Miracles!

(Apologies to everyone waiting for me to post this. It came, I read it, and then I proceeded on my way and wouldn't have even remembered to post it if Grandma Ashton hadn't asked me why he didn't write. Opps!)

Hey Everybody,

I have had the craziest week. It started out pretty crappy. Azim had the Jehovah Witness come over. Any friend of Jesus is a friend to him so he let them in. They saw his Book of Mormon and freaked. He is childlike. Not childish, but childlike. He believes everything anyone tells him. He is still on good terms with us, and we are still welcome, but he won't be getting baptized any time soon. I have faith that he will turn around and come to a knowledge of the truth.

From then, we have not taught many people. We taught a recent convert, Doug Bristow, who is the man. Doug was in Canadian Intelligence and has been through a lot. He found the church in Ecuador and wanted to get baptized there. He had to wait because of his history in the intelligence. His wife "googled" the church and got offended about what she saw. That is sad. He worked for two years to get baptized and was finally baptized in June. He is meeting with us so he can learn how to teach and better use his priesthood. We are going to take him teaching with us. I am stoked! He knows so much about the church and he cannot be antied. Love it!!!

We had a slow week this week but we worked hard all week. We were always on the buses, talking to people on the streets and trying to get appointments. It didn't look like we had any hope at all. We were disappointed, but not discouraged. We had a goal to get two baptisms this month. I wanted it really bad, and so did Elder Bode. We had kind of lost hope, when a miracle happened.

We had a fireside last night with a member of the stake presidency. We didn't know if anyone would show up for us and we debated on even going. I am so glad that we didn't. Donavan and Karla Kerr, former investigators with a baptismal date, came to the fireside. They are way cool. Donavan is from Jamaica and is one of the top massage therapists in Canada. Karla is suffering from type 2 diabetes, but they both want to be baptized. We are going to meet with them later this week and set a date for, hopefully, September.

I was so excited about that, and then it got better. We had another former investigator with a baptismal date show up. Michelle and her 9 year old son, Devyne. I didn't really think anything would come of it, but guess who happened to show up.Her Uncle is a member in the Weston Ward. SICK!!!!!They talked for a long time and her Uncle has agreed to help us get Michelle to become a member of Jesus Christs church. She is now meeting with us again and is so much more serious. I was so excited last night. We needed this after that long week we just put in.

Funny story for you. We got a referral from the Spanish Missionaries fro a man named Omar. He is from Yemen. We went and spoke with him and it turns out he is a Muslim missionary. He tried to convert us!!!!! that is the third.....no wait.....fourth time I have tried to be converted to Islam and the fifth or sixth that someone has tried to convert me. Makes me laugh. We are meeting him again this week. I got him thinking when I understood the Koran. It always confuses me how they believe the Bible, and say they are not Muslim if they do not believe the Bible, but they do not believe the teachings in the Bible. They only read the Koran. Don't ask me. It is easy to get them to think about it though.

Parker: I just laugh at you driving my car. I thought I sweated a lot. (The truck rotors need to be replaced so Park is driving Braidens car but the windows don't roll down and the AC doesn't work) So what is wrong with the truck now? I know the rotors on my car were bad. I should have replaced them when I did the brakes a year ago. You can figure it out. By the way, It's a 10mm allen to get the caliper off. Didn't know if you knew that:)

Lyza: How is everything going? Are you excited to start high school? You are going to do great. Make sure you keep Park in line and stay away from those boys! I would hate to have to fly home and kick you butt!!! (can missionaries write that word?) You're doing great. Keep up the good work.

Special (Gammon): How is football going? Are you still playing wide receiver? Are you guys doing any airsoft? I can tell you, I miss airsoft. I found some bb's the other day in the old apartment and it was like a smoker smelling tobacco. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I need it!!!! Ha, ha. Keep it goin eh.

Jex Edward: Your words are really big. (It was Jex's turn to write our email and he wrote it in some seriously big font) You're a good kid Jex. I read your joke book to a missionary in Scarbourogh. We laughed so hard because they are terrible. They really aren't that funny, but when you are bored it makes for a good laugh.

Well, everyone, I thank all of you for your letters. I received letters from Aunt Becky, Grandma and Grandpa Spencer, Alexandra and Thomas Hayward. Thank you all. You're the best. Love you all.

Elder Ashton