Devan (9) just completed his BEAR requirements for Cub Scouts. He and Liz (7) are both doing extremely well in school. They are also both taking piano lessons from our primary pianist. Spencer (4) is getting more and more excited about Kindergarten which will start August 4th. We are so grateful to all the physical, speech, and occupational therapists that have helped him get to where he is today. He is a true joy. Emma (16 ½ months) went to nursery for the first time today. Ivan was teaching the 11 year olds and I was so busy with all my Sunday duties as Primary President, so they made an exception and took her today. She loved it and will be happy to turn 18 months soon, so she can go every Sunday!
I am still Primary President. In September, I hit 3 years. It has been a lot of fun, and I love the 123 children in Primary more than I can express in words. I have learned so much from all of them. This last month, one of our primary teachers, Clay White, passed away suddenly. He had served as a primary teacher or worker for 30 years. He taught the class Sharing Time in March on Jesus and the resurrection. He taught the kids using the glove and bore a strong testimony of the Savior. At the funeral, we had 30+ children sing "Did Jesus Really Live Again?" with me following them immediately with "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". The spirit was so strong. So many people of different faiths were touched by the children.
The big news for Ivan is that he was just released as a ward missionary. The missionaries are in shock, but I have a feeling he'll still be going out with them quite a bit though. :-) He was called to be the Cub master, and I know he'll do an excellent job. The last few months he has been doing the duties of the ward mission leader who just opened a new store and has been swamped with work. I think in March he conducted for 4 baptisms.
We've seen so many miracles in regards to people joining the church over the last few months. Linda Clark has been one of our favorites. She was a 7th Day Adventist Sunday School teacher who was baptized recently. She is amazing and has been adopted as an additional grandma by our kids. She came to our home for a FHE and brought a big flannel story board to give the lesson. The kids loved it. Another friend's husband was baptized this last month as well. It has been so neat watching all these people progress in the gospel. Our missionaries here are really busy. They work with 3 wards and last month I think they baptized 8 people. We have at least 4 or 5 scheduled in just our ward for May. I think Ivan will miss his calling as a ward missionary, but luckily as regular members we can still be missionaries. I don’t see that being the end of it for us. It just won’t be an official calling anymore.
Linda Clark's Baptism
Linda’s nephew was able to baptize her. Linda’s sister joined the church
30+ years ago. They were so excited for her.
Today we had 4 investigators in Primary. We brought Abby, our neighbor (age 8). Liz asked her yesterday if she wanted to go to church with us. She thought about it and said “Maybe.” Then, Liz said, “After church, we can get gum from Brother Hodge.” Abby said, “I think I’ll go.” I think we may have to subsidize Brother Hodge’s gum fund! One of the investigators is in Devan’s 3rd grade class. I think Cameron was happy to see children he knew from school at church. We also had Jacob, the son of Alice and Jason, who is also working towards being baptized with his mom. Jason was in a recent car accident and had been against coming to church with his family, but due to the accident and a blessing in the hospital he has had a change of heart. We are excited for their family and what the gospel is doing for them.
You’ve probably heard about the outbreak of measles in
Andrew Law, a 19 year old that we “adopted” who joined the church 2 years ago, received his mission call. We had 30 people come to our home to watch him open it. He will be serving in the New York New York South mission speaking Cantonese. We will be driving him up to enter the MTC on June 18th. We are so excited for him!
Andrew opening his call! Well, I hope that gets you up to date with the Ashcrafts. We love and miss you all, but can’t imagine missing out on all the action her in
Lots of love,
Stephanie
P.S. In between writing the above and posting it, something funny happened. Ivan Rodriguez, a friend from Ivan’s work who happens to be single, stopped by to visit. He was talking to us about how he is trying to meet girls in places other than bars. I mentioned that he could start going to church. Liz, without missing a beat, blurts out, “Yes, you can start going to church. Then, you can get baptized!” (Now I wonder where she gets that from? J) We all got a good chuckle!
1 comment:
It's wonderful to hear that your family is doing well. Living in Utah, I feel such a famine for missionary work. Missionary work goes in here, but it's just not the same. How are your books doing? I own three, keep em' coming!!
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