Another singing video and some sweet pictures

Note from Brigette: I have been delighted throughout Ashley's mission to receive videos of her singing periodically!  From a music video from her time at BYU being released a few months into her mission, to one from her MTC President, to another we received from members of the church in Brazil, to this one this week - it is always so good to hear her beautiful voice!  What makes this one especially fun is that these two missionaries were in Primary together as children and our families were friends in Arkansas 11 years ago before we moved to Texas.  They were in the same MTC district and reported to the Campinas mission the same day.  Enjoy! Lots of pics below the video.



Today's email was lots of pictures and very little text.  She did mention that she received a TON of email this week.  Yay! Thank you all for supporting and encouraging her!  Hopefully you all got emails today in response as well.

 She was thrilled this week to see a beloved friend be baptized.  She said "Yes - I cried my eyes out at the baptism!"

"My comp is from Mexico!"!! I´m living with 3 Hispanics! I told the Lord I wanted to learn Spanish! Haha!"

Another note from Brigette: This picture made me laugh out loud... for real! Before Ashley left for Brazil, she was using the Duolingo app and pretty much learned 2 sentences in Portuguese. "I have a butterfly" and "A snake ate a pineapple." Early in her mission, she sent me a picture of a butterfly and said "It happened! I don't think I'm going to get the other one..."  Well... here you go! Haha!

She also asked that I share the following talk with you today that she studied and enjoyed this week.  Enjoy! Click here to read "Living a Life of Peace, Joy, and Purpose". 

I LOVE the people of Brasil.

 

 

Yup! I LOVE the people of Brasil. That´s what I´ll most miss. I can bring the food, the language (a bit), and my habits that I learned, but the people - That´s what I´ll miss. I love this land so much! For sure I was predestined to come here, and the Lord was so patient in helping me realize that I needed to be here. 

Bruno and Jaqueline- and awesome family in the ward! They´re both returned missionaries, and they help us a ton. I WANNA BE LIKE THEM WHEN I GET MARRIED!!! Super cool and always ready to help! Eternal missionaries!!!!

We found some kind of white thing growing on a tree, and we war painted our faces! Woohoo!!!

Us and Elder Gama in the rodoviária! He was our best friend. He was President´s right hand man, and we worked together a lot to help fix up a lot of probs in the mission. He´s super funny, and now....morto. [For those of you unfamiliar with mission slang,  don't worry!  Elder Gama is very much alive.  They just say they "die" when they go home.]  Went home after 2 years and a little more on the mission! Haha! Rest in peace, dude!

CASAMENTO DA WANUELLY E DO BRUNO!!!!!!!!!! It was WONDERFUL!!!!! And Wanuelly will be baptised on Tuesday, and Bruno in a few weeks! AH!!! THEY

ARE SO SO SO  SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO AMAZING!!!!

Our last pics together right after we cried our eyes out! I´m surprised that there´s any makeup left!!! I sure miss that girl!!! This was a tough transfer!!! 

 

 

I´m taking full advantage of these pants to climb trees to eat berries, and to scare the birds that pooped on my comp, and as a way to see the sunset! [Due to Zika and other mosquito borne illnesses, they are now advised to wear pants instead of skirts at peak mosquito times.]

Saying goodbye to Sister Franca

With new companion, Sister Teran

At home in their apartment

Teaching English

Beautiful Brasil!

 

 

It was very interesting and humbling to realize who I am in the natural man

I have learned a LOT this week!!!

First off, about obedience. In our leadership meeting President talked a bit about this, and then my comp and I taught about it in our Zone Meeting. Why are we obedient? What difference does is make? We know the phrase that says, "Obedience brings blessing. Exact obedience brings MIRACLES." This reminded me of 2 Nephi 27:23 that talks about how God is a God of miracles, but miracle will only be done de acordo com our faith. Obedience produces hope which produces faith. 

Let me explain. President said, Okay...what happens when you aren´t obedient...doubt comes into your mind..."wow....I don´t think I deserve to be blessed.....I didn't keep that rule or commandment, so I don´t deserve blessings or help from the Lord" Doubt kills our hope, and where there isn´t hope, there also can´t be faith. How can you have the faith to work miracles if you don´t have hope that anything can happen bc you weren´t obedient and don´t deserve blessings? When we are obedient, we have the hope that the Lord will bless us. This hope inspires us to work and go after the righteous desire we have which creates faith. And FAITH is the power that God uses to work miracles in our front. It´s AMAZING!!!!! God´s got it all worked out!!!

I also learned about the atonement. I had to give a talk at the last minute on Sunday, and I learned a lot writing it during Sunday School. 

