them today. Also there is guy here who will make me cases out of leather like Christian has.

On Wednesday we got new roommates. An Elder Tinney from Utah and an Elder Valdez from Texas. Then we taught an investigator and it was the best lesson we have taught so far. In fact the teacher told us we did a great job and said something that he told the real investigator. It was cool to feel the spirit workinig through us. Then on Thursday is was just more studying and learning. We did an investigator that night who is really shy. But we rocked that one too. Our Friday was a full day. We taught 3 investigators on top of all of our studying and they went well also. Saturday was an eventful day and we rocked the lessons we taught then too. We got to go out to the Temple grounds and share our favorite scriptures and our testimonies with native Chileans. Its crazy just how fast they speak. But it was a cool experience and it showed me just how much spanish i have learned.

Sunday is one of the best days here. It starts out the same except we dont excercise. Our first class was a recording of a talk Elder Ballard gave at a devotional at the Provo MTC. He talked about how to do real missionary work and look for families becasue they have a higher chance of staying active. And he talked about how we know the teachings of the Gospel all we have to do is put all our effort in and the Lord will help us teach and speak the language. Then we watched Legacy which is always a good movie. Then for sacrament meeting i got to pass the sacrament, which was pretty cool. And listening to all those testimonies really helps to strengthen yours. In priesthood we learned about prayer and how to help investigators with it. Last we had family night. We just went over rules and manners in the mission field, then had cookies.

Monday we taught an investigator and did really good. We went in and our entire lesson plan went out the window. So we had to follow the spirit and it still came out good. Im loving down here. All the people are really nice and the big city isnt all that bad. They close down a main street in the morning on Sunday just for families to ride there bikes down it. Also the weather is pretty good. Spanish is coming and so are the lessons. Everything is going good so dont worry about me. I just wanted to let you know that Elder G., the Elder of the senior campanionship that is in charge of Alcantara, has to have open heart surgery tonight becasue a valve in his heart is just flapping. The power of the priesthood is amazing. I just wanted to let you know that.

Oh, and today we get to go to the Temple, AGAIN! It so cool and i love it.

Let me know all about whats going on up there in Rexburg. Share what you would like to with me becuase its nice to hear from you guys. If you have any more questions about what its like down here dont be afraid to ask.

This week I studied Charity a little bit. We all know it is the "Pure love of Christ". But it is also a GIFT from God. We must ernestly pray with all the fervency of our hearts that our hearts may be filled with the Love of Christ. Charity, like faith, leads to action. I know that if we have Charity we can change peoples lives. We can help others and become more Christlike so that we can return to live with our father in heaven again.

Love you all,
Your son, brother, and friend,
Elder Zachary Ashworth

No Dudéis; No Temáis
Doubt not; Fear not

Sept 24, 2013 Week 2 - Pictures



Santiago Temple




Alcantara







My CCM (MTC) companion Elder Marshall is in the middle with me

   


My District



Andes Mountains

Sept 24, 2013 Week 2 - Getting Better

Dear Family and Friends,
This week has been jam packed with stuff. The only thing that is getting old is the food and the routine: wake up, study, eat, excercise, get ready, study, study some more, eat, study, study some more again, eat, study, go back to Alcantara, sleep, and repeat. We have 12-13 hours of study a day, its crazy! And to add to it, its all in Spanish. Spanish is coming slowly but i can definitely speak more this week then i could on day one. I know the Lord is providing the rest as long as I am giving it my all.
This week we taught a lot of lessons. We have been trying to focus more on the message then the language which is making the lessons better. On Friday we taught a lesson to one of our investigators and it was a total bomb, we decided we got an evil skull face for that day. But yesterday we taught a different investigator and it went way better. You could feel the spirit and we testified of the truthfulness of the Gospel. We taught about baptism and how it can help him in his life then we challenged him to be baptized and he said yes. (Mind you these are our teachers who are acting as investigators they really had on their missions). But we were really stoked about doing so good. It awesome to see just how far we have come in two weeks and i cant wait to see where Im at in another four. The rest of the week was just study but we have a Book of Mormon class where we read the scriptures and talk about what they mean and how they can help us or our investigators. Its really cool because it helps to relieve stress and it helps to bring the spirit into the class. The one bummer though is that because we are starting block 2 we get new teachers and we have the best teachers in the whole CCM. Im sad they are leaving because they are good teachers and make it fun. Also all of the Latinos that we came with to the CCM left this morning so me and Elder Marshall get new roommates. We were sad to see our old ones go, they were really funny and were really cool. I mean they would sing songs with us! But our new roommates might be from Texas and Utah so we are going to speak in only spanish just to freak them out a little bit, since thats what happened to us when we first got here.
On September 18th it was Chile´s Independence Day. They had celebrations all week. We got a fiesta and got to go to the park. I also got my first empanada. They are really good. Oh, and I got my official preachers license and it expires on August 25, 2015. So I guess ill be coming home in August.
Sundays are my favorite here. We have gospel classes for 12 hours. we usually watch a movie, have a lesson, then are taught out of preach my gospel (which we use all the time), have personal time, sacrament, sunday school, priesthood, then after dinner we have a devotional or family night. This last Sunday we had a devotional and the mission president from Santiago West came and spoke to us. His wife spoke really good spanish so i understood 70% of what she said buut he spoke broken spanish mixed with portugese. I only got about 60% of his talk. I got the just of both and they were on focusing on the good things and to persevere to the end. During personal time I sat on the temple grounds and wrote letters. It was really peaceful for being in the middle of a big city.
I just want to let you all know that its going great and that the people here are amazing. I know that this gospel is true. I know that Christ did die for us and that he does love us. I know that he DOES live and that he will be there to help you. As long as you do your best he will carry you when you can no longer walk yourself.
I hope everything is going well with school and dance. I hope dad gets better and I will be praying for you and fasting for you this Sunday. I wrote 4 letters 2 for mom and 2 for Ashtyn and I will mail them today. I love you all and look forward to seeing you after this great adventure!
Your son and friend,
       Elder Ashworth
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DAD AND ASHTYN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!
PP.S. Sorry for the belated birthday song but i had so much on my mind last week i forgot to wish you two happy birthday.

