Merritt Island, Florida

Mission President Darren and his wife Leticia Ashcraft 

Hey people it's been a while! I'm back in the game.

So I wasn't very good about announcing it to the world but I was reassigned and I am now in the Florida Orlando mission! At first I was reassigned to Vancouver Canada but it got switched to Orlando about a month ago because of travel restrictions. 

Missionary work has changed a bunch since I left the game. We sit at our apartment most of the day which gets pretty hard for me. The lack of real social interaction will take some getting used to. Pretty much all of the finding takes place online. But surpringly its effective! We have a man named Aimudo from Nigeria on date for baptism. I literally have nothing to do with it but it's cool to see the success happening.

We are in a trio which is really nice given the circumstances! I'm with Elder Checketts and Elder Fusselman (who's from Snowflake AZ). They're both great!

COOL/FUNNY STUFF:

-We were doing a come follow lesson with a less active older couple. They were some of the nicest people ever but asked some of the stupidest questions. They kept asking about the timeline of Book of Mormon history then the lady asked, "How long has the American continent been there?" Then her husband was like, "it had to have been something B.C." There was an awkward silence and I was like, "Well it's been there ever since God created it." Haha

-I've been messaging a lot of old investigators from Brazil. I talked with the old homies Ruy and Luan and they asked me questions such as "what was Joseph Smith's favorite color?" I love those guys. I'm gonna be calling them for portuguese language study, lessons, and to teach english.

-My area is called Merritt Island. It's an actual island but we don't have to go there by boat or anything because there's a couple of long bridges. The SpaceX launch that happened a few weeks ago was in our area and there's gonna be another launch next week! 

-I get to play a lot of basketball with other missionaries!

-And in terms of alligators, I haven't seen any alligators. :(

Wish I had more exciting stuff to report. Catch you guys on the flippity flip!

<3Elder MacLay

Coming Home Due to Covid19

Hi friends,

We received a call today from Payton letting us know he would begin his journey for home.  All foreign missionaries are to return to their native country due to the Covid19 virus.  We do not have flight plans as of yet.  We just know he has a 14 hour bus ride even before he begins the long wait for a flight out.  Once he is home, he will begin a strict 14 day quarantine we plan to abide by.  We are hoping he will be home before the weekend.  For those of you interested, we thought to have a little drive by welcome home parade, of sorts, upon his return.  We will keep you posted as we know more of his itinerary. 

Payton has sure loved his time in Brazil and fallen in love with the country, culture, and people.  We are so grateful for the time he had there and the friendships he has made.  We thank God for the many blessings and opportunities of learning that have been provided to Payton through his missionary service.  We hope that a reassignment can come quickly but these are uncertain times and things are changing very quickly.  We trust in, and have faith in Gods timing/plan, whatever that may be.  "Come what may, and love it". 

We appreciate your love and support!  if you are getting his emails you have been an influence in his life and we thank you for that.  Thank you for cheering him on, along his journey.

All our love,

The MacLays

P.S. There will be numerous missionaries coming home in he next few days and weeks.  As a community, we can find ways to send our love and support, in creative ways, as they come home under "not so ideal"circumstances.