Feliz Navidad Everyone! Okay so this week I have some stories for yall! So I think I have mentioned that Hermana Monroy is one of the Sister Training leaders. This means that she has to go on splits with some of the other Hermanas. Well this week we did our first overnight split. I went and became Hermana Del Pino's companion and her comp came to our area and was Hermana Monroy's comp. Well Hna Del Pino and I went to one appointment. IT was this older couple. The wife is a less active member and the Hermanas are teaching her husband. Well they are an interesting couple... I dont really know who to discribe them but lets just say I was having a really hard time following the conversation because they would just start talking about random things. I think I have mentioned that some people here find my name really hard to say. I have learned to respond to everything from Hermana to Hermana Ash to Hermana Aaakdlañkeetlhlf. But thanks to this Hermana I have a new name to add to that list.... Hermana Güera.... which basically translates to Sister white-girl..... thanks Hermana...... So after the lesson the Hermana goes, "hey Hemana Güera, my husband recieved a letter, but it is in english. can you help us read it?" I tell them that I can try, thinking that it is a personal letter or something... but no they pull out a letter from the Social Security Administration!!!!! I guess the Hermano lived in Texas for a while and is recieving money and he needs to fill out this form to make sure that he still qualifies for the benifits or something.... WHAT!?!?!?! It was difficult but I finally get the answers we need, and I turn over the paper and read the part about it being pergery (i have no idea how to spell that...) if you knowingly put wrong information on this form.... man I sure hope it was all correct!!! Another story: So Hna Monroy and I were walking down the street one day. She was on the phone with someone in the office and we walk past this lady standing on the street corner. I say good afternoon to her and she starts talking to me! Okay noone ever talks to me, they always talk to Hna Monroy. So Hna Monroy walks away a few steps have a proud mama moment because her little girl is contacting by herself... So the lady tells me this story about how her brother is in the hospital and she wants me to buy nailpolish so she can help pay for stuff. I explane that I did not have any money with me (it was in my other bag) but that I had an invitation for her. I then explaned that we were missionaries and invited her to church. She starts telling about her brother again so I respond with "We (meaning Hna Monroy and I) can keep him in our prayers"... I guess that is not what came out of my mouth... what I actually said was "We can pray for him." to which the lady goes "Okay" and closes her eyes and bows her head!!!!!!! Okay I dont know how I would tactfully get out of this situation in English let alone in Spanish!!!!!!!!!!! I send a panicked look at Hna Monroy and she is busy ignoring me.... SO I prayed with the lady on the street corner......... yep. I. did. oh foreign missionary problems When Hna Monroy found out what happened she was laughing so hard I am suprised she could breath. and when I tried to tell the Elders later that night I was laughing so hard I was crying! Everyone I am so greatful for all of your support, love and prayers! I miss you all, but I am also really greatful for the chance to be with my "mission family" this season. And I really do have a family here! I have a mission mama, brothers, sisters and a grandma. I am even an aunt! But even more than that I have a Heavenly Father who knows me perfectly and who I can be in constant communication with and an older brother Jesus Christ who knows exactly how I am feeling. I hope we all remember the true reason for this season. I love all of you! -Hermana Ashcraft

Hola!!!!! Man I cant believe another week has gone by! Guess what!?!?! Today is my 2 month aniversario of being on a mission!!!! Crazy right! It is going by so fast! Yesterday we had a really cool experience! Our zone had a goal of having 40 contacts this week and if we met that goal then we got to go on a "field trip" today. Yesterday we needed to have 11 contactos in order to meet that goal.... and we had about 15 minutes to do it. We were determined! We just started going up to litterally everyone introducing ourselves and inviting them to church next week. We stopped outside an Oxxo (a 7-11 type place) and when we looked in we noticed that there were no people in there except for the 2 ladys working. So we went in and did the samething we had been doing a million other times except this time was different. As we were talking one of the ladies would not look at us, and then she started to cry. I was kind of confused because we did not do anything different. Hemana asked her if we could help her with anything. The lady explaned that her 4 grown children were members in the church, and that her husband was a mamber as well but inactive. Then she told us that one of her sons recently died. But one of the last things he said to her was that the church was true. We were able to explane to her a little about the spirit world and how because her son was a member he is in spirit paradise. We explaned that God loves us and that he wants us to be happy to, and that families are important to him as well and that our families can be together forever. It was one of those moments where you know that God has his hand in this work. I am understanding so much more spanish!!!!!!! more often than not I understand what is going on in a conversation.... it is responding that is difficult. But that is coming too. Sorry this is so short, but we have people to see and a gospel to preach! :) I love you all!!!!!! LOve, Hermana Ashcraft

HEy yall! It is kind of weird to be writing again so soon! So this week has been a bit crazy. My Comp is one of the Sister Training Leaders which means that sometimes she has to go to meetings or go visit other sisters. This week she had a meeting with the mission leaders, which ment that I went to "day care" with Hermana Schaser (her comp is the other Sister training leader) ("Day care" is better known as Splits, but sense it was our Mission Moms who were busy we decided that it was day care)! I was kind of nervous to be with a new comp for the day in a new area. But it was really fun! The hermana that I got paired with was really excited to practice her English with me and was more than willing to help me with my Espanol. So the weather here has been CRAZY!!!!!!!!!! Earlier this week it was so hot that I was wearing short sleeves and sweating and then on Saturday it was 2ªC!!!!!!!! (and yes i am doing everything in C. because I dont know how to convert it and I dont really want to spend the time to learn) Saturday we did a service project at one of the members houses where we cleaned out her whole kitchen. And then on Sunday we did a service project with our zone where we went to a local hospital and stood outside and sang christmas hymns, and gave out hot chocolate and sweet bread. It was so funny! Hermana Monroy was talking with one lady and got her contact information. She went to give the lady a folleto and all of a sudden there were like 15 other people reaching for a folleto too! IT was kind of crazy!!!!!! We also watched the Church Christmas Broadcast yesterday. It was really weird to hear all of the Apostles "speaking" in spanish! Expecially President Uchtdorf! He did not have a German accent! So just a little more info... the house that we live in is really big! there is a bed room and a study room and a living room and kitchen and bathroom..... but there is no furniture in half of the rooms!!!!!!! I will have to send a picture! literally the only thing in our living room is the ironing board and our christmas tree on the wall! :) Thank you all so much for your Christmas cards!!!!!!!! I open one every morning!!!!! It is so great to start my day like that! Love you all! Hermana Ashcraft

HEy Everyone! first off I am going to say sorry. This keyboard is really wierd so i keep hitting wrong keys.... and because i am writing in english the computer is telling me that everyword is wrong... so this might be a little interesting. So I got here in Mnterrey on Monday and the hermanas spent the first night at the mission president´s house. Tuesday we met our companions! My companion is Hermana Monroy. She is from Sonora, Mexico. She is shorter than me, but not as short a Hna Schaser :) . She has 1 sister and 2 brothers. She does not speak much english. She knows some words so sometimes she can help me come up with a word, but not always. Honestly our communicaton is so funny! If people saw us sometimes trying to communicate they would think we were crazy! we use hand motions, other more simple words, sound effects, pointing... you name it we have probably tried it! Right now our house is covered with post-its that have what the object is in spanish (for me) and english (for her). She has been serving for 13 months. We were assigned to serve in the area Anahuac B in the zone Anahuac. We are opening a new area. Before we were here there was just one area called Anahuac with one set of elders, so the area was split and we are in area B and Elder Soto and Elder Humiston (from my district in the MTC) are in area A. We see them a lot! Expecially because we actually live in their area. We have been visiting the members and trying to build a friendship with them. This Barrio is awesome! Everyone is really into missionary work and want ot help us! We eat at a members house everyday except p-day. Speaking of p-day. NOrmally p-day is mondays, but when we have transfers it changes so we can go to the temple on wednesday. Here are a few experiences: -We had a baptism of Luz, a lady that the elders have been teaching! We were the ones waiting to help her after and watching from the side! It was SOOOOOO awesome! -I have been stuffed into a metro that was so full that I could have not fallen over if I had wanted to!!!!!! Welcome to mexico :) -I have no idea what people are saying! I feel like I am back in the MTC those first few days wahen people are talking to me but I dont know what they are saying.... only this time they are not talking slowly and clearly.... that is hard. -We started teaching a young man, Antonio. He is awesome! It is so wierd working with real people! -My camera disappeared the second day here :( ...... Welcome to Mexico.... guess what my Christmas Present is going to be... -There is not really sidewalks so we walk in the street and cross where ever we want.... that is wierd -you can tell who has spent time in the USA by if they buckle their seatbelt or not.... I always do! The driving here is CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there has been a few times where i thought i was going to DIE!!!!!!!! -I have 7 moskito bites on my legs at the moment....... it has been in the 30°´s here the past few days.... and will go back down to 5° by the weekend OK I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!! Love, Hemana Ashcraft

