e-mail Aug 2, 2010

Dear All,

Well, things here in San Ramón are going well. Nothing much has happened this week. We are trying to work hard, contact and teach. We are not finding a lot of luck, though. But, we are working hard. We went and printed off some talks from conference session and It is funny how, when your on your mission, you can read any talk and it applys to the mission, even if it didn´t before or wasn´t meant to apply. I read the Patience talk by President Uchtdorf and it was really good.

We have our recent confert, Sorayda. She is the one that is having a hard time. She has three kids and no job. She has some health problems, none that are big enough that she can´t work. Anyway, she is really funny and has a good heart. She has just been living poor for so long, she doesn´t want to put a lot of work in to find a job. We gave her a bunch of ideas of things she could do just in her house, but she didn´t like any o them. There is a saying that is in Work and the Glory 2 I think. It says, God provides for those who provide for themselves. It is so true. God isn´t just going to give things to people that don´t want to use it. Whether it´s in misisonary work. We have to work hard to show the Lord that we want to work and teach those who are ready. If we don´t work hard, He isn´t going to give use the success. For her, she needs to look and be willing to take whichever work the Lord gives to her. The Lord´s not going to give her work if she isn´t going to take it. Or if there is someone who is trying to investigate the church. The Lord isn´t going to give the knowledge if the person doesn´t seek if, or if they don´t want to try. A person has to seek for the truth and want to know if the church is true. If we show God that we want to find out and put our strength and our part, God will help us and give us the knowledge. But we have to try with all our might in all we do.

Anyway, Some of the pictures from this week were from District/zone meeting. The ZLs got a piñata for the meeting to try and get spirits up. It was quite funny. I bought a sweet soccer jersey this week in town. I think that´s about it.

We have a bat that lives in our house every night. It is getting...stuff all over the floor. So I eat a lot of bread here. It is the cheepest and the fastest. I eat a lot of bread. I also have a bad habit of when we are just walking or jsut sitting, I am not teaching or doing something and I feel like I need to eat. I have just started eating too often and I think my metabolism has slowed. I started feeling fat and unhealthy. I know i´ve gained some weight around my waist becuase my suit pants are fiting pretty tight. Anyway. I had to kind of go on a diet and cut back on how much and how often I eat. I have had to increase my workouts in the morning. I feel more healthy now and and actually getting back a little bit into shape.e Anyway, I think that´s about all. We will see.

I think my spanish is pretty good. I can communicate for the most part with anyone. This is five months down. It has gone by pretty fast. This last month was a little slower with this 9, almost 10 week change. It is really long. We´ve had 2 emergency changes in the mission already in some zones. Well, the church is true. Share the happiness and the knowledge with everyone. It´s our duty to amonestar, to warn all our neighbors and show the joy and happiness that comes from the gosple.

With Love,

Elder Ashby