We know that Jesus Christ was the only perfect person to walk the earth. He was perfect in obedience, righteousness, and patience, but He was rejected, suffered and died for us. Because of his sacrifice, EVERYTHING is possible in God´s plan. We can continue strong and learn in our difficulties, and we can CHANGE-become better people. (Moises 1:39)

There´s a phrase that I then read from a talk that I studied this week (Mom, in respect to your question about the ward-read this talk, and go one step at a time-one program at a time, and apply everything you do to Personal Progress)

"What we should remember when we behold Him is that because of Him, and all He did and all He was and is, we too can triumph. We also can overcome. We can live abundantly in the midst of trials. If we choose to “behold” Him and accept and apply His saving gospel, He will save us. He will rescue us from the effects of our own fallen natures and foibles, and He will save us from sin, from spiritual mediocrity, and from ultimate, eternal failure. He will purge, refine, beautify, and eventually even perfect us. He will give us joy and peace. He is the key to abundant life."]

 But my personal question for YEARS has been HOW, HOW, HOW can I actually, actively apply the Atonement in my life? So, he talks in the talk about oak trees (or shrubs..) and how their roots are deep to help them be strong and to nourish them. So how can we?

By study and by faith (D&C 19:23) 

Scripture study (Mom, ask questions-start your study with a questions, and then read the BoM first and see where it leads you)

Family home evenings

The examples of others-this is why we come to church-to learn together. One strengthens the other bc maybe your weakness is the strength of someone else, and your strength their weakeness! Everyone works together!

Serving others to therefore serve Him

He went about doing good! It doesn´t have to be big-just DO (acts 10:38)

Always remembering Him

We should worship him with reverence and Love-this is a chance for us to develop our relationship with him, and really feel how much we love Him

We want to be like Him, so we need to remember Him and do the things He did-small simple, daily steps

*** these are the small simple, daily, repetitive, but ESSENTIAL things that allow us to daily apply the atonement in our lives-like the deep roots, they grow gradually.*** 

(and a cool side note-I talked my comp through a personal crisis yesterday, and learned something. Roots have a lot of different branches that grow at different rates. Sometimes one little branch stops growing to allow the other to grow. It´s the same thing in us . Many times we feel that we aren´t doing, being, growing enough, but really we just aren´t seeing how other parts of us are growing-that the Lord is shaping us. So just look up and focus on the good, and it´ll all be okay!***

The Savior Jesus Christ is the exemplar of every virtue. He was the one perfect man ever to live. He atoned for our sins. Through His Atonement we can become women and men of Christ. We can be cleansed, changed, healed, and refined. Our souls can become things of beauty.

May we “behold the man” more completely. May we emulate Him more worshipfully. May we follow Him more eagerly. May we sink our roots deeper in the soil of salvation until we rest on Him, the Rock of our Redeemer. May we increasingly enjoy the blessing of the abundant life He offers.

 My invitation to all of you is to do the small things, work together in the church, in families, in the community-serving, worshipping, forgiving and helping one another. Invite those you know and love to feel the same peace, light and direction that we have in the gospel, and as a representative of Jesus Christ, I promise you that if you do these things, you will feel the poder capacitador of the atonement, your sins will be forgiven, and you will have the spirit more abundantly in your life to sanctify you. To make you a different person!

Also, I learned about the sanctifying power of the Spirit this week! In practice! I had an interesting experience this week. 

I had about 2 days where the Lord let me see who I am WITHOUT the influence of the Spirit. It was surreal. I, all of a sudden, became jealous, tired, grumpy, even angry, all of this inside of me, and I couldn´t seem to snap out of it. Logically, I knew that nothing was wrong and that this was really weird and that I just needed to smile and be my normal, happy self, but I couldn't seem to do it. It was as if I were watching as a 3rd person. I tried talking it out with my comp (but I was angry with every little thing she said-I kept apologizing bc i didn´t know what was going on, but I just got madder and madder at myself for being like this! She´s so patient! I tried writing in my journal, sleeping, NOTHING WORKED!) Finally, it just suddenly stopped, and I became normal again. I prayed that night asking why something like that had happened, and the Lord told me that THAT is who I would be if I hadn't been baptized and sanctified little by little everyday by the Spirit. THAT is how my investigators feel-trapped in their bad habits and sins. It was very interesting and humbling. To realize who I am in the natural man. WOW! I´m NOT a cool person! Yeesh! I´m not cool at all! But also very empowering knowing that if I choose to walk with God, I can be someone different, happy, peaceful, resilient, and driven, and that I can improve everyday. HE doesn´t fail of falter, so with Him, I can have the hope and assurance that everything is and will be okay.  [Side note from Mom:  This was so interesting to me, because I have NEVER seen her like that.  Then I realized that this was a young lady who decided to read the Book of Mormon as a 7 year old before she was baptized and accomplished that goal, and then kept learning and progressing from there.  Since before she reached the age of accountability, she has always sought to have the Spirit with her, so of course, none of us have ever known the "natural man" Ashley.  Kind of explains why raising her was such a piece of cake.  Haha!]

I´m out of time, but next week I´ll write about the AWESOME revelation that i received about sanctification during sacrament meeting...like 3 pages of revelation! I wrote a whole other talk hahaha!!!! I´ll write next week!!!

Love you all so much!!! Go and be happy, truly happy! That´s what God wants! Your happiness!!!

Love, Sister Little

I now know who I am

First off, the people who say that you can´t buy happiness have never eaten acaí because you can buy acaí, and acaí and happiness are pretty much the same thing! ;D

Also, if you want to be the Sister Missionariess' ANGEL, show up at their house one night with toilet paper and chocolate. Also, always offer rides for them and ESPECIALLY their investigators!!!! THEY WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER!

Also, I´m addicted to feeling the Spirit. Like, really addicted....

This week I learned a LOT!!!! And guess what....I found a part of who I am. Let me explain:

 

Ever since...forever, I´ve been a rather insecure person. In my values and testimony-ROCK SOLID, but in respects to who I am, I´ve always lacked confidence and surety. I remember that when I went to BYU, I felt very lost because the things that I had used to identify myself  were the same things that EVERYONE ELSE there had.  As the time passed, I became more confident and sure in other respects, but the Lord never lets us get comfortable. 

 

One year and 2 and a half months ago, I arrived in Brasil as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Even though I was wearing my name and the name of my Savior on my front every single day, I had never felt so, so , sooooooooooooooooo lost and useless. At the beginning, I struggled a lot because I wanted so badly to help people, to teach, to serve, to be a comfort, but I felt so incapacitated not being able to speak my own language and express myself. I also found that I could help people through healing hugs and singing, but still, I felt like I didn´t know who I was. 

 

I remember one day during my training, I was having difficulty making contacts and teaching without becoming super nervous and shy, and my trainer, Sister Bastos, trying to help me told me, "Just be yourself! Be who you are!" That was the last straw. I broke down crying in the middle of the road, "But I DON´T EVEN KNOW who I am anymore! I lost everything when I came here!!! I just don´t know!" 

The time passed, and I learned how to speak, how to teach, how to joke around, laugh, and be my happy self again, but still....I wasn´t sure who I was. I always change myself to agradar [please] my comps, teach more like that other missionary who "taught better". I was always changing little things. For sure change is good, and God puts people  in our lives to help us change and be better, but what I was doing was too much, and for the wrong reasons. 

When I hit 9 months in the mission, I was called as Sister Training Leader, and I haven't stopped yet. The Lord called me to teach me, and teach me He did. I started going on exchanges every week with sisters, calling them a few times a week to follow up, see how they were doing and just be their friends. I started to see how the Lord was using me to teach the Sisters and help them with their problems and worries. It AMAZED me! I never though I was capable to help in such a way, but the Lord knew better. I learned that humility is having confidence- the confidence that without the Lord we are nothing, but that with Him, He can do miracles through us. 

Finally, this week, we had to do an emergency exchange with 2 sisters that are having a boat load of problems. President himself asked for it, so we did it. The sisters got REALLY MAD and even called President to ask WHY they had to do it. I was scared....really scared....the sister I was going to work with has the same amount of time on the mission as me, is older that me, and she herself tells everyone that she is prideful. Last exchange she burnt my comp to a crisp with awful feedback (yes, my incredible comp that is one of the most incredible missionaries I´ve ever seen!). I was super scared, BUT I prayed a lot and decided that I was just going to be happy! 

 

She burnt me right off at the start about how she didn´t want to be here, it was unnecessary, and all, and I just listened, and then bore my testimony that President receives revelation for our missions and that today was going to be a great day. We did some practices together and then we went out. I talked with her  the whole stinking day.....for the first 2/3 of the day, she didn´t respond to me or look at me, and only I made contacts in the road, taught, EVERYTHING, but I kept talking to her, commenting on how the sky was beautiful, how the Lord was blessing us, yes, everything was falling through, but at least we´re learning, and when I wasn´t talking, I was singing....primary songs...in english! (hahah! coitada dela!!!![Poor her!])

At the end of the exchange, I gave the feedback to her and expressed my confidence in her and her work and her ability to help her comp. Then...her turn to give me feedback...the moment I was dreading......and..... ..... ..... ...... nothing.....she appreciated the exchange.....I asked about what I could do better and.....nothing....she didn´t have anything to give me....LIKE WHA?!??!?!?! Como assim?!?!?! 

 

She told me that I had a very SWEET SPIRIT (the EXACT same words that another sister said just one day before in the feedback and what I've heard my whole mission), and that I bring a peace with me that helps others. Then she opened up for about 40 minutes about everything that has been happening in her mission. I was blown away. 

I finally learned who I am. I have a sweet spirit. Everyone was telling me to burn her to bits on this exchange, but I prayed and didn't feel like that was right. The Lord gave me a different technique. I now know who I am. I have a sweet spirit, and I don´t have to change to be able to quebrar pernas or queimar [break legs or burn others]. The Lord uses me in a different way. He gives us strength to do His work, and He always inspires us. A  few transfers ago, I felt that impression that to have the confidence I wanted, I needed to develop my relationship with my Savior, and the confidence will come. 

 

Now I know who I am. I am Sister Little, a daughter of God and missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have my humble confidence. And you can too. 

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Matthew 16:24-25