Week 42

Tuesday: We had our usual district meeting in the morning but had unusual guests. The assistants to the president came to my district meeting again. Last time they evaluated my district meeting was with AP Bowen & Morris. This time is was AP Ray & Kaka. We had a good meeting and everyone received revelation for them and their areas so that was good. After the AP's evaluated how well I conducted and how the overall meeting went. They were impressed and happy with how the meeting went and how I was a conduit for the Holy Ghost who is the real teacher. 

Wednesday: Nothing really too interesting other than Elder Schunk had a dentist appointment with one of our ward mission leaders. (Brother Staley, my dentist growing up in West Jordan) he did a free check up for Elder Schunk. It was weird going to their new office in Daybreak when my whole childhood they only had an office in West Jordan. I saw a lot of workers that worked in the other office when I was younger. 

Thursday: We had a Zone leadership meeting in the afternoon. We started a little late because the Sister Training Leaders were late, but after awhile we started without them. We went through the usual meeting and we got to the point where we needed them to be there and they said they were on their way so we sat around and sang intermediate hymns haha. Well when they got there we finished the trainings and things we needed to do. All in all it took 2.5 hours when it usually should have taken 1 hour haha. But we got some good trainings and ways to help our missionaries we have stewardship over! We got some good leads on some people in the Copperview 7th ward who are going to girls/scout camps that are not LDS. 

Friday: One of our Ward missionaries runs a car show every year and he wanted us to come and to be seen as missionaries at this event in our area. Well I also had to give the opening prayer at a car show, man did that feel weird haha! But there were some cool cars, but I'm no car guy so I couldn't tell you much about it. My cousin Ethan loves cars and I'm sure he will be devastated that I got the opportunity to do it haha! 

Saturday: We did some service for Brayden and Sefeara's great aunt. (Who they live with) We did some good weeding and pulling out trees in her front yard. They recently moved in and the past home owners didn't keep the house in good shape so there is a lot of service opportunities. We know that service also softens people's hearts and we hope that the great aunts heart with soften and she will come back to church and be an example to these two kids she received custody over. It would mean the world to them to have her be the parent figure they didn't have growing up and the gospel blesses and unites families. At night we had the adult Stake Conference session where we talked a lot about how scripture study can help us with our day to day trials. It is crazy how reading and pondering the word of God can help us with our trials. Even though it was written a long time ago the messages are relevant to us and are of great worth if we treasure it up. For those who have not read the Book of Mormon, I invite you to do so. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Christ, it is Gods dealings with the people in the Americas and it starts with a prophet in Jerusalem named Lehi. He is commanded by God to take his family and to leave Jerusalem, when they left Jerusalem they sailed to what is known as the American content and is a story of how Gods dealings with the people in the Americas went and how they looked to Christ to be their savior and redeemer. The prophecy in the Bible where Christ says other sheep I have which are not of this fold, is a prophecy fulfilled as the resurrected Christ appears to the people in the Americas. I don't want you to take my word for it, I have come to know that God is a loving God and he is the same yesterday today and forever. He called holy prophets to do his work anciently and he does so today. He called Jospeh Smith to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ and received the priesthood (the authority to act in Gods name) back on the earth. We have a prophet of God here on the Earth today and his name is President Thomas S. Monson. Who I support with all the energy of my heart. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Jospeh Smith was a called prophet of God to translate the ancient record of Lehi and his descendants. I know that we have a prophet here on the earth today to lead and guide us to come unto Christ and be perfected through the atoning sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. I invite all to come and to know for themselves and I promises that if you do so with real intent to know it's true and to act upon it, you will know that these things are true by the power of the Holy Ghost. 

Sunday: We had Stake Conference today. One of my favorite quotes given was "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he will avoid his wife for the weekend." Haha gotta love it. There were a lot of good talks and one of the main focus points was missionary work. Missionary work is so important because we do not save people by congregations. We ourselves are here to work out our salvation and by doing the necessary saving ordinances by proper authority we can find full joy and peace in this life and the life to come. I have seen the change in my life as I have shared the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and come to know that it is true. It is my deepest desire that all can come and partake of the full and everlasting gospel. I know that if you do so you will come to love your Savior and Heavenly Father even more and that you can and will be influenced by the Holy Ghost testifying that what I have said here in this letter is true. The Holy Ghost testifies of truth but it also invites us to act. If you feel good reading this that is the Holy Ghost speaking to YOU to tell you that reading the Book of Mormon, and meeting with LDS missionaries like me is something you should do. 

Love you all,
Elder Aaron Ashby

Week 41

Tuesday 13th: We had our pday, today. So the day we do our shopping and emailing. It was changed to today because we are going to the temple today. We went to the Draper Temple which was pretty fun and especially when Brother Wyatt takes a few wrong turns and you are in the middle of no where up in the mountains. We like to say we weren't lost, but creating an adventure! Afterwards Elder Schunk and I played a lot of pickleball singles and man does that make you exhausted. Well I had probably one of the most bizarre moments as a missionary. So for those of you who don't know, I so happen to live in the basement apartment of my second cousins. Well my mom is in town because my cousin is getting married. Well I was planning for district meeting and the home owner walked in and he didn't think we were home since our bikes weren't outside. (We left them at a church overnight) so he told me not to answer the door. He goes back upstairs and a few minutes later he comes in with a package. I knew my mom was in town and I asked if it was from my mom or grandma. And he said both, they were both upstairs and were going to come down and see the basement apartment we are living in, but a rule in the mission is that we shouldn't visit with family because it will make us homesick and take our kind off our purpose. On the good note, I got a box full of goodies!

Wednesday 14th: We had our district meeting today because of the Temple day yesterday. We talked about how when those we are teaching keep simple commitments they will have a better understanding of the gospel. At night we visited with one of our ward mission leaders and we discussed some of the work going on in his ward and how we are going to best help those in the ward.

Thursday 15th: We had our interviews with our mission president in the morning. President Lansing and I had a good talk about how we can help those who are feeling complacent about missionary work and how we can help their complacency. From the sounds of it he believes that he can put me with any type of missionaries so who knows what that will bring me. Brother Wyatt was nice enough to take us to the gas station to get some treats for the ride home from the mission office in Sandy.  Brother Wyatt is by far a life saver here in the mission with rides. I can't express how much he has helped and how much we love him!

Friday 16th: The sisters in our district knew that we were known for our poster making abilities and asked if we could make them some good posters. And it clicked, I had by far the best idea for a missionary poster and with the help of Elder Schunk's photoshop skills we made a good poster for the Sisters! At night we had some good visits with leadership in the Riverton North 8th Ward to know how we can help a family with two unbaptized children become active and to teach the two kids as well as bring the family back.

Saturday 17th: Today was a real steamy day and it's never a fun combo when it's hot out and nobody is home so we are knocking on doors all day. At night we figured out a game plan with a high priest group leader for helping out getting two kids to church. Their great aunt just received custody over the two kids and they have been attending scouts and activities and started going to church.  We also met with a primary president in a different ward and there have been around 3-5 kids who are active in either church, scouts, or activities, but not LDS so we will see if we can work with them in the near future.

Sunday 18th: Well we wanted to go to the Copperview 3rd ward to sit with Sefeara. But I accidentally thought they met at a different building so after the sacrament meeting we got a ride over to the correct building (Utah problems) well Sefeara (who is 9) came all by herself when her brother was sick. (He is 8) The great aunt is an LDS member but has said that she won't go back to church. It's sad to see when people have seen the good that the gospel brings us, but neglects to understand the privilege it is. Hard to say to two kids that they need to go to church but not go herself.

Hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Ashby

Week 40

Tuesday: Well transfers came around and I will be staying in the Riverton North/Copperview stakes with Elder Schunk. After this next six weeks (how long a "transfer" is) I will have been in the Riverton North stake for 6 months and the Copperview stake for 4.5 months. I am just over 9 months out on my mission so far and crazy to think how fast it has gone! We mowed brother Wyatts lawn. (a member who drives us everywhere and is awesome) He just had cataracts done in his second eye, Elder Schunk mowed the lawn for him last time. Let's just say Brother Wyatt does so much for us, I made sure to make his lawn look perfect. At night we went out on some ward visits and we talked to a lady who just gained custody over two kids who's parents are crack addicts. Neither of them are baptized and the great aunt wants them to be involved in religion so they don't end up like their parents. We will try to work with them in the future. 

