Come let us anew our journey pursue…

Hello All!

Greetings from the Cold, snowy land of Orillia.  It is snowing right now, and it's going to be fun to drive in it later today.  This e-mail will be short, I don't have too much time left, but here goes....

Interesting week. Our one investigator lesson came with the Haime's. We dropped by to see them on New Year's Day and we were able to talk to them about some things that they had been reading. We had asked Michelle to read 2 Nephi 2, and she remembered a verse that stuck out to her - Verse 13- that said if there was no law, there is no sin, no punishment, no happiness, and no God. And if there is no God, then we are not. She liked that verse and we encouraged her to keep reading. We were not able to meet with them again that week. They all got sick, and when we stopped by on Saturday to invite them to church, they were all trying to recover. So they did not come to Church, either. And then on Monday, Michelle's Father passed away, so they will be out of town until probably Saturday with the funeral and such. We will stop by then and hopefully be able to comfort them with a refresher on the plan of Salvation.

We did a fair bit of tracting and the Lord blessed us with a couple contacts. Some of them seem very solid and we will be stopping by them later in the week to teach them.

The Goals that the Barrie Zone has set (to improve the key indicators) will make Elder Ledet and I stretch a lot, but I know that with the Lord all things are possible. We just need to work as hard as we can while being prompted by our third companion - the Holy Ghost.

I enjoyed Zone Conference on Monday. I have been thinking a lot about how to apply everything into my missionary work, especially the part where we learned about the Holy Ghost using the Light of Christ, and how we need to help our investigators learn the language that cannot be taught (How the Spirit Speaks to them. I came to a realization that, as missionaries, we need to bring the spirit, and point out when we feel it, so that the spirit can work and they can learn what we can't teach. The spirit is what will give them a testimony as well, so we need to live our lives so that we are worthy to bring that spirit to them, so they can utilize their agency and come unto Christ. It all starts to fall together. I love that about the Gospel. Everything just makes sense.

We had a travel yesterday with the Zone Leaders. I was in Barrie with Elder Persons. What a great missionary He is. I learned a lot from him, and he helped me to overcome some discouragement that I was feeling.

I also was very grateful for the instruction that we received at Zone Conference from the  Assistants. Elder Castro's lesson about goals was inspired. His cycle of setting goals was a new idea that I hadn't thought of before. I like what he said about how if we master the concept, our thoughts and desires will turn into our actions, and that will achieve our desired results.  I was very grateful for the opportunity to learn from Elder Anderson as well. He is such a powerful teacher, and I learned a lot from his about finding, especially in these cold winter months. And to top it all off, extraordinary testimonies from Sister Larson, Elder Boren, and Elder Summers, as well as the final comments from President and Sister Middleton. I felt thoroughly uplifted by the Zone Conference. A great experience that I look forward to Every Transfer....

That's what I’ve got.  Have a great week.  New Year's was great.  We had a branch ball hockey game that morning.  That was fun.  Life is good and I am excited to be living it.  Happy New Year!  I love and Miss you all!  Have a wonderful Day!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft