Angels of Glory Shout the Refrain....

Hello All!

Greetings from the tropical paradise of Canada!  Life up here in Sudbury, Ontario is going quite well.  The weather has been a little less than cooperative, but even so, the truth of God will go forth boldly.  It has rained every day the past week.  That is something that I was extremely excited about.  Going from Utah, where it rains 3 times a year, to Canada, where it rains every day, was kind of fun.  The only problem with contacting in the rain is that everybody else goes inside.  Elder Opfar and I have gotten completely soaked on a few occasions.  The other day, we took the bikes out because we had to get from one end of the city to the other in about 10 minutes, and while we were riding, this torrential rain came up out of nowhere and we were dripping wet.  We dry pretty quickly though.  The rain usually comes in the morning, and then it is evaporating all day, making the air very hot and humid.  It was 26 degrees (Celcius) the other day, which in and of itself is not that hot.  When you add in an 84% humidity though..... things get a little bit....what's the word....HOT!

                                        
Anyway, the work is going well. We have not gotten as many contacts as last week, but we have had more service projects and success with investigators.  We set a baptismal date for Jean Guy!  We are planning on baptizing him on Sunday, if he is able to quit smoking by then.  He threw away all his cigarettes, and he should be just fine.  I will keep you informed though.  We were not able to meet with Susan, though.  She has been having some issues with a delinquent boy she is fostering, so she had to cancel our appointment.  We were able to reschedule, though, and we are going to meet with her tomorrow.

We had our Zone Conference last Friday.  It was wonderful.  President Middleton gave us a lot of instruction on how to become better missionaries.  I set a lot of goals on how to improve myself.  It was great!  And they brought up the mail from the mission office (I did get that package- by the way.  Thank you for that.  It made me smile.  And M&M's - Real American Sugar!).  I am so grateful to have such an inspired man leading the missionary efforts in Toronto.  President Middleton is the most inspired man I have ever met.

And now for something completely random..... Don't you just love the random part of my e-mail?  I have so much fun writing it.....let's see.... Where to start.....Dad, just feel free to cut and paste some things from e-mails.  I might be able to get one next month for Karen, but I am almost out of time today.  And just so you know - I usually e-mail on Wednesday at around 11:00 (Ontario Time).  I think it is about 9:00 back in Utah..... Sister Knowlton is great!  She is one of the funniest people I have ever met.  Maren and Mikenzi would recognize her - she reminds me of Kate Alleman (I think that is her last name) from Price (You know, the one who came down during breakaway).....The 24th sounded like fun.....Bugs, yellow Jackets, Raccoons - Isn't it great?.....Hyatt is going to a different school - I am not sure what to think about that.  Taylor- you will have an interesting year for sure.  Let me know if you have any questions - I am pretty sure I can answer them.  Whether it be yearbook, belnap, or calculus - I would be glad to help.... Dad - good luck with the boxes..... Sorry about Tan's phone - but I guess it still works, so that is okay (out of curiosity, was it the old lime chocolate, or the newer chocolate II?).....Thanks for all your love and support.  And to all yous out there reading this - I love you and miss you all!  Thanks for your prayers!  Feel free to let me know how you are doing!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft

To every land that all may rejoice....

Hello all!

Week two has been an interesting week.  We got up early on Thursday morning because we had a district meeting at nine, and we wanted to get our study in.  We walked up to the church and studied outside the front door (we didn't have keys).  We had our meeting and our plans were to go to the far end of our area.  Let's say that my feet were a little bit sore at the end of the day.  At about 5:00 Elder Opfar sneezed and it aggravated a bruised rib that he had gotten when he and Elder Dibblee (Yep, good old Toph) were moving somebody.  So we went to the clinic and got it checked out.  The clinic was out of our area, though, and it took us about an hour and 45 minutes to walk back home.  It was a long day - but it got better – Elder Opfar needed to get an x-ray of his ribs.  The x-ray was at 8:00 the next morning at the hospital, which was at the other end of our area.  We had a long two days.

We have been working our tails off to get decent investigators.  We had a ton of contacts, but a lot of them would never answer the phone, avoid us, etc.  It never really made sense to me why.... I'm not THAT scary....  We got two last week that seem to be golden.  They both already told us that they want to be baptized. One of them reminds me of a blonde Aunt Alyna - same mannerisms and everything.  She came to church, and after the meeting, she said "I think I finally know where I am supposed to be."  It was a good day.

We run into a lot of interesting people.  I met a leper.  That was cool.  I didn't think that still existed.  We also talked to a guy who is Muslim, and who we had a book swap with.  We gave him the Book of Mormon and some of our pamphlets, and he gave us a copy of the Qur’an.  It was kind of interesting
talking to him, but it was good to establish that friendship with people. That is a necessity.  We have talked to a guy who is 43, has long hair and claims to be a Buddhist.  He says that he is allergic to water, so he has to drink beer instead.  I wonder if he knows that there is water IN beer.....

Anyway, it has been very interesting.  I know that we have been protected. I have been cursed at, yelled at, and ridiculed more in the past two weeks than in the rest of my life.  But I am okay with it because I know that I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing.  I have gotten to the point that I feel I can walk up to anyone and start talking to them.  I can't always answer all their questions (Elder Opfar helps me though).  All I can do is teach and testify what I know to be true.

Anyway - Randomness for my remaining two minutes.  I haven't gotten the package yet.  It was sent to the mission home, and they only come up about every three weeks or so with the mail.  They are coming on Friday, though. SEND PICTURES!  They would be great!  President Middleton likes chocolate.... interesting.... I hope my steak was delicious.....ALPS sent a letter - good..... Let me know how that works....Everybody is getting married.... weird...... and people are getting home from their missions....
have them write me and tell me about it.

Elder Ashcraft

Hark All Ye Nations, Hear Heaven's Voice....

Hello All!

Greetings from the North! This past week has been a great one.  We started things off on Friday morning the same as usual.  Wake up at 6:30, work out, breakfast, prepare for the day, then study.  It's the same every day, really, which is good.  Getting into the routine has helped me. 

We have done a lot of contacting.  We had a couple of days that we got a ton of contacts (on Monday we had 21) and other days that we have less (yesterday we had 6).  We talk to everybody and some days, people are more receptive than others.  Elder Opfar and I work together quite well.  We have figured out how to have fun as we are working.  We are both a tiny bit sarcastic, but we both know there is a time and a place for it, and we act appropriately.  We talk to pretty much everybody on the street, and I am pretty much used to people flat out rejecting the message.  Every time it happens, though, we just tell ourselves that it is another brick for my Mansion in Heaven (One of the other missionaries told us that one).

We have had a couple interesting people that we talked to.  We talked to one that told us he was the king of Mars.  He was just messing with us, but he had some issues.  He told us that he thought himself to be god and that to acknowledge the existence of a supreme being would be declaring himself less that omnipotent.  We were able to give him a pamphlet and commit him to read it and pray about it, though.  We talked to another guy who had a feeling that Joseph Smith was a false prophet because he was a member of the Freemasons, and we were able to commit him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it to find out for himself.

We have had quite a few people (what is the word?) chastise us.  They have told us that we are all trusting fools that are brainwashed into missionary service.  One lady threw us off her property.  She said something about the Texas-FLDS mess, and we told her that wasn't us.  She kept talking and got herself riled up.  She told us that she had no respect for our church because we "train our men to be child molesters and we have as many wives as we want."  When we tried to set the facts straight, she threw us off and that was that.  Interesting experience.... It's interesting to find out what people think about our church....

We were able to get a few people out to church, and we have taught a few lessons, but for the most part we have been getting ourselves established in the area.  We talk to everybody we see.  It's interesting - I have only been here a week, but the time that I am happiest, is when I am out contacting, despite the rejection, the being yelled at, and the aches and pains of walking everywhere.  It is something that I wish everybody could experience.

Sudbury is an interesting area.  It is a pretty big area geographically. There are also a lot of apartments.  Almost every building that looks like a house turns out to be split up into a couple apartments.

The Zone leaders went to the mission office yesterday, but I don't think they got any mail that was there (If there was mail).  I know that the Mission President and his wife are coming up next week for Zone Conference, and they told us they would bring anything that was at the office. Hopefully, those pictures will be there by then.  I am excited to see them. There are a lot of people up here that remind me of people from back home.

One of the other trainers that I met looks like Matt Wilmarth (Shanna will know that one).  There are a couple others as well.  Elder Penner reminds me of Joe Post.  Elder Neilsen looks like the epitome of High School Jock (He was the quarterback for the State Champion Mountain View High School Football team.  Same High School as John Beck and Max Hall).  Elder Bell- this is the weirdest one - looks like Julian Sark.  He even has the British accent to go with it.  There are a few more, but this is all I can remember right now.  I wrote them down, but I put them in my old planner that I don't have with me.

And now for the randomness: Youth Conference sounds like it was a blast. You will have to send me the Fabio picture.  I will talk to President Middleton about Sendai, but it will have to wait until I get chance. Maybe If I am ever in Brampton, I will have to get some Gyoza or yakisoba or something.  Good luck with the safespot.  The Go-kart sounds like fun. Pictures would be great!  The weather has been decent.  It has been a little warm, but it has been okay.  It rained a bit last week as well.  Contacting in the rain - now THATs a fun time.  You will have to eat my share of steak on saturday.  If anybody asks - I AM loving it.  It is a great experience.

But Anyway..... The church is true.  The book is blue.  It has been a great experience thus far, and I am excited to get back to work.  I love you and miss you all!  Hope to hear from you soon!

Your Obedient Servant,

Elder Austin James Ashcraft

We Are All Enlisted....

Hello All!

My last day at the MTC! How Exciting!  I leave for the airport at 6:00 tomorrow morning.  We have spent the day   so far writing letters and packing (I apologize If my letters seem short or If I don't write back at all this week.  I only have so much time to do everything and today is a busy day). I think I will be ready to go (at least physically).

It is kind of bittersweet leaving the MTC.  At times I have loved it and didn't want to leave.  At others I could not wait to get out.  I wish that I could stay and learn more here, but I also realize that there is only so much you can  learn while you are teaching those who already know.  It has been good to have teaching practice (they have  some volunteers come in from the community and pretend to be investigators, as well as teaching our teachers and each other), but I can't wait to get out and teach for real! It will be an amazing experience.

Yesterday was one of the most spiritual days of my life.  We had a couple of amazing meetings.  The mission Conference that we had was great - the mission president and one of his counselors, as well as their wives, spoke.  We heard everything from parallels between the Mission and the Temple, to Attitude, and the Atonement.  It was a good meeting.  We had an absolutely incredible Fast and testimony meeting.  I felt the spirit stronger there than any other sacrament or testimony meeting I have ever been to.  I was able to bear my testimony and it was a wonderful experience.  We had a few Elders (I'll fess up - I was one of them) who usually don't cry who were bawling at the end of the meeting.  Imagine Four or Five of these Big, football player types sobbing their eyes out.  It was a Pentecostal experience.  Absolutely incredible.

The new district came in on Wednesday, and all seven missionaries are going to the California Santa Rosa Mission.  Guess who is in that district?  Sister Heather Leigh Gray!!!  It has been so much fun to see a familiar face.  She has been progressing well and is going to be an incredible missionary.  There is also another Elder in that district that reminds me of Wes Lambson.  I will have to get a picture and send it to you.

The trip sounded like a lot of fun.  Braden, Brindy, and Pieface - I got your letters and they made me smile! Keep writing - I promise I will write back when somebody writes me.  Tell everyone and their mom that.

I saw Curtis yesterday!  He was working at the Cafeteria.  It was good to see him and I told him to say hello to everybody.

A few random things....I also heard that the pictures came.  I am excited to see them.....Shanna - Congrats on the new job....Taylor - let me know how yearbook camp went.  Have you decided on a theme and signatures? Let me know..... Bryson - keep working and saving money so that you can send me letters.... Tanner - How many books have you read thus far this summer?  I bet it's over a thousand.... Braden - hope you had fun at mill hollow.....Brindy - keep singing..... Pieface - play some games with the boys and beat them for me..... Dad - good luck with work and I hope you are able to get those units out.... Mom - Love you most! Thanks for keeping me informed..... Maren and Mikenzi - I hope you enjoyed the show and the Fourth with your family......

Anyway.... I love and miss you all!  Thank you all for your continued support and prayers!  I'll be in Canada tomorrow, so letters need to go there.... I will write from my new address so that you will know where I am.  Love You All!

Your Humble Servant,

Elder Austin James Ashcraft