Thursday, October 30, 2014

10/27/14

This week at correlation meeting I was able to meet the Branch President and ask him personally what and who he wants us to focus on. He gave us a couple names of people to see and told us that he wanted us to focus our efforts on doing service in the community. To use it as our main source of finding. So we will be continuing to look for service opportunities in the community so we can find those that are prepared to receive the message of the Restoration here in Winner. 
Hopefully we will be able to start to see some fruits come from doing service and find those whom the Lord has prepared at this time to receive this message! 

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

10/20/14

Well I was transferred this week to Winner, SD. We cover 2 units Winner and Rosebud Reservation. I am serving in the last District in the US. My companion is Elder Curtis he has been out one transfer less than me.

10/13/14

This week was great. We were able to have our first lesson with Jerry Damon. He is pretty much a "Dry Mormon." He said that he is looking for a spouse with the same standards that he has. We thought to ourselves, "well you came to the right place." He keeps asking when church starts so he can make sure that he doesn't miss it. He was even taking down notes so he could remember. He even wrote down his commitments. I was giving the account of the First Vision and as I said the words "Joseph.....This is my Beloved Son hear him" chills ran down my back. It was another reconfirmation to me that Joseph Smith was God's chosen prophet to restore His Gospel to the earth.
 
 
Later this week Jerry gave us a call and saying he was reading the material that you gave and had a few question for us. "What is my purpose here on earth?" He wanted us to think of that answer for when we meet on Saturday. That was really awesome! We told him thats exactly what we were going to talk about and that we have the answer for him.
 
On Saturday we taught Jerry the Plan of Salvation one of the scriptures that I used to explain our purpose here on earth was Alma 12:24. Later tonight Jerry, Rodney and Steven will all be coming to a convert baptism.
On Sunday, just as we thought Jerry was there. At the lesson on Monday we had Bro's Faustin and Renken sit in. It was really great both of them to show up. Being recent converts they expressed to him how he could have his prayers answered. To know that this is the true church on the earth today. We invited him to be baptized and we set a goal with him for the 22nd of November. He said that he would set it as the goal but if he wasnt ready by then that it would be pushed back. He committed to try for it though. Brother Faustin then asked him again how he felt at church. Jerry said that he felt peace and joy. We read him Galations 5:22 and said that he just expressed in his own words that his prayers had been answered!

Saturday was transfer calls. I will be going to Winner, SD covering Rosebud Reservation. This is one of the few areas that covers 2 units and I am serving in the last district in the US. My new companion is Elder Curtis he came out 1 transfer after me.
 
 Children's Hospital in Sioux Falls
 District in Sioux Falls
 Fall in Sioux Falls
 Hay we unloaded for the Zoo in Sioux Falls
Scenery in Sioux Falls

Monday, October 6, 2014

10/6/14

This week we made a special effort to share scriptures regarding Prophets and Apostles to everyone that we come in contact with. We also give out the information regarding General Conference and invite them to attend. Last week we had a secretary at the church give us a name and number of a man, Jerry Damon. He was wanting to learn more about the church. I took the note with the information and called him. Gratefully Jerry lives in our area. I asked him what made him want to learn about our church. He said he had a friend in California that is a member and he was happy. He wanted to learn how he could have that happiness in his life as well. We set up a time to meet with him at the church and gave him a church tour. We then invited him like everyone else to come to General Conference. He ended up coming and we introduced him to a few members to get fellowshipping going. I am very excited to be able to teach him this upcoming week!
 
 
While we were walking to the library for media hour this week we found an old lady that had fallen. Had we not been there at the exact time she probably would have laid there hurting until someone else walked out of the library. Heavenly Father is mindful for each of his children to put us in that exact place at that exact time to be able to help this women.

Companion Picture


9/15/14

On Sunday night we to see if Andy and Patience were home to teach them a quick lesson. They weren't home so we decided to go for a walk to see who we could talk to outside. We walked for awhile then it was time to head home for dinner. We walked past a person we met a few days ago. Elder Hale was talking about how he is nibling on the bait and now we got to slowly reel him in. I said, "that's not fishing thats hunting. Fishing is when THEY come to US." Right after I said this we looked behind us and saw a teenage kid on a bike. Later we learned his name was Garrett Masters. He asked if we were Mormon Missionaries. When we said yeah he then ask asked if we had a Book of Mormon. He is Lutheran but wants to learn more about the church. We gave him a Book of Mormon with our card and a Restoration pamphlet. It was really awesome! Hopefully his parents will have an open heart and mind so we could teach the whole family. It was a really great experience to make up for a really bad week!

Sunday, October 5, 2014

9/8/14

This week we were able to meet with Rodney Borth and Steven Tagle. They are friends and they both came to church the previous week. They are showing interest in the lessons. Rodney invited Steven to come up from Texas to work for him. Rodney has been looking into the church for quiet a while now. He has been working with various members of the congregation. Such as, Brothers, Bertelsen and Renken. They live in the sisters area but they are single adult men so we will be teaching them. The lesson went great and Rodney said that he was excited for the next one. Its good too because he has lots of questions. The great thing about him is that he is not afraid to interrupt and ask his question, which is perfect!

We also met with Darryl Blakey. We met before but were unable to talk at the time. The other Elders reffered him to us because he lives in our area. He is a 48 year old African that speaks English. He grew up in the Methodist church. When we called him he said yes which we learned later was just to be nice. By the end of the lesson his attitude seemed to change from being nice to actually learning.

We didnt get to teach very many people and other lessons still fell through but we are still doing our work. The week was still good!

Elder Ashcroft

**The next couple of post will be a little older. To get a better idea check the post title date.**