Earthquakes and Hurricanes

Hey All,

That is a crazy story!!! I can only hope that I can touch someone the way that Dad did. (Paul had an investigator from his mission 22 years ago find him last week. She had been looking for him for a long time and when she found him she was so excited that she flew in from Parker, Colorado.)I keep thinking I don't have any amazing stories, but as I look back on the greatest 3 months (AHHHHHHmoving too fast) of my life, I have been blessed.

This week was really busy. The SWEETEST thing that happened is we found a family. I think I might have mentioned them last week, but I will go over the story again. We were coming back from corilation to our apartment for dinner. It's about 30 minutes, but with rush hour, broken down buses and accidents, it took us around an hour to get home. As we neared home we got a phone call from the Don Valley elders. They told us that they had a BBQ invite that they couldn't make it to and wanted us to go since it was in our area. I will admit it, we didn't want to go. We wanted to relax and then head out to see Collin (new convert). We looked up where they lived and they lived in the area of Collin. Figured, what the heck, let's go. We took another 45 minutes to an hour to get there. Buses usually are really fast, but for some reason they sucked that day.

When we got there we met Ryan, a man from Vietnam who is being taught in Markham. He was way cool and introduced us to the host, JP and his wife, Alice. They are both Canadians and JP is from Quebec. They have 2 daughters, Marrissol (13) and Evelynne (11). They work for a Utah based company called Monavie. Monavie is gospel based or it has to be anyway. Translated it means tree of life. They are super prepared for the gospel. When we went and taught them the first time I was worried because they gave us a tasting for Monavie, but we taught them a little about our church and invited them to attend. Alice said they had been looking for a church for a while, that was close and they would come and check it out.

They loved church. We are metting with them on Wednesday and we are going to get them BAPTIZED!!!!! JP also offered to help us if we wanted to do this Monavie thing when we get home. Not a bad idea. Check it out online some time. I know Alexandra will love it. (I googled this also and it looks like a nutritional supplement thing).

Earthquake...I was on a bus and that always feels like an earthquake. A member in Weston that I talke to said he had just finished a lesson on the signs of the times when it hit. I laughed so hard. I guess the hangers started jumping around and the doors were opening and closing on their own. They thought they were in a haunted chapel. This is the second earthquake here in two years....divers places, eh?

Hurrican....On its way. We had a sweet storm not long ago that reduced visability to zero. I have heard that this one (I think it's called Irene?) is supposed to be a tropical storm when it hits Toronto. I'm going tracting, just for fun. Maybe we will have success because of mercy. Ha. Ha.

We had some kind of fesival going on last weekend called Buskerfest (I googled it and Buskerfest is a street performer festival that raises money for Epilepsy research. Performers come from all over the world so it sounds like a big thing). I don't know exactly what it was but we got to go down and "soapbox" outside of the carnival. It was so much fun. I talked to somany crazy p0eople. I also talked to a woman who has wanted to be a Mormon for so long but hasn't been able to find us. There are only 4 that work in her area and they typically avoid it because it's commercial.

Residential is better for finding and teaching. She was so excited to finally get a Book of Mormon. Made me think. How much to I care about this book? I know I can get more attached to it, but I really love the Book of Mormon. That is what makes us different. We have the truth.

Mom, you forgot something verrrrry important. WHAT WAS THE SCORE FOR FRIDAY NIGHTS GAME!!!!! (Salem lost to Payson by one point 38-39. Park had a great game. Gammons teams lost to Payson the next day in overtime. Two very well matched teams across the board.) I know it's football season! Now I have to wait 2 weeks and I can't even call Elder Meservy unless I find a referal for him!!!! How can I live without knowing how the Skyhawks are doing!?!?!? Ha. Ha. Just kidding.

Parker: I hope you're doing good in football. Kicken trash and all that good stuff. Keep up the good work. Prepare yourself for a mission and make sure if the missionaries call, you go out with them. Take Alec with you too.

Lyza: I met a Liza the other day. Made me laugh. She was from the Phillipines. I love Phillipinos...and their food. We get to eat at the Souters on Thursday. That should get me through the rest of the transfer. Keep being awesome. Stay away from the boys:{) Ha. Ha. He has a mustache.

Special (Gammon): You still special? Just had to ask :) Sounds like you are beginning to cook a little. Be careful. Don't light yourself on fire. He. He. More about that later. Keep working hard and let me know when you start games, eh?

Jex: I am going to get in trouble for reading "unapproved literature". That joke book is terrible. I am sending it to Elder Duce so I can be rid of it. Ha. Ha. You make me laugh, kiddo. Stay out of trouble, K buddy?

So.....fire. This morning I had a string that was bugging me on my shirt. I didn't want to go and get the scissors and there was a lighter within reach. Lighters work really good for getting fuzzies off of your ties. Elder Bode was talking about his studies. I just lit the end on fire. Little strings burn fast. Luckily I got it put out before it burned a hole in my shirt. That is the second time I have lit myself on fire on my mission. At this rate, I will probably light myself on fire 17 more times, or once a transfer. Fire is fun.

Well, I gots to get going. You all have a wonderful week and know that I am praying for you. I love you all.

Down the road, eh!!

Elder Ashton