Elder Ellis is now in Puerto Rico

Hello everyone!

Sounds like Elder Ellis is getting a little homesick with the holidays coming up. If you can send him a little letter and say lots of prayers, I know he will be grateful. Thanks!!

NOVEMBER 17, 2008
"Okey Doke! Life here is much different. I will explain.

So my first Area is Arecibo, If you hold your hand up sideways with the thumb up and all fingers together it kind of looks like Puerto rico. San Juan is the tip of the Thumb and i am in Arecibo just about in the middle of the thumb. My first night i sweat like crazy and then it rained like crazy and i was soaked faster than i thought possible. Crazy. Then we went and visited a family that they had contacted and That was a wonderful experience They had a bunch of little kids and my companion just kind of looked at me and expected me to take over. I didn't know what to say so i just bore my testimony about the book of mormon. Kind of silly but at least they could understand me. This first transfer takes a lot of Faith in my companion Elder Ponce from Mexico City Mexico. Becuase i cannot understand hardly a word that is said to me. I understand almost all my companion says but Native Puerto Rican speakers slur everything and it's hard to understand. But they are all wonderful people. They offer us water and juice and soda. Tang is pretty big here. But even people who don't really want to listen to us offer us a glass of some beverage. Its pretty cool! But I am trying and trying to kind of forget my life before here because it is filled with so many more luxuries than here. We don't have windows just blinds with screens. A rooster that Crows starting as early as 1 AM and doesn't stop till about 10 AM My first night was hardest to sleep. All of my papers and books are getting a little warped because there is nothing to protect them from the Humidity. But i am really getting used to it here and learning to love it. There are Iguanas and people ride horses around the neighborhoods and PLAY MUSIC SO LOUD... All over

And mom you think you are decorating early. They had all their Christmas up before i got here. And everyone paints their houses at Christmas time so we will have lots of service to do. It makes me laugh to think of the hatred so many people have for our church when all we do is serve people. Everyone we see we ask if we can help them with anything. We haven't had any takers yet. We had one guy that spoke pretty good English and i think he used to like in Brooklyn or something. He had an English accent and looked like he had some battle scars. But he read my name and he said. "Your from the states. Arent ya" and i replied "Sure am" in English because he was talking in English. And he said " I Like you name" "If you didn't have a badge i'd think you were a marine" "you'd make a [darn] good marine. Nice jaw Strong name and good build" i just laughed. He wasn't too interested and just kept saying "You're born Lifes [hard] and you die" But other than him we have one Woman Named Graciela who is amazing. We asked her to read the Book of mormon and she said of course and then we went back to visit her the other day and she had marked it and was all ready for our next visit. I hope she continues and gains a testimony of the Book of mormon. The wonderful thing about the Book of mormon is if you know The book of mormon is true you know that Joseph Smith was a Profet of God and if joseph smith was a prophet of god then everything else should fall into play. That is why Moroni's promise is so amazing because the whole truth can be found on the simple principle of Praying With a scincere heart and realt intent having faith in Christ. What a wonderful promise. If i could say one thing to our ward, a couple scentances they would be Please read, become familiar with, and learn the simple doctrines contained in Preach my Gospel. Aside from the standard works Preach my gospel contains the basic Simple Doctrines of our belief and as each member has the obligation to be a missionary as well. The growth of the church would increase even faster if every member were to become a Preach my Gospel Missionary.

I Love Preach my Gospel. It really was written on the otherside of the veil!

My email is coming to an end and i want you all to know how much i love and miss you! SOO SOOO MUCH! Congratulations on all your little life Endeavors. Josh good luck with your math class. There will be some pictures in some other emails. Uh This Sunday we got the chance to listen to Elder bednar who came to Puerto rico and did a Question answer session. There was a satellite problem but towards the end we got to hear it. He Was asked one question about a temple in Puerto rico, he gave a great example of when he was a stake president the most faithful members lived furthest away and were always the first ones at meetings. Then he told the people of Puerto rico that the lord will see fit to build a temple When he knows the people won't underutilize it. He said that if they would build one the people would Attend so much at the beginning and eventually it would fall to a number not fit for the lord. So the lord will build a temple when he knows the hearts of the people are ready and have a strong center. There was more but that stood out most to me. Elder Bednar is an apostle of Jesus Christ the head of our Church. Thomas S Monson is a Prophet of God.

Well i gotta go. I'm holding up the other elders.

I Love You!
Elder Ellis"