5/1/17--Week Two in the City

Well I am still living! Does that count for anything? Hahaha JK! His week was awesome and super busy! We had many thing happen and many adventures. So to start off the week we had Mega Zone on Tuesday so we got to see other missionaries! I got to see Elder Weisler, Elder Stoker, and Hermana Spackman! They are all missionaries from early on in my mission that are super cool! Plus we got to see President and Sister Reynolds which is always a blast! Then as we were walking out it was raining. So we headed home and then meet up with some members to go to visit a less active family. It was raining hard by this point. Then we walked out of the lesson and our members didn't have umbrellas like my companion and I plus they wouldn't take ours. So we did the next best option. There was cardboard on the side of street so they picked it up and put it over their heads. That is how we keep dry here in New York! Cardboard! 📦

Then oh then, we had chicken feet!!!! They cut off the foot of a chicken boiled it added some flavor to it and gave it to us on a plate! Not saying it didn't taste good! I think it tasted surprisingly good. However just the idea that we were eating the feet of chicken who walk around in their own poop and grass. As well we basically ate pure skin. It was mainly just the skin of the feet. There was some meat on the heel of the foot but still it was mainly skin. Plus there were some stubs of nails still on it. So overall it tasted good but just as long as you push out the idea that you are eating chicken feet. The funny part was my companion and I were talking about it afterwards and then we saw a pigeon and saw their feet and we both about threw up just at the thought of what we had just done.

Now here comes some of the really funny part. At district meeting last week we had it on Thursday which is really late but not important. Somehow we started talking about when the members feed us for dinner how we should try and make the appointments at ether 4:30 or 7 so that we can do some finding between 6-7:30 which is when we are supposed to be doing finding. Then it changed to how both sets of elder's had missed almost all of their dinner appointments that week. Which at first they were like that isn't a big deal. Then we explained how every week one of the sister's in the branch stands up and basically begs people to sign up to feed the elders because everyone else signed up to feed us. So then they felt really bad that they beg people to feed them and they don't go. The famous two lines that happened there after were first (by Elder Gover) "We did it! We done messed up this time!" And two "Ok now we need to do some hard kissing up! Maybe we could make some brownies and put some hearts on them that say Te amo!" We about died from laughter. Just watching as the all of then Elders freak because the realization sinks that the messed up big time and how they planned on solving the problem with food.

Then here is some sad news and some cool news. One of the elders who came in with me on the English side was in the English district had to go home last week for knee surgery. So we got him some snacks for the plane ride home to TEXAS! We took like three steps away from their apartment and see the train that we want start to come in. We saw it and ran or I mean sprinting 2-3 blocks down the street to the station. About half way there I didn't know if we were going to make it but we kept running. We bounded up the stairs so fast scan in and ran up the final two sets of stairs and WE MADE IT ONTO THE TRAIN! The fun part was there were random people cheering us on and and urging us to make the train! I still don't know how we made that train other than God loves us!

Then the next funny story came on Friday we went to our dinner appointment and we were a little late which this causes the rest of our problems. So because we were late the member had left to go do something so when we got to her house she wasn't there. So we decided that while we waited we would go to Diary Queen to get ice cream as we wait. As we were waiting for our ice cream the member called and said she was home. So we panicked and took the ice cream with us coming with any excuse to why we have ice cream. We got to her house across the street and tried her door she wasn't there. So we called her. She said that she was on her way and was going to stop at Diary Queen to get us dinner and ice cream... So we looked at our ice cream and knew how long it took for us to get our ice cream so we began to eat it very fast. We finished it in time however we didn't know how to get rid of our trash. So we looked everywhere for a trash can. We found some back door and found trash cans. So Hermana Castaneda got to go throw the evidence away. Then we proceeded to have Diary Queen and ice cream for dinner, the second round of ice cream was a little rough, but we did it.

This week I read Elder Oak's talk from this past general Conference entitled "The Godhead and the Plan of Salvation." I love when he says: "In contrast to the belief that God is an incomprehensible and
unknowable mystery is the truth that the nature of God and our relationship to Him is knowable and is the key to everything else in our doctrine."

One of the most powerful thing I have seen on my mission is how we have chance and ability to come to know each member of the Godhead. How we can come to know the Savior and what he did for us. How we can come to know our Heavenly Father and his divine love for each and every single one of us. How we can come to know the Holy Ghost and how he guides us back to the Father. As well I know that if we don't make the time to know each member of the Godhead we are not living the gospel to its potential. By living the gospel we come to know the Godhead and their roles in our lives. As well as we come to know the Godhead we know how to repent and how to become better people. I know my Savior and I know he lives! I know my Heavenly Father and I can taste of the love he has for us. I know the Holy Ghost and I am learning how he speaks to me. I love y'all! Have a great week!

Ps next week I go to the temple!! So that means I will email on Tuesday! Yay!

Con Amor
Hermana Ashford

Picture 1-2: cardboard umbrellas
Picture 3: we ate chicken feet......
Picture 4: us and recent converts. We call them the kids.
Picture 5-6: throwing away evidence.
Picture 7: #CityLife
Picture 8: when you play I spy Texas on the train.
Picture 9: when your companion doesn't like taking pictures.