Wednesday, July 16, 2008

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

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