What Glorious Scenes Mine Eyes Behold....

Hello All!

It has been such a good week!  The sun has been shining!  I don't have to wear my big coat!  You can walk outside and not feel like you are an ice sculpture!  It's so happy!  Anyway.....

We had an amazing week!  We have been working with some of our most progressing investigators almost on a daily basis.  Kara Stanton hasn't smoked since last Tuesday.  She has gotten into a habit of calling us when she feels tempted to have a cigarette, which is absolutely fine with us. She called us last night and asked us to come over and she told us that she was talking to her mom (who had previously been strongly opposed to her meeting with us) on the phone and she told her mom about how she wanted to have a cigarette and her mom said, "Call the Mormons!"  So we visited her last night with Brother Cook, and were able to strengthen her and talk to her about how she can protect herself from the temptations that come constantly.  We also taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Friday.  She
loved it and told us that everything she learns makes her want to learn more and more.  She wants to know as much as she can so she can make an "informed decision" about baptism.  We will continue to work with her.

We also met again with Len Longin yesterday.  We taught him about the Law of Chastity, the Ten Commandments, and Following the Prophet.  We invited him to hear the words of our Living Prophet at General Conference, and he said, "I am not going to say I will try to be there, I WILL be there."  He
also explained that he can feel his faith growing every day.  He can't go to sleep at night unless he reads from the Book of Mormon, and it never leaves the kitchen table.  "Dishes and food are pushed aside, but the Book stays. "I am very excited for him.

We also resumed working with Kim Bell.  She is the non-member girlfriend of a less active member, Justinn Coombs.  Justin called us on Thursday night. He had gotten into some anti about the end of the world and he was scared. So we set up an appointment with our resident Genius and scriptorian, Brother Witlox, and that went very well.  We talked about what we need to do to Endure to the end.  He has promised us that he will be at church on Sunday, and she is coming with him.  We are working on getting them married as well.

It has been a stellar week.  I feel that the Lord has blessed us so much. We are seeing the Gospel change people,  and that is the greatest reward that we can receive.

If I may ask a favor of you all - Please pray for these few investigators that are trying to come into the fold of God.  They are so close.  They just need a little extra push to help them exercise their faith and come unto Christ.

I love you and miss you all!  I hope that all is well with every one of you.  If I can do anything let me know.  Have a great week!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft

Add you own favorite hymn verse here

Hello All!

Things are finally starting to warm up here.  The past few days have been wonderful and the sunshine has been invigorating!  The snow is melting and it is almost spring!

Transfer calls came on Monday, and...... I am staying In Orillia with Elder Day!  I am excited and ready for another 6 weeks.  the time passes very quickly out here.  Kind of crazy.  but anyway....

We had a pretty good week.  We did a lot of finding (More than usual, anyway) due to the finding blitz that we had over the weekend.  We got a few contacts (not quite as many as I would have hoped, though) and the Lord blessed us with a new investigator.  His Name is Mike Witwell and he is a very nice, very energetic man.  He was one that we tracted into about 3 weeks ago and when we dropped by on Sunday Night, he was excited to invite us in and have a "faith-based conversation" as he put it.  He willingly accepted a copy of the Book Of Mormon and the invitation to try it for himself.  We will be meeting with him in the next little while to follow up and teach him more.

We had 2 investigators at stake conference!  Jessica Haime drove herself down all the way from Orillia to be there.  She was at the meeting for investigators and new members.  She really enjoyed the  conference.  She said that one of the talks (given by Sister Zeugg) hit her really hard.  She said that everything Sister Zeugg talked about (The Word of Wisdom and marrying a non-member especially) applied directly to her situation.  We were able to talk to her about it yesterday, and she still isn't sure what she will do about Andrew.  She says that quitting smoking will be easy, but the fact that Andrew has no place to go makes it hard for her to kick him out.

The Other investigator that was at stake conference was Allan.  He and his girlfriend, Jessica Mallet (She is a member) drove down with the Witlox's and said as they were leaving, that they really enjoyed  it.  We haven't had a chance to meet with them yet this week, but we are planning to drop by tonight and either teach then or set up an appointment.

We met again with Len, and he is progressing well.  He is running out of excuses and questions and pretty soon he will be ready to get baptized. Kerra is also trying to quit smoking today.  She called us last night right before 9:00 and asked us to come over for a minute, so we talked with her and she told us about how she had tried all day to get some drugs, but that nobody would sell them to her.  She told us that every time she got turned down, she would say, "It's those dang Mormons.  They're praying for me, I
know it."  Her language was a bit more colorful, but for the purposes of this correspondence, I think this will do just fine.  She also called us at 7:00 this morning and asked us to pray for her because she is quitting smoking today.   That, and her ex-boyfriend (Bad influence) is now back in Australia.  So things are working for her to clean up.   It is exciting to see how the gospel can change people's lives.  I hope that all is going well.  Stake Conference was great.  Any conference is great.  So yeah.  I love you and miss you all, and hope that you have a great week!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft

P.S. - Not that this is a hint or anything, but I would love to hear from all of you!  Have Fun!!!

