AshLee's Letter:
Family and Friends,
Well another week in the mission field has flown by. Last Monday I said goodbye to my two best friends in the mission hich was definitely difficult, but I know that theyre going to do awesome things in Belize. Hermana Smith received a ne companion named Hermana Slater, she is 19 and is from Arizona. On Thursday we had the privilege of having Elder Quitin L. Cook come to El Salvador and listen to him and his wife speak. Elder Cook really helped to motivate to focus in the work and the meeting was great because it was a meeting with all of the missions in El Salvador. I got to see my friends from the MTC and I saw my Springville buddies, aka Hermana Groneman and Elder Burtleson. I loved being able to see everyone again because it was like a family reunion. Except it was more fun, and we didnt play random wierd games. ha Oh family reunions...actually Ive only ever been to one in my life, but anyways..ha This week Hermana Pena and I have worked hard to try and find new investigators and to find where those less active and inactive members live. Needless to say the Lord blessed us with success this week which I am so greatful for. This week we actually got the chance to give service to one of the families that we are teaching. We went to visit them on Saturday and every time weve come theyve been busy or one of the members of the family hasnt been there, but on Saturday when we went the mom was washing her clothes in the pila so we took the opportunity to serve and we washed her clothes for her. It was great because it gave us time to talk to her and get to know her better and after we were able to teach her and her family. This week we actually found inactive members homes as well which was great because we know that there are many who live here, but we just didnt know where they lived. The Lord definintely blessed us this week with finding new people to teach and those less actives who are waiting for someone to come to thier rescue. Oh so my funny story for this week is that we were supposed to have dinner at a members house on Wednesday, but then I realized that I had to teach piano and thats when we have our English classes so we called the sister and she told us we could return on Saturday and well eat pizza. So Saturday we went to her house and we arrived a little late so we said sorry, but now were here. She gave us a funny look and then she said "I told you guys to come on Saturday?" We then said that we called her and she said we could come today? She said no I never recieved that call, but come in and Ill make you something. So we were all confused, but we entered her house (which is actually super nice btw) and we waited as she scrambled around trying to cook something. We told her not to worry about it, but she was kind enough to accept us. So after about five minutes so goes "I know, why dont we order pizza? We started laughing because that is what were going to have in the first place. Well needless to say we found out that there are two people in the ward with the same name and we actually called the wrong sister! Oops....ha Well at least she was kind enough to order us pizza! haha Oh this week Hermana Pena and I had to talk in church, I talked about the Plan of Salvation, and Hermana Pena talked about the importance of friendships among members and investigators (boom Hna Pena!). haha My spritual thought for the week comes from a talk in the October Ensign from Elder Holland. He said "I f the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong, trusting in happier days ahead." I know that life can be tough and there are definintely days when we just want to give up, but we have to remember that the Savior did not give up when he atoned for our sins, rather he completed his purpose. I know that the Lord lives and that this is His work.
Love,
Hermana Ontiveros

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AshLee's Letter:
Good Morning!
Well this week has definintely had its ups and downs but over all its been a pretty good one. Last Pday we made brownies and played uno which was a lot of fun and yes I did actually win one time. Yay for saving the wild card for the last turn! ha Well this week I actually put my piano teaching skills to use. I have started teaching piano to one of our investigators who is eight years old and all I have to say is patience is a virtue. I know that shes just a kid and she has the attention span of about two seconds, so I tried my best to make the lesson fun and easy but she gets distracted easily like most kids do. I just want to give a shout out to my awesome piano teacher Evelyn who had soo much patience with me when I was learning piano, especially when I didnt practice during the week...hey we all did that when we were learning, dont act like you didnt! ha This week we had a multizone and it was fun to see people from other zones and of course to see mom and dad (Hermana adn President Hintze). I just have to say that I really do love the Hintze´s because they really do care about each missionary and they always know how to motivate us to do better in our areas. Every time that I leave a multi zone I always feel like Im ready to conquer the missionary world and baptize every living soul! Obviously that doesnt happen, but its good that they get me motivated to do something like that. This week I had interchanges with Hermana Sanchez which was fun, but also crazy because she was the first person that I trained so it felt like we were companions all over again. This weekend Hermana Chant and Hermana Patterson got called to serve in Belize and well lets just say it was so hard to say goodbye to them I cant even tell you. Theyve been my best friends on the mission and Hermana Chant and I have been planning to go to Belize since the beginning and now her and Patterson are going without me. Hopefully I will get my chance to go soon and join them. Oh so funny story, we went to teach one of our investigators about the law of chastity and we talked about the proclomation for the family and we talked about how marraige is a beautiful thing and how families can be together forever and well you know the usual. After we had explained all of this we asked her if she had any questions. She looked and me and said "You really want to get married dont you?" and then she started laughing when I told her yes I really do. Well this week weve been working with an investigator that is thirteen and her brother and sisters are members but she is not. In the begining she wasnt very receptive but now shes really interested in the lessons and she came to church with us for the first time on Sunday. Were definintely working with her to help her progress. Well my advice for this week is as always put your trust in the Lord and if you havent, read the conference Ensign because there are so many great articles in there! Well I hope that you all have a great week! Les amo mucho!
Hermana Ontiveros 

AshLee's Letter:
Family and Friends!
Well this week was another busy week in the mission field. On Monday for Pday we went to McDonalds for breakfast, played games, and made Mexican tacos for lunch which were super delicious, yay Mexican food! ha Later that night one of investigators invited to eat pupusas at her house so all four of us went and ate at her house. Needless to say we were definitely super full that day! On Tuesday I had a leader meeting at Presidents house and it definitely was a little wierd because there were only five hermanas (all of the hermana leaders) and all of the rest were the zone leaders. ha But the meeting was really great because I learned a lot about the importance of leadership and the importance of making goals and learning to teach with love. On Wednesday we had interviews with President and of course that went well, he always has such encouraging and nice things to say. President and Hermana Hintze..theyre the best! On Thursday we had a zone meeting and I had to give a part of the lesson about what I learned at the leader meeting. I know I talk to people all the time every day all day, but when I have to stand in front of a crowd and talk I still get a little nervous, but no worries it went well. On Friday I had interchanges with Hermana Escobar ( my cousin in the mission because her mom is Hermana Chant) and we had a good time. Shes a great missionary with a sense of humor and shes always happy. Oh so funny story, on Saturday morning we called one of the members to confirm that we were going to have dinner with her that night and she told us yes and to come at seven. So we show up at seven and her and her husband were sleeping but they let us in and then they began to talk with us, and talk, and talk. We began to look at eachother like what just happened when the wife looked at us and said "Oh Im supposed to feed you! "They had forgotten...awkward! ha On Sunday we had church and we had three investigators, two kids and thier grandma, with us which was good. I definitely had a mother moment because I was trying to keep the kids busy, and then I would have to go up and play the piano so basically I had no idea what any one said in their talks, but hey its all good. ha This week was really good because we were able to find some new people and weve really been able to feel the spirit strongly whenever we teach. Its amazing how the spirit testifies to these people when were teaching them. Whenever the spirit testifies of the truth it always makes me wonder how people dont believe after theyve received revelation like that. Oh well, I guess everything happens for a reason. This week I was reading the Ensign with the conference talks and I there were two talks that I read that were really inspiring. One was by President Monson and the other was by Elder Eyring. One of the things that President Monson said that I really liked was " It is a divine service, a divine call. It is our duty as (missionaries) to carry the spirit into every home and heart. To love the work and to do our best will bring unbounded peace, joy and satisfaction...It is our sacred privilege to brighten, to touch, and to save, those precious souls entrusted to our care. We should do so faithfully and with hearts filled with gladness." Although you all may not be full time missionaries, you still can help people come unto Christ and work for your own conversion. I know that this gospel it true and Im so greatful for all that I have learned in my nine months here. 
Love,
Hermana Ontiveros
Enero 2014,
Santa Tecla-Monte Sion 2

AshLee added additional information in my letter . This needed to be shared.
On Wednesday we actually had interviews with President Hintze and his wife. President Hintze thanked me for all of the hard work that I have done on the mission and then he began to cry as he told me what a great missionary I am and that the Lord is pleased with the work that I have done. He then said that for all of the hard work that Ive done I deserve a reward. He then asked, "Hermana Ontiveros, would you like to go to Belice?" I was like halfway out of my chair when he asked me that because I want to go soooo bad. He said that it wont be this change but it will be soon, definitely before I go home. So that was definitely exciting.

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AshLee's Letter:
Hello there!
Well another week has passed by rapidly here in El Salvador. On Monday my zone and I went to the beach to play volleyball and take pictures which was actually a lot of fun. On Tuesday we had the privelege of having two lunches, and dinner with members of our ward. The food was really great and the members that we ate with were so welcoming and really helped us to feel at home. We ate dinner with one of our favorite families in the ward and because we as missionaries arent allowed to stay out late, before we left we turned the hand on the clock to one minute until midnight and we counted down...cinco, cuatro, tres, Dos UNo...FELIZ ANO NUEVO! We then hugged and cheered and it was a lot of fun. On Friday I completed 9 months on the mission..crazy how time passes here! My companion and Hermana Patterson made me a sing that said "Happy Nine Months" and for dinner we went and celebrated at a mexican taco place which was super delicious; yeah for Mexican food! haha Also on Friday I went on interchanges with Hermana Patterson and of course we had a lot of fun, we always do. On Saturday we had a meeting for all of the people who are in training and who are training and as always the meeting went well. The chapel that we went to is the one next to the temple and while I was at the meeting I ran into people from my old area...good old Ayutuxtepeque...ha It was good to see people I knew, it made me feel loved. ha Well as for my area things are going pretty well, were working with a lady and her granddaughter and hopefully they shall be baptized soon because they really do like the gospel and the blessings theyve received from going to church and from recieving us in thier home. One of the great things about her is that she has a pupuseria and one night we went to help her out and she gave us free pupusas..yeah freed food! With having to open a new area and with being an Hermana Leader Ive really learned the importance of listening to the spirit and about the gift of discernment. If we fully engage ourselves to listen to the spirit then we shall never be misguided and our lives shall be more fully blessed. Im so greatful for this gospel and all that it has done for me. I cant wait to see what lies ahead for me in this new year. I hope that you all have a wonderful week, feliz ano nuevo 2014!
Love,
Hermana Ontiveros