Greetings from the Bronx

(Side note: The Bronx is the only New York City borough with a Hispanic majority. At the 2010 Census, 53.5% of Bronx's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race). At the 2009 American Community Survey, Puerto Ricans represented 23.2% of the borough's population, Mexicans made 5.2%. In 2005, more than 200,000 Dominicans called the Bronx home, and in 2000 Dominicans made 14.5% of the Bronx population.)

WHAT UP FROM THE BRONX! 

I am now serving in the Bronx with Hermana Skinner who is from Seattle, Washington. She has only been here for 6 weeks! She is SO cute and I am very excited to be serving with her!! 



(I found a picture of Hermana Skinner on another sister missionary's blog.
She's the one in the middle with the glasses.)

We are going to be working in the Concourse Spanish Ward here at the Kingsbridge chapel. 

Back in Inwood, we are going to be having a baptism on Saturday!! I can't even believe I will miss it! But it will be so so great. Carmen is the best investigator I have had so far! I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to teach her. 

It keeps getting hotter and hotter! I can't even believe it! I wish that I could be in Antarctica!! I am not a fan of the heat. But, we shall endure! 

It is honestly so crazy to be changing everything. We received 18 new sister missionaries today and 33 total. We have already doubled the number of sisters in the mission since I got here! We have opened about 7 new areas since I got here! So crazy! I can't even believe 7 months have gone by. It is so so so crazy!! 

I don't have any pictures right now but I will get them for you soon! Next week for sure. 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and all the love that you send this way. I know that your prayers help me get through. I love ya'll!! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster

Hello from sunny NYC!

Hello from sunny NYC! 

It has been so crazy this past week!! It started in the 40's then the past 2 days it has been in the 70's! it is so crazy! I packed up my winter coat! I am a little scared to be hot and sweaty all the time but I know it will all be well. 

This past week we have been working with a recent convert to help her start the work for her mother who passed away 7 years ago. She is going to go to the temple tomorrow to do the baptism and confirmation for her mother! We are so excited for her!! She also has asked me and my companion to do the other temple work for her. :) I consider it a huge privilege! 

General Conference was the BOMB! I loved it so so so much. The talks that really stood out to me were the Prophets talk about obedience and then Elder Falabella's talk on Sunday afternoon. I loved the talk about obedience because it really opened my eyes to how much more happy we will be if we keep the commandments. I love it. I am sad that I haven't given eye to this sooner in my life, like in my teenage years. When our parents set rules we are to follow them because we have faith that they are going to love and protect us. When we keep those rules, like be home at 10:30, then we are opening the door to greater privileges. 

We also have been given orders from our mission president to clean up the area "book," and review all of the progress of the area....like we were both going to be getting transferred! Luckily, we have already been working on this since sister e got here!! I feel so good about it now. That if I do leave, the area is in good hands and they know what to do. 

I love this area of Inwood so so so much! It is for sure going to be my favorite area on my mission. ;) 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

I posted some pictures from conference and the last week. 

Yes, a bird pooped on me

Ashley with Hermana's Campbell and Evangelista

AP Elder Hutchins

Ashley and Hermana Campbell

Ashley and Hermana Lavaki

Easter and Conference

HELLO!! 

This past week has FLOWN! Good Heavens I swear it was just last Wednesday. SCARY! 

This last week was super great! I hope that you all got to feel of the amazing spirit that Easter brings. Here in New York, with so many other churches around, everyone is celebrating Holy Week. A lot of people asked us what we do to celebrate Holy Week and we simply tell them, We believe every week is Holy Week. "We are always looking to be disciples of Christ." A lot of people really just don't understand what that means and others devote 3 days a week to going to church. We get a great variation of people around these parts. 

On Thursday we had Zone Conference. It is always so fun because we get to go downtown to the chapel at the temple. President talked a lot about teaching lessons with not a lot of fluff. But direct and straight forward. I'm not going to lie, after the conference I was feeling pretty down. I didn't seem to be doing anything right and I was just frustrated with myself. Luckily my companion is awesome and we were able to have a great chat about applying what we learn in the trainings to the Spanish program because I am not going to lie, it is completely different than the English program. Also, funny story about the conference, we were watching video's about driving safely, and lo and behold, Elder Chase Larsen was in one of them! I was like, I know him! It was pretty funny. He also served in New York but more western. 

Saturday we had 2 baptisms for the Spanish ward. One for an 8 year old boy and the other for an investigator of the Elders. It was crazy! There were so many people there! And someone forgot they were baking a pizza, and so inbetween the changing of clothes/bearing of testimonies, the fire alarm went off. We all thought someone had pulled it and then we all smelled smoke and started to panic. Luckily it was just burnt pizza. :) 

Saturday was also my mothers birthday! She is SO great! She has been an amazing example to me all of my life of going for what you want. She helped me decide a long time ago that if I wanted to go on a mission, the time was then to prepare. I am thankful to her everyday for this AMAZING experience I am able to have. 

Sunday was Easter! I woke up to candy sent to me from my wonderful aunt Julie and my family. It was a little weird not searching for an Easter basket. ;) In sacrament meeting Sister Evangelista sang a song! Haha I love to sing in the Spanish ward because everyone tells you how lovely it sounded. Where as in the English ward, there are opera singers. I don't think I ever will be singing there. We had a great dinner at the Giffords house and I even made cake balls! Strawberry cake with vanilla icing dipped in white chocolate. A special Easter treat. :) 

Tuesday we had a great district unity game. We called it the humble game. It is where everyone says what they like about everyone. Hahaha we are working on really working together in our ward and things have been a little weird lately so this really helped us realize that we all have strengths and weaknesses and that we need to work together to help this ward be great. 

Today we went to TARGET! I hate that it is fifteen minutes away but out of our area. The next closest target/store with decent prices, is down on 116th. Mostly it just isn't fun because they are out of our area and we can only leave 2 times a cycle. But, it was so fun looking at all the spring clothes! There are a few dresses that I have my eye on! I can't wait for the weather to warm up a little! 

Sister Noll sent me a letter! She updated me on her family as well as Ryan. Tell her thank you so much!

I can't wait for this weekend! We are going to be able to hear from our prophet! One of the questions that I like to ask people is, If Moses was on the earth would you listen to what he had to say? Usually the answer is of course! Then I get the privilege of testifying that I know that God has a prophet here on earth today. That Jesus Christ is the head of our church and that He directs it through His prophets, seers, and revelators in our day. How amazing is this knowledge we have! I invite you all to pray to know that this is Christ's church upon the earth and that President Thomas S. Monson is our prophet, the mouthpiece of God here on the earth today. I know that the Spirit will testify to you of this truth. 

I love this gospel so much. I can't believe how much I have learned in the last 6 months that have changed my life forever. I am so thankful for this amazing opportunity to preach the gospel to the people here in New York and also for the refining of self for me and my future. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and a wonderful experience listening to the servants of the Lord!! 

Love you all!! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster

Long Days, Working Hard, Happy Too!

Promised pictures from last week's P-Day

Manhattan New York City Temple  view from a dance room at Julliard

Ashley and other sister missionaries visiting a ward member who attends Julliard dancing 

Ashley in "heaven" at Julliard on her P-Day

Hola! 

This week has been pretty busy. Mostly it feels like it was just barely Wednesday.

This last Friday we had dinner at the other Peruvian lady in our ward's house. It was so good! I love everything they do with potatoes. Her grandson was there, and he had just gotten home from his mission in February. He served in West Africa speaking French. Hermana Evangelista loved it because they just spoke in French the whole time! It was funny because he said he totally has forgotten his Spanish.  

Saturday was CRAZY! It was the busiest day I think I have ever had on the mission. We left the house at 9:30 am and got home at 9:00 pm. We had 6 lessons! It was very legit. 

Ashley (with her new bangs) and Hermana Evangelista

Sunday I got so sick. I think it was because I was fasting, but I am happy to say that I did fast for 24 hours.

Monday we had district meeting and they told us that we can now e-mail anyone we want! Holla! So all of you who want to e-mail me you totally can! (ashley.lancaster@myldsmail.net)

Ashley and Hermana Campbell

We extended a baptism date to one of our new investigators and she said, "well...I can't tomorrow, but maybe next Wednesday." LOVE IT! hahaha. We told her we still have more to teach her, and set the date for April 20th. She is GOLDEN! She is so ready for the gospel in her life. 

Tuesday was pretty chill. We were both really exhausted. We are working hard! 

I hope you all have a great week!! I love you guys and hope that all is well! 

Love you!! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster

A day late, but not a dollar short!

Helllllllllllloo. 

Good week everyone good week. 

On Thursday my companion took a shower and the water wouldn't go down..that was bad. We called up the super and he came in with the snake.. hahah yeah I guess being girls we have a lot of hair and he pulled out what looked like a small creature. hahaha yeah funnnnnny. 

We have been reading the Book of Mormon with one of our recent converts and she is getting the gospel! She was evangelical before, for those of you who have served missions I think you will understand where I'm coming from. She can't see very well so we come over and read a chapter with her every week. She is totally gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon right before our eyes! It is wonderful! 

We had a party for the birthday of the Sociadad de Socorro this past Saturday. It was so fun! Haha my companion and I were notified that we would be singing a song 20 minutes before the party started. :) oh the perks of being a missionary. Unfortunately, I am a tad bit sick at the moment and I haven't had a good voice for the past week. But it turned out very well. We had a kind of karaoke after that and all the ladies started to get up and sing there favorite Spanish christian songs. It was a site to see! 

I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting on Sunday! It was my first talk in Spanish. They all know that my Spanish is, todavia mejorando, entonces, hahaha luckily it was about the Restoration and I talk about that daily. It went pretty good! 

Monday night we celebrated St. Patrick's day with a senior couple! Elder and sister Wheelwright are so kind. They made us corned beef and cabbage. hahahaha it was surprisingly really good! And now I can say that I have eaten corned beef and cabbage. :) 

P-day was so wonderful! We went to a session at the temple and it was wonderful! Such an amazing experience. After that, 8 of us missionaries went to the waffle cart outside of the temple for lunch. It is kinda pricey and I had been saving my pennies for a while to go. All of the sudden a lady walked up to us and was like "oh missionaries, my treat!" It was an amazing member and she treated all of us to lunch! She even has a mormon.org profile video! Her name is Sister Glass and she is from Long Island. 

check her out here: http://mormon.org/kristy

After lunch, we went to visit a member who dances at Julliard! HOLLLA WE WENT TO JULLIARD! I have an amazing picture of the temple from the dance room but, unfortunately I left my camera cord at home so next week, I WILL SHOW YOU! It felt so good to be back in a dance studio! 

I like my new hair! I got bangs! hahaha yeahhhh kinda crazy. but hey. it's just hair. 

I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you all so much! Thank you so much for your wonderful letters and love you send!! 

Love you!! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster

New Companion, New Focus.

Hello everyone!! 

This past week has been kinda crazy! I think I may say that every week but, hey, it's the truth! 

I have a wonderful new companion Hermana Evangelista! She is a very hard worker and studied Piano and Composition at BYU-I before coming on a mission. She is very proper and kind. She grew up in the Phillipines until about 6 years ago. She went to an English/French school and speaks French like it's her first language. She speaks English, French, and Spanish fluently! She is awesome. :) 

Ashley with Hermana Evangelista

We have been sick. We sat at home this weekend with some serious yuckiness. We are doing better now but are still in recovery mode. Luckily the weather has changed from rain to sun so we wont have to be walking around soaking wet all day!! It is 46 degrees today here in NYC! It is absolutely beautiful! 

Today the Elders got to go to a Big East Basketball game at Madison Square Garden! I am so jealous! For all of you who know me, I love me a sporting event. I wish I would have been able to go but, a relaxing day sounds just fine to me. I am actually going to get my hair cut by one of our members! (Wish me luck!)  And I am dying it back to a dark brown. I may or may not have told you that it was like a light brown color. Too hard to keep up....and I love my long dark hair better. :) 

I hope that you all have a great week! I heard it is going to be so warm out in UTAH! You guys are lucky! Wear shorts for me! Heck, wear pants for me! ;) 

I love you all so much! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster

Exciting News!

EXCITING NEWS!! 

First, I hit my 6 month mark!! Yesterday I woke up to beautiful signs from Hermana Rogers reminding me that I have been serving the Lord for 6 months now!! Time has seriously FLOWN by. I hope that I can keep up! 

Second, NEW COMPANION! My new companion Hermana Mytch Evangelista! She is so beautiful and has an awesome Aussie accent! I hope that I can now develop this coveted accent. :) This is her first time in the city so I am excited to get to show her around!!

Hermana Evangelista

(Go to http://mormon.org/me/4w98 to read her Mormon.org profile. She is a convert and has an interesting story!)

This last week has been kinda rough with Hermana Rogers leaving. We visited a lot of members and have shed a few tears. But she knows this is what she needs to do at this point in time. I am so happy for her to be going on with real life! 

Goodbye Hermana Rogers! Ashley's family loves you too!

So this last Friday we had an Area Proselyting Focus in Harlem! I was with Hermana Lavaki. She is from Tonga and she is so awesome! We knocked 2 buildings and I was able to use my awesome Spanish skills! She is in the YSA Harlem ward and also the English program so it was fun to work with both English and Spanish speakers. :) 

WE HAD A BAPTISM SATURDAY! Sonia was baptized and it was lovely! She is so awesome and we are so happy to have been able to teach her. 

Sister Richardson, my companion from the MTC, is white-wash (which means opening up a new area) training in Monticello! (Which is in between Manhattan and Albany) This is the first set of Spanish sisters they have ever had! 

Also, the New York New York North Mission has received the most missionaries in one transfer EVER in the history of missionary work! We received 40 new missionaries this transfer. 40!!!!! That is like, more than one whole mission has total in a lot of missions in the world. THAT'S A LOT!!! And, next transfer, we will be receiving 32. more. like. A LOT. YAY FOR MISSIONARY WORK! 

I wish you all a lot of love! I hope that I will be able to have pictures this next e-mail!! I hope I find my camera soon! (She thinks she left it at a members or investigators house) I love you all so so much! 

Love, Hermana Lancaster