Sept 17, 2013 News from Zach

Hello everyone, here is latest email form Zach. He was able to send us some pictures but it takes along time for them to download so he wasn't able to send all. It was great to hear from him and get to see him in a picture.

Hola! from Santiago Chile,

Thanks for the supporting words. And no I havent met my mission
president yet, they just took the supplies and gave it to him.

This first week has been tough, discouraging, and has made me feel
inadequate. But I know that what im doing is right so i will be ok.
Spanish is coming very slowly but i can speak more then when i first
arrived. The classes are long, we spend 12 hours at the CCM, then head
back to Alcantara to sleep. We get to bed between 11 and 12 and are up
by 645 in the morning getting ready to study. The teachers are awesome
and are very nice. Also they reinbursed me for the 75 dollars we spent
to check my second bag.

Im in a District and it is District 1. We have 10 elders and 2
sisters. All but one of us us going to Santiago South. My companion is
Elder Marshall from Eagle Mountain Utah. We get along very well and
have a lot of fun together. We have taught two discussions so far. The
first one was a total bomb. We didnt do very well at all and it was
discouraging and i felt like a failure. After that first lesson i was
thinking, what am i doing here? But the other elders who have been
here longer have told us it gets easier and spanish will come it just
takes a couple of weeks. The second lesson went a little better and
wasnt so discouring but we still didnt do very well. Its ok though
because we got alot of good feedback and know what we can do
different. I cant wait to be in the field and get to know people and
see the rest of the city. The mountains are HUGE and they come right
up next to the city. They are just as close but bigger then the ones
in Utah.

Today we went to a mall for P-Day. I have pictures but i cant send a
ton of them to you becasue they forever to upload so you will have to
wait, sorry. I got a couple of things and they have everything that
they sell in the United States. So i wont be missing anything. Oh, and
tomorrow is their Independence Day so there will fiestas and
empanadas. An empanada is meat and cheese in bread. Ive heard it is
sooo good. I cant wait to try one.

The days are going by slow but i cant believe its already been a week!
Before i know it ill be on a plane again heading home. I hope
everything is going well. Tell me everything you can becasue i just
dont know what questions to ask you guys. Hows school, work, dance,
football, anything? You name it and i would like to hear about it. I
tried to send letters today but the post office is closed becauase
tomorrow is a holiday so alot of businesses are closed. So i will try
to send them next week. You should get one letter every week to two
weeks, atleast i will try to do that. I dont know if it happen all the
time that way but i will try. Also if you could send me a book of
stamps that would be awesome becasue then i could use pouch mail and
wouldnt have to worry about going to the post office.

The city is beautiful and the people are really nice. It reminds of
salt lake city a little bit. I believe i will enjoy my two years here.

I love you all, Elder Ashworth

Santiago

Santiago

A mall near the CCM (MTC)

Santiago Temple

Me and Elder Marshall

Drop Off Day Pictures September 10, 2013

The day he flew out to Santiago Chile. He started at the airport in Idaho Falls, flew to Salt Lake City, flew to Atlanta Georgia and then to Santiago Chile. At the IF airport he flew out with a missionary from Wyoming so he wasn't alone. My prayers were answered. :) Then I found out they met up with 6 other missionaries in SLC making it a total of 8 that flew as a group to Chile.

Drop off day and first day

Sept 11, 2013
So the big day arrived and it was time to drop Zach off at the airport. We dropped him off yesterday at the Idaho Falls Airport. When we arrived,  Ashtyn and her Mom were already there. Brianna's Mom, her sister Leah and Jacob were all there too. We got him all checked in and his luggage checked, then we were able to spend the rest of the time with him. We did get some relief when another young elder arrived at the airport and we found out that he was going to the Santiago West Mission. So Zach would not be traveling alone. Things got a little emotional when the time came for him to board the plane, there were quite a few tears shed from everybody present, we stayed long enough to watch him board the plane and for the plane to head for the runway.

While waiting for Zach's plane to leave we then noticed a family coming in with signs for a missionary returning home. We talked to the mom of the returning missionary and found out he was returning from a mission in Chile. What a blessing, the Lord knew we needed to watch the return of this missionary to help us see our future spot in that same place in 2 years when Zach returns.

We got an email form Zach finally at about 1:30 pm. It was awesome to read his great attitude and that he was well. I have attached the email.

How`s it going? I only have a few minutes to tell you that ive arrived safely and that the sunrise on an airplane above the clouds over the Andes was amazing! Its been good so far. Im staying at Alcantara instead of the CCM (MTC) because of the influx of missionarys. Its like a small mansion, its so cool. Sorry, but ill have to answer your email a little later Ashtyn because I dont have the time.

Love you All! May Angels be round about you to bear you up.

Elder Ashworth