Let us all press on...

Hello All,

We have done a lot of tracting this week.  It was kind of hectic with transfers for the first part of the week, but we were able to with both Elder Ledet and Elder Day, do a fair bit of tracting to find new people to teach.  Elder Day got to Barrie at about 6:15 Wednesday night, so we got to Orillia in time to do a few drop bys and have him get acquainted with the area a little bit.  On Thursday, we got right down to business, with our transfer/weekly planning and we have set some good goals.  We set a
baptismal goal of 2 for this transfer and we also will be working on getting the members of the branch more involved in the missionary work.  That is something that I have not been too good at in the past, but with Elder Day, I hope to make that change.

We were able to meet with Justinn and Kim this week.  We talked to Kim Specifically about the Book of Mormon.  She likes that it is easier to understand than the bible, but she still has a hard time with the old English text.  She also expressed that she sometimes gets confused when she asks Justinn what something means, because he will start going really in- depth with it.  So one of the things that we will be doing specifically with her is reading the Book of Mormon and helping her understand so she can gain a testimony.

We met with another Investigator, Len Longin yesterday.  We had Brother Witlox come with us.  That turned out great.  Len is in the same situation that Brother Witlox was in 10 years ago when he was searching for the truth.  They hit it off and it helped Len a lot.  I am beginning to see the blessings that come from involving members more in the work.  It helps tremendously.  It is something that I was studying in an Ensign article lately.  It talks about the responsibility of Members to help in the missionary work, but it made me realize that a big part of that is the responsibility of the missionaries to involve the members.  That helped me a lot this week.

We have also done a lot of work with some of the Less Actives in the Branch, particularly Dave Frankum, who we have not been able to get a hold of in 3 months.  He let us in and told us that his schedule at work should allow him now to go to church.

We also met with Pam Roy, the most recent convert in the branch.  She had a question for us and told us that she really thinks that when Christ comes again, He will come in the Form of a Woman.  We told her that we would get back to her with something to read, and Elder Day, this morning actually, came across a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that talks specifically about that.  It is amazing how we are guided by the spirit in our studies.

I am excited to work with Elder Day.  He is a great missionary and he has been well-prepared.  I find myself learning from him every day.  He has a tremendous spirit and an excellent attitude toward the work.  I am sure that he will help me far more than I will help him. Thank you for all your love and support.  Have a great Day!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft

By the patience of Hope and the Labor of Love....

Hello All!

Greetings from Canada!  So transfers are today....and I am staying in Orillia.  Elder Ledet is leaving and going to Cambridge.  My new companion is Elder Day.  That's about all I know about him.  It will be good to work with him.  I am excited.  But anyway...

We had a good week.  A lot of visits with members.  It would have been better if we would have enjoyed the company of one of our investigators at church, but that is their agency.  We were able to meet with Justinn and Kim this week, and they talked about not being married.  Justinn had explained the Law of Chastity to Kim before we got there, and he actually was the one who brought it up.  Kim is all for it.  Justinn just needs to get his act together.  They did not come to church.  We had an appointment with them on Sunday evening, but Justinn called and told us that Kim was sick and that we would have to reschedule.  We have called them a couple times and they haven't answered.  So we hope to be in contact with them in the next couple days.

We finally were able to talk to Michelle Haime as well.  She had been out of town visiting Family for about a month after her dad's death.  We encouraged her to keep reading and we gave her Alma 40 to read, to help her know what is beyond this life.

We also taught a lesson to Vivien.  She is a Chinese woman who doesn't have any belief at all, really.  She has very limited English Skills, but the lesson went well anyway and she understood what we taught her about Our Father in Heaven and about Prayer.  We had a member, Josh Ribalkin come with us to the Church to teach her.  That helped a lot.  Josh told us after the appointment that he had spent a fair bit of time teaching English in Mexico, so he knew how to communicate very simply so that she could  understand. That is one thing that I realized that I really need to work on. We were able to do a bit of tracting this week, and no immediate success was seen, but we planted seeds and they will grow.  I have confidence in that.

It has been a good week and I don't really have much more to report.  I love you and miss you all!  Have a great Week!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft