E-mail April 16

Dear all,

Well, six weeks down, 3 more to go!! I can't believe it's already been this long. well, my distric is already the older district. On sunday, they called new zone leaders, My companion and I. I was a little surprised. It is definately going to be hard, but it will be a really good experience. We had a really hard time because there were 5 missionaries who didn't have their visas that were the onld distric leaders and they went against pretty much everything we asked. They set a bad example for our new district and we had a rough first 3 or 4 days and zone leaders. but, they are gone finally and last night was much easier to get everyone to bed. It has definately already been a good learning experience of how to be lead other missionaries. Things are going good. We didn't do very well in the TRC this last week though. Our lesson was extremely boring and I just focused way too much on my spanish. I realized that i have not been speaking as much spanish ourside of class and I have not been reaching my goals. I set some new goals this week and am going to work hard and using my spanish all the time and teaching better lessons. Each week is a growing experience. It was great to hear from everyone this week in their letters. Para que todos persons sepan, estoy saliendo para el campo en 3 de Mayo. Estoy muy emosionado or animado. Yes, we get our travel plans in a week and we find out when we leave, what flight we're on and everything else. I'm so excited. I'm a little worried about spanish, but I can't believe how much I've learned already through the spirit. I know that I will learn so much once I actually get there. I'm trying to be as prepared to go as possible. Mom, I was thinking. If my other mutual fund is doing really well, you could take my mutual of america fund and put it into my fidelity fund. Just a thought. Do whatever youthink is best. Also, I printed off some more pictures today so i am going to send you the pictures, a letter, and the names from the temple. Did you see Aleena's pictures from when she came to provo? She took one right infront of the MTC sign. I thought it was hilarious. Anyway, things are giong well. I am learning and preparing to go to Nicaragua. Peudo hablar espanol mucho. Yo amo la CCM. Es el mejor lugar para aprender una idioma. Yo he aprendido mucho aqui y puedo ensenar lecciones uno y dos. Proxima miercoles, Debo ensenar la leccion dos por la primero vez. Estoy nervioso. Pero, a traves de el espiritu, yo se que puedo ensenar todos las cosas que Dios quiere que ensene. Esta Iglesia es verdadera. No tengo mas tiempo. Entonces, yo amo a todos ustedes.

Elder Ashby