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