Hola Mundo! Como esta? So this is my last P-Day at the MTC! I have such mixed feelings right now!!! I am super excited to get to Mexico! I am super nervous to get to Mexico! I am sad to leave my teachers! They are the BEST! But I think I am the most sad that I will not see my Elders and Hermanas everyday! I don't know what I will do when I only have one companion to be with everyday, or when I dont have the Elders to make me laugh because of all of there antics! Elders Barela and Harker love to make up songs. The two of them will beat box together and make up raps in Spanish :) they dont always make sense but then again raps in English dont always make sense :) So here is a quick update on what I have been up to. We have been teaching Carmen for a few weeks now. We were teaching her yesterday and extended an invitation to be baptized! She looked down, and for about 20 seconds we just sat there in silence.... it was the most excruciating 20 seconds of my life!!!... and then she looked up and said "Creo que sí.". "I believe that yes"... it is kind of awkward in english but it was the best think I could have heard in spanish coming from Carmen! Felipe is our other investigator. He sometimes drives me crazy because he is kind of stubborn :) but we love him anyways! Yesterday we taught him. I class we have been talking a lot about how we have the authority to teach with power because we have been called and set apart by go to teach his gospel, so Hermana Schaser and I decided that we really need to teach Felipe with power. It was such a cool experience! He had kept his commitment to go to church and said that it was a good experience. We invited him to be baptized, and although he did not say yes, we were able to better understand his concerns. We get to teach both Carmen and Felipe one more time on Saturday. This is so bitter sweet! So because it is so cold here we get to have gym in the "Bubbles"! They actually dont like us calling them that... they are the Domes, but Bubbles are much catchier. I dont have a picture but I will get one and send it next time. there are 3 of them and in one there is 2 basketball courts and 3 4-square courts (that is where my zone is all of the time! The elders are super competitive! they can put a spin on the ball that you would not believe unless you saw it!), in the second one there is a few basketball courts, but usually they set up footsal (is that how you spell it?) Hudson I know you would like that! From what I here it can get a bit physical in there, but no one seems to care that much. And in the last one there is a volleyball court. I have already mentioned that the Elders make up songs (especially Elder Harker) but it is getting to the point that I cant have a normal conversation with out having certain words trigger tunes in my head! I guess that is not that much different that English, except now it is in Spanish! For example: I can here the word "Por que" (why) or "Porque" (because) with out hearing Elder Barela singing "Porque, tu amor es importante en mi corazon." in a mariachi band style, but in a Kermit the Frog type of voice! or hearing Elder Harker singing "Como fue, como fue, como fue su dia?" (he found out after he made that song and got it stuck in everyone's heads that it is not grammatically correct, and that it should be "Como le fue".... he was kind of crushed, but he has sense decided that he does not care and still sings it all the time) It is awesome! I miss all of you sooooooo much and I love getting all of your letters! I dont know for sure how well mail is going to work in Mexico, but dont forget about me! I need your letters! I NEED YOUR PRAYERS! I love you all!!!!! Love, Hermana Ashcraft

4th letter

Hey Yall! Okay here is a quick update. Sorry it is so short, but hopefully the pictures will make up for that! I can not believe that we have less that 2 weeks here!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!! I am super excited and SUPER nervous! I am going to miss my district so much! I wish I had more time to share all of the funny stories and things that happen! So last week I had a SUPER bad toothache, and it was decided that I will need a root canal. I had an appointment for Tuesday. Then on Saturday we were notified that our district would be flying to Las Vegas to get our visas. So my appointment has been changed to Monday. Pray for me please! I am not looking forward to it, but I guess I would rather have it done here than in Mexico! So on Tuesday we got up at 3:30am to meet the bus for the airport at 4:30am. It was so weird to be out in the real world! A nice lady on our flight offered to take our picture and send it to our moms. Mom did you get the picture? We were picked up in Las Vegas by Elder Greer (a service missionary) and then were held hostage at the UNLV Institute for about 5 hours... okay maybe it was more like 2 but it really felt longer! Then we went to the Mexican Consulate! It was so weird because we were so out of place! It was awesome!!!! We all went in and sat for a bit. Then we would get called up, get our finger prints taken, 2 pictures taken and then we were done and the next person would get in the chair. We were probably done in about an hour. So guess what!?!?!?! WE ALL HAVE OUR VISAS!!!!!!!!! It was one of the best sights I have ever seen! I did not want to give my passport back! It is such a relief that we will all be able to fly to Mexico together! I am really grateful for that! After that we went back to the institute for about an hour, and then we went back to the airport. We got back to the MTC around 9:00pm and were SOOOOO TIRED!!!!!!!!! But we celebrated getting our visas with sparkling cider (thanks mom, dad, and family for the package!) and it was awesome! The only bummer was that we missed the Tuesday night devotional and guess who the speaker was..... L. Tom Perry! Big bummer! Both Filipe and Carmen (my investigators) are progressing and I am really coming to love them! It is so cool how that happens! Okay cool story time! When I first got here all the Hermanas were talking about some of our quirks and I warned my Hermana that sometimes when I am stressed or have a lot on my mind I talk in my sleep. The other day Hermana Schaser goes "Hermana Ashcraft you were talking in your sleep last night..... IN SPANISH!!!!!!!!" WHAT!?!?!?!? How weirdly awesome is that?!?!?!?! Too bad I can remember my dream! Also Hermana Sumsion said that she thinks the MTC feels like you are in the protective bubble thing in Percy Jackson. That is probably the most accurate description I have heard! I love you all! I miss you all! But I am growing so much and I am so excited to go and teach the people of Monterrey! Love, Hermana Ashcraft

