e-mail June 28, 2010

Dear all,

Well, it has been another good week. We didn´t have much success, but it was a good week nonetheless. Well, if you can all remember, a couple of weeks ago, my mom sent me a question to answer that said what have you learned this week? I didn´t have anything. Well, it feels like now, I am just learning and being able to apply so much stuff. First, we had to go to Managua on tuesday for pres´s farewell talk/party. I saw all the guys that came from the MTC with me and most of them are going to the south mission. I saw Elder Geddes for the last time in my mission. I learned a ton of stuff, but first, the mail changed. The address for the Managua Nicaragua Norte es

Elder Scott Ashby

Oficina discover

Oficina 20

APT. 3600

Managua, Nicaragua, C.A.

So we got to hear some of the missionaries that were giong home. Some of the gringos could speak very good spanish, but some could not. Some you could just tell that they didn´t have it really well. I just realized that I´m not just one day going to speak perfect spanish and that there isn´t going to be a day where everyone magically understands me from now on. I will always have to continue learning and improving. But my mission is now. I have been called and set apart to declare the gosple of Jesus Christ now and not when I actually speak spanish. So I jsut realized that i have to get rid of fear and speak and declare more often. And this goes for every missionary. You´re not one day just going to be able to speak the language. It is little by little and your two years are passing by, so declare the gosple, even if you can´t say everything you want to.

The next thing I learned about the mission is this. The mission is all about change. We come to a new place, a new language, new people. and have to do a new thing in our life. We have to repent and change our ways and change ourselves to get along with compañions. Another missionary told me this one night and I really loved it. I have decided to each week write a goal of something I want to change or become and focus on that goal with everything I have. Then, after my 2 years, i will have a list of things that I wanted to become and I will be able to see if I actually became that. I think it will be very interesting to see. So, I am changing and become a better person.

So, for our area this week, we didn´t have a lot of success. We wanted to baptize the lady and her 2 kids that we´ve been teaching for a month on Satuday. She was jsut vey stubborn. We told her on Friday that we were going to come by on Saturday and pick them up and take them to their baptism. We went up on Saturday and when we were walking off the bus at her stop, she got on. We saw her and had to jump back on again. We followed her to her sister´s house. the ZLcame up and tried to help us get her. She would not do it. She just didn´t want to, even though she knew she needed to and would do it eventually. Anyway, so we decided that we would try on Sunday. We went up there on Sunday and taught her. She still didn´t want to. She had a bunch of doubts, most of which were produced by her sisters who are evangelicas. It all came down that she was listening to everyone else but the person who really knows the truth, God. That is the thing. She had never actually prayed and asked God if it was true. That´s the thing that gets us crazy sometimes. It seems so easy but it is so hard. Ofcourse God knows everthing. If there is a true church out there, he wants us to know about it and he wants us to know if it is true. If we truely ask, we are going to feel and know it. It seems so simple, but it works. I ask anyone that has a question or wants to know if this church is really true to pray. Pray to sincerely know with the intent to act on your answer. Prayer is so easy. This investigator will not pray with us because she is so scared. It is so easy. It is just like a conversation with our father. He is our father and wants to hear from us. We jsut have the express our hearts to him. Anyway, in the end, she had not prayed and did not know for herself. We are going to give her some more time.

My camera memory card went bad. That´s the second one of that brand. It´s a good thing I have that other one. So all the pictures that i took from pres´s party got deleted and my last picture with Elder Geddes. I actually had taken a lot of picutres this week, but then they all got delete. So i will have more pictures NEXT week. If this one goes bad, i will have to buy a memory card here. But other than that, everything is giong great and I am doing well. I hope all is well at all of your homes. Sarah and John, I can´t believe how big the kids are. Even lost a tooth!!! that is crazy. Thank you for all the letters and emails, even just if they are small and short. The church is true!!

With love,

Elder Ashby

Q & A e-mail June 28, 2010

1. Have you been cutting your own hair? You look pretty good in your pictures.

Yes, i cut my hair once last change and I´ll will have to cut it again next p-day. I also cut my comps AFTER he paid 30 cords for a hair cut that he didn´t like.

2. I see you haven't taken out any money, so have you been managing OK?

Yeah, it´s been ok and my comp´s been paying a lot of stuff for the branch with his money. I´ve just been going without as many treats and we´ve been taking more rides ;)

3. Have you heard anything about how the mission will be split and any changes that will cause?

Where ever any one is at right now is where we will stay. We had a meeting with all the mission with pres last tuesday and has his going away meeting. It was really good. I´ve heard there will be a lot of changes, but we ´don´t know yet.

4. Did you get my package yet? I sure hope so. I also sent a handwritten letter this week.

No, i got your letter, but not the package. It took about a month for Aleena´s letter and it takes a long time with customs where to get the package to the right place.

5. Are you doing better--health wise? Are you feeling OK? It looks like you have a nice tan.

Yes, I´m doing better. I am getting tan. It was funny because pres at a meeting with the priesthoods here in matagalpa even said that he realizes that the gringos have diaria for 20 months straight and it´s true.

6. How is Elder Ellis doing in Matagalpa?

I think he´s doing alright. I have only seen him one time. I thoguht that was crazy that we are kind of back together.

7. What's the funniest thing that happened to you this week?

Well, I am trying to get it to be funny. Our water got shut of because we forgot to pay the bill again, so we havn´t had water for 5 days. We went and showered in the church, but every morning , i have to go to the bathroom. So, we have 5 days of Feses in the toilet and is starting to really stink. I also cooked this mango-soup-candy stuff. I had to cook it over the fire for one of our investigators and i burned my arm a little doing it. It would have been awesome in a cobler.

8. Do you still have pouch mail? One of the Mish moms said she heard you don't. I have a dearelder I sent you last week that's not checked. (There is a record of all my letters and they are always "checked" when they're sent, but the last one isn't.

I don´t know for sure. I havén´t heard. I will ask and let you know.

9. Do you teach an english class?

Yes, I do teach an english class. I actually learn spanish really well when i teach and I teach every week because my comp makes me. We get a lot of investigators, but they are mostly young guys that have learned all the lessons we have to teach, but jsut don´t want to get baptized.

e-mail June 21, 2010

Buenos Días a todo!!

Pues, último semana, yo dije que yo era escribir todo en español esta semana. Pero, no sé si voy a hacerlo todo en español porque tengo mucho de decir esta semana. Cambios fueron en Miércoles, pero mi compa y yo estamos juntos todavía. este cambio es 9 semanas. Esta semana fue tuánis (cool). Trabajamos mucho y tuvimos éxito ayer. Primero, mi compañero y yo teníamos divisiones. Uno de los lideres de la zona fue conmigo a mi área. Trabajamos duro todo el día. Encontramos más nuevos y fijamos fechas con 5 personas. No sé si todos de ellos van a continuar recibiendo los lecciones, pero vamos a ver. Yo tenía que hablar español todo el día con el otro misionero. Fue diferente. Fue interesante también porque cuando hablo español solamente, el mente cambia. Yo pensaba en español y mi español estaba mejor. Aun los miembros dijeron que mi español estuvo mejor. Algunas cosas tuánis fueron que teníamos 40 a la Iglesia ayer. También, uno de nuestros investigadores fue a la iglesia. Ella esté tratando de dejar café. Ella fue con su dos hijas también. O, y mi compañero de la CCM está en nuestra zona ahora. Él está en Matagalpa. Es chistoso. Dave tendrá que decirme cómo está mi español y qué cosas tengo que cambiar y estudiar. Pues, ahora tengo una historia de la semana para decirles.

I´m going to do this part in english because it´s way faster. First off, I will probably be in San Ramón for the next 9 weeks and then another change after that. This week was good, but one day in particular. The day I was with the zone leader was awesome. It was the first day that I got to be kind of in charge. I had the keys and the cell phone and I got to decide what we were going to do. First, we went and visited our best investigator. She had never been to church and she is trying to give up coffee. We talked about lesson 3, the plan of salvation, and more about coffee. We went and bought her some more drink mix to drink in place of coffee. She came to church and it has been 4 days since she drank coffee.

Then, we went and contacted and found some good investigators. But one of the best parts was when we didn´t have anything to do one time in the afternoon. I was thinking and I thought of this guy whose wife had left to Matagalpa with his kid. We were going to swing by and see how he was doing. We found her and her son there. We sat down and talked to her for a little while. I just talked to her as if i didn´t know what happened, but then I just said frankly, we know that things have been mas o menos aquí (more or less here). We talked to her about praying as a family and going to church as a family and about how we can overcome more trials together if we are doing what we need to be doing. Then, her husband came in and we talked to them togther about praying together and going to church and working things out. We left and then we were walking by about 30 minutes later and saw them hugging and snuggling with their baby boy. Then we went by yesterday and she was there still. I think they are back together. It was cool and I know that I was led there by the spirit. It was jsut so awesome to seem them together.

Then, that night, at about 8;15 after noche de hermanamiento, I couldn´t think of anything do to, no one to go see. I thought of this kind of investigator. He just more likes to sit and talk rather than us teach a lesson. I figured we would just go up there and see him. While we were walking up, I thought of a family that we had contacted and taught once like my second week. We never could find them again, so I thought we should go back and try to find them. We went and found him and taught him. We taught him about prayer and the strength that comes from it. At the end, he asked, "But how can we know which of all the churches are true?" That was awesome. We told him that´s the exact message that we have to share. He also said that he had found one of our pamphets that taught how to pray and that´s how he prayed. At the end of the lesson we asked him to pray, and sure enough, he prayed exactly like a member. It was just awesome to see and feel how the Lord guides us in the work if we are willing to follow him. It was really the first time I really felt guided. I learned alot from that day and I realized just how much Spanish I really do know. It was really cool to see all of this come becuase we were willing to work and not give up at the end of the day.

The church is true and the spirit really does guide. I konw that if you want to know the truth and you´re willing to act on it, God will give you an answer and you will feel what you need to do in your heart and in your mind. I know that most of the time the spirit will just be a small feeling or a small thought. We will be led by our own thoughts if we are doing what we need to be doing. Thank you for all your letters and emails. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Ashby

Spanish translation June 21, 2010

Good morning:

Well, last week, I said that was going to write all in Spanish this week, but I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do it because I have a lot to say this week. Changes were on Wednesday, but my comp and I are together still. This next change is going to be in 9 weeks. This week was really cool. We worked a lot and had a lot of success yesterday. First my comp and I went on exchanges. One of the Zone leaders went with me in my area. We worked very hard all day. We found more new investigators and set some dates with 5 people. I don’t know if they’re all are going to continue receiving the lessons, but we’ll see.

I had to speak in Spanish all day with another missionary. It was different. It was interesting too, because when I speak in Spanish only, my mind changes. I thought in Spanish and my Spanish got better. Even the members said that my Spanish was better.

Some really cool things happened and they were that we had 40 people in church yesterday. Also, one of our investigators was in church. She is trying to quit drinking coffee. She went with one of her daughters too.

Oh and my comp from the MTC is in our Zone now. He is in Matagalpa. It’s pretty funny. David will have to tell me how my Spanish is doing and what things I have to change and study. Well, now I have a story from the week that I want to tell you.

Q & A e-mail June 21, 2010

1. Have you thought of anything you've learned this week?

Wow, well I learned a lot about staying busy and using every moment you have. I will share more in my large email, but I really learned how the Lord will help you and guide you if you use all your time and try to be effective as you can be.

2. Did you get my package and my handwritten letter yet?

I did get your hand-written letter last week. I have not gotten your package yet, though.

3. Have you had any "firsts" recently?

Hmm, well no. I still havn´t set a fecha, date, yet. Usually you set a fecha with someone the first time you meet with them if they are positive. We are supposed to set like 3 fechas a day. Our area is different and we don´t set that many and I still haven´t set one. I need to do that.

4. Where are you in the B of M?

I finished first Nefi in Spanish and now I´m on segundo nefi capitulo 3. I have to do my lesson plans too, so I don´t have a ton of time to read.

Hand written letter June 13 and June 21

June 13, 2010

Dear Mon and Dad:

Well, things are going well. I’m not sure how much I actually have to write you because I can’t tell you a lot of the stuff that goes down. We’re not supposed to tell you stuff that will make you worry. Well, Thursday last week, we had interviews with Pres. They were 30 second interviews. I’m not really going to know him. It will be interesting to see if my comp or I get changed this week. We have been working a lot with the members to try and get our attendance up. They are really trying to push to get this to be a stake, but they need more people attending sacrament meeting and more Priesthood. We have 2 investigators right now. I’m not really sure any of them are progressing. I was born in a really hard area. We could have success, but my comp is starting to waste a lot of time and he says that he’s talked to everyone. We just haven’t seen much success.

I had to eat hard-boiled egg the other day and it took everything I had to get it down. My black shoes that were already worn are doing quite well. They are very comfortable. I might get 6 months out of them. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to find contact solution and if I eventually do, it is going to be really expensive.

Here is a sample of our meals. For breakfast, I usually get something from the “bakery” like a cinnamon roll, sweet bread, or pico, a sweet bread. Some times we have to get cookies and chips for breakfast. Lunch usually consists of rice and beans and some type of meat and lettuce. The lettuce is sometimes bad because it just sits in water all day. They eat a lot of Gallo Pinto. It is just a black bean and rice dish. Their cheese is really salty. It is crumbly and very different.

I haven’t been getting bed bug bites any more, just mosquito bites.

It will definitely be different when I go to a new area that actually has members and the missionaries don’t have to run everything in the branch. It is hard because we just spend so much time with members, trying to strengthen them that we just don’t get much done. It will definitely be easier when I get transferred.

I got your e-mail today. It was actually really helpful Mom. You are right. I need to forget about myself and just focus on the investigators and members. We don’t have very many investigators and I often have a hard time knowing what the members need, but that’s what I need to do. I need to stop worrying about myself and worry about others. Dave also gave me some good advice. He said a lot of people told him not to waste a single second. He said he hated that. He liked more the saying, “enjoy every second.” That’s not to say don’t work hard, but if you are enjoying your time, you will work hard. I can’t believe by the time you get this, I will have been on my mission for 4 months.

I guess I’ll just tell you what happened a couple of nights ago. You said don’t worry about telling you things, that you won’t worry, so here goes. A couple nights ago, a guy got killed in front of our house. We were sitting there eating after we finished planning and we heard some commotion outside. We looked out the window and my comp saw a guy fall. He just thought it was some kid that pushed over a drunk. He didn’t think anything of it, so we went back to eating. Then, he looked out the window and he said that the guy was bleeding. He ran and moved the table, “our security system”, and unlocked the door. He told me to grab a towel. My comp ran out and got there first. I ran up and his eyes were already glazed over. He had lost so much blood. The road was covered with blood. I ran up and tried to see where he was bleeding from. My comp said, “No you don’t want to see that.” I didn’t know what he was talking about. There were some other guys with some first-aid supplies. There was nothing we could do, so we went back to our house. We asked some of the people in front of our house what happened. She said a car had come by and some guys had a machete and cut the guy in the neck. I’m guessing my comp saw his neck where he had been cut. When we got in the house, he was pretty shaken up. For the whole night and next day he was shaken up. Cops didn’t come for like 25 minutes and the ambulance didn’t come for another 10 minutes. The cops didn’t cover him for like an hour and at 11:00, when we finally went to bed, his body was still there. My comp is still really shaken up. He doesn’t like being out in the dark past 8:00 now.

June 21, 2010

My comp’s been better this week. He has been able to walk around without being so jumpy. We still haven’t had very much luck, although we did get one of our investigators to church yesterday. She is trying to give up coffee. We have bought her Arvena, this oatmeal drink, tang. She has been working for 2 weeks to give it up. On Sunday she was at 3 days without coffee.

Missionary work is different than I thought it would be. It is especially different in San Ramon when we have to spend half our time with members to strengthen them. I will probably be here one more change. My comp will go home in 8 weeks and then I will spend 1 more change there, probably, to show my new comp, the new branch pres around. We will see. I’m really excited for the new president to come and meet him. It will definitely be different when I finally go to a different area.

Now I’ll tell you a little about our branch work. About half our time is spent visiting members. We have to get to know them, strengthen them, and gain their trust. We are home teachers, visiting teachers, and branch presidency—oh and missionaries! On Monday nights, we try and go to as many Noche de hogar (night of home) or FHE as we can. Tuesday night, we have to go to Seminary. Seminary here is for all the members and nonmembers. We have a girl, our most strong member, Lorna, that teaches. We have to go to support her, in case she doesn’t show and in case there are investigators. Wednesday night, I teach an English class in the church. We’ve been getting like 10 non-members to that, but none that are really interested in being baptized. Plus, it is a good way for me to learn Spanish. Thursday night, we have Noche de hermanamiento (night of fellowship) or like mutual for everybody where we have a spiriatual message and then we play a game. We had about 40 people in the church for that this last week. Friday night we have seminary again. Saturday there is nothing. Sunday, we wake up at 6:00, get ready, and leave by 7:00. This last Sunday, I went with one 16 year old. He is only half active, and my comp went with his brother. We took a bus up to the little town above us and we stopped by some houses and brought our investigator back for church at 9:15. My comp went around a tried to animate some of our investigators in town to come to church and then he had to be there 30 minutes early to open the church. My Spanish is getting better. I do alright. Most of the time, it just isn’t important to me if I’m completely right. I am starting to understand more.

I hope everyone is doing well. I’m working hard. I loved your advice to just forget myself and just care about the people. It’s hard because my comp is really trunky and ready to go home. He just talks about things from home all the time. I love you and hope this letter was a little bit better. Tell Dad I expect him to write at least a little piece in your next one!! J

With Love,

Elder Bryant Scott Ashby Family

PS

About packages, I still haven’t gotten your package, but I came up with some things I might like in the next one in 2 or 3 or 4 months. Mike and Ikes! Journals here aren’t very high quality. I have the one I use now, plus another one in my suitcase, so when I run out, I will let you know. For the most part, I don’t think too much gets taken. Elder Ensign’s parents sent him a CD player in one of his packages. More than anything, money would be a great Christmas or Birthday present. I can buy most stuff here for cheaper. I’m just too cheap to enjoy myself. That extract to make root beer would be cool. Also, Mike and Ikes, gummy bears, mostly any American candy full of sugar. If there’s anything I actually need, I will let you know.

You would be surprised at the things I eat here. The other day, a member made me this like potato soup with rice and pieces of boiled egg. That was rough. I love platenos(David sp?). Our restaurant usually had beats in the salad and cucumbers. I eat those and they even gave us beet juice with our meal and it was actually pretty good. I had my first mango like 4 weeks ago and I love those. I love the banana they have here too. I eat everything I’m given except some of the salad. Sometimes it’s slimy and I know it will make me sick. For some reason I just want to constantly eat on my mission. That’s where I go broke, by buying little snacks all the time. All the little pulparias (I don’t think I spelled this correctly David), all over make it so easy to buy a snack whenever I want!!!

I don’t know if it would have it, but go to San Ramon, then see if it has a little place called La Gorita before you get to Sana Ramon about 4 KM and La Reina about 4 km past San Famon. Directions here are funny. There are no house numbers or street names. They use monuments, government buildings or district buildings as reference points. Like Par la casa fachenta y cuadra a sur---by the rich house and on block south. WE often have to contact 4 or 5 different houses before we find the person we are looking for.

Q & A e-mail June 14, 2010

1. What is the best thing that happened to you this week?

Hmmm, let´s see. We did have a lot of luck with rides this week and we also had a lot of less actives come to different meetings.

2. What lessons have you learned this week?

So this week these questions are hard. I need to change my attitude because all the things that come to mind are negative. I learned that missionaries, when in a group, take at least twice as long to do anything. ha ha. really but hmm i´ll have to actually think this week about something good for next week. ask me this same one and I will actuallly think aoubt it in the week. but I did learn that I we actually have a good criminal system and an ambulance system that comes when something happens. I did learn that if you can´t get investigators to pray with you there, there is a good chance that they won´t pray when you leave. It is so important to get them to pray with you.

3. Tell us about someone you've met there: in your branch, or someone you've taught.

Lol we are teaching this guy right now. We don´t find him every day, but we teach him like twice a week. We first knew his dad.His dad has this crazy lazy eye. I sent a picutre of him. He´s the old guy in the hat. He is like a character right out of a cartoon. Then, we met and started teaching his son. He has almost the exact same lazy eye. Everytime we see him, i get freaked out. I never know which one´s actually looking at me. He is a funny guy.

4. How is your Spanish going? You haven't said much about the language in awhile.

Spanish is going. I am getting better. I can usually understand people and i get the jist of conversations. But when someone speaks directly to me, I can´t process everything fast enough and I usually don´t understand. the major problem is that I don´t know a lot of words yet, but it is coming.

5. On the google weather, it looks like it's raining there all the time. Is that the case or does it just rain on and off all the time?

Yes, it rains almost every day. It gets kind of old. It´s pretty cool there usually too. I have to use Aleena´s blanket every night because it gets chilly.

6. Is it transfer day today? Maybe you won't get this this week?

Transfers are wednesday. We don´t find out until tuesday. I don´t think i´m getting changed.

7. Do you have any questions for us?

No, not really. I´ve pretty much heard from every one. Where is Bryan on his papers? Is Dad still gone a lot? Who won idol? what happened in flash forward? Not that i really care about the last two questions. i jsut had to come up with something to ask. I don´t really have any questions.