White Christmas

Well, this has been quite a week! Christmas was great! It was great to talk to the family! I just love technology, having Skype, facetime, and google+ going all at the same time! :) Christmas was good and there was some snow, although it was melting or pretty much gone. We ended up staying at the Bakers all afternoon playing games and had dinner with them as well.

Then in the evening of Christmas we left at 8:30 and I drove the two sisters and my companion to Greybull, where we arrived at 10:30 and stayed overnight there. Then we left early morning at 6:30 to be in Billings. The meeting went from 9-11:30, and Elder Clark missed half the meeting due to an interview with President Mecham. Which kinda stinks as the meetings were meant to be towards new missionaries. The meeting was okay, but I didn't think it was worth spending all the traveling time for this, so I was disappointed with the whole thing. We didn't get back to Riverton till 7:30 that day. Luckily the road was good the whole way.

We finally moved out of our place and with live with the Waltons in Sunset Park Ward, and Elder Clark and I absolutely love living in the new home and the Waltons! They are an awesome family. We really only spent one night there so far because we have been up in Shoshoni.

So we were in Shoshoni Saturday and Sunday because of Johntel's Baptism! That went very well and she got confirmed that Sunday. That was awesome! Also, for Sacrament Meeting I was able to bless the water, which I haven't been able to do since April when I was in Thompson Falls. That was pretty neat. I love the Branch in Shoshoni! The members are great!

So that has been my week, hope you have a fantastic week!

Elder Ashcroft

Christmas Conference! :)

So this has been an awesome week! So for the Christmas Conference I drove our car to Billings, a nice 6 hour drive and luckily there was no ice or snow on the road. We then stayed at the mission home over night. On Tuesday we had our Conference which was super awesome! There were a lot of special musical numbers by the missionaries and they all sounded really good. Then our AP's talks all pertained to Faith and believing in miracles for our mission. Then Sister Mecham gave an inspiring talk on hope and faith. Super spiritual talk, I enjoyed it a lot. Then President Mecham spoke covering all the topics the previous speakers spoke. He said some interesting fact that makes me love this mission so much! He said our mission is the highest baptizing mission in North America! How awesome is that! The Lord is truly hastening his work! I feel so blessed to be serving a mission and especially here in the Billings Montana Mission!

We also had all the missionaries form a choir and sing some Christmas music which sounded amazing! So we did that right before lunch. Lunch was great as we were able to see Santa and his Helper! Haha, as you can see in the pictures I sent.

So the conference ended around 4 and I had the pleasure to drive back home after the conference....Elder Clark and I didn't get back home till Midnight! Boy was that a tiring 6 hour drive home. I don't know how I managed to stay awake honestly, but we made it!

On Saturday we had an awesome meeting where both Lander District and our District met in Riverton with our Zone Leader and AP, Elder Smith. We had an awesome 3 hour meeting from 9-12. Talked about how we are a Happy Mission and how to continue to be a happy mission. It was a super awesome meeting! The Spirit was so strong.

This week I was able to do two baptism interviews for the Mountain View Sister's Investigators. They were both baptized Saturday, which we attended. I always enjoy attending baptisms and to see the joy of those being baptized.

I think we are about to pick up a new investigator! We are really short in our teaching pool, and we found out there is a lady who has been coming to church the last four Sundays without us knowing! So we met with her yesterday and she said she loves the church and she has been "Church Shopping" and so we will see her at church next week.

We saw Johntel Saturday in Shoshoni and she is Awesome! We also had Elder Smith come with us and help teach her. Johntel is getting baptized this Saturday! We are meeting with her tonight as well.

Well, sorry for writing so much this week, but it has been an AMAZING week! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

Elder Ashcroft

P.S. I forgot to mention, I am moving out of our place this Saturday! Super excited. We are moving out of the ward to the Sunset Ward, which is actually in town therefore saving miles. Also we are living with members, the Waltons, who are extremely nice couple! They also have a really nice home too! They have their youngest son on a mission in Portugal and he comes home in April. So that is super good news! :) This happened a lot sooner than I expected!

Me with the 3 Assistants to the President. Elder Olson is Santa, 

Elder Smith is the Elf, and Elder Payne is the Present! 

Hope you enjoy!

The Wyoming South Zone! Elder Kharazi is in there too!

Sick Week

So transfer happened, so I ended up going up to Greybull Tuesday, spent the night there and all day Wednesday which was fun. Then my new companion and the rest of the people coming into our Zone didn't come till 9 P.M. in Greybull, then we continued our trip to Riverton, meaning we didn't get to our place till midnight. But that's all right, because I had an awesome missionary in the transfer van the whole way down. If you didn't guess already, it was Elder Kharazi! Elder Kharazi ended up staying the night at our place. He is the new District Leader in Lander, about 30 minutes south from us, the closest Elders to us. Anyway, that is super awesome and I am excited since I'll be seeing him every Monday now! My new companion is Elder Clark, he is from Eagle Mountain, Utah and he is 18. He is a super stud missionary! Unfortunately I became sick Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I ended up throwing up in the morning Sunday before church. So we only attended Sacrament meeting.

We found out Thursday, that Jesus, who we thought wasn't a member, was baptized when he lived in Salt Lake many years ago. That was disappointing. We only now have two investigators in Riverton, who both are not progressing. Then we have Johntel in Shoshoni who has a date for December 28. That is literally, all our investigators. So we will just be contacting everybody in the ward directory.

So we are heading to Billings today for the Christmas Conference tomorrow. So everybody is going in a transfer van except for me and my companion as I will be driving up to Billings in our car and picking up the Greybull Elders. Should be a fun 4-5 hours drive. I heard the roads are really bad as well. So hopefully we will have a safe trip.

That is all I can think of right now. Have a great week!  Love ya!

Elder Ashcroft

Jackolopes aren't a Myth!!!! They are real!!! haha ;)

Transfer

Well, we received the transfer news yesterday. So Elder Linton is leaving for Billings tomorrow and I will stay here in Riverton, still the District Leader and I will be training a new missionary . I don't know my new companion's name, where he is from or anything. This should be an interesting transfer. The four sisters in my district all stayed, so that is good. One of our Zone Leaders is leaving for Kalispell and Elder Croteau will be my new Zone Leader, I served with Elder Croteau for 3 weeks when I was in Corvallis. So that is awesome!

So I guess I will be spending Christmas here in Riverton. To be honest I wish I could spend Christmas in Montana but hey, this is where the Lord wants me to be. I am nervous about training, since this will be officially my first time training a new missionary and not the second trainer for a missionary.

The work is slowly moving forward. We pushed back Johntel's baptism to the 28 of December. She is an awesome 9 year old girl and we saw her on Saturday and taught the third discussion. Super excited for her. We also have Jesus who we are seeing tomorrow and we will set a date for him on the 21 or 28 of December. We also have another investigator, Betty, and we are hoping to set a date with her.

We were able to see the Christmas Broadcast which was amazing! Afterward we went out as a District and went caroling which was super fun. Afterward we had hot chocolate as it is freezing here in Wyoming. Been single digits to 20 below all week and yet I manage to stay warm. It snowed a little here but not to bad.

Well, that is about all I can remember right now. Have a fantastic week!

Picking Up Investigators

Well, we've been able to do some things this week and the exchange with Elder Anthony was super fun. We unfortunately didn't get to accomplish a whole lot when Elder Anthony was there as other things popped up that we had to deal with. Having to deal with four sisters from the district takes some work and time. I suppose I'm getting used to it now. Sisters always have a ton of questions, concerns, and complaints... but I'm glad to say that our District is unified. Just a lot of work. Also last District Meeting was the best District meeting we have had so far. Very good meeting, talked about the authority and influence we have as missionaries, the importance of helping investigators and less actives understanding the atonement. Very good meeting. :)

I can't wait to move out of the place we are living at because of all the drama we've been having to put up with with our Host Family, young couple, really frustrating and missionaries in the past have moved out but they decided to put the missionaries back to living here and we are trying to move out. The sad thing is, everybody in the Ward knows about this too. Hopefully things work out. We have several options to move to.

So Thanksgiving was good, we were able to eat with three different family and needless to say I was stuffed! Good food, and good times.

We were able to pick up two new investigators this week. We have Betty, who already knows the church is true so we will be seeing her Thursday and hoping to set a baptismal date with her. Her two daughters are members and moved in to live with her. That will be good for her. Then we have Jesus, a Mexican who doesn't understand or speak English, but he lives with his nephew and we reactivated the nephew's family recently, so they may help translate for us or we may have to bring somebody with us who speaks Spanish for us.

So I have some pictures I wanted to send but forgot the camera... so next week. I have a really sweet picture to show. The weather has been nice this week in the 40-50's. But I have been told it will be 18 below on Wednesday :(  Not looking forward to it. Transfer call is next week, wonder what is going to happen. Have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Giving Blessings

11/25/13

Well, trying to think and remember what we did this week. We don't have many teaching opportunities as we are really short with investigators, so we've been focusing on contacting inactive members in the ward, in which we were able to find about 4 new less actives to start visiting and teaching. So not a whole lot going on but working with less actives.

So Elder Linton and I have been giving a lot of blessings this past week, too many I can't even count. We went to the Sisters area to give blessing to their less actives and investigators, then a lot of blessings within our Ward. It is always humbling to be able to give blessings to people. To know that I am able to be worthy to hold the Priesthood. Then I realized all the authority I hold as a missionary and how short of a time left I have on my mission. Not very long unfortunately.

So today should be fun as we have most of the Zone here in Riverton for P-day today. Then I am looking forward for this week as Elder Anthony, our Zone Leader is going to be with us from Tuesday to Thursday, should be lots of fun.

That is all I can think of for as of right now, so hope you have a fantastic week!

Elder Ashcroft

Pictures :)

Me soaking wet after a bike ride in the rain in Helena one day. 

You can see the dry marks from the straps of my backpack.

 Me with Bro. Schlecht our awesome ward mission leader 

and Bro. Lund our awesome ward missionary!!! :)

The Hansen Family to the left side and Angela and Ani to the right of me. 

Ani is a recent convert who with the Hansen's had been helping us teach Angela 

who we set a baptism date with the night before I left for Riverton.

Me with my host family in Helena, the Stangers! :)

Elder Gunnerson and Elder Ashcroft

Me finally meeting up with Elder Kharazi during transfer on my way to Riverton. 

Russ and Elder Ashcroft

Russ and Elder Linton

That's all folks! Hope you enjoy!

3 Baptisms

So this has been a good week. So we had Zone Training Wednesday and that went pretty well. Learned all sorts of stuff, mostly refreshers for me but it was all really good. My discussion with Elder Linton went pretty well I suppose according to what other missionaries told us... not sure if they are reliable sources haha. It went well.

Then on Thursday I caught the flu and I was like how is this possible!!!? I got the flu shot this year unlike last year and still caught the flu. Anyway, wasn't as bad as the last time I caught the flu, but anyway I was down for the count on Thursday with throwing up all morning and with headaches. Fortunately the flu only lasted for a day. So that evening while I was sick I went to a member's place while Elder Linton went with a member and saw some people. Apparently I missed a very good lesson with an investigator I haven't met yet who started crying and knew the church was true but still didn't commit to baptism. I was bummed that I missed that.

So Saturday we had 3 baptisms! Super sweet, one was a member baptism of an 8 year old at 10 in the morning. Then we had Mitchell's baptism at 1 where I gave a talk on baptism and Elder Linton spoke on the Holy Ghost. That went very well. Then at 4 we had Russ' Baptism in which Elder Linton baptized him. That one went very well. Then for some reason they wanted me to confirm Russ on Sunday, so I was able to do that yesterday which was super sweet. That is the second confirmation I have done so I knew what I was doing this time so that was a really neat experience. :)

So we have Elder Thawley with us for a couple of days He's been with us since 8 in the morning yesterday and is staying with us till tomorrow morning. Been a blast with him so far! He is a super awesome missionary. So I believe for today we will be playing basketball which should be fun! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Elder Ashcroft

P.S. So Riverton and Shoshoni are all on the reservation. I forgot to talk about my area and Riverton. So Riverton isn't the safest place to be. A lot of drunk Indians and a lot of drugs, crime and violence have been happening around town. We cover the roughest part of town as well. We cover two parts called All Nation and Garden North and both are extremely bad neighborhoods with a lot of bad stuff happening. Just last week somebody held a gun to a lady's head at Walmart. Then there have been about 5 people killed this month already. So a lot of things are happening here in this small town of Riverton. Anyway, we've been fine, hope you have a great week!

Doing Work!

So, this week went well. I had my first District meeting on Wednesday and it went well. I'm glad to say I manged to make the meeting 3 hours long when there is just the six of us. It is very interesting to just have Sisters in my district. It is amazing how young my district is as well, all of them have been out less than 3-4 months. It is also crazy to think I have been out longer than my whole district combined as well. I'm getting used to my responsibility.

So I wasn't able to email yesterday due to the library not being open for Veteran's Day. So Elder Linton and I met up with 6 other Elders in Lander and went to Sinks Canyon. So about a 30-40 minute drive south of Riverton. We went spelunking, which was super fun. It was a one man tunnel and had to climb up and down the cave which was super fun. I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera so I have no pictures. Then after that we went hiking up to some water falls that were frozen. The water was frozen as well so we had fun walking on the ice and seeing the frozen falls. That was super fun, I hope to go back again. It was also a very beautiful hike.

So we have two baptisms for this Saturday. One for Russ who Elder Linton has been teaching for 4 months now and he is finally ready to be baptized. We also have Mitchell, a 9 year old who is getting baptized as well. Then there is going to be a member baptism for an 8 year old, so we will be at the church all Saturday with the baptisms. Super exciting.

So I went to church in Shoshoni this Sunday which is a small branch. They had 53 people at church Sunday. We were able to set a baptism date for December 14 with a 9 year old girl in Shoshoni on Sunday as well. We will be teaching her. I don't think Shoshoni had a convert baptism all year so this should be exciting.

Well, I believe that is all that happened. Tomorrow Elder Linton and I are doing a discussion at Zone Training tomorrow. I'm also excited for tonight as Elder Thawley (From my MTC Distirct) is spending the night at our place tonight. He is the Zone leader in the Wyoming North Zone and he is going around in our Wyoming South Zone to all the companionships to see how they teach with the ipad. So it should be nice to have him this evening. Well, hope you have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Riverton, WY

Well, this has been quite a week. So I am still figuring things out here in Riverton but I think I got the jist of it now and I will eventually know everything the next week or two. So there are 3 Wards here in Riverton. Aspen Park, Sunset Park, and Mountain View. So one set of Sisters cover Sunset Park, another set of Sisters cover Mountain View and the YSA Branch, and I cover Aspen Park Ward. Elder Linton and I also cover Shoshoni which is a population of 300 and has a little Branch there. So Wednesday I left Helena and traveled to Bozeman, had a quick stop, then to Billings for a half hour stop. Then traveled to Lovell, Wyoming and spent the night there. So about 6-7 hours drive. Then on Thursday I drove the truck down with two Elders and two Sisters. That was fun, so we drove to Thermopolis, where our Zone Leaders serve and we had about 3/4 the zone there and had a testimony meeting. After that I drove the truck again with the same people to Riverton. So all in all about a 4 hour drive. So we have a Toyota Corolla that I am driving around which is pretty sweet.

So I guess I am loving it here. It is pretty flat here with mountains pretty far away. Different not having mountains being right there. So I am enjoying Riverton. Elder Linton is Awesome. We are getting along great! So he has been out two transfers, all in Riverton. His last two companions only served in Riverton for one transfer and left to be Zone Leaders, so he keeps telling me I'm going to be a Zone Leader next transfer, which I kinda don't want to be, since that is a lot of responsibility, but we'll see.

So we have two people on date with very few investigators. We also have a ton of less actives. So I have been told about 80 show up to church on average and we have around 500 less actives. So a lot of reactivation work to be done. However we had about 130 show up yesterday and there was no special event at church so that is good. The members here are nice as well.

So I found out that right before Elder Linton showed up the previous Elders weren't the best and ruined the area and members trust, so the past three months Elder Linton and his two previous companions have been building it back up. So we have a lot of work ahead of us.

So I arrived here Thursday then Friday evening we went up to Shoshoni, Elder Linton second time up there and we spent the night at the Branch President's house. So we went to see our branch mission leader and he wasn't home so walking back we saw some high schoolers playing basketball, so we asked to join in and we played them, which of course Elder Linton and I showed them whats up. ;) After playing awhile they asked us questions and they never even heard of Mormons before, probably because they grew up in a small town of Shoshoni their whole life. That was cool. Then Saturday we spent the morning going through the area book for Shoshoni and updating. Then we met several members and a part member family which was a great visit and good potential. That is about it. Elder Linton tracted the whole place in 2 hours the last time he came up. So we go there about once a month.

Things are going well. Hope you have a great week! Oh, we have like the only Walmart in Wyoming for our mission. :)

Elder Ashcroft

Awesome Families in Helena 4th Ward!

Happy, Shocked, Anxious, Nervous, And Excited!!!

What a week! I don't know where to begin. I guess I will start with transfer, we got the transfer call yesterday evening and found out I am leaving Helena. :(  So I found out I won't be with Elder Gunnerson for his last transfer and he is getting a brand new missionary. As for me I am finally going to Wyoming! I am going to Riverton, Wyoming where I will be the new District Leader and am in charge of 12 missionaries. That should be interesting and I will see how Wyoming treats me, perfect timing too, I'm arriving just in time for the winter in Wyoming which I am not looking forward to. :(  So Elder Gunnerson actually served in Riverton for six months last year. So he is telling me all the people to see and all the places to visit, so I am excited. I'm not sure how I feel about being District Leader, I managed to stay away from leadership for quite awhile, should be fun.

So about the electronic devices, so I got an Ipad mini! So both Elder Gunnerson and I have one, so this means a lot of changes are happening. For one, we don't need our paper planners anymore or the area book either. We do all that on the Ipad. We've been working this past week transferring all the information from our area book onto our ipad. It is super neat and has a lot of cool things on there. We can get online as long as we have WiFi. Anyway, super cool. So we are one in 30 missions receiving Ipad minis. It's been really nice having them, but it renders our backpacks utterly useless since everything we need is on there. Soo nice!

So yes, the Shaws moved into town but are still in the same Ward and we helped them move in. I was super excited about that since they could now feed us, as before they were 15 miles out of town. Then I was disappointed in finding out I am leaving so I won't be able to now. I am going to miss Helena, it has been a very good 5 months here. I'm going to miss the members, recent converts, less actives, and the investigators here. I can't believe I am leaving. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my new companion, I haven't met him yet but his name is Elder Linton and he's only been out two transfers, 3 months. So this should be fun.

So I have been packing this morning, definitely not fun... but almost done and ready, I leave Wednesday and I will arrive in Billings and stay overnight there and then leave for Riverton on Thursday. Going to be a long drive. Yippee...   Well, that is all I can think of now, have a great week as mine should be exciting.

Elder Ashcroft

New Electronic Device! :)

So this has been a very good week for Elder Gunnerson and I as we are picking up several new less actives and a new investigator and a part member family. :) So we found a new investigator Diane and we invited her to church and she hasn't gone to church in 30 years and she came to church yesterday! Super exciting and made us happy because it is so difficult to get less actives to church, it is way easier to get investigators to church than less actives. We also just contacted a new part member family last night and they invited us back in which we are super excited for that. Then being how awesome Brother Hanson is, first counselor to the Bishop, invited Ani, a Carroll College student who in return brought a friend along to dinner last night. That was super awesome and the friend agreed to take the missionary discussions which we will be doing at the Hanson's home. Love the members here, we literally get all our referrals from our members and all the investigators from the members. They also do a very good job fellowshipping and supporting the people who we see. Love the Helena 4th Ward so much!

Lois had her baptism on Saturday! It was great to see her get baptized by Bro. Hall who just got baptized on Sept. 28. Elder Gunnerson gave the talk on baptism and I did the opening prayer. It went super well, it is great to see the Hall family join the church. We also helped confirm her a member of the church on Sunday as well. It has been wonderful teaching them and we will be seeing them on Friday when Sis. Hall is making the double fried Kentucky Fried Chicken again! Yumm, can't wait!

I guess you are curious as to the title of my email huh? So we just found out our mission is getting ipad minis!!! Yup, that's right, we are the first of 3 missions to be the pilot program for the ipad mini. So not any missionary can get the ipad mini, but only those who are obedient and are ready to have them, so it is limited to the missionaries in our mission. So we weren't necessarily expecting to be able to get them yet, but then we got a call from Elder Smith, our AP, and told us we were selected to be able to have the privilege to have them. So we have a meeting tomorrow on Tuesday in which somebody from Salt Lake in charge of the ipad mini is talking to us and instructing its use and how to use them. Super excited for that. I don't know if they are giving them to one per companionship or if we each get one individually. Anyway, super pumped about that.

Well things are going super well and wish the best this week. Love ya all!

Elder Ashcroft

Contacting

October 14, 2013

Wow, I am really stumped as to write about for this week. Honestly, not much really happened except for trying to contact some people who we haven't been able to contact for awhile with no real success. We've just been doing a lot of contacting and meeting with several investigators or less actives that are not progressing.

The exciting thing that is happening this week is that Sis. Hall, the grandma, is getting baptized this Saturday and Bro. Hall is going to baptize her as he just received the aaronic priesthood which is super awesome!

So on Sunday we had a Stake Missionary Correlation. So the stake presidency, ward mission leaders, ward missionaries and missionaries all attended. It was a super awesome meeting in which we talked about what we can do better to help improve the missionary work here in Helena. Anyway that went very well.

Well, that is about all I can think of to write about, hope you all have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Alex's Baptism

Well, Alex's baptism was on Thursday and it went very well. We are super excited for him and glad of his decision. That is one of the highlights this week.

We also had Zone Conference on Wednesday. That went pretty well I guess, wasn't the best I've been to but it definitely was edifying. Don't quite remember what we talked about but I just remember it was good. That is also probably the last time I will see Elder Scott, which I think I forgot to tell you, he is still in Great Falls and not here in Helena. :( Anyway, it was a good meeting. I also really enjoyed General Conference which we watched at the Halls with the Steinagels as well. That was a blast. As you will see in one of the pictures I dozed off a little in the Sunday afternoon session, the only one I dozed off in.

So right now Elder Gunnerson is getting an extension with his mission to leave after Christmas Conference so he is extending about an extra week or two. I don't know if I told you this yet, but my mission got cut by two weeks so my departure date is July 5 instead of my original date of July 17th. So I'm debating whether to extend or not...I'll think and pray about it.

Other than that nothing much happened. Have a fantastic week!

Elder Ashcroft

A recliner just his size . . .

Listening intently to Conference . . .

Halls Baptism

So like the title suggested the Halls got baptized Saturday and confirmed Sunday. I had the wonderful privilege to baptize Sis. Hall and Elder Gunnerson baptized Bro. Hall. It went very well and successful. Then we were able to take part in their confirmation. The Grandma did not get baptized but does have a date for October 19. So we will be watching General Conference with at the Halls on Saturday and Sunday! Super excited for that and can't wait!

We were able to meet with Hannah on Thursday and she is super solid. So we taught her the Word of Wisdom on the second lesson, which we rarely ever do and committed her to stop drinking coffee for at least a week. So Elder Gunnerson and I happened to teach her the word of Wisdom on the second meeting (which rarely ever happens) with her and she has agreed to keep that commandment and stay away from coffee till our next meeting. So she had to stay away from coffee, which caused her concern since she didn't know how to focus with all the homework and tests she had coming up for Carroll College. So we promised her that if she read the Book of Mormon and prayed before she started her Homework or test she will have the spirit with her to help learn and understand. She saw us Thursday and she said it worked! She and her roommate were reading the same book and she said she understood it perfectly and her roommate didn't understand it at all. She also said she read and prayed before her math test and she got a 92% which she says she never does good on her math test, which she now found a strong testimony in not drinking coffee and to read and pray before her studies! So Hannah is continuing in not drinking coffee which is amazing! We will be seeing her this week and she said she is going to watch General Conference.

Other than that not much else happened last week. We do have a baptism happening on the 3rd for Alex who is 9 yrs old. I guess that is it. Have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Goofy Pics!

Out on a fun adventure at the pond.

Elder Gunnerson, Elder Ashcroft, Sister Gerald

Less active silly cat.

Settling Down

So this week was not as good as last week as far as teaching wise. We had our ups and downs. I guess I will share the good stuff first since we always love the good stuff anyway. So we met with one of our newer investigators that I haven't mentioned yet, but we set a date for Cassie for October 26 which we are hoping that will work out. We also saw Hannah again and she is doing awesome. In stead of doing some lesson we answered some of her questions, which lead to the word of wisdom and the law of chastity, so we got some of the commandments out of the way. I have to admit that it is always a little awkward teaching the law of chastity to someone especially if you are teaching it to someone your age, in which Hannah is 20. So yeah, at least we got that over with. Nevertheless she is solid, she wasn't able to go to church since she had a qualifier for her golf tournament that weekend, but she said she wants to come, so hopefully she comes this Sunday.

Oh, so this week the transfer took place and everybody is settling in. We helped fill in the Sisters for Helena 2nd Ward. Both Sister Nielson and Sister Aller are amazing! Sister Nielson has only been out 6 weeks and Sister Aller just came straight from the MTC. Anyway, we had them teach the Halls on Friday and they did an excellent job of it! So the Halls are being baptized this Saturday and Elder Gunnerson will be baptizing Sister Hall and I will baptize Brother Hall. Can't wait! I can't believe all the people I am baptizing here in Helena, this will be my 3rd here in Helena and my mission! I feel so blessed to be serving here in Helena. So anyway, the sisters are doing an amazing job, they went tracting on their second day here and already found 5 potential investigators! Oh, and yes the Shaws are in 4th Ward so they are in my Ward.

So I guess here come the sad news. So we saw the Bradburys with our awesome ward mission leader Bro. Schlecht on Thursday. We come to find out Sis. Bradbury only wanted to bash, or that is how Elder Gunnerson and I felt how it was. She was focusing a lot about the priesthood and quite honestly I got lost. The good thing is Elder Gunnerson and Bro. Schlecht knew what was going on. (Bro. Schlecht is becoming a chaplain for the army.) So they pretty much answered all the questions. Then on Sunday we get a call from her that she dropped us and wasn't interested anymore. However, we know that Bro. Bradbury felt the spirit and we know that he knew what we were saying is true, so we are hoping he will come around and join the church eventually.

So the Halls are amazing, they made me a loaf of zucchini bread which was delicious and I enjoyed every last bite of it! :)

That is pretty much our week. Hope your week goes well!

Elder Ashcroft

Intense Week

So many things happened last week and been kinda stressful and amazing! Hmm, where to begin. We had a Zone P-day again last Monday in which we did basketball and Ultimate Frisbee which was super fun. We managed to set up all the dinner appointments for the Zone and it all went very well. We also found housing for all of them. Then on Tuesday we had another Zone Training which went pretty well. Wasn't as good as the last one but it was still pretty good.

Tuesday night was exchanges with 4th Ward which went pretty well, that was the last time I will be seeing Leah at the Romo's place for quite awhile since she will be going to Basic Training next week and is out of town this week. So that went pretty well.

Let's see, on Thursday we met with our brand new investigator Hannah who we received the referral from the Indiana Mission. We contacted her over the phone and set up the appointment over the phone. Anyway, she is super solid. We also had Beaugh an RM and Leah our recent convert there for the lesson. It went super well and Hannah is amazing. So at the end of the meeting somehow they brought up that Carroll College had a Homecoming that Saturday and Beaugh actually plays on the football team. Anyway Hannah asked if we were allowed to go to football games and Beaugh said we could as long as it was with investigators. (Which Elder Gunnerson and I thought that comment was golden.) So Hannah invited us and got us two free tickets and we went Saturday to Carroll College Homecoming game, which was awesome. So we were in the Student Section with Hannah and were able to watch the game and Beaugh make some awesome plays on defense. Anyway, Carroll of course won 21-7. So we will be seeing Hannah today at 1, looking forward for that.

So miracle of the week. So it was Saturday  after the football game, we received money from a member for dinner, so we decided to get something cheap, McDonalds. So we had dinner and then realized we had nothing to do, so Elder Gunnerson asked what I wanted to do, so I said let's go to the church building. I don't know why since we would have nothing to do there. So we went and right when we pulled in a car came around the corner in the parking lot. This couple wanted to know when church started. (We were super excited that they might not be members) So we said at 9. So the next day we saw them and they stayed for all 3 hours. So this is the Bradburys. So apparently they investigated the church a year ago when they were in Virginia. Then they moved to Helena a year ago and have been going to all the churches here in Helena. They said last week they decided to investigate our church again. Then another miracle, they almost went to the other church building by the capitol, but instead came to our building in the valley. The miracle about this is they went to the 4th Ward which is where they live in! The ward here is awesome because Bro. Schlecht (our ward mission leader, who is awesome!) invited the Bradburys to dinner with them next Sunday. They have already been fellowshipped. Another miracle is that they live right next door to an active family. :) They are already embraced by the ward!

