I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day....

Hello All!

How is everything down in the Blessed land of Utah?  Such a wonderful place.  Elder Ledet is from Alaska and he's got that Alaskan Pride.  It's kind of like Texan Pride, except the phrase "everything's Bigger in Alaska" actually works.  He rags a little bit on Utah, and I on Alaska, but the fact of the matter - Utah - This is the Place!  Anyway, we have had a ton of snow lately.  It snowed all day Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and last night as well.  It has warmed up a little bit today, and it is starting to rain a little bit, but it is still cold enough to be classified as "Freezing rain."  It's fun.  Especially to drive in.  Thanks for your prayers.  I can see them daily.  

There was one experience that was kind of cool.  I don't know if I shared this one already, but I will do it anyway.  We were stopped at a light, and the light changed.  I went to put my foot on the gas, but something stopped me.  I hesitated, not knowing why I was not pushing the pedal, and then a Bright Red Dodge Magnum ran his red light and came screaming through the intersection.  The timing was such that if I had gone, I would have caught a full speed (about 50 km/hr) Dodge Magnum with my Left Shoulder.  That would not have been fun.  Thanks for your prayers.  They help.  Anyway....

We had a good week. It was a bit rough lessons-wise, but the two other lessons that we did get, we made them count. We got two new investigators. One of them is the one that I mentioned last week - Len Longin. We went by and taught him yesterday and he likes what he is learning. He told us that because he was raised Catholic, the Book of Mormon is Foreign to him, but he likes it as he reads it. He told us he will keep reading and he committed to pray about it. The other investigator is Jeff Haime. We have been working with the Haime's for quite some time, and we had been able to teach all of  them except for Jeff. He was working at the casino and was never available when we were over there. We stopped by and he invited us in and we had a good discussion with him. He has some questions that he really wants the answers to. He is really into science and he is amazed that some scientists don't believe in God. He told us that from what he has seen, everything in science points to God. We left him with his own copy of the Book of Mormon and he said he would read it. We left him specifically with Alma 30, when Korihor is contending with Alma about the existence of God. Hopefully he will read and pray about it.

We talked to Jessica last night and she said that they were going out of town this weekend, but that they were planning on going to church in Brampton. Jessica told us that she was planning on coming to church the past few weeks, but she had a lot of unexpected things come up. She also told that she doesn't want to smoke anymore. She has set a goal to be smoke free before 2009. We will be helping her with that. It has been interesting trying to find new investigators. It seems like all of the potential investigators that we have dropped by have told us to try back after the New Year. We have still been going at it, though. The lack of people to drop-by is forcing us to do more finding. Hopefully we will be able to find someone that will accept the Joyous Message of the Restored Gospel....

Have a merry Christmas!  I hope that everything works out for you!  Have a wonderful Day, and  remember - The Gospel is True!  I love you and Miss you all!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft