Invites all wearied nature to repose...

Hello All!

Greetings from the Snowy land of Orillia.  We have about a foot of snow on the ground and it is just lovely.  Who knew that Tracting in a foot of snow could be so fun?  That just reminded me of the song "Tracting in a Winter Wonderland" by Voicemale. Anyway....

This week has been rough. We have not been able to teach many lessons. Our one other lesson was taught to Jessica. We went over and gave her a copy of the Bible. She has finished the Book of Mormon and wanted to start the Bible. We talked about the Bible for a little bit, and that was about it. We set up an appointment with her on Monday night at 6:00, which she called and moved to Tuesday at 8:00. She called at 6:30 asking if we were coming. She had gotten confused at the time. That was when we went over there and met with her. We tried to meet with her a few times later in the week, but every time, something was not going right. On Friday night, her little sister threw a party and kept them up all night, so they slept all day Saturday and her mom slept all Sunday. Jessica did come to church, though. She only stayed for sacrament meeting, and she told us that she would call us when her mom woke up, but I guess that didn't happen. We stopped by to see her last night and talked with her for a bit. We also were talking with her Boyfriend, Andrew. He told us that he had been reading bits and pieces of the Book of Mormon. That was good. Hopefully we will be able to teach him as well. We met with Heidi and Pam, the Recent Converts in the Ward, and they are both doing well. Pam is still trying to kick that last cigarette a day. She says it is now just a habit thing, and the sometimes doesn't catch herself. Heidi is doing very well. she is going to school, working, keeping up with two very energetic little boys, and still managing to study the scriptures more than any recent convert I have ever seen. We were able to go over there and discuss what she read. She has a lot of material to cover (She was given a whole bunch on Sunday, Preach My Gospel, True to the Faith, the Joseph Smith Manual, etc.). She is doing great. We have done a lot of finding lately. A lot of tracting, and we have found some potentials that we hope to meet with later in the week. The work is progressing, slowly, but surely. We hope to meet with Jessica and Her mom tomorrow and re-set her for baptism and possibly her mom as well. It should be a good day tomorrow. But anyway....

Not too much time for randomness, but.... BYU vs. Utah - a bit disappointing, considering how high both teams were ranked.... Thank you to Pace for the little note about it.  Bryson - play-by-play would still be
nice.  Hope they both do well in Bowl-games.....Monday night's festivities sounded like a blast.  We will have to do that again when I am there.  See Mom's e-mail for details on that....But anyway....I love you and miss you all!  Have a wonderful day!  Have a great thanksgiving!  Tell me how it is!

Your Obedient servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft

The wintry day, descending to it's close....

Hello All!

Greetings from Orillia, Ontario!  Things up here are going great!  We are getting acquainted with the  area, and I anticipate great things here.  We were able to meet lots of members on Sunday, but some of them were not able to be there because of the weather.  It pretty much rained from Wednesday when we got to Orillia, until Saturday night, when the rain turned into snow.  We got about 4 inches that night.  So needless to say, there were some who were not able to make it out to church.  The members here are great and are all excited to help with the missionary efforts.  The branch President, President Watt, has a son who is serving a mission right now in Salt Lake City!  He is currently in West Jordan, and from what I hear is having a grand old time.  So if you ever run into an Elder Watt, take care of him.  

Anyway, it has been a good week.   I was not quite sure how I would feel leaving Sudbury (it being my first area and the fact that I had been there for 3 transfers), but everything is going swimmingly. Orillia is a great place. I am excited to be here is this great branch. That is probably the first thing I noticed about it. The members of the branch are wonderful and the Branch is very missionary minded. They all want to be a part of the work. There is a missionary correlation meeting tomorrow night with the Branch Mission Leader, Bro Cook, and all the Branch Missionaries. The meeting is open to all members as well, I believe. So anyone who wants to participate in the missionary efforts in the branch will be able to. We have been familiarizing ourselves with the area, we have met most of the investigators, and many of the members. There were some who did not make it out to church on Sunday because of the snow, and we hope to meet them this week. We met with Jessica Haime, probably the most progressing investigator. She is still struggling to quit smoking so she can be baptized. We are also not sure yet of the situation with her boyfriend. He at one point had been living with them, but we are not sure if he still does. We will be meeting with her later this week. She has a testimony, and has read the entire Book of Mormon. She just needs to take care of a few little things before she can be baptized. Her mom, Michelle also has learned most everything. We were able to answer a lot of her questions when we went over there. Jessica's Friend (also named Jessica), started coming over for the lessons lately as well. She saw how Jessica Haime had been turning her life around, and was interested in learning more. Hopefully we will be meeting with her again as well. We also met with Rob and Samantha. We retaught a first lesson and again they agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, but when we went back yesterday for our appointment, Rob told us that now wasn't a good time and that we should try back in a few weeks.

We also met with Heidi and Pam, two recent converts that were baptized about a month ago. They are both doing well and were at church on Sunday. We also have been doing a lot of drop bys. We organized them and made it so that we can be more efficient in dropping by. We were able to set quite a few appointments with many of them (we had 8 yesterday) and we hope to turn them into new investigators.

Elder Ladet is great.  He has a strong testimony and I am learning from him.  He is from Alaska and is one of 4 boys.  He is the only one in his family that is really active, though.  That must be tough for him, but he does very well.  I am excited to work with him.

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for....RANDOMNESS!!!!.....Noelle, Happy birthday tomorrow.  I hope it is a good one.  and congratulations on losing your tooth.  Keep reading and
learning. Thanks for the painting.....Brindy - thanks for the letter.  Keep learning, and even though school is sometimes not that fun, it will get better....Braden - Thank you for the superman card and the letter.  When kids are picking on you, remember this - they only pick on you because you have something that they don't.  You are very smart, and they know that. They just wish they were as smart as you.....Tan - what's the deal?  How is Junior High?....Bryson - life?  Braughnt?.....Tay - are you still alive? How is Ensemble?  What are you doing in your Christmas show?  How is the yearbook?....Mom - You are using the computer?  wow....and I thought that Brindy and Braden were going to change the most while I was gone....Dad – it sounds like work is going well.  A lot of exciting things are happening. Keep me informed.....I got the Thanksgiving Package yesterday, and it made my day.  I was very excited for everything.  The CD's, the candy, and especially the pictures.  Mom - were those just a bunch of random pictures? I really enjoyed that.  Pictures.  Those are great.  But Anyway.... I am running out of time.... I love you and miss you all!!!  Have a wonderful day and keep smiling!

Your Obedient servant,
Elder Austin James Ashcraft

Victory! Victory! Through Jesus Christ Our Lord....

Hello All!

Greetings from Sudbu - Wait - not Sudbury.  I have been transferred!  I am now serving in Orillia.  It is a smaller town (Only 30,000 people) and I am excited to be here.  My new address (for those of you who are just dying to send me a letter) is:

Elder Austin James Ashcraft

201 Barrie Rd. #1

Orillia, ON L3V 2P6

CANADA

I hope to hear from you all soon.  My new companion is Elder Ladet.  He is from Alaska and is the only Black missionary in the mission.  I am excited to work with him.  Guess what else?  I am finally driving again!  After almost 5 months of not touching a steering wheel, I am the designated driver.  Elder Ladet does not have a license, so Elder Barberi (The fleet coordinator called me on Tuesday and told me that I would be driving.  He told me that Orillia is in what they call the "Snow Belt."  (hmmm.... I wonder what that means...)  He said "There is going to be some snow and, Where are you from, again?"  "Salt Lake" "Good!  You know how to drive in snow!"  Anyway.  That will be fun.  I am driving a 2007 Malibu.  It's pretty nice, but believe it or not, it is one of the older cars in the Mission.  The Entire North Zone this transfer got brand new Ford Fusions.  I guess they have a really good All Wheel Drive, so all the areas (Except Sudbury - no car still.)  got Ford Fusions for the winter.  Pretty sweet.  But anyway, let me tell you about the last week....

The end of the transfer was good.  We picked up a few really good contacts in the last few days, and we met with a lot of less active members.  We met with Bro and Sis Cecol and watched a movie with them.  We still didn't get him to come out to church, though.  Hopefully Elder Smart will keep working on Him.  We also met with Mitch, who is kind of lost right now. He knows what he needs to do and he just is  not doing it.  Anyway.   We had to help out quite a bit at church on Sunday.  Rene did not show up, so the Zone Leaders had to teach Sunday School.  Elder Smart and I were in Primary teaching the Valiant Boys.  12 of them.  It was a lot of fun, to say the least.  We had to deal with quite a few things that could have broken out into fist fights.  I also was asked by Sister Mantysaari if I could come into her class to sing "Search, Ponder and Pray."  So I stepped out during Opening Exercises in Primary, we left the boys for a few minutes and went and sang the song for her.  Interesting ward. 

On Monday we did our deep clean of our apartment.  The place was spotless.  We got our transfer calls that night.  We went home and got a flood of phone calls from all over the mission asking where everyone was going and such.  Tuesday was spent packing.  I was still able to get everything in my suitcases, lucky me.  We drove to Barrie (3 hours) and spent the night there with about 12 other missionaries.  I slept in a ball in the corner.  It was great.  We got up at 5:00 the next morning because some of the missionaries had to leave by 6:00 and then I waited for Elder Kemp to come pick me up and take me to Brampton.  I waited in Brampton at the Stake Center for a long time.  Elder Ladet showed up at about 2:30, and the Car showed up at about 3:45.  We packed it up, left for Barrie, where we dropped off Elder Rollins and picked up My stuff.  We then drove to Orillia, grabbed a bite to eat and went to the church to help with Young Men's (we had a little note from the Other Elders)  We are whitewashing the Area, by the way.  I have to learn another area from the ground up.  It will be good.  I am not quite so timid and shy as last time that happened. 

RANDOM!!!!.....Dad- work sounds like it is going well.  Let me know how things turn out with Brad...Greg Smith is the Choir Director - I bet he does a good job.  What songs are you singing?  And Veteran's Day - Alex Boye?  What a great concert that must have been.  Oh, Alex My Boye.... What a Champ.....Mom - Sister Knowleton is a lot of fun.  It's always great when she comes for Zone Conferences.  She makes all the missionaries laugh.....I hope all goes well with Sharon and Harley, as well as with the Agnews....Anyway.... I Love You All and I miss you!  I hope that Everything is going well.  Have a wonderful Day!

Your Obedient Servant,

Elder Austin James Ashcraft

Austins very short letter

Hey!

I am in Brampton right now for transfers and the computer only has 15 min. But I am going to Orillia.  My new companion is Elder Ladet.  I don't know my address yet.  I will get back to you as soon as I can.  Depending on Elder Ladet, I might e-mail the full report tomorrow.

Love You!

Elder Austin James Ashcraft

Victory! Victory! Through Him that Redeemed Us....

Hello All!

Greetings from Sudbury, Ontario.  It was hot yesterday.  15 degrees and 100% humidity.  We have had a lot of fog lately, too, which is kind of fun.  you can feel the water in the air.  Halloween was kind of interesting.  We were told by President to not be out on Halloween, so we went over to a members house and ate dinner, then came home early.  That was about it.  We did help pass out candy at their house, though.  We stapled Pass-A-Long Cards to the bags of chips they were handing out.  (hehehe.  Sneaky missionaries we are....)  Anyway..... 

It has been a good week in Sudbury, Ontario.  We had a few interesting experiences.  One of which was on Thursday and Friday.  We had been called by a religion teacher at Marymount High School to come and teach about the church, and the days that we were to teach this class were Thursday and Friday.  We went there, and had a great lesson both times with them.  Interesting, but ever important little tiny detail - Marymount is an all-girl Catholic high school.  That was kind of interesting and a bit awkward (Especially because the second day was Halloween), but the spirit was felt in the lessons.  We taught the first and second lessons to them.  It went well.  The second day, particularly.  We were teaching the plan of salvation and we made sure to let them know that they could ask questions if they were confused.  There were some who were asking questions for clarification, but there were some who were asking what I would categorize "inspired questions."  There were a couple of these girls that sincerely were searching and wanted to understand.  We left the  teacher with a few copies of the Book Of Mormon and some pamphlets, and hopefully someone will read and want to know more.  There was one girl, who asked (this was actually the last question that was asked) "If someone wanted to become a member of your church, what would they have to do in order to do that?"  I hope that we were able to plant some seeds, if nothing else. 

Saturday was our travel day.  I was with Elder Siady.  We spent a lot of time doing drop bys.  We went to a few of the little suburbs and stopped by quite a few houses.  It's a bit more difficult when the area is larger.  We had a few appointments to go to, but none of them went through.  Elder Smart and Elder Lahaderne were in our area, and they picked up a new investigator, Lynn.  Lynn is actually a friend of Sister Gascon, in the ward.  She has Muscular Dystrophy and is afraid of what happens after this life.  They taught her with Bro Babin, and apparently the lesson went very well.  We have another appointment with her tonight. 

Monday and Tuesday were spent finding, mostly.  We talked to a lot of people and planted a lot of seeds for missionaries to harvest in the future.

The transfer calls come this next week.  I will know by the next time I e-mail where I am going to be serving.  It will be interesting.   

But anyway....once again, the King of Randomness rears his head....We are not really supposed to discuss politics in any way, but All I need to say is "One Nation, UNDER GOD!!!!"(Exclamation points added for emphasis).  As long as everyone remembers that we will be fine.....Mom - I got all the winter stuff taken care of.  Don't worry.  And Christmas?  I have really no idea.  I don't really need anything.  If I could get one thing for Christmas, though, it would be a long letter from everyone I know, pictures included, telling me about how their life has been and what is going on.  That's it.  Here it is, everybody - in the words of our Beloved Prophet Joseph Smith, "Write to me a long letter, and tell me all you can...."  Pictures are great as well.  It's hard to believe that it is that time again.....Speaking of food - I found something that made me very happy.  Canadians are very bland in taste -literally.  They don't season anything.  I did, however, find some Bull-Dog.  Good Old Tonkatsu Sauce.  It was (and still is) glorious.....I found out that Elder Smart is related to Abel Smart.  Except his line came from a different wife.  So my companion and I are fourth Cousins.  It's great.  Good man.  I have learned a lot from him.  He is about 18 months out, so he is on his last legs now.  Not too trunky, though, which is good....The trunk or treat sounds like it was crazy.  150 kids?  Wasn't the first time we did it only about 30?  And the costumes sound great!  An Indian in a bush?  Where does Braden come up with these ideas?....Bryson - thanks for the play by play.  Hopefully our defense will pull it together....I wait for your letter - BRAUGHNT!.....  Anyway..... I love and miss you all!  Have a wonderful day, and keep smiling!  

Your Obedient Servant,

Elder Austin James Ashcraft

Teaching His Holy Word....

Hello All!

Greetings from Sudbury, Ontario.  It has been another week of interesting weather, with temperatures ranging from 13 degrees to -9 degrees.  Some days feel really cold, but the temperature does not indicate it.  Temperature, Humidity, and Wind Chill all combined make for some interesting weather.  We had one day with the Temperature at -3, a wind chill that took it to about -10, and 100% humidity, which allows the cold to bite right through you.  It has been interesting, but I am keeping warm. 

How are things back in Utah?  Halloween is coming..... What is everyone going to be?  How much candy are we all going to eat that night?  How hyper will we be on Saturday Morning?  Anyway....

It has been an interesting week.  We were on such a spiritual high last week, but it seemed like we hit a wall this week.  It seemed like almost every appointment bombed us, and the times that we did get in to see people, we had to cut the appointment short, either because they had to go or we had another appointment.  We are still having a hard time getting a hold of most of our investigators, but the few that we have that are somewhat progressing seem to be doing well. 

We are still meeting with Matt.  He is the only one that comes to church.  We did not meet with him last week for an actual lesson, but we did talk to him last Wednesday.  His family went out of town for the last part of the week, so that put a damper on things.  We met with him yesterday and taught him the second half of the Plan of Salvation by reading Alma 40 with him.  We also will be meeting with him on Thursday.  He expressed a concern about the Word of Wisdom.  He mentioned that for some reason, he wants to drink when he gets older.  It might be that he rides bulls and wants to be a cowboy and "that's what cowboys do."  We will see what we can do about that.  Hopefully the Spirit will get to him and he will no longer have that desire. 

We met with Victoria and taught her most of the Plan of Salvation.  She doesn't really have the real intent necessary, though.  She keeps telling us that she feels that the path she is supposed to be on is right in front of her and that she just needs to figure out how to get on that path.  I just had a moment of inspiration writing that.  Next time we meet with her, I will share 2 Nephi 31:16-17, which talks about "getting on the straight and narrow path."  Thank you. Anyway, we had Dave MacIsaac with us for a lesson with her and he bore a very strong testimony of finding the truth. Hopefully she will be able to find the Book of Mormon to be true and act on that. 

We also met with Gurdeep Saini - our new investigator.  He is a very smart man from India.  We tracted into him and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon.  We met with him on Sunday and presented the first lesson.  He told us that the testimonies and the introduction of the Book of Mormon were very convincing.  He agreed to start reading and we will meet him again on Sunday to talk about it. 

We had an interesting experience a while ago.  We were out proselyting and it was raining.  The night was getting dark, and the streets were barren.  Nobody out.  It seemed almost as if we were wasting our time  walking around in the rain.  We decided that the Lord had someone that we needed to talk to that night, so we pressed on.  We were both soaking wet, but we kept walking and talking to anyone we saw.  We stopped by to see Paul, but he was not home.  His wife was and she told us that he had not come back yet.  She kind of shooed us away, so we kept on  walking.  We had gone for about 20 more minutes when I reached into my pocket to offer someone a pass-a-long card and I realized that my tag was missing.  The tag on my jacket was still there, but the other was not clipped on my shirt pocket like it should be.  I knew that I had it when we started that evening, so we decided to backtrack.  We followed the path we had trod, and we walked past Paul's house, and much to our surprise, he had just pulled in the driveway.  We started talking to him and found out that his mother was on her deathbed in the Hospital.  He talked about that for a few minutes, and then mentioned something that was very interesting.  He said, "God told me the other night that he had something big in store for me, and he told me that tonight I would find out what it was."  We then related the experience about running into him, and we gave him a pamphlet about the Plan of Salvation.  We both shared our testimonies with him and he agreed to read and pray about the truth of the message we shared.  We left Paul and made our way back to our apartment.  As soon as I got in the door, I felt my pocket.  My tag had fallen off the front and somehow made its way right into my pocket.  It was a wonderful experience, and I know that we were guided by the Lord.

But anyway....Randomness again prevails..... It is good to know that the Musical went  well.  Taylor....hook me up with the details on what happened.  Also everything else - yearbook, nSEMble, Calculus, Seminary council, Braughnt! (Ask Bryson about that one), you know-the works.....Bryson - same thing.  I want the play by play of everything - not just the BYU game (this really applies to everybody who reads this and even everyone who doesn't have a ball - write a letter - Make a Missionary's day!). Anyway....Mom - it's okay.  Only three more days and Halloween will be over.  I got the candy yesterday.  It made me so happy.  Real American Candy.  I was very excited about that....It sounds like red Ribbon Week was good.....Dad - I bet that the experience with Bishop Linford was incredible.  Was it someone that was in the ward?  Do I know them?....I haven't gotten the belt buckle yet.  He doesn't compete again until March.  Maybe he will mail it to me....Anyway....I love you and miss you all!  Have a great day, and keep smiling! 

Your Obedient Servant,

Elder Austin James Ashcraft

Standing for Truth with Fervent Accord....

Hello All!

Greetings from Sudbury, Ontario.  It is getting colder now.  We woke up yesterday and there was some strange white stuff on the ground.....It had snowed!  Snow in Canada - who would have thought.  It was only about a half-inch, but it was still snow.  We had a grand old time walking around in that.  It was -2 degrees yesterday morning with a wind chill that took it to -8.  Let's just say it was difficult for my ears to wiggle.  They were frozen stiff.  It's always funny trying to write down someone's contact information as well.  You can't really do it with gloves on, and when your hands are cold, it is very difficult to grip the pen.  We have had many laughs at that in the past little while. 

Anyway, things here are going well.  We are meeting with a lot of members, and we have a few investigators that we are able to teach.  One of them is Matt.  He is 14 years old and is almost a member.  His mom and older sister are, but he just never thought about getting baptized.  We had a lesson with him and the spirit was very strong.  He wasn't at church with us on Sunday, but he had a legitimate excuse.   Matt is a Bull-Rider, you see.  He is the best bull-rider in Ontario.  He was down south in a competition on Saturday, and he and his mom did not make it back to Sudbury that night, so they stayed the night in Bracebridge with her sister.  Matt took 1st place in the bull-riding, and 2nd place on the bareback bronc.  Very impressive, especially considering the fact that before Saturday, Matt had never ridden a bronc before.  From never riding before to taking second place?  Pretty good if you ask me.  Maybe he will get a belt buckle for me....

We also taught Victoria, one of our investigators.  We taught her about Joseph Smith, and the Spirit was there.  It was great.  The spirit works on people.  It is incredible. 

We have been blessed by the ability to share our talents.  At church on Sunday, Elder Smart was asked to speak.  The bishop called him about an hour before church and asked him.  He did a wonderful job.  After the sacrament, Sister Mantysaari, the chorister, pulled me and Elder Lahaderne into the Hall.  She had not changed the numbers for the hymns on the little board, so we were singing the same hymns as the last week.  She told us that and then she said "i need you to sing the Intermediate hymn.  You can sing whatever you want.  You have 10 minutes.  Thanks"  uh.....okay.  So Elder Lahaderne and I went into the Relief Society room for a minute and picked a Hymn for me to sing.  I picked "Lord, I would Follow Thee."  We went back into the Chapel and I asked Sister Mazey if she could play it for me, and so.... Bob's you're uncle..... Elder Ashcraft sings a musical number in Sacrament Meeting.  It went well.  It was good to participate. 

Randomness.....Taylor and Bryson - Good Luck in the Musical.  You will be great and remember your Missionary Brother is Praying for You.  Hopefully you will do well and when you are done, YOU WILL WRITE ALL ABOUT IT TO YOUR OLDER BROTHER WHO IS SERVING A MISSION AND WANTING TO HEAR ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON IN YOUR LIFE!!!....anyway....Mom- there you go again giving a stellar Primary leadership Presentation, and everybody wants to use it....Michael is home!  You will have to tell him to let me know how his mission was.  I am always ready to hear from people.  And I hope that somebody ate and enjoyed my share of the prime rib..... Jon is engaged?  Well Jon, I appreciate being informed about the matter.  You will have to let me know the details.  You know what I am talking about.  We have talked before.  Mom - if you could kindly pass that on to him.....Dad - congratulations on being made Second Counselor.  You will do very well.  We are put into positions like that for a reason..... BYU lost - how thoroughly disheartening.  Bryson, thanks for the play-by-play, even though you were half asleep.  Shanna - that is an awesome editorial.  You could seriously have that published.  Well Done.  I was impressed....But anyway.... I hope that each of you have a wonderful day!  Smile, and everything will be better.  Have Fun!  The Church is true!  I love you and miss you all!

Your Obedient Servant,

Elder Austin James Ashcraft