The Halls are still doing well. They are still solid for baptism and they want both Elder Gunnerson and I to baptize them. :) Coming up on the 28th.

So now it comes to Transfer, so we found out that Elder Gunnerson and I are both staying. So this is my 3rd transfer with Elder Gunnerson, meaning he is my longest companion. Also this will be my longest area of 3 1/2 transfers here, surpassing my first area of 3 transfers.  Our Zone also has been split in two. There is now the Butte Zone and there is the Helena Zone. My area has been split, so tomorrow the Sisters will arrive and they will take over Helena 2nd Ward. Also Helena 1&3 is now split with Sisters and Elders now. I'm excited that Elder Scott will be my Zone Leader again and to be around him for his last transfer of his mission. Elder Scott is the one who trained me, my first companion. Super excited about this. Anyway, I'm excited for this transfer.

I guess that is it! Love ya!

Elder Ashcroft

P.S. I forgot to add in my email about Elizabeth's baptism. It was crazy trying to figure everything out throughout the whole week. We were planning on meeting with them Tuesday and Thursday but both fell through. But we managed to get the program and set everything up. So the baptism went well on Saturday.

Pictures!

Elder Gunnerson, Saundra, Jeron, Christian, Elder Ashcroft

Baptism

So last Saturday went really well as was the confirmation on Sunday for Saundra, Christian, and Jeron! So Elder Gunnerson baptized and confirmed Saundra and Christian and I baptized and confirmed Jeron. That was actually the first time I have done a confirmation which was exciting. So the scary part was that we were not told we were doing the confirmation so I was not prepared and didn't know what to say, luckily Elder Gunnerson did the first two so I knew what to say so I did it just great! It was super neat! The members have all been telling us what a big change the kids have made since they were in Primary, I guess they used to have issue just because of how they were raised, but they are super awesome!

We found 5 new investigators this week which is super exciting. 2 of the five we have set baptism date which was great! We have Kelly who actually contacted us saying he wanted to take the lessons and be baptized! Then we have a 9 year old boy who finally decided he wanted to be baptized so we are teaching him as well. This week we have another baptism for Elizabeth and this is a crazy week for her as we are trying to set up meeting time, set up for the baptism, and the interview. Been pretty crazy setting that up for her.

So we are doing another Zone P-Day today since we have Zone training again tomorrow, which meant more coordinating for us. We had to set up housing for the missionaries again and on top of that we had to find dinners and Family  Home Evening for all the missionaries. Boy we sure did make a lot of phone calls yesterday. Luckily we got that all figured out. Quite a hustle doing all that yesterday.

The Halls are still doing great. They already have the program for their baptism lined up and done. We just have a few more commandments to teach and we will be seeing them this Friday. They are still set for September 28.

So last Thursday night we get a call from our zone leaders saying President Mecham will be in town Friday morning and wanted to meet with us. So Friday morning we saw president Mecham with the zone leaders and had a secret combination together. Haha just kidding, but we found out that we will be having a new set of missionaries for Helena 2 ward, so splitting our area as well as getting new set for Helena 3 as the sisters had Helena 1&3. So Helena 2 will get a set of sister missionaries and Helena 3 will get Elders. So our district will be even bigger, 14 missionaries in our District. So transfer is next Wednesday and get the call next Monday. So I found out early from President Mecham that Elder Gunnerson and I will most likely be staying together in Helena 4. That will be 3 transfers with Elder Gunnerson! He will be my longest companion, also Helena 4 will be my longest area. He also said he plans on us staying together till the end of Elder Gunnerson's mission and he goes home in December. So hopefully it works out that way.

So this morning before I emailed Elder Gunnerson and I played frisbee golf which was awesome. I had an eagle (a hole in one) which was epic!

I guess that is all. Love ya!

Elder Ashcroft

Temple Trip

Another good week in a life as a missionary! Last week sure does seem to have been a long time ago! It truly been a wonderful week. So on Monday of last week we had a whole Helena/Butte Zone together for P-day and we hiked Mt. Helena which was amazing. It was about a 2 mile hike up. Then we had a devotional up on top of the Mountain, because we related how in the Bible the Mountains was where Prophets went to receive instruction and revelation from Heavenly Father. Sister Johnson gave a discussion about how we have been and how we can still prepare to go to the Temple. It was really good. We even had a non-member listen and joined in in singing Nearer My God to Thee. It was super spiritual and uplifting. Then Elder Gunnerson and I with 3 other missionaries ran down the mountain which was fun. Then of course I played basketball all day, so with all those activities I was really sore the next day.

So Elder Gunnerson and I had to find housing for the whole Zone for Monday night as we had Zone Training the next day. So we found housing for 14 Elders and for 6 sisters. Luckily Helena 4th Ward is amazing and was able to house all of them. Then Zone Training was great! We talked about the Law of Sacrifice, Consecration, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Obedience, and Chastity which we have been studying the last month and a half to prepare for the Temple.

So on Thursday we finally went to the Temple! It was so nice to go to the Temple again and I learned so much and could really feel the Spirit. I learned so much when the Temple President spoke to us before the session started. I learned so much and it was just a great experience. After the Temple we all went to Golden Corral which was good. I was also able to see Elder Bishop  and Sister Pattullo who I haven't seen in quite awhile, so that was an awesome reunion.

Sunday was great as well, had people come to church, and the Halls are doing great! They are really looking forward for their baptism on Sep. 28. In fact they told us they want to plan out their program this Saturday after attending the Baptismal service which Elder Gunnerson and I have this week with the 3 lamanite kids we have been teaching, which reminds me, Elder Gunnerson and I are going to baptize the kids this Saturday! Should be an awesome week! Anyway, the Halls are super excited and already have speakers for their baptism.

This week will be super awesome. Oh, Yesterday we picked up a new investigator, Alex, who is 9 and has a date for Sep. 28 as well. Tonight on exchanges we will be contacting our potential investigator who randomly called us up saying he wanted to meet with us! Super exciting day and week!

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Montana Billings Mission in Newspaper

Here is the link to the Newspaper article about this mission!

 http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/new-minimum-age-guidelines-increase-ranks-of-mormon-missionaries/article_4fdd0160-454b-524f-833c-7585e6184041.html#comments

August 26

So this has been pretty decent week. Not much to talk about for this week. For exchanges Wednesday night Elder Gunnerson won and got to see and teach Leah, our recent Convert who is doing awesome and staying solid! Also Elder Gunnerson saw Hannah who is a solid and awesome girl that we are teaching. She wants to be baptized but she has to wait till she is 18, which will be another 2 years. Anyway, she is awesome, going to church every week and reading in the Book of Mormon and is in Alma 40! Were hoping and praying she gets permission to be baptized. I went around trying to see people and they were all not home. :(  Well, we're still getting things done.

So Friday we saw the Halls who are solid. Bro. and Sis. Hall are doing great and still progressing. The Grandma unfortunately backed off the baptismal date but still wants to learn and take her time, but she is still progressing! Then the Halls invited us to go to a rodeo with them and the Steinagels in Boulder, outside our area but in our Zone, and we got permission to go! I'll have to send some pictures next week. That was super fun, however the bull riding was a disappointment as all the riders fell off in less than 3 seconds. But the rodeo was great! Been forever since I have been to a rodeo!

This week will be super busy! Zone Training is tomorrow so everybody is coming up tonight and we are going to hike Mt. Helena as a zone. That should be exciting. Also this Thursday I will be going to the temple! The Temple President and President Mecham are holding an hour session to explain things before we start a session, which should be cool and interesting. Can't wait!

Other than that, nothing much is happening, at least not that I can think of right now. Hope you all enjoy your week!

Elder Ashcroft

Elder Devin Ashcroft Facebook Account

I now have a facebook account, but with that there are several rules I need to keep. One of those things is unfortunately is that I can't add family and friends as my friend on facebook. However you can still follow me on facebook. This is pretty simple to do, go as to where you would add me as a friend and there should be an option where you can choose to follow me. So if you like me enough you can at your own will follow me. I will be your new leader bwahaha, you are now my followers and my servants. Haha just kidding. Everybody is invited to follow me so spread the word! Love ya all!

Elder Devin Ashcroft

Elder Thomas

So Elder Thomas' youtube video is called "Unicyle see you in 2" since he is on his mission. Also he is in "unicycle freestyle" first one that pops up. In case you're interested.

Swicheroos

Well, this has been an interesting week. I had five companions this week. So I had Elder Gunnerson till Tuesday after District Meeting, which was really good and we talked about facebook. I should be creating my facebook account this week, I already had my interview by my Zone Leader so I'm good to go. Anyway, After District Meeting Elder Gunnerson went with the Lincoln Elders for a week long exchanges and not going to be back till tomorrow for District Meeting. So the plan was I was going to be with the Zone Leaders Elder Southwick and Elder Zacchilli, but we had a change of plan. Elder Smith, our AP(Assistant to President) came down from Billings to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, so I ended up being with Elder Thomas, who came with Elder Smith, and Elder Smith just came into the mission the day before, he is waiting for his visa for Brazil. So I had Elder Thomas from Tuesday afternoon to Friday evening. Elder Thomas is amazing! He is from Fort Collins, Colorado, an hour North of Denver. I found out that he holds the world record for the longest grind on a Unicycle. Meaning he rode 250 ft on a rail with the pedals of the unicycle. That is pretty amazing and he is on youtube apparently. So, anyway, after Friday evening Elder Smith and Elder Thomas left for Great Falls and I ended up being with the Zone Leaders.

So on Saturday with the Zone Leaders and I had to take one of the Sisters to Dillon to be on exchanges. So we had a long drive, pretty much took up most of the day. Dillon has two sets of missionaries now, a set of Elders and a set of Sisters. Then on Sunday I went to 3 wards for church. My two wards of Helena 2&4 and the Zone Leader's ward, Helena 5. So anyway, early in the morning we gave the presentation to Helena 2 and Elder Smith and Elder Thomas came back. So I ended up being with Elder Smith for sacrament meeting for 2nd ward while the ZLs and Elder Thomas went off to do something. We then went to my place for lunch before Elder Smith and Elder Thomas went to Missoula.

Gaaahh, I'm running out of time! So right now I'm with Elder Zacchilli and Southwick till tomorrow. Been a good week. Love ya bye!

Goofy Pictures

Elder Gunnerson, Elder Ashcroft & Elder Wilson (Visa Waiter to Brazil)

Helena District (Not exactly a goofy picture though!)

Many Things Happening

Well, this week has gone by pretty well. There are so many things that are happening in our mission and so many changes as our mission is making a pull for striving to be the most obedient mission in the world and to be a covenant keeping mission as well. As a mission the past several weeks and zone conferences have been focusing on keeping covenants. So I finally found out when I will get to go to the temple. I get to go on August 29. I can't wait. So on Thursday the Zone Leaders had a meeting with all the District Leaders from 2-9, which meant I had two other Elders with me all day in my area. One of the missionaries had only just arrived in Montana and he is an awesome missionary. Anyway Elder Gunnerson learned a lot and we are now restarting the Online Proselyting again for Facebook and Blogs. The whole program has been redone so now it will be more efficient and less distracting. Also we will now be creating a facebook page for the Wards to be able to update what is happening in the ward and area. It is super awesome and I will most likely be getting a facebook account soon.

Anyway, enough about that. So the Halls are doing amazing! We taught the Plan of Salvation in which we had many wonderful conversations. We then invited them to be baptized on September 28. Bro. Hall said yes but he said he will wait for Sis. Hall to make up her mind if she wants to get baptized. It is interesting how things are going with them. First he was really interested the first time we met, the next time she was super excited and he was more hesitant, and now he is all for it and she is hesitant and wants to take things slow. They were able to make it to church and the Grandma came as well!

Leah is doing well and I helped one of our ward missionaries teach the new member discussion with her. She is solid and still going to church and she participated with the choir last Sunday. Unfortunately she won't be here in Helena for too long as she will be going to basic training in September. We will actually be seeing her tonight when we eat with the Romos tonight. I'm excited for that.

We are still working with the three Lamanite kids. We are going to see them tonight as well and they have a date for September 7. Coming up pretty soon!

We taught a 9 year old girl last night the Plan of Salvation and she is solid! She has a date to be baptized on September 14. She is amazing!

Well, Elder Gunnerson is doing much better, found out it isn't from his allergy but he has stomach ulcers, which I guess comes from stress. So since he found this out he can eat a lot more and has medication he is taking which is helping a ton. He can now eat anything as long as it is low on salt and sugar and no dairy. But he is now eating more and feeling much better. :)

Well that is about it. Have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Leah's Baptism!

This has been a very good week for us. We managed to get a lot of things done despite the low energy Elder Gunnerson has. So yes, Leah got baptized on Saturday and confirmed Sunday. It gets even better. Leah asked me to baptize her so I had my first baptism! The whole thing went well. I was super nervous but successful. It was a really neat experience and could really feel the spirit fill the room. It has been one of the best moment in my mission so far. Both of Leah's parent were also able to make it which was great as well. I know she will be a strong member of the church.

We were also able to visit the Halls again and taught the Restoration which went really well. Before Bro. Hall was really into it and Sis. Hall was holding back. This time however she was super excited and was talking about being baptized in the temple and Bro. Hall was the one telling her to hold up and to take this one at a time. haha The Grandma also changed a lot as before she was really anti but is now wanting to know more and willing to read the Book of Mormon! They are an awesome family! Oh, they made one of the best ribs I have ever had too. It was sooo good. It was like a 2-3 pound rib and I ate the whole thing of course. :) I was satisfied.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about transfer. So I am staying in Helena which I am super happy about that. Also, I guess Elder Gunnerson really likes me as he is my second companion who is willing to be with me for a second transfer haha. :)  Things are going well.

So I get the wonderful opportunity to go to the temple sometime this transfer, though I haven't found out exactly when yet. Can't wait for that! Well, that is all I can think of for now, so have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Graveside Dedication

Well, I forgot to mention this last week. I said a dedicatory prayer for a lady being buried. That was really interesting and pretty cool. There were about only five people there and I don't think they were members except for the lady that died. So it was a really interesting experience to do that. I can't believe I forgot to mention that last week.

So the week was spent on being either sick or lack of energy. I didn't get sick this week, but because of my companion's diet he is tired all of the time and has lack of energy. Somehow one way or the other we managed to get a few things done this week. We were able to meet with Leah and she just has one more lesson to go, which is the 10 commandments and an interview and she is good to go for this Saturday and should be baptized. We find out Wednesday who she wants to have her baptized and have her confirmed. I'm thinking it might be one of us as Bro. Romo encouraged her to have  one of us baptize her, so we will see what the decision is. I can't wait for Saturday! So our appointment with the Halls for Friday dropped as something came up  so they weren't able to feed us and have us teach them. The good news is that they came to church Sunday and got to hear Adam speak, who just came home from his mission from the Bahamas and Jamaica last week. It was a really good talk and the Halls really liked it. Sister Hall made a comment of how she is going to be like the Somoan lady from Adam's mission and be thanking us for sharing the Gospel with her! She made it sound like she wants to be baptized! That is so sweet! Something that every missionary like to hear! Anyway, we meet with them for this Friday for dinner. Looking forward for that.

So this is the last week of the Transfer and we get the transfer call next Monday. I am really hoping that I will stay here in Helena. Super nervous about the call and have an uneasy feeling about it. So hopefullly all is well. Well hope you have a wonderfull week.

Elder Ashcroft

DIE-it!

So Elder Gunnerson is still having some allergic reactions from about two weeks ago if you could recall. So Sis. Baker, the medical doctor in our mission put him on this special diet for 2 weeks. He literally can't have anything but meat, can't have seasonings or nothing, just meat and salt. He can have very little dairy product. The reason is because after his reaction his body attacks everything he eats whether he is allergic or not. So by being on this diet his body will be able to readjust. He started this last Friday and he will be starving for the next week and a half. I kinda feel bad for him as I am still able to eat stuff.

So this has been another one of those sick weeks again. We didn't do anything on Saturday but we are fine now.

But besides that it has been a pretty good week. On Wednesday we went on exchanges and this time I was able to see Leah this time! So I had the two ward sister missionaries with us again and Bro. Perchon. Anyway Leah invited her friend over which was awesome as she was really interested so we taught the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon which is a good refresher for Leah. So Leah's friend, Kristen accepted to learning more and to read the Book of Mormon! Also I asked Leah if she wanted to be baptized on August 3rd and she said yes! She is super excited for it as well as Elder Gunnerson and I.

Oh, you know how I mentioned how there was a family that showed up to church last week when we were sick? Well we had dinner with them on Friday with the Steingles (members). That went really well and they asked a lot of questions and are really nice people. Oh and their last name is the Halls. So I was wondering if we are related at all? Their family is from West Virginia. Anyway, they made us double fried Kentucky chicken! It was soo good. They also made this super bomblicous cake! We will be seeing them on Friday again and they said they will make us some pulled ribs. MMMmmm sounds super good.

Anyway, other than that the week has been somewhat uneventful. The Stangers, who we live with are over the top super nice people. Always offering help, giving us food and so forth. They are the nicest people I have ever met! Hope you have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Explosion in New Investigators

This has been a very good week with some bad things as well, but I'll focus on the good. I just love going on exchanges with the Ward! So I  will start on Wednesday we had Elder Wilson with us all day who is a Visa Waiter waiting to go to Brazil. He is normally with the Zone Leaders but we had him for a day. Anyway, all our appointments fell through that day and we couldn't find our referrals. Ok, here comes the good part, we went on exchanges with 4th ward! We basically had a gigantic exchange. We had our ward mission leader, Bro. Schlecht, two of our new sister ward missionaries, one of them has a call to go to Phillipines. Then we had two members from the Elders Quorum. Anyway, Elder Gunnerson went with Bro. Schlecht and the two sisters and saw Leah and taught some commandments and she said that she prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true and if this is the true church and she said she received an answer and said she new it was true! So we are going to set a baptismal date for her this Wednesday. They then saw a less active and her son who is 11 and not a member. New investigator! PK the son is now taking lessons in which on Friday Elder Gunnerson, the two sisters and I taught the Restoration and set a Baptismal date for August 24! Ok, back to exchanges, Elder Wilson and Bro. Martin found us a new investigator in whom we will see tomorrow! Can't wait for that. As for me, I went with Bro. Scholl and saw a recent convert who has gone less active that went pretty well and hopefully we will start seeing at church soon.
Exchanges are over now but what a day, we received 3 new investigators that day!

So the third new investigator is Dale who we got a referral from Kalispell, he just moved from there and has been taught everything but the commandments and he already as a baptismal date for August 3rd. So we taught the Word of Wisdom on Friday which will be tough for him since he smokes and drinks, so hopefully he can quit.

On Thursday we had a Zone Conference, so all the missionaries from Great Falls, Bozeman, and Helena/Butte Zone were there. Elder Burrows, Elder Landry and I celebrated our one year mark on the 11th. I can't believe I have been out that long! Crazy.

So I got a bug or something that week. On Tuesday I just had some issues all day since I was sitting on the toilet all day destroying it. I know too much info, haha. Then on Saturday I got a bug in my stomach and I threw up all day and sat on the toilet even more. So we didn't make it to church yesterday and we were supposed to give talks in 2nd ward, felt bad that we bailed out on that but I had some stomach pain. The good thing is I am feeling better now. The bad thing is we missed out on some sweet things! A member brought a family to church! A couple with 2 kids, one is Young Men age! The couple went to Gospel Essential class and asked a lot of great questions. Also the son is going to Mutual for tomorrow. What is even better is they want to feed us on Friday and take discussions even though we haven't met yet! Can't wait till Friday. This should be a very exciting week! I can definitely see the blessings in being obedient and serving the Lord!

Anyway love ya much!

Elder Ashcroft

Eventful Week

So many things happened this week between me and Elder Gunnerson. I guess I will talk about all the things that happened this week between the two of us. So to start it off on Tuesday, we were at a stop light and Elder Gunnerson turned left onto a 3 lane one way street full of cars going the wrong way! He had to drive through the bike lane and surprisingly I don't think any of the drivers realized what happened. We got out of there as quick as possible and I made fun of him for that all the time now haha.  Then on Wednesday night we have a fan in the hall way and I walked right into it as I was going to the bathroom and hit my shin against the fan, that was very painful so now Elder Gunnerson makes fun of me for that. There are other things as well but I can't remember them all.

We both got sick around the same time on Friday and we both think it was from the dinner we had from Wednesday as the hamburger we had tasted funny and a bit odd and out of the ordinary. But we are doing much better now.

So on Tuesday we were asked to open a church building to let all the Zone Leaders who were in Helena for the Zone Leadership Council. The bad thing that happened that morning was that Elder Gunnerson had a allergic reaction that morning from breakfast. (Background note: Elder Gunnerson is allergic to fruits and uncooked veggies because of the pollens. His throat will swell up causing him to suffocate.) We had oatmeal that morning that the Stangers made us and I think he got it from the almonds. So he took a whole bottle of benadryl so he was loopey all day so President Mecham invited us to stay at the Zone Leadership Council and that was amazing. I learned a whole lot and learned ways the we can be better missionaries. As a mission we are trying to be the most obedient mission in the world. We are trying to get rid of things that distract us from focusing on our mission and on the Savior. Which unfortunately means I have to send home some Christian Rock CDs home. :(  But I know I will be blessed by being obedient.

We then had District Meeting on Tuesday which was amazing. We learned from the examples of Jacob (BoM) and Joseph Smith of their faith and how we could relate it to us as missionaries and how we can develop more faith. It was a very good meeting. I am always finding ways I can do better to draw more closer to the Savior.

This Sunday was a little disappointing as none of our investigators were at church because of the holiday.

Oh yeah! 4th of July was awesome! I found something really cool and awesome. I found out that we had dinner at the Shaws who is the son and daughter in-law of Brother and Sister Shaw from back home in Clovis! We stayed there to help set up a firework show at their place. Sister Shaw's father, Bro. Zinn is a CEO of some company in San Francisco, CA and he puts about $50,000 into this firework show. We had permission to stay up till 11 so we were able to watch the fireworks which was amazing! I also sang in the choir before the firework show. That was cool.

Anyway this has been a good week. Love ya!

Moved

So this has been a pretty good week. So we were kicked out of the Michael's and we moved into the Stanger's. So Elder Gunnerson and I did a whole lot of cleaning and dumping out a lot of junk we will never be using. We did all of our papers and binders and books on Saturday and we then moved our dresser and suitcases this morning. Boy was I tired after the move. I sure am glad I'm done with the move. I am loving Elder Gunnerson! He has been out 18 1/2 months and is from Spanish Fork Utah and he can play the piano! He is awesome and things are going well in our area.

So we are teaching this girl Leah, she is 17 and she is going into the army reserve as a medical supplier. Anyway she is super awesome and she came to church for the first time and she said she really enjoyed it! In Gospel Essentials class we were talking about prayers and she bore her testimony about how she knows that Heavenly Father does answer prayers which was super awesome. We will be seeing her on Tuesday. We also found what I think will be a really solid new investigator on Saturday. We were trying to contact a potential investigator and he came up to us and said he wanted to know what we believed in and said he has several friends that are LDS. So I'm excited for that. We have another investigator that is progressing and he will be meeting with President Mecham for an interview tomorrow so hopefully that will go well.

So on Friday we went to an Old Folks Home and the Sister missionaries were supposed to be there too but they were in Great Falls so Elder Gunnerson and I sang several hymns. Elder Gunnerson also played a few songs on the piano as well. We usually go every Friday to sing to them. Anyway that is pretty much all that happened this week.

Oh, I'm so excited to be at the Stangers now, they have a really nice home and they have a pool table, fooseball table, and a ping pong table downstairs. They said we could go down there on Mondays so I'm  pumped about that.  Well love ya much!

Elder Ashcroft

Amazing Week Full of Surprises!

Man missionary work is exploding here in Helena 2 & 4! There is so much work it is hard to keep up. We have 14 progressing investigators and 7 new investigators from this week! We also have 100% member present in all of our lessons with 14 lessons this week and 6 other lessons. I absolutely love it here. We had a new investigator we taught the restoration and invited her to be baptized and she accepted! She is golden! I have seen so many miracles this week I'm not sure if I can share them all and can't remember all of them right now. This area is so blessed and I feel so blessed to be able to serve here. I have seen so many changes in other people's lives. I love the many exchanges we do with the wards here and with the priests as well as those who received their mission calls.

So transfer call was this week. So I am thankfully staying here in Helena. The bad news is that Elder McLeod is leaving me behind. The good thing is that Elder McLeod will be the Zone Leader in Missoula. I know he will like it there as I served there for 2 weeks. I'm going to miss Elder McLeod as I have learned a lot from him and I have grown pretty close to him. So my new companion will be Elder Gunnerson and I have served around him in Missoula and I am excited to be with him. He will be the new District Leader. Elder Gunnerson will be my 19th companion!

I really enjoyed that Broadcast from Sunday about missionary work. It is so true about how huge the role of members is in the missionary effort. That missionaries shouldn't be the driving force but are only there to assist the ward and to teach. The members should be the ones filling the missionaries planner for people to see and teach. The reason I love Helena 2 & 4 ward is they are doing exactly every thing that meeting told how missionary work should be doing within the ward and by members. My hope is that every ward has taken the council from the broadcast and are applying it and that members are going out and doing missionary work and are doing the finding for the missionaries. Missionaries should not be tracting as tracting now a days is the bottom of the list, it is now the next thing to doing nothing. Anyway, I really enjoyed the broadcast.

I forgot to mention about Sunday at church! So At church I saw Anita! She is the lady I taught in Seeley Lake back in my first area and saw her get baptized. She is still active and she is in Helena going to Carrols college and planning on going back to Seeley Lake. That made my day seeing her! I don't know if I told you this before, but Teresa that I taught in my first area in Drummond and that got baptized is still really active as well. I found that out 3 weeks ago at a zone conference when I saw the Branch Mission Leader from Drummond. I am so happy and pleased to see that both of them are still active in the gospel and going to church! Sunday made my day!

Anyway, love you all and have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Exchanges

So this has been a good week, except for Monday Night and Tuesday Morning. I think I got food poisoning or something because I was throwing up all night and in the morning with stomach ache. Elder McLeod was able to give me a blessing after District Meeting at noon on Tuesday and I immediately felt better which I feel like it was a miracle. Besides my stomach District Meeting was really good. As usual in Helena I kept busy with Elder McLeod and we have been giving a lot of blessings to people the past two weeks. I have probably given the same amount of blessings in Helena as from my whole mission. I always love taking part of giving a blessing.

So on Thursday I went on exchanges and I went to Lincoln which is in between Great Falls, Missoula, and Helena. I guess Helena is the closest though by a few miles. Anyway, I was with Elder Payne who is waiting for his visa to go to Brazil. He's been in Lincoln for 9 weeks now. Anyway, Lincoln is in the middle of nowhere and population of about 1200 people. Which is smaller than Thompson Falls. It was nice to live in the woods but not much work is going on there. We did some service by painting a huge shed. So I was on top of the ladder painting and Elder Payne came around the corner and scared me and I almost fell off. Ok he didn't do anything, I just didn't notice him until he spoke to me, but it was pretty funny. We also helped rake up a ton of bark from a wood pile. Lincoln is a nice little town with not much there though. Oh, we went to the library and the guy was there who tours around several states visiting libraries and he does magic tricks and encourages kids to read, however there was nobody at the library except for us and the librarian. So he had 4 people for an audience, it was interesting.

On Sunday night I came back to Helena. Then yesterday we had our Mission Tour, and Elder Mervyn Arnold from the seventy was there. So we had missionaries from Great Falls, Bozeman, and Helena Zone there. What really made me happy was all my favorite missionaries were there so I had several happy reunions. Elder Arnold spoke to us about being obedient and doing our personal as well as our companionship study. It was a really good meeting. President Mecham and Sister Mecham also spoke and that went really well. I love having mission tours.

So I just finished my P-day pretty much, I played basketball, dodgeball, and volleyball. That was way fun.

So next Monday is Transfer Call and Wednesday is actual transfer. Hopefully Elder McLeod and I stay together. That is what I'm hoping anyway. I'm doing well and enjoying my mission life. Oh, President Mecham has asked us all the missionaries to read D&C100:4-6 I think every thursday till end of next transfer which is nice. Anyway, hope you have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft