Donny Osmond?

Hello, hello!

 

well, I don't have very much time, but I just wanted to relate a story to you.

 

Last night, we met this woman who instantly recognised us as mormons, and showed us a picture of her with Donny Osmond, years ago. We were thrilled, and so we started speaking with her about the church and she completely was not interested. She tried telling us how we were brainwashed and we're going to go home and have twenty wives. She kept saying that she had the truth and that it had set her free! she invited us to forget what we knew and be set free. But Elder Mecham and I flat out refused. She didn't have the truth. We had the truth. We were the free ones, and she was the one that was in bondage.

 

I know with every beat of my heart, with every breath that I take that this is the only true and living church on earth. I know that this is The Church of Jesus Christ. It is His; we are His. It is only through adherence to the principles of His Gospel and His commandments that we are able to be saved at the last day. Trust in your heart. Trust in Him. You will not fail. And He will not fail you.

 

I love you all so much, and I am so thankful for the chance I have to serve the Lord and the people of England. I have seen many miracles and no doubt will continue to see more! Pray for me! I pray for you!

 

I love you!

 

Love,

Elder Ashcraft,

 

P.S. If you see Donny Osmond, tell him that Wendy, his biggest fan in Oxton, England, says Hi :)

Hi there!

Hello, ever'body!

 

It's been a good week here. Elder Mecham and I are getting along great. And I might have finally found out who he reminds me of. Monsters Inc. Mike Wazowski. mixed with Randall's little sidekick, I can't remember his name. Fungus? I think so. Put those two together and I think you've about got him. the voice as well. Haha maybe that's a bit much, but that's just what my brain has come up with. He's great.

 

But it's been a good week. the ward here is really great. One of the older members of the ward told us how he bible bashes with Jehovah's Witnesses all the time and he committed them to read the Book of Mormon! Haha it's great. But the work here is going good. We are building up our teaching pool, which is really good. This place is about to explode with success.

 

Well, the keyboard on this computer is really bad, and you have to push some keys like 4 times to get it to work, so it's taken a while to write this. Sorry it's so short, but I just can't take it anymore. Plus I'm outta time.

 

But I love you all! Keep the faith! and keep praying for me! I love you!

 

Love,

Elder Ashcraft

Broken Head

Alright, everyone?!

 

haha sorry about the subject. It probably got a few of you scared, seeing as i have a history of hitting my head on stuff, whether it's trees, cupboards, or the hood of a 1996 Corolla. But my head is actually in perfect conditition, aside from the chubby cheeks and need of a haircut. But the reason for the subject was just because the main city where we work is called Birkenhead. It kind of sounds like broken head. a little. Sorry about the heart attacks I may have just caused. Anyway, first I'll give you my address so you can send me post and so I don't forget to send it later:

 

Elder Taylor Ashcraft

47 Downing Close

Prenton

Wirral CH43 5XQ

England

 

Anyway, I'm serving with Elder Mecham, from West Bountiful Utah! He has been serving about the same time as my good buddy Elder Benjamin Zenger, so it's good to glean from his experience. Glean. Such a great word. But he is great. He's a little bit on the quiet side, but I think it's probably just because he hasn't realised how loud I am, if that makes sense. Sometimes there seems to be like a three day awkward stage when you get a new companion. Still a little bit awkward, but we're getting there.

 

Well, Birkenhead is great. A lot of people here have pretty thick Scouse accents, which is the Liverpool accent, so they say Birkenhead like, "Behkkkkenhead." It's pretty great. There's like 5,000 different accents here, and most aren't what people think of when they think of English accents. I love it!

 

Yeah! Well, things are going good. I'm excited for this transfer, but it'll only be like 4 weeks long because of the extension last transfer for Christmas. But it'll be great, nonetheless.

 

So, I love you all, and I am so grateful for everything that you do and have done for me! Thanks for your love and support, and your prayers (and your post!), and for everything else! I love you! Keep the Faith!

 

Looooooooooove,

Elder Ashcraft

Last week on the Blessed Isle

'Ello, all!

 

It's been a pretty good week here on the Isle. Things were still kind of slow because of Christmas and New Years and stuff, but it was good nonetheless. Is nonetheless one word? Sorry if it's not. But for the purpose of this email, it is.

 

Anyway, The Isle is a great place. On New Years day, Elder Metsaranta and I went with Elder Allen, one of the Senior missionaries and hiked up Snaefell, which is the highest point on the Isle of Man. Really, it's tiny compared to where we live. I think it's like hiking halfway up to the "Y" on the mountain in Provo. But for here, that's high. On a clear day, you can actually see England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. But unfortunately New Years was way misty up there and so we could only see like 50 yards or so, haha. Figures. But it was really good. After that we watched Narnia 2 with the Allens, and it was great. C.S. Lewis is great.

 

Well, the cafe I'm emailing from is playing some songs that I really love, but can't listen to as a missionary, so I've gotta go pretty soon. Curse you, Manx Radio!

 

Wednesday, we leave the blessed Isle and head to England for Zone conference, and Then I head to Moreton with Elder Mecham. I'm sad to go, but I'm also really excited to move on. He'll be my 5th companion (6th counting the MTC), so I'm excited to meet him and the people of Moreton. They won't know what hit them, hehehehehehahahahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! (Did you like that? that was a little maniacal laughter, for you. I wonder if that counts as an onomatopoeia. Maybe. We'll see. But did you like how it started gentle and then grew until it was like some evil villain? Only I'm not evil and I'm not a villain. It's for dramatic effect, you see. Well, I'm done with giving a sermon on maniacal laughter now. At ease, soldiers.)

 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your support, love, friendship, and prayers. I couldn't do this without you. I love you!

 

Love,

Elder Ashcraft