Wednesday: Well we had some changes happen in our district with transfers. Elder Gehrett (one of our Zone leaders) got moved to Draper. Sister Conn moved up into Harriman. So our district is Elder Harvey and Poppell (Zone leaders) Sister Kirkpatrick and Burgos. I have had Sister Kirkpatrick in my district a few transfers ago so nothing real new except Elder Poppell. He started his mission the same time as me. We had our district meeting today due to transfers on Tuesday. We talked a lot about the "how" and "why" of missionary work. Elder Harvey gave a training on "how" we do missionary work. And I gave the training on "why" we do missionary work. It is really important to understand not only what we do with these 2 years as missionaries but why we are doing it. The answers can go across the board on why we serve, but one of the determining factors should be because we love the Lord and want help as many people as we can. Invite all to come unto Christ and be partakers of Gods love. I gave the parable with the Lion and the Gazelle. A gazelle runs only because of the influencing factor of the lion. A lion runs and chases the gazelle because he needs to provide food for his family. A lion has the internal motive to keep him going when the gazelles motive is conditional upon an outside motive. We as missionaries should be like a lion and be doing the things we do because we love the lord and want to provide for his children, and not because our leaders, or parents want us to serve missions. 

Thursday: We met with the great aunt who has custody over the two kids, she was really receptive to us and said we could stop by tomorrow if we were in the area, she didn't want us going out of our way to teach these two kids. We will do anything to help those who we can help!  We had some good ward visits at night. 

Friday: Well the lesson fell through with the two kids, and will need to reschedule another meeting with them. Finally contacted a few people we have been trying to see, sadly they were not interested at the moment. We did talk to a guy who said he would meet with missionaries but is living in Salt Lake! No effort is wasted! 

Saturday: We met with one of our bishops and we discussed some of the stuff happening in his ward. Brandy from the half way house (addiction recovery house) who we have been teaching moved to Las Vegas with her son out of nowhere. We stopped by an active members home to figure out if their was a problem with their kids records in the church. We weren't sure if his kid wasn't baptized or if their was a problem transferring over the records. Turns out there was a problem transferring the records when they moved. We met with the Lewis family who is a Christian family. They allowed us to teach them about what our beliefs are. They are interested in learning and we are excited. Their beliefs are pretty much the same as ours but with a few differences. They said they would read the Book of Mormon! I think the husband is more on board with it than the wife. The wife's parents converted when she was a teenager and said she had bad experiences and didn't want to join herself. 

Sunday: We taught mission preparation in the morning to about 6 young men & women who were preparing to go on missions. We taught them how to prepare for a mission and how to talk to people. We had the opportunity to teach primary in the Copperview 4th Ward. It was interesting because it was on tithing, but in the end it went great and we had a blast teaching little kids! At night we had the rare opportunity to have a mission fireside with a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles. Elder David A Bednar who is a good friend with our mission president came and talked to our mission. We talked about some of his old talks he has given in General Conferences mainly about faith. Some of the pieces of his talks that I enjoyed were how to learn by faith we must act, and not be acted upon. A scripture in the Book of Mormon, Ether 12:6 (6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.) another point that I loved was how we had a question and answer portion. The thing that amazed me the most was how he encourages and facilitated learning by faith. He would never give an answer to a question but he would lead us in the direction and give us the opportunity to learn by faith. He would often ask us a question in response to our questions. It was an amazing spiritual uplifting experience to have the Holy Ghost answer my questions without me physically asking them. I have a firm testimony that he is called of God to serve as one of the twelve apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

Monday: Well it wasn't the usual Monday for us, since we are going to the temple today, we will be doing our normal Monday stuff like shopping, emailing, and chores. We helped out our Zone leaders with their new posters to put up in their church buildings. At night we had the opportunity to go to dinner and to share a message with two good friends of mine. Braxton Kerr, and Jacob Stauffer.  Hope you all have a great week.

 

 

Love,

Elder Aaron Ashby 

 

 

Week 39

Monday night: We stopped by the Pecks to fill out everything needed for the baptismal program and I couldn't believe it. Jaylee bought Elder Schunk and I fidget spinners that were our favorite colors. She was so sly about it too, at church the week earlier she was marking scriptures with colored pencils and asked what our favorite colors were. Apparently fidget spinners are the "new" thing out and everyone has one. A lot of missionaries have them as well. I swore that I wouldn't spend money on a thing like this but hey it was a gift so it's different!

Tuesday: We had a Zone meeting in the morning. (All of the companionships serving in Riverton and Herriman) The Zone leaders asked if I could give a training on our purpose as missionaries because it seems to be a problem in our Zone. I talked about how when we put on our name tags in the morning is it something we just do, is it just a $4 or $5 piece of plastic, Or does it mean a little more? I played a Mormon message called, "Your potential your privilege" it's about a man who went on a cruise but didn't want to spend much money. He brought beans, crackers, and powdered lemonade, and that is what he ate the entirety of the cruise. On the last day of the cruise he realized that everything on the ship the food the entertainment was all included with the ticket. He was living beneath his privileges. As missionaries we do not fully comprehend how much of a privilege it is to serve the Lord full time. To be set apart to represent our Savior Jesus Christ and do the work he would be doing if he were here. At night we went to go visit one of our investigators Brandy, we taught her the plan of salvation or in other words the plan of happiness or Gods plan for us. She was so amazed at the knowledge we know about where we came from, why are we here, and we're we are going. We can come to know these things through the scriptures and modern day revelation. We changed her baptismal date to her Birthday, July 10th. The concern is that she hasn't been able to come to church or read the assignments we gave her. She is so willing to sit down and meet with us and will say yes to everything, but the commitment isn't there fully. 

Wednesday: We had our home inspected in the afternoon to make sure we are clean. The senior missionary who inspected our house had so many cool stories to tell us about his mission and how they had an all Elder basketball team and how they played some Olympic teams. He told us how he sank a 30 foot game winning shot. (He's really old so not sure what to believe and what not to believe haha) Our lesson with Brandy fell through. At night we talked and correlated with our Ward mission leader about Jaylees baptism and got him all on board. 

Thursday: Nothing too exciting or worth writing. A lot of phone calls to discuss some things about the missionaries in our district. 

Friday: We had the Zone leaders come and interview Jaylee for her baptism. Elder Gehrett was very impressed with how mature she is. She has been going to church for a year and a half now by herself, with nobody in the family to support her really. She has gone to different stakes with her friends and she wanted to start going to her Ward. She is a 9 year old girl who WANTS to go to church and is devastated when she can't go. She would read her scriptures all by herself. Jaylee has taught me so much and it has been a blessing for me to have the opportunity to teach her about the restored gospel. I look up to her in so many ways. Elder Gehrett claims he is the only missionary in the mission without a fidget spinners so Jaylee gave him one of hers! She is so amazing! Elder Gehrett gave her some Japanese carbonated gum. And got a funny video of it. (It is some of the weirdest gum I have ever had in my life!) 

Saturday: We printed off the programs for Jaylees baptism in the morning and went to fill up the font. After we filled up the font, we went over to the Pecks home to eat lunch with them. They had all the friends and family over for a lunch/ party before the baptism. Then headed over for the baptismal service. It was a great service and I was a little nervous because our mission president and his wife showed up to it without telling us. Jaylees great grandpa who is 89 years old was the one to baptize her. He had a hard time saying all the necessary words for the ordinance, and by the 4th time he realized there is a little piece of paper in the font that tells him what to say. All went well though! During the time they were changing, in our mission the missionaries have taught the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but has been recently changed in our mission. It is now up to our discretion to do what we feel is best for the spirit to be present. We played a video called "The Savior understands me."  (https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-03-0021-the-savior-understands-me?category=diversity&lang=eng) it is one of my favorite videos because our Savior Jesus Christ does understand us, he has suffered and died for us. He went to Calvary and Gethsemane for each and every one of us. The atonement of Christ was done so we could be forgiven of our sins, through baptism by proper authority we receive a remission of our sins and be fully cleansed through the Atonement of Christ. It was a powerful meeting and the spirit was there to testify of the truthfulness of our message. 

Sunday: We went to the Meadows Ward where Jaylee goes and she received the gift of the Holy Ghost and was confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Since it is the first Sunday of the month it was fast and testimony meeting. So instead of having assigned speakers from the ward it is open for anyone to get up to the pulpit and to bare their testimony. Half of the testimonies that were shared were about how proud they are of Jaylee and how good of an example she is to them. I got up and bore my testimony of missionary work and how it is one of the best blessings I've had in my life and how the Peck family, Jaylee in particular has changed me. I also had the chance to finish the Book of Mormon again for my second time and I give you all my solid testimony that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, it is Christ's dealings with the peoples in the Americas and it was written by ancient prophets and was translated by Jospeh Smith  for us in our day. If the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God we know that God continues to love us and watch over us  by giving us further guidance. We will also know that we have a prophet here on the earth today to lead and guide us to do Gods will. The promise is real, if you read the Book of Mormon with a sincere heart and real intent, you will know that it is true by the power of the Holy Ghost. I invite all to come unto Christ and to read the Book of Mormon or reread it, and ask God if it is true. I have received my answer and I don't want you to take my word for it, do it for yourself, it will be the best decision of your life I promise. 

Love you all,
Elder Ashby

 

Picture and video descriptions: 

The fidget spinner Jaylee got me, her eating the Japanese bubble gum, pictures from the baptism, Jaylee at church in primary being "Nephi" and singing the song Nephi's courage one of  my personal favorite primary songs