3rd letter

Hola Everyone! So I am settling in here. It is weird to think that I have been here for 2 weeks now! I will be in Mexico in less than a month! So in my last letter I was super excited about our investigator. I guess I should explain that a bit because I have had a lot of people comment on that :) So our investigator "Roberto" is actually Hermano Croft, one of our teachers. Except we did not know that at the time. I guess every time a new district comes in 2 teachers get assigned to the district, but the new district only ever sees one of them. The other one is their investigator. The teacher will pick a person who they taught on their mission and pretend to be them (same personality, same back story, ect.) and the new district will get to teach them. So we taught "Roberto" 5 times and then one day we came into class and "Roberto" is there. It was kind of weird at first, but Hermano Croft is NOTHING like Roberto so we quickly got over that :) It was such a great experience because everything is so real! The nerves you feel about teaching are real. The planning is real. The love you feel for them is SO real. The prayers that we said, praying for Roberto were SOOOO real. And the answers to our prayers were SO UNBELIEVABLY REAL! Hermana Schaser and I got to talk to Hermano Croft about our experience with Roberto. We told him how we would always pray before going into the lessons for things like the gift of tongues, and that we would know what Roberto needed, and that we would have the Spirit with us; which are all great things to have but the day where Roberto accepted our invitation to baptism we had prayed that Roberto would feel the Spirit and that Roberto's heart would be softened, and that is when miracles happened! Hermana Schaser and I were the only ones he said yes to baptism with that day. So it was really interesting to talk with Hermano Croft and hear about his experience with our teaching because he did not know any of this before hand. Now we are teaching another investigator (Carmen) and we are working on getting in the door of another investigator (Filipe). We have only tried once so far so hopefully tonight we can get in. It is SO nerve wracking! I don't think I mentioned this before but I joined the MTC Choir! It is so awesome! We have practice on Sundays at the West Campus Chapel and then on Tuesdays we go up to Main Campus for another practice. Usually we have to walk but in bad weather they will bus us. There are devotionals on Sunday nights and Tuesday nights and the choir sings at the Tuesday one. The devotionals here are so great! I have been to 4 so far. I have heard Stephen B. Allen, Lynn G. Robbins (of the 70), Roger Connors, and Carlos A. Godoy (of the 70). I think that my favorite at the moment was Carlos A. Godoy. He is from Brazil and knows English as a second language. He told about his conversion and was super entertaining! It might sound weird but my favorite part about watching him was watching him fumble for words. He would say something like "The Spirit here is p... palp.... palpable? Right? (he would look back for confirmation that that is the word he wanted then say) Wow that is a good word!" or he would ask "what is the word for that?". But that did not distract from his message! I love that because that is going to be me! I am going to fumble over words and have to ask for help but that is okay! A few days ago we had an "Adjusting to Missionary Life" lesson on stress. Hermano Croft had us do an object lesson. He took us outside and had us do wall sits! The idea was that just because your legs are shaking, does not mean that you are weak. We did not really know why we were doing it at the time, but once we got started none of us wanted to give in first! We ended up holding it for 3 1/2 minutes before one of us finally gave in! Mom I know how you like object lessons and usually I am all for them, but really that was not fun! But it did inspire us Hermanas and so we have been doing wall sits at gym. Dude my legs are going to be so strong when I get back! So we are working really hard to H.S.I. (Speak your language... in Spanish) all the time. It is REALLY HARD!!!!!!!!!! But it will help us get better.... On a side note: Our district has adopted the saying "Que en el mundo!" which literally translates to "What in the World!" but it does not make and sense in Spanish, so anytime we say that in class our teachers just roll their eyes at us. The Elders also really like the word "corazon" (heart) so everything is "Tacos es en mi corazon" or "El Spiritu es en mi corazon". It is awesome. And just in case you are wondering it is REALLY COLD here!!!! I cant wait to get to Mexico where it is still in the 80's!!! Okay 2 Spiritual thoughts and then I have to go: Look up 3 Nephi 27 and answer the question that Christ asks "What will ye that I shall give unto you? And look up 1 Corinthians 7:23.... it is an awsome to think that Christ is my master, he has already bought my soul, so I can not be the servant of men. You guys I feel so greatful to literally be wearing Christ's name over my heart! I love this gospel! and I love you guys! Love, Hermana Ashcraft