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

Work Brings Happiness

This has been a good week. So we have two investigators that finally have a marriage date in September which mean both of our investigators can be baptized in September. Hopefully I'm still around then. We met with another investigator who also said she going to get married soon too and she wants to be baptized! So I guess that is 3 investigators that we know for sure they will be getting baptized! So  his has been a great week. We are always busy and have no time to stop and relax. So by Friday and Saturday I was exhausted but I found it easier to not be tired by keeping busy and always moving. Still playing basketball and running with our ward mission leader. I love working out in the morning and I found that I have more energy now then I did before. We have so much work going on that it is hard to keep up with the work. We talked to President Mecham and in August Helena 2&4 will have their own set of missionaries. We have Family Home Evenings with several families every Monday which is awesome! Then on Tuesday we go on splits with Helena 2 ward from 7-9 in the evenings. Then on Wednesday we do the same thing except with 4 ward. Thursday we do splits again except with the stake. I love it as we can see all the people we plan to see and it helps us a lot!

One thing that I love that Elder McLeod does is we sing a hymn in every home we go to, to members, less actives, and investigators and non members. I love the work here and the area. We have a lot of progressing less actives as well as progressing Part Member family and investigators. I just keep on moving and I have never felt more closer to the Savior than I am right now in my life.

So there is a part member family we see that we saw 3 times this week as the father is home since he works in North Dakota at the oil rig. He is not a member and the two kids are on date for July. We gave the father a blessing Saturday and it was the first time he received a blessing. He is normally always sarcastic but when we sang a hymn and shared James 5:14-15 he became serious and he said he was thankful for us showing up and giving him a blessing which is amazing to hear from him. We always share James 5:14-15 before we give a blessing as well as singing a hymn as it invites the spirit.

This is how we view about singing hymns. If we sound great, it invites the spirit, if we don't sound good, we show our humility which also brings in the spirit so it is a win win situation.

Anyway it was an amazing week. Have District meeting tomorrow, my first one in this district. Oh, we have a mission tour next Monday which means I probably won't write till Tuesday next week. Elder Mervyn B. Arnold will be there. Hope you have a great week! Love ya!

Elder Ashcroft

Work!

So I am loving Helena so far. For those who haven't heard, I got transferred halfway through transfer. I left Thompson Falls and Plains and am in Helena now. I got to Helena Saturday evening. But I love the members here and we have a ton of work here to do! Different from T-Falls and Plains as I had barely anyone to see. So here in Helena we have 3 people on Baptismal date and about 8? that we will be setting baptismal dates with. We have several part members we are working with, several less actives, and investigators. The members are very helpful and missionary oriented! I love it here. I also love the members we are staying with. I am happy, reenergized, and pumped! I also like my companion too. He is from High Point, North Carolina and he has been out 5 months now. He is District Leader and is a great missionary. He works hard, funny, and we get along great!

I can't wait for the next 3 weeks as I will get back into great shape as every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I get up at 5 in the morning to play basketball with the members till 6:30 then we go about the rest of the missionary day. Also on Tuesday and Thursday we will be running with my ward mission leader in Helena 4th ward in the morning. Br. Schledt who is 27 and has a young family. He is super awesome and is very pro active about missionary work. I love it here, might become my new favorite area? Most definetly for missionary work wise and maybe even member wise too? Anyway love it here, and I like the city better than the other cities I've served and been in. There are a lot of catholics here and they have a cathedral here that looks pretty cool on the out side. Also there is a church right down the street from the capital. Love it and am in Heaven right now!

However I miss several members in my last area that I have grown close too. So to answer your question, if I were to live and have a house in one of the areas I have served in? If I wanted to live outside the city probably in Corvallis because it isn't too far from the city and it is beautiful there and I like the ward there. If I were to visit, I might visit Plains and T-Falls first of all my areas so far. If I were to live in a city I would say probably in Helena, but Kalispell is really nice too. Billings is in the top 10 cities for where is the best palce to retire to. But I think I would go with Helena.

I'm excited to be here in Helena. So I just got a call and apparently I was supposed to bring the bike from Plains to here but I didn't know that. So I don't have a bike. So I know now that that bike is my bike specifically for the rest of my mission as it is specifically for my size. I think I will get the bike in the next 2 weeks though. Well, that is about all I believe. Love ya!

Elder Ashcroft