Letter #66-"When everything you´ll get is everything that you wanted,‏

Well which would you prefer?"

-TBS Cute without the ´E´ (cut from the team) [could be one of THE best songs in the world]

Well my family, I never get tired of saying it. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! Thanks so much for the love and help and support and prayers you give me. I really appreciate them and I can feel it all the way down here. SO this is my last winter (as dad pointed out) it´s been really weird. Normally it´s like 0 degrees C here. Today it was 20.    It´s been really warm (for winter) lately. I am happy because the winter is almost unbearable. but I am nervous because that means... it´ll probably be a really hot summer.. Global warming? I´m kidding. 

Well, we taught this girl last week (last Monday) (me with Elder Elias) called Brenda. We were teaching her in front of her family (sister is a member, parents are not) and when we went to mark the baptismal date we did it differently, we said "When do YOU feel that you should be baptized?" She responded "Immediately." 

So she was baptized Saturday morning. I spoke at her baptism. It was super awesome and spiritual. We are starting to teach her parents now. Who knows? We are praying for a miracle. We also received a reference from 2 recent converts in our ward. The husband looks like EAN!!!! hahaha and he has the best sounding voice in the world (like a brazilian Dallin H. Oaks) 

Well, we started teaching their sister. She is SUPER Catholic. I had an interesting experience. You know when you do things and you don´t even realize it and sometimes it happens because you are following the Spirit? THAT happened. She was telling us about a WHOLE bunch of problems that happened in her life and she was asking for a way out. A way to get better and I whipped out a Book of Mormon and told her to read it and pray. It was a neat experience. 

Well, I have to go. I love you all so much. I pray for you daily. Don´t Stop Believing!!!

Com Amor!

-Elder Nathan Askins!!!!

Letter #65- "So What´s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost!?"

Louder Now!!!!"

That Taking Back Sunday was for Joshua and for dad. because I know dad thinks that Taking Back Sunday is the funniest name since Terd Fergassen. hahahaha. 


So this week was AWESOME and GRANDE!!! A lot of things happened. So we started taking care of this branch called Borda do Campo. They lost their missionaries. They called us about a reference. We went there and baptized her on Saturday! Her name is Camila. She is 9 years old. She had been going to church for a long time and kept asking, Can I get baptized!? hahaha How elect is that? Well when she was getting her interview, I started talking to her mom. I ended up just teaching her the first lesson with a few members present. It was awesome! and then I was finishing up the lesson and I was baring my testimony and I just blurted out something about temples. I didn´t even want to. It just like came out. and then I was like, well, I better explain temples to her. So I explained temples to her. and I did a baptismal invite to her and she accepted (didn´t mark a date, she´s not married). 


The next day we drove out there (took the bus actually) to follow up and have her sign the baptismal form and she came out with the Book of Mormon in her hand and I said "Oh did you read and pray?" "I read it, but I haven´t prayed yet. and I don´t need too. I already know it´s true. Everything in this book is true and it´s from God. I want to be a member of your church, because it is the only true church. It really is Christ´s church." 


I think my mouth dropped open so much that it hit the ground. Me and Elder Elias looked to each other. "WHAT?" She said, "years ago I was searching for the true chruch and I prayed one night and had a dream that I was walking up to a big white building and a man dressed in a white tunic came out and greeted me. It was the Lord and I begged him to let me enter into His house (for it was His house) and He let me enter. And last night (facing me) Elder, when you were talking to me, I never felt so different and I know it was the Spirit and then when you started talking about temples, I knew already that your church was true." 


I cried. Right then and there. My family, you know I am a big baby. She said "I don´t think it is by chance that I have been searching for the true church and my daughter went to your church and all of a sudden wants to be baptized. She´s gone to tons of churches and never wanted to be baptized. and then you get here and start talking about temples. It´s all true." She signed the form. Went to the bapism, went to church. When she gets married, she´ll be baptized.

Transfers were this week. Elder Elias was transferred! He is now in Curitiba. I am with one of my old friends (and new comp) Elder Andrade. He is from, you guessed it, the north east. hahaha He is super awesome. It is his first transfer as zone leader so i´ll be training him to be a zone leader. it is just fire in the bones here in São José dos Pinhais. 


Don´t you worry about me. like Sister Cordon and President say, "Live your mission so that every day when you wake up and your feet hit the floor satan says 'oh no, he´s awake!'" I sure am trying! I love you all so much! Don´t Stop Believing! It´s true!!!! I love you all!!!! 
Com Amor!
Elder Askins!!!!

July pictures weddings and a baptism

Letter #64-"How Do You Like Me Now!?"

"Now that i´m on my way. You still think I´m crazy standing here today. I couldn´t make you love me but I always dreamed about living in your radio, How do you like me now?"

Dear family, 
I sure do love you all so much. This week has been fantastic!!! We spent Thursday at the Zone Leaders Council and then Friday was a Zone leaders´training. It was aweosme. 


Saturday was Adriano and Loriane´s wedding (in the morning) and Saturday night was their baptism. It was so awesome and spiritual. We noticed that they brought like 10-15 people to the baptism and so we taught them all the first lesson. Many people were crying. We taught about prophets and Jesus Christ and then about the Apostasy and then we sang Oh How Lovely Was the Morning (our ward mission leader, the Bishop, me and Elder Elias) and then on the 3rd verse we just hummed and Elder Elias recited the first vision and then we finished with the 4th verse and then we taught about the restoration. It was awesome. 


After, they had a ward activity. On Sunday they were confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Adriano received the Aaronic Priesthood later that day. It was so cool!!! We are working hard. 


On Monday, I returned to Xaxim for a division and I was able to visit some old friends and we met some new people to teach. Yesterday, we went to another area that has been closed for a few weeks and we went with the Branch President. We taught a girl (Camila 9 years old) and she is going to be baptized at the end of this week!! How awesome is that??!!! We are working super hard!! I love you all so much! We are really seeing tons of miracles that are happening. 


i know that Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior and Redeemer. He is our Lord. The Book of Mormon is true and Jesus Christ called Joseph Smith to be a prophet. President Monson is a prophet of God!!! I love you all so much!
Com amor!
-elder nay
P.s. Joshua is home! how awesome! i love him so much! I hope he reads this! JOSHUA!!! RON dude!!!! wait a little bit longer. i love you!!!!

Letter #63- "Until then you can run away, do your best to hide your face.

And oh I know you best, I know you get what you get, you get what you deserve!!"

Dear family!!!
Oh I love you all so much! I am so happy that we are a family and that we can be together forever someday!!! I hope everyone is just wonderful! Everything here is just grreeeeaaaatatttt! I can´t complain. The trip to the temple was awesome! but I wasn´t able to do a session, we showed up way late because we got on the wrong bus. Can you believe that? I have never ridden on a city bus until my mission, now I use the world´s most developed public transit systems in the world. It is awesome. AND I am finally starting to understand how to use it. 

So the most awesome thing that is happening is the MARRIAGE of Adriano and Loriane!! WEDDINGS! I LOVE WEDDINGS!!! DRINKS ALL AROUND!!! Oh Jack Sparrow!!!

It will be awesome! Me and Elder Elias are going to be the witnesses of the wedding! and then we get to go eat lunch with them and their extended family and then that night (at 6 PM) is their baptism!!!!! Who is super excited! I am so excited!!! It wil be so awesome and so special. Afterward, the ward will have an activity. So it is going to be awesome!!! 


Tomorrow is the Council of the Zone Leaders, which will be really neat and great to see some of my friends again. And Friday we have another training for Zone Leaders. Which will be fun as well!!! 
I want to tell you a story:
There were these two punk kids that lived at the bottom of a mountain. At the top of this mountain was a very very wise old man. These kids always wanted to prove to this old man that he really wasn´t very wise. Every day they climbed the mountain to ask a hard question and every day the wise old man responded correctly. One day one of the punk kids said to the other, " I have an idea of what we can do to finally stump the old man. We will climb up with a little bird and then when we get up there, I will put the bird behind my back. We will tell him that we have a bird behind our back, and tell him to guess if it is alive or dead. If he says it´s alive, I will kill it and then show him the dead bird. If he says it´s dead, I won´t kill it and we release the bird and it will fly away and show that it´s alive. Either way we will win and he will lose." 

So they caught a bird and climbed the mountain. When they arrived before the old man, they tucked the bird behind his back and said "I have a bird behind my back, is it living or dead?" the old man waited a minute or two, looked deep in their eyes and said "the answer is in your hands."

And that is the answer with a lot of things. We want blessings, we want happiness, we want to enter in the temple, we want to live with Heavenly Father and our families forever. The answer is in our hands. I love you all so much and I am so grateful to be with you all forever!!!!!
Com Amor,
Elder Askins