Mid Transfer Adjustment

Bet you the title made you think I was leaving again huh? Psych, I'm staying! However, unfortunately Elder Black left for Billings to serve in Shepherd where I served  last year in January for 2 weeks. Also, I am not with Elder Ponath anymore, I am with Elder Eiselin and Elder Alston is with Elder Ponath. Also, I do not cover Darby anymore and just here in Corvallis. So that makes Elder Eiselin officially companion number 31. One of the Zone Leaders that was serving in Shepherd got his visa to Brazil after being in the mission for a year so Elder Black went there to fill his place. Also, a set of Elders were doubled out in Lolo after a week and got a new set of Elders Thursday, which meant they missed out on my awesome discussion Wednesday for Zone Leaders Training. I went to Missoula pretty much everyday this week! Was great though, I enjoyed it.

Zone Leaders Training went well. It was supposed to be held in Stevensville but found out late the night before that we needed to do it in Missoula so we made it happen on short notice. The meeting went well. I used Alma 38:12 "Use Boldness, but not Overbearance," as the center of my discussion. How we can know the difference of us being bold or overbearing. Which led up to following up vs. pestering. How we need to follow up on those we teach without feeling like we are pestering them. I felt like it went very well and helped out our Zone knowing what the difference is. Of course there is no fine line what the difference is but is all about having the spirit with us and showing love to them as we be bold with those we teach.

Our Zone is doing really well right now! Just a few weeks ago we had no one on baptismal date and now we have 14 on date as of right now! So exciting to see things starting to flourish here in this Zone! At Mission Leadership Council on Tuesday, President Mecham was telling us how much this mission has grown since July of 2012. How our mission went form baptizing on average 22 a month to now 56 on average a month! I know that there is a huge difference in our mission from when I first arrived to the mission till now. How the culture changed, especially the obedience level in this mission has dramatically changed! We strive to be the most covenant keeping mission in the World.

Anyway, Mission Leadership Council was really good as well. Talked about several policies in the mission and about the use of facebook, ipad, and online proselyting. Were able to witness some really great missionaries give their departing testimony and can't believe they are leaving!

Oh yeah, since the transfer adjustment and me being with Elder Eiselin I am back to living with the Holmes again just as I did in January/February of 2012! Brings back a lot of memories when I was with Elder Croteau, who was one of the ones who gave a departing testimony. Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Sister Ashcroft and I! We are piloting the new program as young couples as missionaries! haha jk jk. We found out we are related through Henry Ashcroft, so I believe she is my 5th cousin? 

Pretty cool huh? 

The other picture is me with a replica of the Golden Plates which weighed quite a bit!

Easter Pics

Thanks to the Kirklands who sent these pictures.

"We had the opportunity today to feed all the missionaries in the Corvallis Ward.  Afterwards they helped out with hiding the eggs for our kids Easter Egg hunt.  I think the Elders had more fun than the kids!  They are a great example to our family and are grateful to have them in our area!  They also sang us a song at the end and did a pretty good job."

Easter and 1 Year Wiser

Wow! This has been an eventful and amazing week! Transfer happened Wednesday and Elder Black and I went to Missoula early in the morning for transfer and were planning to stay in Missoula all day, but a car from Lolo had to be taken to Billings and of the 3 missionaries going to Helena none have driving privilages so Elder Black and I ended up driving to Helena, dropping the car off and coming back in the transfer van with the missionaries going to our Zone. When we came back to Missoula we went to Cafe Rio! Yum.

Elder Alston is now in Corvallis, making five missionaries in Corvallis and all five of us are all really close. We all work well together and it feels like all five of us are companions as we see each other all the time, have dinner with members with all of us there and we split up all the time. So I am counting Elder Eiselin and Elder Alston my companions as well, making my 31 & 32 companions! :)

Saturday was great! Thank you all who wished me a Happy Birthday, I really appreciate it! We ended up moving a member in Darby and she gave us all her food that she wasn't taking with her, so we got a lot of stuff, Huckleberry Syrup, Salmon, bacon, etc., so that was really nice, so we ended up having breakfast for lunch. We also made my birthday cake and lit up the candles. It was a great day and were able to do some contacting and tracting as well that day. Oh yea, these four missionaries are awesome! They got me a massage chair that is super nice. I will send some pictures next week as I forgot my camera. We also saw a Yax that day as well!

