Week 24

Tuesday: We had our usual district meeting in the morning, but it didn't feel right. There was no MLS couples (senior missionaries) there. The Bellons were released on Thursday. First time I've had a district meeting with only young missionaries. Everyone liked the District picture we made and thought it was hilarious. We had a lesson with Jeffery who is a less active kid. We wanted to talk about faith with him because he was having a hard time believing God was real. And we didn't get very far in reading a passage in the scriptures talking about faith, before it ended up in a little argument/ debate between him and his parents. We did our best to calm the situation and to bear our testimonies about it and leave it at that. He is hardening his heart at the moment and isn't allowing anything to happen to him in his life. We will try to meet with him in a week or two and see if there has been any changes.

Wednesday: we went out to eat lunch with one of Elder Alfonso's trainers when he was beginning his mission. It was pretty nice for him to take us out to eat. It was a little weird because  they were speaking Spanish the whole time and we were in a Mexican restaurant so everyone was speaking Spanish and I was like "man this enchilada is good!" We got a referral from the YSA (young single adults 18-30) Elders who were contacting people and they came across a house where they have two Unbaptized kids one YSA age (who wasn't interested) and one who was 13 who was interested so we have an appointment with them next Wednesday.

Thursday: We had a leadership meeting in the afternoon that I had to tag along for since Elder Alfonso is district leader. It was kind of funny because our whole district was at the meeting, because we had us, the Zone leaders, and the Sister Training leader and her companion. We also had the two other district leaders and their companions. We finally went out and did work with a ward mission leader here. We were working in the 12th Ward and I went out with a ward missionary and elder Alfonso went out with the Ward mission leader. We had a couple good visits  with some less active families. I thought for sure I was going to die in the guys car. He is a professional rally car driver and was going like 50 through the neighborhood, 30 around corners Haha.

Friday:  Nothing too exciting in the morning. We dropped off a bag of Oranges to the sisters in the afternoon. For dinner I thought I was going to die..... we were doing a Zone fast to find new investigators for this transfer starting after dinner. So knowing that after this dinner I wouldn't be able to eat or drink till dinner the next day.  For dinner the member fed us pumpkin soup..... I don't think I have ever tasted anything that bad. I felt like I was going to throw up right there and then. My companion and I gave each other the look and we knew that it was horrific. I couldn't even finish a bowl of it that's how bad it was. After dinner Elder Alfonso had to do a baptismal interview in West Jordan for the Portuguese Elders. Since there isn't many Portuguese elders in the mission, elder Alfonso was the only one who didn't teach her and was eligible to interview her.  We played pickle ball again at night with people from the stake. We talked to the non member who always goes. We talked a little bit about missions with him but he was leaving just shortly after we got there.  We will have to talk to him more next week.

Saturday: Everyone in the Zone came to end our zone fast just before dinner. The Zone leaders bought a drink and candy bar for everyone in our Zone! Can't imagine how much they spent. We got bad news in a text by George one of our investigators. He said that his parents don't want him meeting with us anymore and he can't go to church as well.  Which is heartbreaking because coming from an atheist background to knowing that God is real for himself and wanting to be baptized and not being able to because his parents won't give him permission. We know he will be baptized one day it's just a matter of time! The Sisters in our district put their 5th investigators on date for baptism tonight as well... they are killing it.

Sunday: We had a really good sacrament meeting. There was a member who is a very talented pianist who performed a special musical number, then gave a talk. He is an institute teacher at the University of Utah, so he was very knowledgeable about his stuff. I really liked how he was able to explain things so simply, even if they were complex doctrine. We taught an 8 year old who is in an active family to prepare her for her baptism on March 4th. They are next door neighbors with George and his family and they invited them to their daughters baptism and they said they would go, so hopefully they will have a change of heart after going the baptism and they will allow George to take the lessons with us and be able to go to church as well.

Hope you all have a great week.  Love you,
Elder Ashby

Week 23

Tuesday: We had a Zone meeting in the morning. I really liked a training by Sister Kipatrick, she used a quote from preach my gospel, and it was like your success is how long your line is in the water, some go fishing on the weekends and spend all day. Some have their line in the water for 10 hours, and some fiddle with their equipment and have it in for 5. Basically you will see more success the longer you have to work.

Wednesday: We had a Zone conference with the Sandy Zone. It was good to see missionaries that we in my last Zone! They focused on repentance and how, "we can't just change our behavior, we need the savior." I just loved that and made me think about how true repentance works. By acknowledging what my savior did for me. We visited a Ward mission leader at night to update him on George. We haven't been able to meet with him lately due to his busy schedule but we will meet with him on Tuesday.

Thursday: Elder Alfonso had a district leader training in the morning, so I was dropped off at another district leaders area to work there with his companion for a few hours. I was working with Elder Schunk who was Elder Fitzgerald's trainer. It was pretty fun working in their apartments. We met some characters haha. But I guess that's what you get with people in the apartments.

Friday: work was slow and our area Book crashed so we didn't know who to go visit so we were trying to figure out who to go visit. In the mean time Elder Alfonso and I were recording ourselves lip sing some songs. We did "You will be in my heart" by Phil Collins. And we did "Next AP" which Elder Alfonso made in the past with other missionaries. At night we stopped by to see what was going on at the Stake center and it was some elderly people playing pickleball. They invited us to come play so we did for the last hour of the night. We figured out that there was a non member there though! We will try to talk to him next week since they do it every Friday night.

Saturday: Nothing too exciting in the morning/ afternoon. But at night there was a "neighborhood adult social" at the stake center and there was a band that was there preforming. There was some food and music.  The small band was pistol rock and they were alright. But according to my companion who is in a band, that they weren't good at all haha!

Sunday: we went to a missionary preparation class at the church and we helped out all the seniors and juniors in high school who are preparing for missions. We helped this one guy out and man did he pick up fast on how to be a good missionary. At night we had a special mission fireside where Brad Wilcox (a well known speaker) came and talked about the atonement. But I really liked how he talked about Grace. The phrase we are saved by grace was answered. Yes we are saved by grace. But we are based off our our work and how we accept his grace. I loved an analogy he used to describe the atonement. He played this game as a kid in high school on the bus coming home from debate.  The moral of the story is that you need to do some things and if you win you move closer to the front. And if you mess up you go to the back. He began to work his way to the front and just before he was at the front he messed up and had to go back. He repeated it again and again and became very discouraged. But even though he felt like he was going no where, the bus was taking him home. This relates to us in our lives as we accept the atonement. We are going to sin no matter what and sometimes we feel like we are going no where. But life is going on and we are still going home to our Heavenly Father. The atonement was given to us to be able to start over and to try our best. I'm forever grateful for the atonement of Christ and all he has done for me in my life.

Love you all,
Elder Ashby

Week 22

Monday: well at night we took an investigator to Temple square in Salt Lake. We went to the Jospeh Smith history building where it basically talked about the culture and the setting for the restoration. They have a 7 minute restoration video on a 180 degree screen. So it's a pretty cool set up and a great way to feel the spirit. Our ward mission leader who has been helping us teach Martin works for the church and deals with basically all the media stuff. He works with two apostles everyday and always sees the other apostles.  It's crazy! As we were taking the tracks home, D Todd Christofferson was texting him.

Tuesday: Transfers are here! And I am no longer in Sandy. I am going to Riverton. We started off by finishing packing all our stuff and in no time the Woolums were there to take me to Riverton. We are covering the Riverton North stake. My new companion is Elder Alfonso. He grew up in Argentina, and then moved to Spain when he was 12. He speaks Spanish, Portuguese and English fluently. Elder Alfonso has a music business back home and is in a band. He has had the business since he was 12, so he already has a house and car paid off. He is also a professional gamer haha. He's got his life already figured out. He is known for his creative posters. At night we went to go teach a less active kid in a family who has been suffering from depression and has had a hard time believing in God. He has a sister who is preparing to go on a mission so we had her help us teach to her brother. It was a really intense meeting because everyone was testifying of how much we love him and how much God loves him. We challenged him to read the Book of a Mormon for 7 days straight and we promised that it would bring him a sense of peace that he was missing in his life. To end the night we went to go meet the home owners. Well... there last name is Ashby... and yes they are relatives. We figured out that they are my second cousins, and that he works with my uncle at work. Crazy how small of a world it is!

Wednesday: We had district meeting in the morning, and since Elder Alfonso is the district leader we had to go early to set up stuff. We tried to connect the iPad to the TV but for some reason either the connector cable wasn't working, or we were outsmarted by technology.  It was a pretty weird meeting. It was my companion and I, our MLS couple (senior missionaries) and one of the sisters in our district.  Her companion is the STL (sister training leader) and the Zone leaders are in our district. But those three were at another meeting with the mission president for a leadership meeting. We finished our new posters and man do they look good! Sad to think that Elder Alfonso is going home at the end of this Transfer! (March 14)

Thursday: We had a Zone expectation meeting in the afternoon and it was more of a get to know the new Zone. There is a lot of unfamiliar faces that I don't know. I guess that's the negative of being in Sandy for three transfers. At night we had a lesson with George. The funny thing is that my old ward mission leader in Sandy, his daughter gave George a Book of Mormon and he called the missionaries to meet with them and I got transferred into his area! He is so solid. His background was atheist because his parents are from China. But he felt something he has never felt before when he was reading the Book of Mormon. He knew that God was real and that he truly does care about him and knows him personally. We taught the plan of salvation, or in other words Gods eternal plan for us. He understood that God has a plan for everyone of us and that he will place people in front of us to feel of his love. He said the closing prayer and was in tears because he wanted to be baptized but his parents are holding him back.  He was on date to be baptized on the 13th but his parents want him to "study" the religion for a month before they will consider him being baptized. So we might have to push his date back till the end of the month.

Friday: not much happened but we visited a ward mission leader who knows a non member family who said they would be willing to meet with the missionaries. He works out with the husband every weekday so he will ask him on Monday when we can meet. The ward mission leader wasn't very excited about it and doesn't think that they will want to convert. But we have the faith!

Saturday: again not much happened, we got a few names of some people from our MLS couple (senior missionaries)

Sunday: We went to a sacrament meeting and since it was the first Sunday of the month it was fast and testimony meeting. I went up and bore my testimony on enduring to the end. I related it to my ACL story. And how it has almost been two years since I had my knee surgery. I talked about how we need to endure to the end and how we can't give up now. If we give up now we will fall short of Gods expectations of us. I told everyone to endure to the end and the best way to strengthen their testimony is to bring someone into the unto the gospel and to see the joy that they experience when they do. Hopefully we inspired people to go out there and share the gospel with their family and friends.

 

Love you all,

Elder Ashby

 

Here is the poster Elder Alfonso and I created.