October 23

Here is Elder Ellis' update for the week!! I only posted one picture this week that Elder sent over, but here is what he's been up to:

"This week when we went to the university we were talking to this one girl and then a few guys called uis over. so we walked over and tryed to see what was going on and they told us to tell them what we were telling her. Sure enough it was a whole baseball team just sitting around and one guy got everyone to sit down and told them to listen to us. That moment was the moment i have felt the most comfortable the whole time i have been here. I don't remember what i said but i just remember being completely comforted that something was working. Everyone was listening with a few giggling but once we were done we asked who would like to learn more from the other missionaries and we got 5-10 names and phone numbers written down.It was magnificent!

This week i didn't have as an exciting week as others. Although we did say goodbye to the Haitian elders They all left for their missions in Haiti. That was a though experience for them. We all treated them as brothers and becuase they are from haiti they haven't been blessed with the luxuries of life we have in the states. They told us of times where they mix flour dirt and water and let it bake in the sun then eat it. Wow. oh man oh man. so when we went to the store some elders got together and bought them all some shirts and other things they could take with them. I gave one elder one of my favorite ties and shared with another elder a quote from Ezra taft Benson "i have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work. If a missionary works he will get the spirit if he gets the spirit he will teach by the spirit if he teaches by the spirit he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homnesickness no worrying about families for all time talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work work work. There is no satisfactory substitute especially in missionary work" I love that! but I read a quote that i really like that says you can never experience real service until you serve someone that cannot repay you. i felt this in action this week and it was wonderful. They all called me the ....Guess Guess.....Magic man... =) it was great they were just as good as little kids to show the tricks to. One becuase they spoke french and i couldn't understand what they were saying to me and two they laugh at everything. It was great having them. and now we are into a new season with the dominican elders.

Today at Almuerzo i sat with a bunch of dominicans and they kept saying things to me but i didn't understand a single thing they said. They all started laughing and it was misreable. I can't wiat till i get the language down. Although during our meeting i could uinderstand most of what our Office worker said when he oppened the meeting and i can understand all of what our president says becuase he talks so slow and has a very american accent. Its nice to have experiences like that and then have another one to combat it at the university or i guess in the hallways now.

This week i also had the opportunity of preaching to the baseball team which i already explained. But aside from that not too much. We changed our planning methods and are now planning around our goals instead of just planning the things we want to do. I feel much mroe successful when i plan to my goals and achieve all that i plan. In the past i have rarely if ever planned out many things and hardley ever really set out goals to achieve. It make such a difference when you plan and spend your time wisely according to your plans. it is great and feels so rewarding! I planned to memorize My objective in spanish Doctrine and covenants 4 and The first vision in spanish this last week. I planned to have it done by last wednesday but didn't get it and worked and worked till i got it. I got it on saturday and passed it off and recieved my nifty bookmark. i am getting much better at studying and memorizing things. I wish i could go abck to school and retake all of my classes now. I needed desperately to study more and focus on the assignments i had. This has been a wonderful opportunity for me to learn and grow and i am so glad for it."