Sunday was great! We had a devotional with all the missionaries in the Zone in Stevensville and it was really inspiring. Learned about the Atonement and the enabling power of the Atonement. I was also able to bear my testimony. It was great! Went to church in Darby and sang in the choir "Onward Christian Soldiers", that went really well. Then we had dinner at the Kirklan's and we hid all the eggs for the kids. Then after that they hid some chocolate easter bunnies for us to find. They did a good job of hiding them as it took us awhile to find them. So that was great. Then I prepared my discussion for Wednesday as we will be having Zone Training that day. Tomorrow I will be going to Helena again for Leadership Council, can't wait for that!

We saw Pam and Jay in Darby and they are doing really well and are reading the Book of Mormon! They are in Alma 32. Halfway through the book! We are teaching an 8 year old girl as well that is going well. We went into Pinesdale this week working with the Dubois. They are a great family, just going to be a long process there. Loving Corvallis/Darby and hope to finish up here! Love you all!

Elder Ashcroft

I'm trying to think what happened this week and my mind went blank! I suppose nothing major happened this week as far as missionary work goes. Oh yeah! We went to see Peggy in Darby and got in with her for the first time, due to bad timing previous attempts, and she has been reading in 1 Nephi! She said she knows it is true and we gave her some more reading assignments and have a return appointment with her tomorrow. So I am super excited about that. Other than that we didn't have much to do except trying to find new people to teach. We've been doing a lot of contacting and tracting but to no avail unfortunately, we hope to find new investigators this week.

So, transfer, we found out about it yesterday and Elder Black and I are staying! Yay! Also, Elder Ponath, who is also serving in Corvallis will be with us in a Trio! Elder Black has also been given a special assignment to create a handbook of rules for online proslyting and for ipad for the mission. So I will be able to help him create a handbook with Elder Black for the mission! Pretty cool huh? Also Elder Black will be doing a lot of traveling around training Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders on how to check other missionaries iPads and how to best utilize online prosylting. Pretty Sweet! Also, Elder Eiselin (who is in page 25 of last month's ensign) is our third Zone Leader in the Zone and his companion is a District Leader. Also, we got a another set of Sisters in our Zone, going from 10 to 13 missionaries in the Zone! Should be a great transfer!

I forgot to mention a miracle that happened last week. So two days before general conference I was singing A Childs Prayer and then I felt like I really wanted to hear the Mormon Tabernacle choir sing this in General Conference so I prayed for that. Then it happened! Made me super happy! :) Heavenly Father truely answers prayer.

That is pretty much what happened this week. Transfer happens this Wednesday. Have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft

Zone Conference photo

Exchange in Hamilon

Well, I spent the whole week in Hamilton till Saturday after the Priesthood session. The exchange went well, the Elders are struggling to find people to teach. All their investigaters are not progressing and they don't really have any less active to work with. We've just been contacting all the former investigators that were in the Area book but no success. A lot of the addresses do not exist, they moved out, or are not interested. So they will have to start on a clean slate and start finding new people to teach. A whole lot of tracting will have to be done in Hamilton, and Hamilton is the biggest town in the Zone as well covering two wards. So we are hoping they will find success. I was able to help them find a potential investigator who invited us back, so they will have to follow up with that.

General Conference was amazing! I'm sure everyone else agrees with me. I realized I don't have that much to talk about this week. Transfer is next week, so I'm curious as to what is going to happen to this Zone and with Elder Black and I. Well, hope you have a great week!

Elder Ashcroft