Monday, July 25, 2016

Send A Prayer!


From Elder Ainsworth’s Mom:

This past week, Elder Ainsworth had transfers and is now serving with a new companion. This has been a hard adjustment for him, as his new companion has a different perspective on missionary work and is a different personality.  Elder Ainsworth wanted me to let you know that he is working through this and will write to everyone next week.
Please say an extra prayer for my son!  If you have a few minutes, he could really use a note of encouragement in the mail or even a quick email to read next Monday.  Any support for him would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!
Mailing address:
Elder Austin Ainsworth
1418 Bradley Drive Apt. E311
Carlisle, PA 17013
 The girl on the left is Dani! She will be baptized later this week!

 Our last photo together as a district before transfers.

 Elder Gray packing up....

On the car ride up to transfers!!!

We went on exchanges the other day and I was with a Pittsburgh missionary. It felt like home, so I was smiling a bit more. But anyhow this was a cool bridge.

This was some hot sauce I tried.

Contemplating on whether I should try it or not.

Monday, July 18, 2016

Change Is In The Air!


Hello Everyone! I hope you have had a great week! My week has been very good so far. We have another investigator with a baptismal date!!! His name is Caden and he has been taught by the missionaries before, but he had to move to Florida for school. He is back for the summer and we have been able to teach him. He has a very strong testimony and he already wears a CTR ring!!! He will be a great member of the church! 
We were able to teach a lot more people during the week, so that was really cool! I also had the opportunity to lead out our area for the first time, when my companion went on exchanges. It was super scary, but I know the Lord is helping me with this new challenge. We also had transfers calls the other day. A transfer call lets us know whether or not we will be moving to a different area. In a few days, Elder Gray will no longer be my companion. He will be serving the remainder of his mission in the middle of Baltimore! That's pretty exciting! I'm gonna miss him a lot and he is a great example to me of what being an amazing missionary is all about.
One crazy story from this week happened when Elder Gray and I were coming home late and had to walk home.  As we were walking down the street, Elder Gray waved to this guy from across the street, because we overheard him talking about us. He ends up crossing the street and was almost hit by a car.  He said that he didn't care, so that seemed really weird. He was pretty intoxicated, which wasn't a good sign either. Long story short, he was bashing us and saying how wrong we were and all that stuff. The crazy part was that he was Satanist, so that was really an awkward situation. As we kept trying to leave, he was getting frustrated and it got pretty scary at one point. Thankfully, we were able to walk away from him without any harm. What this experience taught me, is to always be ready to stand up for what we believe in. I have come to know for myself, the truth of the message that we share.  Even though there are others who are not willing to hear it, I know that it has a real power to change the lives of those who are willing to hear. I hope all of you have a great week!
This was a surprise gift from my family!  These towels help us fight the heat! 

This is us wearing them like weirdos. 

Us right after our awesome lesson with Bruce!

Here is a cool mural that we found.


Studying the word with Elder Gray.



This was a cool sign that we found. We enjoyed it!

Here is some sushi I had today!  It was super cheap also! 

All of us out eating sushi!!!  It was super fun!

This was a special sushi that a Sister ordered and it was huge!!!

Elder Gray having fun with chopsticks.

Doctor Who scripture case that a member made for me. It's super cool!

Monday, July 11, 2016

What A Cool Week!


I hope you have had a great week, this week! My week was a cool week and by “cool”, I don't mean the temperature. It’s been hot. Really, really hot. I don't think I've sweat this much in my entire life. But anyhow, the work has been going well here! Dani is still progressing towards baptism. She is doing amazing! We also picked up 2 new investigators. We have Camilla and Tina. They are really interested in the gospel and hopefully they will see how our message will bless their lives.
Earlier this week, Elder Gray had the runs and had to keep going to the bathroom all day! It was super funny! The other families that we have been teaching have also been doing better. I don't know if I have talked about Chip, but he and his wife want to go to the temple! I'm so excited to help them on this journey and I know that it will bless their lives tremendously!
I have really been able to see if people are interested in the gospel and if it is for them. There have been so many cool experiences with seeing people light up and enjoy this gospel. I know that this church is true and that the happiness this gospel brings is eternal and can help us even in the darkest of times. I hope you all have had a great week!







Tuesday, July 5, 2016

4th of July - Take Two!


(Note from mom: Elder Ainsworth forgot to send out his blog post and so I took some information from his email to me and added it to his blog with pictures.  Later that night, he ended up sending out an email. So...here is the email that he actually wanted to send to everyone. Thanks!)
Hey everybody!
I have had a fantastic week so far!  The Lord has truly been blessing Elder Gray and I, as we have been doing His work!  First off, I'm now an official apart of the Maryland Baltimore mission!  I was able to meet my new mission president, President Christiansen!  They are such a sweet family and I know that the Lord has chosen him to further His work in Maryland.  I'm still at the same address, so any letters or packages that you send, I will still receive them.  
This week we meet a new investigator, Camilla!  We helped her move into her new house this past week and she has been interested in what we believe in! We will be teaching her later this week. Dani has been making a lot of progress!  She was truly prepared to hear this gospel and it’s been amazing to see all of the happiness that has come into her life.
Other than that, we having been moving a lot of people lately, so I have gotten a lot of exercise from it.  I'm still debating if it's good for me or not! I hope you all have had a great week and thank you for all of your love and support!



Monday, July 4, 2016

Happy 4th of July!


Alright, here’s the big update with me changing missions.  I’m still in the same area, doing the same work, but I was able to meet President Christiansen!  He is a really great guy and will do great things for this mission.  I have a new day for district meeting and weekly planning.  We do some other things different now, but the biggest change is…I will no longer have an iPad.  Effective almost immediately, we have switched everything from digital to paper.  We are still waiting on planners and area books, but for now we are making do with what we have.  The restriction software on our iPad's deleted all of my gospel apps and anything that I could use to teach, as well as restricting me from using the camera on the iPad.  It also deleted my email from my iPad, so currently I’m at the family history center typing up emails.  This is how I will be emailing from now on.  So, yeah. It’s been a huge adjustment for me to go without the iPad.

The work has been going good!  Dani, the girl we set up with a baptism date, is still doing great!  We taught another investigator the other day, who told us he knew of some gangsters that played Yu-gi-oh! We thought it was pretty funny.  We teach Dani later today and we’re watching fireworks!  I hope you all have a great fourth of July!






Zone Conference in Lancaster
Row 2:  Elders Adams, Davis, Gardiner, Poulsen, Camp, Ibarra, Gray, Ainsworth, Baxter, Spencer