August 15, 2017

Well I don't even know what to say or how I feel exactly right now,
but all I know is the time on my mission is just about over. It's
pretty sad that I have to leave all these people I love so much! I
will also miss the way people are over here. The members have really
helped us so much! I love them deeply. I also can't wait see see all
my friends and family again on the other hand. That will truly be
amazing. :) but I don't know if I'll be able to hold tears back while
leaving.

I am so so grateful for my mission! Words can't express how much being
here has done for me. If there is one thing I know, it's that I am not
the same person anymore. The experiences I've had, and things I've
learned on my mission have changed the way I see things, and do
things, and I have learned for myself how to truly be happy. More than
anything I hope to strive for this happiness when I get home. But I
also want to share it.

I know that this church is true. If I didn't, I wouldn't have done
this for two years.

Thank you everyone for all that you have done for me. I am so grateful.

I'll be leaving on the 23rd and my Farewell will be on the following
Sunday the 27th at the old red brick church in Hurricane at 11:00.
Following, we we also have food at my place. All are welcome, and I
hope to see many of your faces again, because it's been a while! :)


~Bis bald! LG euer Elder Ashcroft~

July 4, 2017

 

Hey everyone! Things are going great over here. The work is starting
to look due to a few miracles in the recent past. To start off, the
stake presidents son got home from his mission in London England about
a week and a half ago, and is now our new Ward mission leader. It's
great I love the kid! We are pretty excited! He's got a lot of energy,
and ideas so it'll be great! We have been getting a lot of referrals
from the members lately which is a major blessing! We are looking
froward to meeting with them. There is also a crazy festival going on
here called the "Landshuter Hochzeitsfest" or "Landshut marriage
festival". It's the celebration of the marriage of a king and a queen
from the 1500's if I remember right. It's absolutely crazy! It's only
once every four years, so it's pretty huge when they have it. But the
only down side is that there are a lot of tourists hah! :P but it's
cool because everybody wears tights with Peter Pan hats hahah! They
also have legitimate jousting tournaments on horses in knights armor,
so that's cool! We also got a new mission president this week which is
crazy!

Well that's pretty much everything new. I wish you all a wonderful
week and if you need something just write me! :) tschüß!

 ~Elder Ashcroft~

June 6, 2017

 

Hallo! I'm doing pretty good! Just wanted to send out a quick little
update as to what's gone down as of late.

     So I'm currently serving in Landshut Germany. It's in the state
of Bayern and about an hour away from Munich. I've been here for about
a month and a half now and I'm doing pretty great. It's a pretty big
city, but there's just a lot of old people and not that many younger
people so it's challenging to find the people who aren't so set on
their own religion hah. The work is going good and it's getting
better. I just got a new companion named Elder Mackris last week. He's
from Virginia and he is really cool. He's a well rounded guy and I
think we'll get some good work done together. I also love my current
district so much! We have some great people we're working with! We are
teaching a couple of people in the moment and they are slowly making
progress, but we will hopefully be able to find some new people too in
the next couple of weeks. I'm have also picked up learning Italian for
the past bit now and it's really helping us find a lot more people. I
would also like to carry on with Italian after my mission.
     It is just crazy to me how fast the time has gone by on my
mission I just wish I could stay here forever! I currently have about
three months left on my mission and I'm really torn about it on both
sides. But that is just all the more reason lose myself in the work
and to really improve these next couple of months so carry on after
that.

I love you all and wish you a wonderful week! Thanks for all of your
support! Phiat euch!
 ~Elder Ashcroft~

 

April 4, 2017

Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing great! My week has been pretty okay. My trainee has been learning a lot, and can understand the language a lot better now.

Montag- we had district meeting in the morning, and we had to leave a little early to make it to a member appointment with the family Schär. Then we found a little bit, and taught an investigator some German. After that we finished weekly planning.

Dienstag- P- day. We took a train to Bern to go to the temple with the district. It was really nice to get away from the noisy world for a bit. After that we went to Basel for a while. In the evening we found

Mittwoch- we studied, ate, then went by some investigators, members, and less actives, then we did 12 weeks in the park. 12 weeks is a training booklet for new missionaries from the church. After that we took a train to Basel for an Austausch with the Basel Elders. We helped some members in the Basel Ward move into their new apartment, then tausched. Elder Visconti from France came with me back to Liestal, and Elder Vogel stayed with Elder England in Basel. When we got back, we ate some dinner, and talked for a bit before going to bed.

Donnerstag- in the morning we studied, then took a bus to Giebenach for a member appointment. It was really great, and the food was just fantastic! :) after we had an appointment with an investigator in Giebenach. It went really well. After the appointment we had to wait for the bus, but it wasn't going to come for 30 minutes, so we decided
to try and hitch hike. After about five cars someone actually stopped, and took us back to Liestal hahaha! It was pretty great, and we actually got the persons number to try and meet with them! When we got back we went by a Turkish investigator family. The mother was not home, but the husband was, so we had a lesson with him. He had already
read the some of the Book of Mormon, and thought it was really good! After we Tausched back, and the had another appointment with an investigator.

Freitag- we studied, did some weekly planning, then went and found a bit. After we came back to finish weekly planning, then had dinner with a part member family. After we gave a lesson to the Husband, because he is the nonmember. It went well.

Samstag- we played soccer in the morning with our district, investigators, and some members. It was really fun! After that we went back home to eat lunch, and study. Then we went to do a little work in Rheinfelden, in the evening we had a member appointment fall out, so we went to the church to watch general conference.

Sonntag- we basically watched general conference all day long!!! We did a little finding in between sessions.

 

March 20, 2017

Hallo! I'm doing pretty good still, and we had another pretty good
week! :) we were also able to make some good progress with some of our
investigators. Some other news is that I'm going to be training again!
I'm happy, but also kinda sad! :( I will miss all of the British
things elder jest does, and says haha! My new companion is German, so
that'll be an adventure! :)

Montag- we went to Basel, to a crazy huge festival called Fastnacht.
It was so much fun! I'll attach a video, or some pictures. In the
evening we had a member appointment with the family Wiesner. After
that we had a really good appointment with one of our investigators
named Mohammed. He really is a good guy, and  very humble

Dienstag- we had district meeting in Basel, then an Austausch with the
Basel elders. I was with elder England from England (no pun intended),
and elder Jest stayed in Basel with elder Visconti.  Elder England and
I had two appointments fall out, so we did some finding.

Mittwoch- the studied, and then Tausched back. After that we taught
one of our investigators, Issam. He is such a good guy! He already has
a strong testimony of the church, and the Book of Mormon. Sadly we
found out that he will probably have to leave Switzerland. :( after
the lesson, he bought us some pizza.

Donnerstag- we had studies, and then went to have lunch with the
Dätwylers. The are a pretty old couple, and they're so nice. She is
one of the best cooks I've ever met, and he was the mission president
of the St. Petersburg, Russia mission! after that we went to
Rheinfelden where we had an appointment fall out, then we had a lesson
with a couple that we are teaching, that we found dooring! After that
we had another appointment fall through, then we had a lesson with
Issam, then after that with Herr Bergamini.

Freitag- we studied, then helped a member family transport some things
for their business. After that we had weekly planning, then ended the
day with a member appointment/investigator lesson.

Samstag- we left pretty early to do a service project for two of our
investigators. It was really good, and we got to know them a lot
better. After that we took a train to Basel to help with a street
display. In the train we realized that we forgot the phone, and it was
the day we were supposed to get transfer calls... Face palm! Hahaha
but we got to Basel, and found out the news for transfers. We had a
really good time doing the street display in Basel, and had quite a
bit of success. Then the Zone leaders, and us went to the church, and
had a baptismal interview for one of our investigators, Issam.
Everything went great! :) after that we went home, ate studied, made
calls, and found.

Sonntag- Sunday was great! After church we went to a members for lunch
with one of our investigators. It was great to see them all bond, and
it made our job a lot easier! We had a lesson after that which went
pretty well. In the evening we studied, and had a lesson with Issam.

March 16, 2017

First of all I would just like to apologize that I have not been able
to respond to some of your guy's emails for the past couple weeks. It
has just been crazy here and I haven't had time! :P I am doing great,
and we are having a lot of success! The weather has been warming up a
little which is also good. :) we have mainly been working with three
investigators since I have been here, and they are all working towards
baptism. Issam from Tunisia  will be baptized on the 18th of March,
Brother Bergamini is Italian, but has grown up here in Switzerland. He
is an eternal investigator, and hasn't been baptized because of his
smoking problem. We have finally got him to stop smoking, and he is
really excited that he can now be baptized! :) he has a baptismal date
for the 25th of March, then there is Brother Rudschuck from Germany.
He is in a pretty complicated situation. He was excommunicated when he
was younger, but he is about 60 now, and knows that it's true. He has
a really strong testimony, and wants to g baptized again, but the
problem is that he lives with his Swiss girlfriend(pretty much his
wife), and she doesn't want to get married because she is unsure, and
has had problems in the past with marriage. But Brother Rudschuck has
a baptismal date for the 22nd of April.

I am loving it here in Pratteln and I'm doing really well! I will try
and get to your guy's emails today! :) if you ever need anything I'm
always here! :) Schöne Wochli!

March 6, 2017 Pictures