1/12/14

A lot happened this week!

Saturday we got transfer calls. Both Elder Curtis and I got transferred. The area we were in is being White Washed. On Sunday we said some goodbyes, but Monday we went down to the Bartlett's and spent all day there before saying good bye to them and heading back home to pack. 

 

On Tuesday we drove up to a town the transfer train where we waited for the to be picked up. While on the train I taught the owner of a company about the priesthood.

On Wednesday I got my new companion Elder Newman. A lady, named Pauline Matthews, called the Elders earlier that morning and asked if they could come and shovel her sidewalk. She is an older lady and could use our help. Before we left her place we set up a time to come back on Saturday to teach her. 

On Thursday we were stuck inside our apartment all day, and could not leave. As missionaries we have a rule that if the weather is minus 30 degrees with or without windchill we are not allowed to go outside because it is very dangerous to be out in! 

 

On Saturday we were able to teach Pauline she used to be a Methodist then decided to go her own way. She believes in the Godhead a very different way. It was an alright lesson. My companion has only been out for 6 months so I will be helping him teach the lessons! Saturday night we had a lady that called and asked for a Priesthood Blessing this was the first time that I have ever been called at 10:00 at night to give a blessing but hey atleast I got to use my "Emergency Tie"! 

 

After church on Sunday we got to go teach a Less Active Lady and her nonmember friend a lesson.

 

We are already off to a great start here and I look forward to finishing my mission here with a "BANG"!!!

Elder Ashcroft

11/24/14

Well there hasn't been a whole lot that has been going on but we were able to see Meet the Mormon's at a ZTM.

We have been working with Deanne Woods to be able to start teaching there family. It is going slow but atleast it is going. Satan is working on Clint, her husband, very hard and it seems like he might prevent any of the family from learning. Any prayers in behalf of the Woods family would be greatly appreciated.

 

Other than that we are just trying to plant some seeds in everyone's heart her in Winner and give them a good look at the church. We are waiting for some seeds to grow, and find those that have already been planted and are ready to be harvested.

Elder Ashcroft

11/3/14

This week on Thursday we had a Multi-Zone Conference in Rapid City. Our visiting General Authority was Marcus B. Nash of the seventy. It was really great. My companion got to have a personal interview with him. One of the things that I got out of his training is we all have weaknesses and we might continually fall into the same temptations making us not perfect. Meaning in other words we are not being obedient but if we practice diligence and continually try to overcome our weaknesses and temptations we can overcome them. All God really asks of us is to be diligent so that we can become obedient!

 

On Friday for Halloween we had a district dinner. It was really fun! It was a pumpkin dinner meaning that the food was cooked inside the pumpkin. We listened to Christmas music while we were waiting for the food to cook! After the food we carved pumpkins. Some made a Santa figurine and 

I just made a snowflake ornament (or at least the first stages of one).

 

This week before going to church we got a phone call from someone asking where the church was. I found out, once getting to church it was Amy Koch. She bore her testimony about how I taught her how to pray and how it changed her life! It was really great to know that I was able to help the Lord by being an instrument in his hands to help her come closer to him!

Overall not a bad week!

 

 

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! 

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.

This week we did service at the Senior Citizen Home playing cards and also Bingo with them. Hunting season started on Saturday so a lot of people have been flying into the airport. In there multi-million dollar jets and airplanes. My companion loves airplanes so we have been able to help with gassing moving and parking airplanes as service for the airport. These people are  flying in from all over the country to come here for the pheasant hunt! It has been pretty fun getting to learn more about airplanes and the behind the scenes of flying. I sure want to know what would cause someone to fly here from half way across the country in their own private jet for a pheasant hunt. It makes me want to see how it taste now to see what all the hype is about.

On Sunday we went to church in Rosebud. There were 25 people at church. This is the smallest branch I have served in! They have on record 300 members with 30 of those being active. I knew instantly that our job was going to be cleaning up the directory of members and activating those who are not active. We need to do this before the lord will bless us with others. The same goes for Winner. I am excited to see the work and transformation of these branches over the next 4 months! 

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

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.