A mighty fortress is our God, A tower of strength ne’er failing......

Hello All!

How is everybody?  I hope that all is well.  I was glad to hear that the yard sale/fundraiser was such a success.  I hope that Maggie is doing better and that the Doctors in Boston will know what to  do.  Anyway....

We had a good week.  We were able to meet with quite a few of our investigators and there is some definite progress.  Dan is doing well.  We had a really good lesson on Monday about the power and the need to pray. I think he is finally starting to understand that prayer is a very powerful tool.  He has problems with schizophrenia, and we promised him that if he prayed when he was hearing voices, they would start to go away.  He liked that idea and he committed to pray every day.  He is still having a hard time with coming to church.  He doesn't like crowds and he thinks the service is too long and boring.  We are still working on overcoming that stumbling block.

Our most progressing investigator would probably be Becky Reeves.  She is one that we tracted into on Tuesday and she let us in and heard us out.  We have taught her the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, and part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We also found out that her sister, Danielle, was an investigator in Brantford while she was going to school, but she moved to Woodstock and kind of fell off the map.  We met her and she told us this, and she also said that she was taking the fact that we randomly showed up at her house as a sign that she needs to get back into it.  That was amazing. I love it when things like that happen.

We also met with Lee last night.  We taught him the Plan of Salvation.  He told us that when we first came to the door, something told him, "You should listen to them."   That was really cool.  We also reiterated how he can know what is true by praying and asking about it.  That was a great way to end
the night.

The work is going well.  It is amazing to see how the gospel changes people's lives.  I am very grateful for the opportunity to share the gospel full time with everyone I come in contact with.  It's amazing - that's all there is to it.  I love you and miss you all!  Have an amazing week!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft

All around and all above, bear one chorus: God is Love....

Hello All!

How are you?  How is the first bit of summer (For some of you) and the last bit of school (For the rest)?  I hope that everything is well and that you are enjoying this wonderful life that we have.

We had a good week. We did found a few new investigators that made the week great.  Les is a former investigator from about a year ago that we were able to contact and teach, and the other two are Winston and Gail.  He is from Jamaica and she (I believe) was born and raised in town.  We visited with them on Saturday morning and they were excited about the message that we had to share.  They accepted the commitment to read 3 Nephi 11 and pray about whether or not the Book of Mormon is true.  They wouldn't give us a definite yes about church though.  They said "we will see what happens."  But they didn't show up.  We have an appointment with them on Saturday Morning again and we will reiterate the importance of the Sabbath Then.  We also have been trying to get in contact with the investigators that the previous missionaries left.  There are a few that we still have not met yet.  We are working with that, but there is not too much progress there right now.

We have planned a "Branch Missionary Day" for July 11th.  We hope to get the entire branch out and have sort of a "Member Missionary Training Center." We want to help them see how they can use the resources that we do have (Preach My Gospel, Pass-a-long cards, etc.) to make it easy to share the gospel with others.  It should be a great event.  I am very excited for it.

We had a great spiritual experience yesterday that reaffirmed my testimony of the Book of Mormon.  We were tracting and we were invited in by a man who had a very firm and adamant belief that the heavens were closed and the bible was the end of revelation.  We explained where the Book of Mormon came from and he pretty much flat out told us that we were wrong.  We listened to his argument for a few minutes and shared our testimonies, but seeing that there was nothing that we could do to help him see, we wrapped up and headed out.  Elder Call, very eager to get him to know the truth, tried very hard to convince him to "just try the Book of Mormon."  As this invitation was extended, he again shut us down and we went on our way.  We left the house and I could tell that Elder Call was angry, so we went to the car and read from the Book of Mormon.  As we would get near the end of a particular passage, another scripture would come to my mind and we would go there.  We simply read from the Book of Mormon for about 15 minutes.  Tears were shed as we realized the power of the Book of Mormon and the Truth that it contains.  The power that is in that book truly outweighs any other literature.  I felt so grateful for the knowledge that we have, and for the
opportunity to share that with others.

Elder Call is great.  He is constantly learning and trying to be better.  He will be a powerful instrument in the lord's hands.

Thanks for all that you do!  I am very grateful to know each of you and to learn from you.  I love you and Miss you all!  Live the Gospel, Love the Gospel, Share the Gospel.  This is what the Lord expects of us.

Have A Great Day!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft

I Need Thee Every Hour, Most Gracious Lord....

Hello All!

How was everybody's mother's day?  I hope that it was just grand.  Ours was delightful.  I am so very grateful for all you mother's out there and everything that you do to raise and help with all children, not just your own.  Keep up the good work.

It was a pretty good week, although we are having a little bit of trouble meeting with our investigators, especially those that were left by the other missionaries.  We have been able to set a few appointments with them, however.  Hopefully they will go through and we will be able to help them progress.

We had a great experience on Monday.  We were tracting and saw a man working on a bike in his garage.  We offered our help and he said something that we didn't understand.  We again asked him if he needed help and realized that he could not speak English.  We then just started to help him.  We worked in almost complete silence for about 20 minutes on this bike, and when we had finished, we handed him a pass-a long card with a picture of the Savior.  He was very grateful for that.  He tried to say something right before we left, but we both just looked at each other, looked at him, all three of us
shrugged our shoulders, shook hands, and we then went on our way. I thought it amazing how even though we could not speak the same language, we didn’t need to.  Our actions did the talking for us.  What an amazing experience.

Our new investigators (Leann, Lee, and Dan) all have great potential.  Two of them were out of town last weekend, so we couldn't meet with them or get them to church, but we will keep trying.  That is one of our goals for the transfer - to focus on getting people to come to church.  We are working on that.  We have met quite a few of the members as well and we hope to get them more involved in the work.  We have made some plans to contact them personally and ask for referrals, ask them to accompany us to appointments, and to be willing to fellowship our investigators and make them feel welcome at church and such.  Miracles can and will happen.

This church is true.  I am so very grateful for that.  This is an exciting time of year, with school ending and summer starting. Have fun, but don't lose sight of what is important.  Never forget what you know.  And always, ALWAYS remember that Christ loves you and that he has a way for you to live with him again.  I love you and miss you all!!!  Have A Great Day!!!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft

Scatter Sunshine all along your way....

Hello All!

How is everybody doing?  I hope all is well back in the blessed motherland. Speaking of  Mothers... Happy Mother's Day!!!!  Tell your mother you love her, give her a big hug, and make it a special day for her!  You will feel better, I promise.  So....yeah....

It was a good week.  Elder Call and I have been familiarizing ourselves with the area and meeting a lot of good people.  Elder Call is doing very well. I think he is training me now.  There are still a few times when he will stumble over his words and look at me for help, but he is doing amazing. His testimony is very strong and he has a sincere love for everyone that we meet.  In the teaching appointments that we have had, he has borne his testimony about the truthfulness of this work and you could just feel the spirit flooding the room.   He has a great desire to learn as well.  He will be (And already is) a great missionary.  I am grateful for the opportunity to work with him.  Hopefully I can keep up.

Our new investigator, Dennis Rodgers, was  a media referral that the previous elders left us.  We dropped by and were able to teach him the restoration.  He is willing to learn and he told us that he had seriously investigated the church about 20 years ago out in Alberta.  We will be meeting with him again on Friday.  We have also talked to a few others that have definite potential as well.  We met with Bro Eichler, the Branch Mission Leader on Monday to coordinate with him, and we talked about how we
can get the branch members more excited and involved in the work.  We want to have a "Member MTC" where we teach them about Preach My Gospel and about how easy it is to talk to their friends about the church.  We don't yet know all the logistics, but we hope to get that moving forward.  We are kind of
excited about that.

Anyway.... I hope that everyone is doing well.  Good Luck on end of the year tests, and congratulations if you are done!  I hope that the school year ends well for everybody.  Have Fun, Do Good, and learn lots.  I love you and miss you all.  Share the gospel with your friends!

Your Obedient Servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft