AshLee's weekly letter:
Hello family and friends!
Well this week the work was a little slow, but were always doing our best to continue in faith and find those people who are searching for the truth. This week we had a meeting for those who are in training and it went really well as always. A great experience that we had yesterday was we went to contact a family and from the second that they opened the door we could tell that they were going to be great. When they answered the door they welcomed us in and they called the whole family together to listen to us. We started to teach them the first lesson, the restoration, and then really were interested in the things we had to say and they are excited to learn more about the gospel. When we left the appointment we definitely had smiles on our faces. I hope that everything goes well with this family and that they will progress. Sorry that the letter this week is so short, but HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Love,...See More

AshLee's Letter:
Hola familia y amigos!
Well this week was definitely a busy one, but it was a good one too. On Monday we had pday and we played soccer, which Im not that big of a fan of soccer, but it was fun. Tuesday we had an Hermana Meeting which is always awesome, and at this meeting my comp and I were actually asked to give a presentation about how we can get more investigators to church. We made a web that talked about all of the different things we could do, like working with the ward mission leader, reminding the investigators each time you visit them, talking about the blessings of going to church, etc. After that we played a game, where we put the hermanas in three teams and each team had an investigator that they had to help get to church. We drew a giant chapel and stepping stones to the church, and each team had to pick a piece of paper and if the paper said something good that thier investigator did then they advanced, but if not t...Continue Reading

Family and friends,

This week was actually a really good week and as always Im learning something new each day. This week my companion and I worked hard and we definitely saw the blessings of our work. Last Monday we had an interesting experience because the week before we met someone who spoke English and wanted to be taught in English so we brought our English materials and we went to teach her, but she wasnt home. We went to do contacting and we ended up finding a dad, named Rafiel, and his son, Jaun, and we began to teach them. As we started teaching them, Jaun said that he had lived basically all of his life in New York and didnt speak that much English so luckily we had all of our English materials and my comp. taught him in English while I taught his dad in Spanish. Its crazy how the Lord works. Also this week we went to do service for Hector and his family and we were able to talk to him about the gospel. We helped him to set goals for his life, and he and his daughter ended up going to church yesterday. They are doing well, and he is progresing again, so hopefully all will go well and he will be able to be baptized with his daughter this month. We were actually very fortunate this week to have six investigators who came to church which was definitely a blessing. This week as Ive watched our investigators progress, my faith has really grown. Ive learned that as a missionary I can only do so much, but if I really put my faith in the Lord I will see the "fruits of my labors." Lauren Bangater Wilde said "We set goals to show our faith. We follow up on goals to count our blessings...As you raise your expectations, your effectiveness will increase, your desire will grow, and you will be able to follow the Spirit better.Heavenly Father always answers prayers of faith--even when the answers come in ways we don’t anticipate." Im greatful for the experiences that Ive had in my mission so far and I cant wait to see what more the Lord has in store for me. 

Love,

Hermana Ontiveros :)

The Adventures of Ayutuxtepeque: 

1. So this week we went to visit our recent convert, Hermana Alicia, and while we were teaching her about the love of Christ, she gets a phone and all of a sudden she starts packing. She hangs up and says to us "This guy says that I owe him $500 and if I dont pay him he is going to come and kill me!" So my comp. and I look at eachother and we ask her if we should leave and she says that we dont need to and everything is fine, meanwhile shes packing everything she owns and is shutting all of the blinds. My companion and I couldnt help but laugh at how crazy the situation was, but at the same time we definitely were scared. Yes we did leave eventually...and so did Hermana Alicia. She ended up moving and we actually dont know where in the world she lives now. Yep...thats the kind of people I baptize! ha 

2.Oh another funny story, we were walking in the streets and we start talking to this lady about the gospel and she tells us about how shes catholic, but appreciates the work were doing, and she then slaps my comp. on the arm as she says to her "sabiduria, tenga esta sabiduria!" Oh the adventures of Ayutuxtepeque. 

Buenas! Well I have once again been called to be a trainer for a new missionary. On Wednesday we had cambios and I recieved a new companion. My companion is Hermana Patterson, she is 19, and she is from Las Vegas, Nevada. Things have been starting to pick up here in my area so I believe that Hermana Patterson will be "hechando fuego" in this area which is fantastic because we need to help Ayutuxtepeque come alive again. Well on Saturday we had a temple activity where we invited members and less actives to take a tour of the outside of the temple, President Hintze spoke about the Plan of Salvation, and we had little workshops for them to do. The investigators that we brought really liked it and the activity really exited one of them, Ana, to be baptized so hopefully everything will go well and she will be baptized by the end of this month. This week I had a really interesting experience with learning about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. One of our investigators, Hector, has been really progressing and was working towards baptism with his two girls as well. Things were going great and then at the beginning of last week he began drinking. He hasnt drank in two years and for who knows what reason he started drinking and he didnt stop. When I found that out my heart sank and I became so frustrated. He finally was sober on Friday and my companion and I got the chance to sit down and talk with him. We read him the scripture Moroni 6:1-2 which talks about how its important for us to be worthy to be baptized by changing our hearts and sincerely repenting. He began crying and told us how he feels embarrassed, how he feels like we are one of his daughters and how he really wants to change. As I started talking to him I could feel the spirit so strong and I started crying because I know of his potential and one little temptation has changed the course of his life. It made me think about how the Lord must feel when we make mistakes. He has given us everything to teach us about the good decisions that we need to make and how we can make those righteous decisions and when we choose to take the other path, it makes him sad because he knows of our worth and he knows we are better than that. He loves us and he wants to help us make righteous choices, but we all have our agency to choose for ourselves. I am so greatful for the Atonement because it gives us the chance to make a change in our lives for the better and it gives us the chance to really learn how to become a better person and how to "acercarnos a Dios." Agradezco por la Expiacion de Jesucristo y estoy muy agradecida por la oportunidad que El me daba a cambiar mi vida por el mejor. Estoy agaradecida que puedo testificar de Su divinidad a muchos personas en El Salvador, y puedo ayudarles a aprender sobre nuestro misericordioso Dios. Se que sin ninguna duda que esta es la iglesia de Jesucristo. He visto muchos milagros en mision y se que El Salvador nos ama y quiere que sepamos eso. Me gustaria decir que les amo, y se que si pongamos nuestra fe in Dios, el vaya ayudarnos y apoyarnos in cualquier cosa que vayamos hacer. Testifico de Su amor para nosotros, y por medio de Su expiacion, podems ser perdonados por nuestros pecados. Les amo, y estoy muy agradecida por todo de su ayuda y apoyo. Se cuidan! Con amor, Hermana Ontiveros