Count Your Many Blessings.....

Hello All!

Greetings from Canada!  The weather up here has been a bit interesting lately - from -15 to positive 15, depending on the day.  Rain, snow, tidal waves (Just Kidding) - you get the picture.  But Anyway....

This week went fairly well.  We were able to meet with Kerra and visit with her a few times this week.  We had a great lesson with her on Friday.  We went over the Plan of Salvation with her.  We had Josh go with us and that was great.  He told her about how he came to find the church and she was very interested in his story.  She kept telling us that she is ready to change.  She wants to "Flip the Pancake" of her life, as she put it.  She is going through a bit of a hard time right now, though.  She went out with some friends on Saturday night and did some things that are not really in accordance with the Word Of Wisdom.  She did not come to church on Sunday because of it.  She said that she would call us later, and later was yesterday evening.  She is supposed to call us later today so that we can meet with her again.

We also are seeing Len Progress as well.  We visited with him again yesterday and he told us that his faith is growing every day.  he told us that he believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he is excited to be baptized when he feels he is ready for that.  The spirit is working on him.

We got three new investigators last week as well.  One of them (Bill Reynolds) is from the Barrie Zone Leaders.  They taught him in Barrie and he told them that he is moving to Orillia this week, so we will meet with him on Sunday.  We also tracted into Mike Morrison.  He met us at the door and asked "Are you Jehovah's Witnesses?" We told him that we weren't to which he replied, "Come on in!"  We were able to teach him right there and leave him with a copy of the book of Mormon.  His life is changing right now (New Job, etc.) and he feels that everything (including our showing up at his door) happens for a reason.  We are excited to meet with him later this week.

Our last new investigator (And the one who was at church) basically fell into our lap.  A few minutes before sacrament meeting started, Jessica and Allan showed up and walked into the chapel.  Jessica has been a member since she was young, and is wanting to get back to activity.  She brought Allan, her nonmember boyfriend, with her to church and we taught him there and are meeting with them again tomorrow.  We are very excited that the Lord is blessing us so much.

Anyway.... I love you and Miss you all!  Have a great Week!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft

The Morning Breaks, The Shadows Flee....

Hello All!

Greetings from the still frozen land of Orillia.  It has been pretty cold this week (Yesterday it got down to -19, and with the wind, that's not pretty.  It's not too much fun to tract in, either.  That's when we pray
really, REALLY hard that someone will let us in;).  It is supposed to start warming up, though. 9 degrees on Friday!  I am a little bit excited.  The Walking Space Heater is a little sick and tired of the cold.  Anyway....

We had a relatively good week, despite dropping a few investigators.  We got bombed by Justinn and Kim 3 times in 2 days, and then again a few days later, so we are taking that to mean that they don't want us to come back for a while.  Brittany is also the same way.  So we will take a break from them and give the seed a chance to grow a bit more.

We have been working with Kerra Stanton, our most progressing Investigator. She did not come to church because her mom was going to take her to "all the other churches in Orillia instead."  She ended up not going to any of them. She also had a slip-up on her quest to stay sober.  She went out drinking
with one of her friends and called us the next day.  She felt very bad about it.  She was almost in tears as she told us that she slipped.  She is feeling that Godly Sorrow that is necessary for repentance.  We are hoping that she will come to church this Sunday and feel the spirit like she did two weeks ago.

We met with Len Longin again yesterday.  Brother Witlox could not go with us, so we had Brother Cook instead.  That went well.  They got along great as well.  We had left the "Additional Study" Section of the Plan of Salvation Pamphlet with him for homework, and we went over that with him and answered questions that he had.  One of them, we weren't sure how exactly to answer.  He asked, "Why do we need to have a body after we die?"  We tried to explain, but I am not sure that we did it justice.  We told him that we would research that one and get back to him.  He is, however starting to accept our full canon of scripture.  He was not aware of any scripture that said that God had a body, so we read D&C 130:22 with him, which explains that very clearly.  He accepted that and didn't press that issue any more. He is accepting what we know to be true.

Our two new investigators are Scott, who is the Roommate of Pam Roy, and Craig, who we tracted into a few weeks ago.  I believe I have mentioned Scott before, but just in case, he has gone from the point of leaving when we talk to Pam, to actively participating in the discussion.  Craig is a very nice man who let us in on Saturday, and we taught the restoration to him.  He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and the invitation to pray about it.  He told us that he likes to read different religious texts and learning about other religions, but we have faith in Moroni's promise. Those who read and sincerely pray about the Book of Mormon WILL receive a witness that it is true.

It has been a good week.  We had a travel (Training exchange) on Friday, and Elder Lord and Elder Day somehow got locked IN the apartment for a few minutes (Long story - quite humorous, though) but that went well otherwise. In a nutshell - I got a phone call that said that they were locked inside the apartment, and I had to tell them how to get out.  It was fun.)  So yeah.  Anyway.... Have a great Week.  I love you and miss you all!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft