The wintry day, descending to it's close....

Hello All!

Greetings from Orillia, Ontario!  Things up here are going great!  We are getting acquainted with the  area, and I anticipate great things here.  We were able to meet lots of members on Sunday, but some of them were not able to be there because of the weather.  It pretty much rained from Wednesday when we got to Orillia, until Saturday night, when the rain turned into snow.  We got about 4 inches that night.  So needless to say, there were some who were not able to make it out to church.  The members here are great and are all excited to help with the missionary efforts.  The branch President, President Watt, has a son who is serving a mission right now in Salt Lake City!  He is currently in West Jordan, and from what I hear is having a grand old time.  So if you ever run into an Elder Watt, take care of him.  

Anyway, it has been a good week.   I was not quite sure how I would feel leaving Sudbury (it being my first area and the fact that I had been there for 3 transfers), but everything is going swimmingly. Orillia is a great place. I am excited to be here is this great branch. That is probably the first thing I noticed about it. The members of the branch are wonderful and the Branch is very missionary minded. They all want to be a part of the work. There is a missionary correlation meeting tomorrow night with the Branch Mission Leader, Bro Cook, and all the Branch Missionaries. The meeting is open to all members as well, I believe. So anyone who wants to participate in the missionary efforts in the branch will be able to. We have been familiarizing ourselves with the area, we have met most of the investigators, and many of the members. There were some who did not make it out to church on Sunday because of the snow, and we hope to meet them this week. We met with Jessica Haime, probably the most progressing investigator. She is still struggling to quit smoking so she can be baptized. We are also not sure yet of the situation with her boyfriend. He at one point had been living with them, but we are not sure if he still does. We will be meeting with her later this week. She has a testimony, and has read the entire Book of Mormon. She just needs to take care of a few little things before she can be baptized. Her mom, Michelle also has learned most everything. We were able to answer a lot of her questions when we went over there. Jessica's Friend (also named Jessica), started coming over for the lessons lately as well. She saw how Jessica Haime had been turning her life around, and was interested in learning more. Hopefully we will be meeting with her again as well. We also met with Rob and Samantha. We retaught a first lesson and again they agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, but when we went back yesterday for our appointment, Rob told us that now wasn't a good time and that we should try back in a few weeks.

We also met with Heidi and Pam, two recent converts that were baptized about a month ago. They are both doing well and were at church on Sunday. We also have been doing a lot of drop bys. We organized them and made it so that we can be more efficient in dropping by. We were able to set quite a few appointments with many of them (we had 8 yesterday) and we hope to turn them into new investigators.

Elder Ladet is great.  He has a strong testimony and I am learning from him.  He is from Alaska and is one of 4 boys.  He is the only one in his family that is really active, though.  That must be tough for him, but he does very well.  I am excited to work with him.

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for....RANDOMNESS!!!!.....Noelle, Happy birthday tomorrow.  I hope it is a good one.  and congratulations on losing your tooth.  Keep reading and
learning. Thanks for the painting.....Brindy - thanks for the letter.  Keep learning, and even though school is sometimes not that fun, it will get better....Braden - Thank you for the superman card and the letter.  When kids are picking on you, remember this - they only pick on you because you have something that they don't.  You are very smart, and they know that. They just wish they were as smart as you.....Tan - what's the deal?  How is Junior High?....Bryson - life?  Braughnt?.....Tay - are you still alive? How is Ensemble?  What are you doing in your Christmas show?  How is the yearbook?....Mom - You are using the computer?  wow....and I thought that Brindy and Braden were going to change the most while I was gone....Dad – it sounds like work is going well.  A lot of exciting things are happening. Keep me informed.....I got the Thanksgiving Package yesterday, and it made my day.  I was very excited for everything.  The CD's, the candy, and especially the pictures.  Mom - were those just a bunch of random pictures? I really enjoyed that.  Pictures.  Those are great.  But Anyway.... I am running out of time.... I love you and miss you all!!!  Have a wonderful day and keep smiling!

Your Obedient servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft