Transfer Call on April Fools!

So this has been a good week. I really enjoyed the hike up Baldy, we hiked about 6 miles and it felt great to go hiking since I haven't gone hiking on my mission yet.  We didn't quite make it to the peak, but we still got a very good view. Anyway, we hiked in snow the whole way. The snow was about 3-3 1/2 feet deep. It was funny, so when I walk I would only sink about 1 foot and Elder Bishop would sink all the way through. Haha It was a great day too, the sun was out with little clouds and a nice little breeze. It ended up being me, Elder Bishop, Casey, a returned missionary, and Casey's sister Ashley who will be going to BYU-I. It was a really fun trip. On Tuesday for District meeting I spoke about the Law of Chastity. It went pretty well. The rest of the week we managed to keep ourselves busy.

The members here are amazing and they give so much to us missionaries. I received so much more stuff in this area than I have in any of my other areas. So this past week we received a $50 gift card to Subway. A non-member gave us $10 for helping at the Senior Center. A Less Active member has to get rid of some of the things in his home so he gave me 4 knives for free and Elder Bishop 3 knives for free and gave Elder Bishop $80! We try and not accept money but people always insist we take the money, so we try and use the money for a good use and to help others instead for ourselves. So the knives I got, I have to send one of them home since it is to big. We as missionaries in this mission can carry knives as long as they aren't longer than the palm of our hand. They are really nice knives and one of the knives comes with a really nice pocket watch. Then a member family owns a Hamburger stand and they told us to come by during Lunch and they feed us for free. So today I had a buffalo burger for the first time. Their huckleberry lemonade and shakes are so good too. There fries are amazing too! We go there about once or twice a week while we are in Plains. Elder Bishop and I went and saw a less active in Paradise and he gave us two dozen eggs and gave us three pounds of  homemade sausage. The sausages are soo delicious. Way better than those sausages you get at the store. We are always getting farm raised eggs, which taste better than store eggs. Anyway, the members feed us well here and take good care of us!

So we got a call yesterday from President Mecham while I was in the shower. So Elder Bishop said he got transferred to Great Falls and I will be getting Elder Pacham who came out with Elder Bishop. I didn't believe him at first because it was April 1st. But I found out it was true. So I will be getting Elder Pacham Wednesday, he will be coming from Cutbank/Shelby which is on the Indian reservation in the Great Falls Zone. I will be finishing up his training. So tonight I we will be staying overnight in Kalispell with the Zone Leaders and leave for Helena tomorrow for transfer. Another crazy thing is Elder Burrows and Elder Scott are still together as Zone Leaders! This means they will be together for 6 months! A quarter of their mission together. That's a long time, but I am glad they are both staying because I love them a lot!

So yesterday was busy. We cleaned up our place in the morning, than we did our laundry. We then had to go to Kalispell to get our oil changed and tire rotated for our truck. The library here in Plains doesn't open till 11 and that was wheen we had to leave for Kalispell for our appointment for our truck, so I didn't have time to email yesterday.

So I won't be doing my blog the next 6 weeks, actually the whole mission won't be online, because we are doing an online fast. So the hour we would normally be on, we will then be reading the Book of Mormon for an hour instead. Then after 6 weeks everybody gets back on.

I'm sad Elder Bishop is leaving, we got along very well. We saw some members for Elder Bishop and a lot of the members said we were one of the best set of missionaries they have seen in years as Elders. No one can beat the sister missionaries haha. But the past Elders hasn't been the best and we had to regain the trust of the members. Being clean up crew just like when I was in Corvallis. Anyway, everyone is sad that Elder Bishop is leaving. Elder Bishop came out with Elder Pacham and he said he is a great guy. Also 2 other missionaries who came out with him in my zone said the same thing. So I'm looking forward to meeting him.

This has been a great week and looking forward to this transfer! Hope you have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft