Roll Round with the year, And never stand Still till the Master Appear....

Hello All!

Greetings from the Chest freezer known as Canada!  It is pretty cold here.  - 23 last time I checked.  Pretty darn cold.  It's all good, though.  The gospel warm our hearts and keeps us going.  Anyway....

We had a week of ups and downs.  The beginning of the week seemed like it was going to be not very good, but we kept our attitude up and had some success.  We were blessed with 3 new investigators this week.  Jack, the first one, is a native man who has talked to missionaries before.  He was raised Roman Catholic but now follows his Native Beliefs.  He was told by one of his Shamans that this is a time of learning for him, and he wants to learn more about our church.  He applauded our Church's focus on the Family.  That is one thing that he likes about our church.  Another thing that he mentioned is that he likes how we "live what we believe," and how we "are not hypocritical, like most other religions."  We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said that he would read it.  He told us that he will not be able to meet with us until mid-February.  We will try to stop by and check on his progress before then.

The Other two are Steve Ellis and Britney.  We met with them on Saturday and had a great lesson.  Steve does not believe in God, but He doesn't not believe either.  He is not sure.  We told him that there was a way to find out if God was there.  Britney believes in God but doesn't know what to do or where to go because of that belief.  We gave them each a copy of the Book of Mormon and they said they would read and pray about it.  They also told us that they would come to church, but they didn't show up.  We have an appointment with them later this week, and we will answer their questions and resolve their concerns.

We had Steve and Britney, Jessica, and Christina ( a potential Investigator) all tell us that they were going to come to church, and a few others that gave soft commitments, but no one actually showed up.  We are hoping to find out the reason for them not coming as we meet with them this week.

Last night we went to see Justinn Coombs, a less active member.  We met with him and his girlfriend, who isn't a member.  They recently had a child and Justinn told us that being a father has really opened his eyes.  We were able to talk to them and answer some of the questions that they had.  They told us that they were planning on coming to church on Sunday.  His Girlfriend, Kim, is great.  She is pushing him to start going back to church, and she wants to learn as well.  We have another appointment with them on Saturday.  They want to raise their son right, and Justinn knows what he needs to do.  He seemed very sincere as well.  That's good.

The work is going good.  Sometimes it is difficult, and you don't see anybody because it's colder than a well-digger's knee, and who in their right mind would be out walking around in it?  But that's okay.  It's a
great work and I love it. We had our interviews with President Middleton on Monday.  I love that man.
So inspired.  That was great.  I don't really know how to describe it.  I am grateful to have a man like that leading the work here.  But Anyway....I love you and miss you all!  I hope that everyone has a great day.  Keep on Keeping on.  Love ya!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft