Ok this week! Whew. Me and my companion really wanted to finish out strong. He talked with a few investigators telling them he’s leaving this week and tried to get them to church because of that. Telling them that he would love to see them in church before he left. It worked with one and he loved it so much that he wants to come back next week. I taught the gospel priciples class this week AAAHHHH In spanish and on prophets and 1 whole hour! AAAHHH. Man it was scary. But we had our investigators ask a lot of questions which was great!
Monday for P-day we went to Caborojo to play arouind on the beach. We played football. There were some women sun bathing so we had to wait till they left. We played football in this coco feild. (coco is coconut in spanish) There were tons of coco trees and also these little spike things on the ground like they have at the beach house. We all took of our sandals because they were sandals and we didn’t want to play in em. So we were running all over and by the end my feet were very bloody and i have marks all over them. It was wonderful! They are healed now. Then we started a tradeoff with elder parodi from spain. He is pretty cool but i like having a gringo much more. You have to work a little harder to get along with a latino. Becuase the language isn’t there and also because they are a very different people. But yeah he was my companion for a day. We met with Madeline.....Last week we left her with this last Saturday to pray about to be baptized. She told me “Elder ellis don’t pressure me” and i told her i was just offering and she had her agency to choose. So we asked her to pray. Then at this Cita on Tuesday (cita is spanish for appointment) i called in the morning to comfirm and told her i was waiting for her answer and we would talk about it on Tuesday! So Tuesday rolls around we had a few more principles to teach and then here came the baptism question. We taught and asked. And she said yes! I didn’t believe her at first so i asked her again. She replied and said “Elder Ellis be careful or i might not” so i just sat there content as ever. What a great feeling of joy came over me. We taught over all the lessons. The cita was 3 hours. Way too long but we resolved doubts and Set a baptismal date. We asked about her daughter Zully and she still didn’t want to be baptized. So we just accepted it and moved on. She told me the water had to be warm or else she would get sick. So we devised a plan. Wednesday we got companions back and we worked hard. Thusrday we had a lesson with madeline again just to makes sure she was firm on her way to baptism. She was doing great.
Then we went and met with Madelines mom. Madeline gave her mom a book of mormon and her mom has read to Jacob 5 already and loves it. She asks us questions and we went over to teach her the first lesson. She honestly taught us. We went through and she told us things we forgot or didn’t mention and it was perfect. Friday we had another tradeoff and i was with elder galloway from redding california. He is way cool, a great elder and we enjoyed it thouroughly But we went and helped some people paint. I wore shorts.... Stupid. Man i got over 30 mosquito bites on my legs. Honestly. I stopped counting at 30. My leg was bright red. Luckily i didn’t get Denghey. That wouldn’t be fun!
Had a great afternoon and then we went home to go make dinner and i started making some pasta and we got a phone call. It was Maria Ramos. She told us she had dinner for us! Man it was amazing! Holy cow!!! We also got to meet her friend and he knew everything about the bible but wouldn’t listen to us. Said “oh it says that in the bible i don’t need the book of mormon. It was kind of a bummer but man dinner sure was great!
Then Saturday arrived! Elder Galloway and i arrived at the chapel at 8. We started filling up the font for 1 oclock and also we threw in some odd 40 pots of boiling water to try to heat it up a little. Didn’t do much becuase it was still cold... BUT it made it not freezing. We also in that time helped set up for a Quincenera. Or a 15th birthday party (like a sweet 16) They lady said this one was a small one and a small one costs over 3 thousand dollars. It was honestly like a wedding reception. Man.... Way to much for a 15 year old girl.
The baptism rolled around and it was wonderful! She was way excited her mom was way excited and the bishop was way excited. The bishop told us not to go visit her anymore... we continued to visit her because she wanted us to. And she finally got baptized. Like i said still working on her daughter. But we’ll see. Then on Sunday we had church and everything and Madeline was so happy to be there and we had her mom there as well. He mom said she felt like she was breathing pure air. =) she lvoed it and said it was a little long but loved it. Then as well we had an investigator named tony who we haven’t taught yet. He came and loved it. Said in elders quorum that He loves this church because he learns in church not just listens. And as well the other investigator said he would come just to say goodbye to my companion and so he came and Loved it as well and now he is excited to come back! MAN IT WAS GREAT!
Sunday afternoon we went and taught madeline about temples and sacred ordinances and she loved it. She has a goal to make it to the temple as soon as she can. Then on Monday yesterday we stopped by to each lunch at her house. She told us she had a dream about the temple. =) She said she saw everyone in white. The spirit was so strong and she was able to feel the presence of god and that she knew she had to make it to the temple as soon as she could. We were also talking with Herminio the man in the picture i sent you. He is her “boyfriend” more or less on and off. And we were talking and she reffered to going somewhere with everyone and i just shot in “after you get married in the temple right =)” Her eyes got huge...=) it was pretty funny. THEY JUST NEED TO GET MARRIED!!! HOW HAPPY THEY WOULD BE! ESPECIALLY IN THE TEMPLE!!! Oh man.
This week was a wonderful week... oh by the way I am staying! My comp is going ZL and i am going to be a Senior companion this tranfer! AAAAHHHHH I ONLY HAVE 4 TRANSFERS AND I’M GOING TO BE A SENIOR COMPANION!!!! That is crazy! Downright crazy!
****Maybe this is just what i am hearing i will know for sure tomorrow we’ll see!
It’s going to be a great transfer. I will be having a baptism or three. Woohoo!
Well i think that covers it all. My apartment is old gross and i am cleaning it up like crazy this week. Elder galloway and i are talking about doing some District cleaning one p-day at one apartment and the other at the other. Our sinks leak and the washing machine is almost unusable but these things will get fixed this transfer. My comp didnt want to call the reyes but i’m going to do it . The reyes are the housing coordinators and will get everything fixed. So i’m going to clean things up and get the stuff fixed. This morning we cleaned our couch and found some delightful Cockroach egg sacks. They are like little Mike ‘n’ Ike size black things full of eggs and then in a little while all these little baby cockroaches come out =) we have a kitchen drawer that every time you pull it out a few cockroaches run out and under all the utinsels. That will get cleaned and sprayed this week. Other than that i Love Being a missionary! Really!...
JOSH BETTER BE EXCITED TO GET TO THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH! Man i wrote that letter to galina and it made me realize how much i loved BYU-I My comps brother is going and he had the chance to go but he doesn’t think he wants to. He’s going to miss out.
But yeah! Love You all! Bye!
March 9, 2009
Hello Family this email wont be very long because we have a Zone activity in Caborojo at the bottom of the island and it starts at 2…
This week my companion was sick and we had to stay in for almost three days so we didn’t get a whole lot of things done but we did have a wonderful lesson with our investigator Madeline and Zully. They have been investigating for over 6 months and Know the church is true just have a desire to gain more knowledge before baptism. So we have been working on that and when we passed by to teach her we talked a lot about baptism and prayer. She still hasn’t prayed with us. So we worked on that I wrote down the prayer on my whiteboard and included the handsome missionaries as something she is grateful for and she started cracking up and always says that when she sees me now. =) she prayed for the first time with the missionaries though. My companion is going zone leader we are pretty sure because tonight we are doing another trade off with the Zone leaders. That’s two this transfer. Ugh. I am staying and the other elder is coming up here. So yeah. I have been writing galina regularly so I will make sure to send her a BYU-I pumped up letter. =) She’s awesome. Other than that we had a lesson with Madeline and her mom who we haven’t taught yet and found out her mom has read all the way to 2nd nephi . THROUGH IT TO JACOB… crazy we haven’t even taught her. She wants to read it all and we told her to pray about it to find out if it is true. She said “I don’t need to pray you silly teenagers. I already know it is true.” =) WOW we haven’t even taught her. Then I talked directly to Madeline. And said Madeline we have three principles left to teach you then the next step is baptism. Will you be baptized on Saturday. Her eyes got really big and she said… well….i will pray about it and tell you yes or no on Tuesday. If I feel no I will have a date for you. =) SHE IS GOING TO BE BAPTIZED!!! Then another investigator said he is coming to church because he doesn’t want my companion to leave without seeing him go to church. Woohoo! And then we are teaching a 16 yearold kid from the states that was questioning us on repentance because he hit his dad. We were telling him that Christ founded only 1 church and we need to find that church. We told him he needs to find it and he told us well if you know what church it is just tell me! So we told him and he wants to come to church as well and he is going to read and everything. AWESOME!!!
Well I gotta go. I will write a letter with some other things. And my memory cards. Still didn’t get those sent out. Love you Bye~
This week my companion was sick and we had to stay in for almost three days so we didn’t get a whole lot of things done but we did have a wonderful lesson with our investigator Madeline and Zully. They have been investigating for over 6 months and Know the church is true just have a desire to gain more knowledge before baptism. So we have been working on that and when we passed by to teach her we talked a lot about baptism and prayer. She still hasn’t prayed with us. So we worked on that I wrote down the prayer on my whiteboard and included the handsome missionaries as something she is grateful for and she started cracking up and always says that when she sees me now. =) she prayed for the first time with the missionaries though. My companion is going zone leader we are pretty sure because tonight we are doing another trade off with the Zone leaders. That’s two this transfer. Ugh. I am staying and the other elder is coming up here. So yeah. I have been writing galina regularly so I will make sure to send her a BYU-I pumped up letter. =) She’s awesome. Other than that we had a lesson with Madeline and her mom who we haven’t taught yet and found out her mom has read all the way to 2nd nephi . THROUGH IT TO JACOB… crazy we haven’t even taught her. She wants to read it all and we told her to pray about it to find out if it is true. She said “I don’t need to pray you silly teenagers. I already know it is true.” =) WOW we haven’t even taught her. Then I talked directly to Madeline. And said Madeline we have three principles left to teach you then the next step is baptism. Will you be baptized on Saturday. Her eyes got really big and she said… well….i will pray about it and tell you yes or no on Tuesday. If I feel no I will have a date for you. =) SHE IS GOING TO BE BAPTIZED!!! Then another investigator said he is coming to church because he doesn’t want my companion to leave without seeing him go to church. Woohoo! And then we are teaching a 16 yearold kid from the states that was questioning us on repentance because he hit his dad. We were telling him that Christ founded only 1 church and we need to find that church. We told him he needs to find it and he told us well if you know what church it is just tell me! So we told him and he wants to come to church as well and he is going to read and everything. AWESOME!!!
Well I gotta go. I will write a letter with some other things. And my memory cards. Still didn’t get those sent out. Love you Bye~
March 2, 2009
Hello Good Week!
Well this week looks like I am writing to a bunch of busy bodies.Well this morning has been crazy! We woke up to go get my license and so we showed up the guy told me I have to call the Oregon office to get a letter of clearance to get a Puerto Rican drivers license so they gave me the number and now I am waiting till they open to call and have them fax it over here. Then we went to go finish the rest of the papers. I had to go make some copies then I had to go to a medical exam to get that part signed for 12 dollars and then pay for 12 dollars worth of stamps for some odd reason. And then now I am waiting for the office to open to give them a call and ask them to fax the sheet over. We had an exchange this week and I was down in Caborojo… Lucky ducks! Man they get fed so much. We were going all over because the elder down there Elder Parodi is from spain and just started his mission. He didn’t quite know what to do. It was fun. He told me about their siesta and crazy schedule in spain that they don’t eat dinner till 11 PM. He talks funny too. His Spanish is very different. He uses the Vosotros form which is older Spanish and no one uses it here or in much of latin America. For example we were contacting and he asked a boy “Cuantos sois en su familia?” in the ustedes form it would be cuantos son en su familia. In the Yo form Ser would be conjugated into soy. So this elder from spain has a little bit of a lisp and loses his s’s so he said sois but the boy thought he said soy… so he would be asking “how much am I in your family” instead of “how many are you, your family” The boy was way confused. =) I was pretty entertained. He also says vale all the time which is just a filler word like right or yeah or you know… it was an interesting experience. The cough is going away little by little and Sister Martineau said that I should take Sudafed to see if it makes it go away and if it doesn’t she wants me to go into a doctor. This week we didn’t have too much success but we have a lot of citas set up this next week with members and the Zone leaders are asking us to go on splits. So it will be interesting this next week. Today we are planning on going and playing volleyball on the beach but the thing is we need to find a beach with a volleyball court without girls. Man… that’s a hard one. If not we will just play in the church. Gonna be fun! Last week we went to the driving range not to golf golf because they had some dumb rules and we didn’t have any clubs. I am one of the worst golfers I have ever seen. But we got some sweet pictures you have to see. Today I plan on sending two more memory cards home. A 1 gig and a 2 gig. This lst week we did a lot of finding a lot of walking and little teaching. This island is not as easy as it would seem. Everone seems to be Catholic. Although as a member pointed out to us last night (who used to be catholic) in their bible or one of the bibles their church has used they took out the commandment of graven images and replaced it with and explanation of another commandment. So this member was confused… in his bible class he raised his hand and asked the teacher… If it says ten commandments why are there only nine? And the preacher asked him to be quiet and ask the question later. He said he went time and time again and asked everyone and all the members and no one knew so he finally went into a different church and asked and he gave him a different bible and told him to check that one. FINALLY HE FOUND IT. He said he realized why the catholic church had taken that one out and covered up their mistakes. He said he wanted nothing to do with the catholic church after that. Then he told us he was on the edge of creating his own church teaching what he read to be true not what a pastor dictated to the people. Then right in the moment of his need the missionaries showed up on his doorstep. They taught him and three weeks later he was baptized . he shared this with an investigator that hasn’t found her desire to be baptized yet. She knows it is true but just wants to make sure she is doing the right thing.It was a great time for her to see such a strong testimony. Then she asked us about a scripture in first nephi. Her mom was talking about the book of mormon and asked her why god would go against his own commandment and ask nephi to kill laban. She couldn’t let go of this one. Then Madeline our investigator said “Mom I am positive that god had a reason for him to do this. We don’t know why god gives us commandments. “ we showed her further in chapter 4 of first nephi where it says that it is better for one man to perish than a whole nation dwindle in disbelief. “she shouted… I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!” she stood up for what she knew to be true and she didn’t even know it was true. Her testimony was strengthened greatly…now she is working on the last few commandments we have to teach and then hopefully next week she will set a baptism date. =) I am almost positive I am staying in the same place this next transfer because my companion has been there for 6 months and I think he is going zone leader. WoohoO!
Well yes one other story. There is a kid from new York named Michael that we contacted and then the other day we were walking and someone shouted and said “hey gringos… Hey gringos” so we turned around and he wanted to talk to us. He said he had got in an argument with his dad and felt really bad. And wanted to feel better. He asked us what he could do. We taught him a little about repentance. He listened and was excited to go apologize to his dad. Then we also invited him to church and he said yeah yeah I am going to church with my mom. And we showed a little disappointment and he asked, what it doesn’t matter what church does it? And we asked him what do you think? And he said no of course not. And then asked well how many churches did Christ set up when he came to the earth? And he answered well only 1. Then we asked. And how many do you think are true today? And he said uh 1. We shrugged our shoulders and he said ”I need to find this church” so I am hoping this week we get the chance to work with him and he comes to church next week. WoohoO! He’s awesome. And speaks English!
That’s my week. More happened but that’s the stuff I remember at the moment.
Love you all,
Aaron
Well this week looks like I am writing to a bunch of busy bodies.Well this morning has been crazy! We woke up to go get my license and so we showed up the guy told me I have to call the Oregon office to get a letter of clearance to get a Puerto Rican drivers license so they gave me the number and now I am waiting till they open to call and have them fax it over here. Then we went to go finish the rest of the papers. I had to go make some copies then I had to go to a medical exam to get that part signed for 12 dollars and then pay for 12 dollars worth of stamps for some odd reason. And then now I am waiting for the office to open to give them a call and ask them to fax the sheet over. We had an exchange this week and I was down in Caborojo… Lucky ducks! Man they get fed so much. We were going all over because the elder down there Elder Parodi is from spain and just started his mission. He didn’t quite know what to do. It was fun. He told me about their siesta and crazy schedule in spain that they don’t eat dinner till 11 PM. He talks funny too. His Spanish is very different. He uses the Vosotros form which is older Spanish and no one uses it here or in much of latin America. For example we were contacting and he asked a boy “Cuantos sois en su familia?” in the ustedes form it would be cuantos son en su familia. In the Yo form Ser would be conjugated into soy. So this elder from spain has a little bit of a lisp and loses his s’s so he said sois but the boy thought he said soy… so he would be asking “how much am I in your family” instead of “how many are you, your family” The boy was way confused. =) I was pretty entertained. He also says vale all the time which is just a filler word like right or yeah or you know… it was an interesting experience. The cough is going away little by little and Sister Martineau said that I should take Sudafed to see if it makes it go away and if it doesn’t she wants me to go into a doctor. This week we didn’t have too much success but we have a lot of citas set up this next week with members and the Zone leaders are asking us to go on splits. So it will be interesting this next week. Today we are planning on going and playing volleyball on the beach but the thing is we need to find a beach with a volleyball court without girls. Man… that’s a hard one. If not we will just play in the church. Gonna be fun! Last week we went to the driving range not to golf golf because they had some dumb rules and we didn’t have any clubs. I am one of the worst golfers I have ever seen. But we got some sweet pictures you have to see. Today I plan on sending two more memory cards home. A 1 gig and a 2 gig. This lst week we did a lot of finding a lot of walking and little teaching. This island is not as easy as it would seem. Everone seems to be Catholic. Although as a member pointed out to us last night (who used to be catholic) in their bible or one of the bibles their church has used they took out the commandment of graven images and replaced it with and explanation of another commandment. So this member was confused… in his bible class he raised his hand and asked the teacher… If it says ten commandments why are there only nine? And the preacher asked him to be quiet and ask the question later. He said he went time and time again and asked everyone and all the members and no one knew so he finally went into a different church and asked and he gave him a different bible and told him to check that one. FINALLY HE FOUND IT. He said he realized why the catholic church had taken that one out and covered up their mistakes. He said he wanted nothing to do with the catholic church after that. Then he told us he was on the edge of creating his own church teaching what he read to be true not what a pastor dictated to the people. Then right in the moment of his need the missionaries showed up on his doorstep. They taught him and three weeks later he was baptized . he shared this with an investigator that hasn’t found her desire to be baptized yet. She knows it is true but just wants to make sure she is doing the right thing.It was a great time for her to see such a strong testimony. Then she asked us about a scripture in first nephi. Her mom was talking about the book of mormon and asked her why god would go against his own commandment and ask nephi to kill laban. She couldn’t let go of this one. Then Madeline our investigator said “Mom I am positive that god had a reason for him to do this. We don’t know why god gives us commandments. “ we showed her further in chapter 4 of first nephi where it says that it is better for one man to perish than a whole nation dwindle in disbelief. “she shouted… I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!” she stood up for what she knew to be true and she didn’t even know it was true. Her testimony was strengthened greatly…now she is working on the last few commandments we have to teach and then hopefully next week she will set a baptism date. =) I am almost positive I am staying in the same place this next transfer because my companion has been there for 6 months and I think he is going zone leader. WoohoO!
Well yes one other story. There is a kid from new York named Michael that we contacted and then the other day we were walking and someone shouted and said “hey gringos… Hey gringos” so we turned around and he wanted to talk to us. He said he had got in an argument with his dad and felt really bad. And wanted to feel better. He asked us what he could do. We taught him a little about repentance. He listened and was excited to go apologize to his dad. Then we also invited him to church and he said yeah yeah I am going to church with my mom. And we showed a little disappointment and he asked, what it doesn’t matter what church does it? And we asked him what do you think? And he said no of course not. And then asked well how many churches did Christ set up when he came to the earth? And he answered well only 1. Then we asked. And how many do you think are true today? And he said uh 1. We shrugged our shoulders and he said ”I need to find this church” so I am hoping this week we get the chance to work with him and he comes to church next week. WoohoO! He’s awesome. And speaks English!
That’s my week. More happened but that’s the stuff I remember at the moment.
Love you all,
Aaron
Well Dad,
I let it roll off this last week. Something came out of his mouth that really made me think in a meeting. He said. Sometimes I know I can be a hard person to work with but if you just show your love for me I will show my love for you. So I am trying to find qualities I really admire. This last week we have been studying the Christlike attributes and I read Charity and love. It mentions that True love for your fellow men is ignoring their faults not saying or thinking negative things about people not pointing out peoples faults or weaknesses and just as mosiah 4 talks about Everyone is a beggar on the earth. Everyone. We may beg for different things and in different ways but we are all dependant on our heavenly father for everything we have. Its behind me. They are men… simple as you said it.
Today we are going golfing! P-day acitivity. For 15 dollars. Clubs and tee time and golf cart=) the first and maybe one of the last times I will ever golf. Man its spendy. And they are telling me that’s cheaper. Whew.This week was mas o menos. We have been making the Armor of god so we have cardboard all over our apartment. I have had a cough for the last month and this week it moved to my nose as well. I might go in to see a doctor soon but I don’t know. We aren’t going very far with our investigators. They just don’t come to church. We dropped a little on finding this last week so we don’t have an inflow of new people to keep teaching. My time is shorter today because we are in a public library and they will shut us off when students come in. We taught our first English / Spanish class this week and a Preach My Gospel class as well. We are trying to turn the members into finding machines missionaries! Instead of complaining about how no one works with us we are trying to help them learn how to work. =) man Marisa is great! She is a very responsible dependable person! She did that in less than 1 week. I have been teaching all the other missionaries magic tricks and so now everytime the Zone leader calls he asks me to do a magic trick over the phone….still working on that one. We had a great service project with our member from Hawaii and they made us dinner while we did service and he was making KIMCHI! They are all about this natural stuff and she is fighting cancer so supposedly kimchi is on her list of food that is acceptable to eat. She’s crazy. But their house is beautiful I will take pictures next time we go. I was told I could have surfing lessons when I return from this member from Hawaii. His daughter teaching lessons and is always willing to teach return missionaries. WoohoO! We had to drop a few people because the just don’t progress one is really excited and says he wants to find the true church of jesus Christ. So Many people are just catholic because their whole family is and find that the book of mormon is true and can’t leave the catholic church because they don’t want to change. The other elders that had a baptism never got their confirmation because he moved to the states. Kind of a bummer there. But yeah. This morning in my book of mormon study I was reading in Ether chapter 12 and they are saying that they can’t write because of the awkwardness of their hands. That they are afraid the gentiles will make fun of them. And the lord replies. Fools mock, but they shall mourn. WOW! I am still scared to talk to younger people because I am afraid they will laugh at us of make fun of us. My fear was taken away this morning. This week I ate shark! WOohoo! Tastes like chicken but soft like fish. Really good! WoohoO! That’s all I can think ofTalk to you next week. Love You!
I let it roll off this last week. Something came out of his mouth that really made me think in a meeting. He said. Sometimes I know I can be a hard person to work with but if you just show your love for me I will show my love for you. So I am trying to find qualities I really admire. This last week we have been studying the Christlike attributes and I read Charity and love. It mentions that True love for your fellow men is ignoring their faults not saying or thinking negative things about people not pointing out peoples faults or weaknesses and just as mosiah 4 talks about Everyone is a beggar on the earth. Everyone. We may beg for different things and in different ways but we are all dependant on our heavenly father for everything we have. Its behind me. They are men… simple as you said it.
Today we are going golfing! P-day acitivity. For 15 dollars. Clubs and tee time and golf cart=) the first and maybe one of the last times I will ever golf. Man its spendy. And they are telling me that’s cheaper. Whew.This week was mas o menos. We have been making the Armor of god so we have cardboard all over our apartment. I have had a cough for the last month and this week it moved to my nose as well. I might go in to see a doctor soon but I don’t know. We aren’t going very far with our investigators. They just don’t come to church. We dropped a little on finding this last week so we don’t have an inflow of new people to keep teaching. My time is shorter today because we are in a public library and they will shut us off when students come in. We taught our first English / Spanish class this week and a Preach My Gospel class as well. We are trying to turn the members into finding machines missionaries! Instead of complaining about how no one works with us we are trying to help them learn how to work. =) man Marisa is great! She is a very responsible dependable person! She did that in less than 1 week. I have been teaching all the other missionaries magic tricks and so now everytime the Zone leader calls he asks me to do a magic trick over the phone….still working on that one. We had a great service project with our member from Hawaii and they made us dinner while we did service and he was making KIMCHI! They are all about this natural stuff and she is fighting cancer so supposedly kimchi is on her list of food that is acceptable to eat. She’s crazy. But their house is beautiful I will take pictures next time we go. I was told I could have surfing lessons when I return from this member from Hawaii. His daughter teaching lessons and is always willing to teach return missionaries. WoohoO! We had to drop a few people because the just don’t progress one is really excited and says he wants to find the true church of jesus Christ. So Many people are just catholic because their whole family is and find that the book of mormon is true and can’t leave the catholic church because they don’t want to change. The other elders that had a baptism never got their confirmation because he moved to the states. Kind of a bummer there. But yeah. This morning in my book of mormon study I was reading in Ether chapter 12 and they are saying that they can’t write because of the awkwardness of their hands. That they are afraid the gentiles will make fun of them. And the lord replies. Fools mock, but they shall mourn. WOW! I am still scared to talk to younger people because I am afraid they will laugh at us of make fun of us. My fear was taken away this morning. This week I ate shark! WOohoo! Tastes like chicken but soft like fish. Really good! WoohoO! That’s all I can think ofTalk to you next week. Love You!
February 17, 2008
Well family,
This area is hard but not as hard as my last one. We are finding people to teach just not getting too far with them. We lost two great investigators that know the church is true… They have come almost every Sunday for the last 5 months but they don’t feel the desire to be baptized and said they feel pushed too much and need a break. That was a bummer. A family we are teaching didn’t show up to church on Sunday… =( their kids are so cute. Everytime they see me they put their fingers in their fists like they are doing the magic trick I do… by the way. My next surprise package I would love some new magic tricks… Some of the desired ones…. The rubberband broke for my “BITE OUT QUARTER” so another “BITE OUT QUARTER” trick would be a great one. Also I left my ROUGH DECK at home. That is a great one as well. And the Dollar store sells what is called a SVENGALI deck. Also my VERNET THUMB tip is breaking. And which ever ones you guys can find are gladly welcomed. I have been doing the print a business card one a lot with pass along cards to little kids.. =) they love it! Most magic sites have a kit of different tricks and if not you an just search for these things.
Mom… Money… We are going ice skating today as a zone. So I am trying to not use that card at all but I am going to be using it today and then will have to get my license soon as soon as I get all the paperwork and stuff. Elder Jones is his name and then next day we had a flat tire… so we called him and he said “BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING I want you to know your mom loves you. And I said well thanks I sure love her too…. And he said no really I your mom wants you to know she loves you. I just talked to her and she sure speaks highly of you. I said thanks and he said “elder ellis. Your mom really loves you” “many missionaries would die to have the supporting mother that you have” It was kind of awkward because I didn’t know what to say back to him. But I want to say I love you mom! I really do! Thank you for everything. I didn’t get the authorization paper sent to you because forgot to print it but I am printing it today and sending it tomorrow.
My week other than that… Our new phones got set up and are way cool. They have GPS… it got shut of half way through the week but they are thinking about turning it back on as a tool for us because NO TOWNS HAVE MAPS!!! Google has better maps than the cities have. We can’t get maps with streets or anything on it. So they might get the GPS set up on these phones so we can save miles and see our areas from a birds eye view. It would be cool. But the problem is still not necessary. Other than that had another fun Sunday of translating for a sleeping old man. =) he came down from the sates for an AIR FORCE reunion. He’s pretty cool just an old man walking around on earth till he gets his new calling in the eternal realm.
Well its time to head out but sorry this week wasn’t too eventful. Busy a lot of finding… and I am working with another person to quit smoking! I will be a pro at helping people quit smoking by the end of my mission… Hopefully baptisms too… Todavia…
Adios mi familia! Les amo! Mama Te amo! Muchisimo!
Les extrano
This area is hard but not as hard as my last one. We are finding people to teach just not getting too far with them. We lost two great investigators that know the church is true… They have come almost every Sunday for the last 5 months but they don’t feel the desire to be baptized and said they feel pushed too much and need a break. That was a bummer. A family we are teaching didn’t show up to church on Sunday… =( their kids are so cute. Everytime they see me they put their fingers in their fists like they are doing the magic trick I do… by the way. My next surprise package I would love some new magic tricks… Some of the desired ones…. The rubberband broke for my “BITE OUT QUARTER” so another “BITE OUT QUARTER” trick would be a great one. Also I left my ROUGH DECK at home. That is a great one as well. And the Dollar store sells what is called a SVENGALI deck. Also my VERNET THUMB tip is breaking. And which ever ones you guys can find are gladly welcomed. I have been doing the print a business card one a lot with pass along cards to little kids.. =) they love it! Most magic sites have a kit of different tricks and if not you an just search for these things.
Mom… Money… We are going ice skating today as a zone. So I am trying to not use that card at all but I am going to be using it today and then will have to get my license soon as soon as I get all the paperwork and stuff. Elder Jones is his name and then next day we had a flat tire… so we called him and he said “BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING I want you to know your mom loves you. And I said well thanks I sure love her too…. And he said no really I your mom wants you to know she loves you. I just talked to her and she sure speaks highly of you. I said thanks and he said “elder ellis. Your mom really loves you” “many missionaries would die to have the supporting mother that you have” It was kind of awkward because I didn’t know what to say back to him. But I want to say I love you mom! I really do! Thank you for everything. I didn’t get the authorization paper sent to you because forgot to print it but I am printing it today and sending it tomorrow.
My week other than that… Our new phones got set up and are way cool. They have GPS… it got shut of half way through the week but they are thinking about turning it back on as a tool for us because NO TOWNS HAVE MAPS!!! Google has better maps than the cities have. We can’t get maps with streets or anything on it. So they might get the GPS set up on these phones so we can save miles and see our areas from a birds eye view. It would be cool. But the problem is still not necessary. Other than that had another fun Sunday of translating for a sleeping old man. =) he came down from the sates for an AIR FORCE reunion. He’s pretty cool just an old man walking around on earth till he gets his new calling in the eternal realm.
Well its time to head out but sorry this week wasn’t too eventful. Busy a lot of finding… and I am working with another person to quit smoking! I will be a pro at helping people quit smoking by the end of my mission… Hopefully baptisms too… Todavia…
Adios mi familia! Les amo! Mama Te amo! Muchisimo!
Les extrano
February 10, 2009
Hello Family…=)
I am so sorry to hear about all of your sicknesses. I have been a little sick this week too. Pday keeps getting moved. It is usually Monday but gets changed on holidays on transfer weeks and on Zone conferences. So the last few weeks have been all those. This next week unless something comes up (these Puerto Ricans always have random holidays) I should be writing on Monday morning. New area. Hmmm Far west. There are always problems with Dominicans Smuggling drugs but the area is actually really clean. There are a whole lot of tourists so we speak English a lot. ACTUALLY…. In church us missionaries have to translate the meeting to English for the tourists and there are a lot of members that don’t know Spanish here. So this Sunday I spent all of priesthood session Slaughtering the English language. There was an old man and all the other missionaries told me it was my turn so I started translating for him. He fell asleep and I decided to keep going just to practice my translating skills which need about 5 more years time and they will be understandable. He fell asleep and started drooling all over. A contstant stream of Saliva for about 30 minutes without breaks… I was way impressed. The 2nd counselor in the bishopric thinks his mission was the best and tells us if people don’t get baptized its because we mess up and aren’t doing things right. He’s a hard one to work with. My new companion is Elder Jed Barker. He is from North ogden Utah and his dad owns a dairy farm. He’s a great guy. Funny, nice and still workin on the speaking aspect of Spanish. So he understands and I speak…He looks a little like Jared Haynes from forest grove. The area Rincon supposedly has the best surfing on the island. There is a member whose daughter teaches surfing lessons. And yeah…I think I’m going to come back and learn how to surf. This member is a mason from Hawaii and has built his whole house! IT’S A CASTLE!!! No JOKE!!! I will get picture when we go help him but he’s made it all with his own hands and it is beautiful! The best part is he makes it up on the fly. He doesn’t have blueprints just makes it up as he goes. Its amazing! He was just baptized about a year ago and going strong! He’s an awesome BUFF Hawaiian guy. I got to witness my first Puerto Rican baptism. And unfortunately its not as cool as elder kholer’s pictures, we have fonts in the chapels here…although if I get sent to the islands they baptize in the ocean! =) Who knows. I lost our keys this week. Left them in church on Sunday. So last night we spent a little while walking back and forth trying to get copies of our dueños key…the hardware store was closed but the lady let us in and copy the key. We copied it and then walked home tried it and it didn’t work so we walked back and she fixed it and then gave us an umbrella to walk home with so we went back and returned the umbrella this morning. Unfortunately we didn’t talk to her about the gospel at all. We aren’t perfect and just because I got a black badge on doesn’t make it easy to just talk to anyone about the gospel. I’m fixing that though. I am so excited to dedicate the rest of my life to missionary work. Through my family through my callings and through my job. Missionary work is in ever facet of our lives and I wish we could help the members realize that a little more. This Zone conference we had Elder Binia or Vinia something like that from the first 70. He shared with us that the best way to fix a problem is “Be and example and Testify” Not to assign someone to speak on the topic the next Sunday and not to chastise people either. My goaland ideal missionary is one that is always an example and always testifying. I can’t wait to help missionaries out after my mission. Being one of the members that is always willing to teach and always willing to help them out. And GIVE REFFERENCES! Now many times we have lessons set up and pass by and people aren’t there and people don’t tell us or anything. However. These members think it is our fault and that we aren’t teaching good people and who knows what else. Always help please! PLEASE! Our brothers and sisters need the gospel in Portland Oregon! Other than that yeah Life is great as a missionary! I left my pillow in arecibo…=( and now I have to wait for someone to bring it over here. I don’t know if I’ll ever get it. =(
I Love You all! Hope all is well and praying that you can all be healthy. I miss you and will talk to you later.Love Elder Ellis
I am so sorry to hear about all of your sicknesses. I have been a little sick this week too. Pday keeps getting moved. It is usually Monday but gets changed on holidays on transfer weeks and on Zone conferences. So the last few weeks have been all those. This next week unless something comes up (these Puerto Ricans always have random holidays) I should be writing on Monday morning. New area. Hmmm Far west. There are always problems with Dominicans Smuggling drugs but the area is actually really clean. There are a whole lot of tourists so we speak English a lot. ACTUALLY…. In church us missionaries have to translate the meeting to English for the tourists and there are a lot of members that don’t know Spanish here. So this Sunday I spent all of priesthood session Slaughtering the English language. There was an old man and all the other missionaries told me it was my turn so I started translating for him. He fell asleep and I decided to keep going just to practice my translating skills which need about 5 more years time and they will be understandable. He fell asleep and started drooling all over. A contstant stream of Saliva for about 30 minutes without breaks… I was way impressed. The 2nd counselor in the bishopric thinks his mission was the best and tells us if people don’t get baptized its because we mess up and aren’t doing things right. He’s a hard one to work with. My new companion is Elder Jed Barker. He is from North ogden Utah and his dad owns a dairy farm. He’s a great guy. Funny, nice and still workin on the speaking aspect of Spanish. So he understands and I speak…He looks a little like Jared Haynes from forest grove. The area Rincon supposedly has the best surfing on the island. There is a member whose daughter teaches surfing lessons. And yeah…I think I’m going to come back and learn how to surf. This member is a mason from Hawaii and has built his whole house! IT’S A CASTLE!!! No JOKE!!! I will get picture when we go help him but he’s made it all with his own hands and it is beautiful! The best part is he makes it up on the fly. He doesn’t have blueprints just makes it up as he goes. Its amazing! He was just baptized about a year ago and going strong! He’s an awesome BUFF Hawaiian guy. I got to witness my first Puerto Rican baptism. And unfortunately its not as cool as elder kholer’s pictures, we have fonts in the chapels here…although if I get sent to the islands they baptize in the ocean! =) Who knows. I lost our keys this week. Left them in church on Sunday. So last night we spent a little while walking back and forth trying to get copies of our dueños key…the hardware store was closed but the lady let us in and copy the key. We copied it and then walked home tried it and it didn’t work so we walked back and she fixed it and then gave us an umbrella to walk home with so we went back and returned the umbrella this morning. Unfortunately we didn’t talk to her about the gospel at all. We aren’t perfect and just because I got a black badge on doesn’t make it easy to just talk to anyone about the gospel. I’m fixing that though. I am so excited to dedicate the rest of my life to missionary work. Through my family through my callings and through my job. Missionary work is in ever facet of our lives and I wish we could help the members realize that a little more. This Zone conference we had Elder Binia or Vinia something like that from the first 70. He shared with us that the best way to fix a problem is “Be and example and Testify” Not to assign someone to speak on the topic the next Sunday and not to chastise people either. My goaland ideal missionary is one that is always an example and always testifying. I can’t wait to help missionaries out after my mission. Being one of the members that is always willing to teach and always willing to help them out. And GIVE REFFERENCES! Now many times we have lessons set up and pass by and people aren’t there and people don’t tell us or anything. However. These members think it is our fault and that we aren’t teaching good people and who knows what else. Always help please! PLEASE! Our brothers and sisters need the gospel in Portland Oregon! Other than that yeah Life is great as a missionary! I left my pillow in arecibo…=( and now I have to wait for someone to bring it over here. I don’t know if I’ll ever get it. =(
I Love You all! Hope all is well and praying that you can all be healthy. I miss you and will talk to you later.Love Elder Ellis
Dear Family… Ok i am really sorry but this letter is going to be really short. Well I am being Transferred again to an area called Aguada it is over on the northwest side of the island. I will get to see beautiful sunsets. My companion will be Elder Barker. Not a clue who he is but they say he’s cool. Uh this week was just as hard. We don’t have much luck and have seen lots of Zeros. My companion and I got in an argument. About numbers and goals. I’m not saying I was right but neither was he. About how we should set our goals based on what we have been achieving and not just out of the blue what we think we can do. We had all zeros last week and this week I said. Lets set goals that are a little lower so we can feel like we are progressing. He thought that it was ridiculous to set lower goals when there is always the way to make the goals. But we weren’t doing it. I don’t know. It was dumb and now its over. I leave tonight and stay in Arecibo again then head over there with Elder Luna who has finished his mission. We sat down and talked the other night and I asked him how he has remained so strong in his mission. I have never heard nor seen any trunkyness from him, whereas my companion never stops. He told me in very simple words. (Not that I can’t understand complex Spanish) Because it’s too short and there is too much time to worry about it. There are these photos of Baptisms and these photos of my family at home. They aren’t going anywhere (his family). But if I don’t focus on finding more of these (photos of baptisms) then I will completely regret the time I have spent.
Simple and made such a huge impact on me. I don’t want to be a “Buck Dog” or trunky. My companion is always talking about home… his dads corvette and his 4 girlfriends he’s written off and everything. Man I am ready for a change. He is great but he is hard to deal with pride wise.
Max our awesome 19 year old investigator dropped. We were teaching him and his grandma said she didn’t want us to come by he was sad about that but then we asked if we could stop by to see if he wanted to come to church. We did and talked with him and he told us that he feels good when he reads the book of mormon but when he goes to a Christian church he feels the same way. He told us “When I leave my grandma I will look into it more.This really made me sad. Mainly because he was going so strong. Ugh. I Had a great interview with president and he said he would not be the least bit upset if we spent all our time with members. He told us he wants us to turn the members into finding machines. MEMBERS ARE VITAL IN MISSIONARY WORK!!!! 1 in 8 Refferences from a member is Baptized. There is a graph… Out of 1000 houses we knock… 50 will let us in…25 will actually be there 10 will let us come back 5 will have a baptism date and only 1 will actually get baptized. MAN!!! MEMBERS ARE VITAL!!! Please help the missionaries. A brother in our ward this week taught an awesome lesson in priesthood. He said. Elderes Hermanos. Los misioneros no estan aqui para hacer esta obra solos. Nosotros no debemos ayudar a los misioneros. Ellos están aquí pro un propósito para ayudar a NOSOTROS…
Translated. Elders Brothers. The missionaries aren’t here for this work by themselves. We shouldn’t help them, they are here to help US in this work. We are seeing it the wrong way.
Man I hope they listened. There is a brother that fell from 2 stories and landed on his head a cranial facture and bled from both ears. He was in a coma for a while and now is in his house already. Only 23 days in the hospital and is now walking and doing almost everything as before. What a miracle I have been able to see in this. !!! =)I will send a letter to the ward soon. Today is way busy because we have a whole lot to do with transfers because they switched it up this transfer. Strange but busy busy busy!
I Love yoU! Sorry this is shorter and rushed. Bye!
Simple and made such a huge impact on me. I don’t want to be a “Buck Dog” or trunky. My companion is always talking about home… his dads corvette and his 4 girlfriends he’s written off and everything. Man I am ready for a change. He is great but he is hard to deal with pride wise.
Max our awesome 19 year old investigator dropped. We were teaching him and his grandma said she didn’t want us to come by he was sad about that but then we asked if we could stop by to see if he wanted to come to church. We did and talked with him and he told us that he feels good when he reads the book of mormon but when he goes to a Christian church he feels the same way. He told us “When I leave my grandma I will look into it more.This really made me sad. Mainly because he was going so strong. Ugh. I Had a great interview with president and he said he would not be the least bit upset if we spent all our time with members. He told us he wants us to turn the members into finding machines. MEMBERS ARE VITAL IN MISSIONARY WORK!!!! 1 in 8 Refferences from a member is Baptized. There is a graph… Out of 1000 houses we knock… 50 will let us in…25 will actually be there 10 will let us come back 5 will have a baptism date and only 1 will actually get baptized. MAN!!! MEMBERS ARE VITAL!!! Please help the missionaries. A brother in our ward this week taught an awesome lesson in priesthood. He said. Elderes Hermanos. Los misioneros no estan aqui para hacer esta obra solos. Nosotros no debemos ayudar a los misioneros. Ellos están aquí pro un propósito para ayudar a NOSOTROS…
Translated. Elders Brothers. The missionaries aren’t here for this work by themselves. We shouldn’t help them, they are here to help US in this work. We are seeing it the wrong way.
Man I hope they listened. There is a brother that fell from 2 stories and landed on his head a cranial facture and bled from both ears. He was in a coma for a while and now is in his house already. Only 23 days in the hospital and is now walking and doing almost everything as before. What a miracle I have been able to see in this. !!! =)I will send a letter to the ward soon. Today is way busy because we have a whole lot to do with transfers because they switched it up this transfer. Strange but busy busy busy!
I Love yoU! Sorry this is shorter and rushed. Bye!
January 26, 2009
Pues Buenos Dias Mi querida Familia! Gracias por escribir la carta. Estaba triste porque no tenia una carta. Pero después de escribir la carta a presidente Recibi una carta! =)
Well This week was wonderful! Let me tell you! We started our week with a wonderful phone call from president Martineau. He told us. Elders. Your Area has never been a good finding area. BUT has never lacked in baptisms. You just have to go about it a different way. You need to make sure you are working through your members and really working on strengthening your less actives. Less finding more strengthening reactivating and bringing people back to the fold. So that we did. We started focusing a little more on this subject of finding the members and working with all of them. At the same time we changed a couple things. My companion…Knows Spanish, thinks he knows more than he does but he knows Spanish. He usually tries to get to know the people much better at the very first. This week I suggested we just make them quick and to the point. We are missionaries preaching a message of the Restored Gospel. So this is we did. This week we had less finding time than all of our previous weeks. Although when we focused our message on this small simple Fact we were able to see much more success. This week we had a goal of 7 new investigators. We received 6 ! Woohoo! One of them is named Max! He’s from new York and we just taught him on Saturday. We contacted him the same time we contacted Eduardo, He lives right across the street from Eduardo. We had to drop Eduardo this week because he doesn’t want to progress. He said. Well. I think god knows that I am busy in my life right now so he understands that I’m not ready to be baptized. This made us sad but instead of getting down we walked across the street to talk to max whom we hadn’t taught yet. He let us come in and talk with him we talked to him and found out he knows much more English than Spanish. So he is yet another person we are teaching in English. We taught him. Then that night we had a priesthood meeting with David Bednar and President Eyring…They were in Jamaica for a whole Caribe “Area Conference” It was pretty neat. But max agreed to come. We explained to him more about the church and he was excited to get to know some people. He is from New York he’s 19 and moved here because he didn’t like home and wanted to come help his grandma. So that is what he is doing. He is way cool. We taught him yesterday and Set a baptismal Date for the 25th of February. Hopefully I won’t get transferred. Who knows. The whole time we were teaching him he kind of had a half smile waiting to burst out I asked him what he was thinking if he had anything to say or ask. He replied. “Well I haven’t smiled this big and been this happy since before things at home got bad. He knows the church is true started reading from the beginning of the book of mormon and loves it! He said he has read books from other churches before and none have felt as right as this one. We also had an exchange this week. My companion went with one of the assistants and the assistant’s comanion was my companion. He has three transfers in the mission. Only 1 More that me. So I was way nervous. It was a great calming experience . The work did not stop. I am very comfortable with where my Spanish is at because frankly his was horrible. He tried hard. He just is having a hard time. Not only that but we had 2 new investigators on our exchange day. WONDERFUL! The lord Helps Gringos! We did fine. I Loved that day. He was a little weird, messy and girly but it was wonderful day! President made a new rule this last week. Someone will be getting a new MP3 Player back home… He is not allowing MP3 Players. We can have CD Players but not MP3 Players. So the new one I just got for free will be getting home soon. Not till next week though when I get my mission money. This next week we get to go pick and squeeze canya. Or Sugar Cane. =) I’m excited about that one. I am loving being a missionary and loving teaching the gospel! I miss home and will be excited to come home but not till that time rolls around. I Love Being a Missionary!
Thanks for all your love and support!
Elder Ellis!
Well This week was wonderful! Let me tell you! We started our week with a wonderful phone call from president Martineau. He told us. Elders. Your Area has never been a good finding area. BUT has never lacked in baptisms. You just have to go about it a different way. You need to make sure you are working through your members and really working on strengthening your less actives. Less finding more strengthening reactivating and bringing people back to the fold. So that we did. We started focusing a little more on this subject of finding the members and working with all of them. At the same time we changed a couple things. My companion…Knows Spanish, thinks he knows more than he does but he knows Spanish. He usually tries to get to know the people much better at the very first. This week I suggested we just make them quick and to the point. We are missionaries preaching a message of the Restored Gospel. So this is we did. This week we had less finding time than all of our previous weeks. Although when we focused our message on this small simple Fact we were able to see much more success. This week we had a goal of 7 new investigators. We received 6 ! Woohoo! One of them is named Max! He’s from new York and we just taught him on Saturday. We contacted him the same time we contacted Eduardo, He lives right across the street from Eduardo. We had to drop Eduardo this week because he doesn’t want to progress. He said. Well. I think god knows that I am busy in my life right now so he understands that I’m not ready to be baptized. This made us sad but instead of getting down we walked across the street to talk to max whom we hadn’t taught yet. He let us come in and talk with him we talked to him and found out he knows much more English than Spanish. So he is yet another person we are teaching in English. We taught him. Then that night we had a priesthood meeting with David Bednar and President Eyring…They were in Jamaica for a whole Caribe “Area Conference” It was pretty neat. But max agreed to come. We explained to him more about the church and he was excited to get to know some people. He is from New York he’s 19 and moved here because he didn’t like home and wanted to come help his grandma. So that is what he is doing. He is way cool. We taught him yesterday and Set a baptismal Date for the 25th of February. Hopefully I won’t get transferred. Who knows. The whole time we were teaching him he kind of had a half smile waiting to burst out I asked him what he was thinking if he had anything to say or ask. He replied. “Well I haven’t smiled this big and been this happy since before things at home got bad. He knows the church is true started reading from the beginning of the book of mormon and loves it! He said he has read books from other churches before and none have felt as right as this one. We also had an exchange this week. My companion went with one of the assistants and the assistant’s comanion was my companion. He has three transfers in the mission. Only 1 More that me. So I was way nervous. It was a great calming experience . The work did not stop. I am very comfortable with where my Spanish is at because frankly his was horrible. He tried hard. He just is having a hard time. Not only that but we had 2 new investigators on our exchange day. WONDERFUL! The lord Helps Gringos! We did fine. I Loved that day. He was a little weird, messy and girly but it was wonderful day! President made a new rule this last week. Someone will be getting a new MP3 Player back home… He is not allowing MP3 Players. We can have CD Players but not MP3 Players. So the new one I just got for free will be getting home soon. Not till next week though when I get my mission money. This next week we get to go pick and squeeze canya. Or Sugar Cane. =) I’m excited about that one. I am loving being a missionary and loving teaching the gospel! I miss home and will be excited to come home but not till that time rolls around. I Love Being a Missionary!
Thanks for all your love and support!
Elder Ellis!
January 20, 2009
This week… Wow. Well since we had P-day Tuesday and have it Tuesday again the week went by a lot faster. We worked hard with our investigator Eduardo and worked hard to find more people as well but unfortunately we didn’t have any success. Well we did find one person. We go back to teach him today. I am really disappointed about this week and need to go get happy. We had P-day moved again because of Martin luther king day yesterday and because we didn’t know it was going to be a holiday had planned appointments today. So we are barely fitting in our email and other stuf today which makes me disappointed and then on top of it the computers here are basura or trash and I have only a little while left. You email sizes were great this week. I’m fine with having a little longer emails because in this area I don’t get mail at the house only 1 time a week and only have family writing me because I guess none of my friends know how to write. On top of that we have a CAR meeting and I love the members here it is just extremely difficult because our branch is split into 3 missionary areas and we have only a few members to go out with us. Eduardo our only investigator is having troubles with his car and can’t afford to get it fixed so he was having a hard time with that as well. We asked him if we could do anything for him and he told us that he needed toothpaste. So we went and got him toothpaste then brought it to him and talked to him for a while. About an hour and a half. He was having such a hard time recognizing the times in his life when he has to choose God first or others first. He talked about how he doesn’t feel welcome in the church because of all of his tattoos and we asked him if he would not get anymore tattoos if God asked him not to. He hesitated and said well if it is god telling me to. Thenw e asked well if god told his servants to tell you not to get anymore tattoos would you get them and he still hesitated. Then we asked him if your girlfriend asked you not to get more tattoos would you…and he said of course not. So we talked with him for a long time and share with him the importance of putting god before everything in our lives. He realized that he was putting his girlfriend in front of god and felt bad about that and wanted to change. While we were sitting there I felt prompted to share with him about jesus Christ. At times we want what we think is best and leave god out of the circle. When Jesus Christ was suffering in the Garden of gethsemane He even the greatest of all The only perfect man to ever walk the earth pleaded for the suffering to go away…but pleaded with his fathers will in mind. Please take this cup form me if it be thy will. What a great example Jesus Christ is to all of us. Enduring the trials as they come Choose the right even when its hard because just as Christ did. We can ask for help we can ask for things to go away and if it is his will they will go away. President has been sharing a lot from the movie Facing Giants. I don’t remember much form it but the quote he uses is preparing for rain. We are always preparing for rain. We don’t know when it will come but we are always preparing for it. If not it will come and just as the people with Noah they will be washed away. I am loving my reading in Alma 50s It is some great war chapters and what amazes me is how much Moroni always has a plan. For everything he is always preparing. He prepares in times without fear he prepares still in times of War and he prepares after he wins the war. What an amazing example he is.I Love being a missionary. Its hard when all of your num,bers are 0s. We had 2 other lessons this week and that was it. No one at church. Eduardo finally found someone to fix his car and so couldn’t come to church because the only day this guy could do it was Sunday. Other than that a lot of finding and we didn’t find many at all.Now we gotta head off to our other appointment and then have the meeting tonight. Woopdeedoo!
I love you! This week I missed Christmas more than I did at Christmas. Remembered all of the wonderful Christmases I have had with my family.
I love you! This week I missed Christmas more than I did at Christmas. Remembered all of the wonderful Christmases I have had with my family.
January 12, 2009
Hello Family,
Well last week started off pretty good. We taught our investigator Eduardo, He had a really hard time this week. His cars aren’t working very well. He has two of the same exact car and so just takes parts from one and puts them in the other but somethings wrong that he can’t fix that easy so he’s worried about money because he is receiving social security and can’t pay too much for it. He’s taking car of his dad with alsheimers and has diabetes and just can’t quiet seem to get things in order yet. So we’re helping him. We took him dinner this week and that turned his whole week around. he was way down and didn’t know if he wanted to be baptized or not. Then the next day after we brought dinner over I asked him what his goals are for the new year and he told me above anything else, to be baptized. He still forgets a lot but we are working on that having him write everything down and showing him videos and piuctures and everything just like a little kid. Last night we went to visit him but he wasn’t there so we sat and talked with his dad. I asked him if I could share a scripture with him and he said no then a minute later asked again and he said no then again and he said he’d love to hear a scripture. Then he took the book and told me it’s the best book in the world. Then he went inside grabbed eduardos book of mormon and said we have to throw it away because it’s a bad book. =) that was an interesting night. Eduardo never showed up so we just left him there listening to his music. My companion wont stop talking about his dads corvette. His dads brother died and left his corvette in his will for him so he’s writing about all the perks and stuff and he just keeps shoving it in that he will be driving it in less that a year. He’s a good companion but full of himself and kinda trunky. Although last night we had a great Family Home evening with The Gracia familia. They are a family that was baptized 25 years ago and their conversion story is so neat. But we shared the Tree of life story and then at the end shared somethings very special to us. We shared pictures of our families. I loved that! Sharing piuctures of all ya’all I Liked finding the pictures to take as well I really only have pictures from MTC and stuff before that but they worked perfect! I Loved it! This last week we went out to find a lot! But have no new investigators. This has been a pretty hard area. Trying to stay under our miles for the weeks and find new people. We need to come up with some other ways to find. Like light contacting or something like that. Something to spice up our time. Woohoo!I Would Love some pictures! If you guys have prints that you would like to send go for it. That way I can have them to show to familias and stuff. Well There really wasn’t too much else this week. Just A bunch of food and yeah. We got sams club cards so we can buy our food in bulk at the beginning of the month and be set. I like it! I hope I don’t get transferred to the islands now. This week didn’t really have any other exciting things. We did a service project scraping paint of the sidewalk at this one lady’s house. He son is the Crazy one Nelson Plays the guitar and sings and just flat out crazy!
This week I have had some great study times. Reading around alma 40’s and how alma is preparing his sons to preach and be missionaries. I have really realized that everything we do is Preparing us for something bigger something greater further down the road. We are preparing the investigators for their baptisms and to be Members of the True church of Jesus Christ.
I know that this is the work of the lord! I am so grateful for Jesus Christ so grateful for te scriptures and the joy we can have in our lives through the gospel! I Love You!Send me Pictures and letters and CDs and Love! =) Sorry this is a day late! Muah!
Well last week started off pretty good. We taught our investigator Eduardo, He had a really hard time this week. His cars aren’t working very well. He has two of the same exact car and so just takes parts from one and puts them in the other but somethings wrong that he can’t fix that easy so he’s worried about money because he is receiving social security and can’t pay too much for it. He’s taking car of his dad with alsheimers and has diabetes and just can’t quiet seem to get things in order yet. So we’re helping him. We took him dinner this week and that turned his whole week around. he was way down and didn’t know if he wanted to be baptized or not. Then the next day after we brought dinner over I asked him what his goals are for the new year and he told me above anything else, to be baptized. He still forgets a lot but we are working on that having him write everything down and showing him videos and piuctures and everything just like a little kid. Last night we went to visit him but he wasn’t there so we sat and talked with his dad. I asked him if I could share a scripture with him and he said no then a minute later asked again and he said no then again and he said he’d love to hear a scripture. Then he took the book and told me it’s the best book in the world. Then he went inside grabbed eduardos book of mormon and said we have to throw it away because it’s a bad book. =) that was an interesting night. Eduardo never showed up so we just left him there listening to his music. My companion wont stop talking about his dads corvette. His dads brother died and left his corvette in his will for him so he’s writing about all the perks and stuff and he just keeps shoving it in that he will be driving it in less that a year. He’s a good companion but full of himself and kinda trunky. Although last night we had a great Family Home evening with The Gracia familia. They are a family that was baptized 25 years ago and their conversion story is so neat. But we shared the Tree of life story and then at the end shared somethings very special to us. We shared pictures of our families. I loved that! Sharing piuctures of all ya’all I Liked finding the pictures to take as well I really only have pictures from MTC and stuff before that but they worked perfect! I Loved it! This last week we went out to find a lot! But have no new investigators. This has been a pretty hard area. Trying to stay under our miles for the weeks and find new people. We need to come up with some other ways to find. Like light contacting or something like that. Something to spice up our time. Woohoo!I Would Love some pictures! If you guys have prints that you would like to send go for it. That way I can have them to show to familias and stuff. Well There really wasn’t too much else this week. Just A bunch of food and yeah. We got sams club cards so we can buy our food in bulk at the beginning of the month and be set. I like it! I hope I don’t get transferred to the islands now. This week didn’t really have any other exciting things. We did a service project scraping paint of the sidewalk at this one lady’s house. He son is the Crazy one Nelson Plays the guitar and sings and just flat out crazy!
This week I have had some great study times. Reading around alma 40’s and how alma is preparing his sons to preach and be missionaries. I have really realized that everything we do is Preparing us for something bigger something greater further down the road. We are preparing the investigators for their baptisms and to be Members of the True church of Jesus Christ.
I know that this is the work of the lord! I am so grateful for Jesus Christ so grateful for te scriptures and the joy we can have in our lives through the gospel! I Love You!Send me Pictures and letters and CDs and Love! =) Sorry this is a day late! Muah!
Merry Christmas!!
Elder Ellis called our family today!
He is doing really well. He says he loves getting letters and thanks everyone that is sending them and the packages. :) He is transferring to Hatillo, Puerto Rico tonight.
Elder Ellis says the weather is humid and he's eating a lot of rice, beans, and platanos which is a bigger size banana that we don't eat in the U.S. Elder is looking forward to work his new companion, they get along really well.
For Christmas the missionaries made a pinata and hit it with a homemade bat (the handle of a toilet plunger...ew). And they were made a tasty meal in the mission home that he really appreciated.
He also wanted everyone to know that if you write him, he is very good at writing back. He loves you all and says to do what you can to share the Light of Christ and be a missionary! He also says you are all in the prayers of a missionary.
Merry Christmas! :):):)
He is doing really well. He says he loves getting letters and thanks everyone that is sending them and the packages. :) He is transferring to Hatillo, Puerto Rico tonight.
Elder Ellis says the weather is humid and he's eating a lot of rice, beans, and platanos which is a bigger size banana that we don't eat in the U.S. Elder is looking forward to work his new companion, they get along really well.
For Christmas the missionaries made a pinata and hit it with a homemade bat (the handle of a toilet plunger...ew). And they were made a tasty meal in the mission home that he really appreciated.
He also wanted everyone to know that if you write him, he is very good at writing back. He loves you all and says to do what you can to share the Light of Christ and be a missionary! He also says you are all in the prayers of a missionary.
Merry Christmas! :):):)
Dec. 22
"Dear Family,
This week has gone by so fast. And this email place is getting pretty strict about only using the computers for and hour and so it makes it difficult to read emails and send everything out in just an hour. But here it goes. This week we worked hard had hardly any success but enjoyed it as well. There is a sister missionary in our district going home that was like a big sister to me in this area. Helped me enjoyed it and spoke English… it was great but more than anything her leaving, reaching the end of her mission made me realize how short it is and how much you learn in your short time here. It is sad but a wonderful opportunity. This week was a big change in my attitude about the mission. Rather than missing home I felt more fear for going home. I’m not looking forward to my last transfer here on the mission. I miss you terribly but like I felt at school I am finally getting comfortable and it scares me to think I will be leaving this wonderful work. THIS TRANSFER WENT BY SO FAST!
Already into transfer 2. AND CHRISTMAS! AHHH. This next week is going to be great christmas and a new companion. I am scared and happy all at the same time. We worked really hard this week hardly anyone was home and our numbers show it. Unfortunately we didn't have any lessons with a member we went out with a member but didn't get to teach an investigator with him. We sweat a lot and helped The son of Manuel move from el coto (government paid housing which is full of drugs and bad stuff) to a much nicer neighborhood. It was a great chance to meet him and share out service with him i feel like we've established a great friendship with him that will hopefully continue on and eventually he can accept the gospel with his family! Manuel will be a great example to that! GREAT! This next week we HAVE to teach him. It's easy to see the ways the adversary cuts into their lives while a missionary. This whole last week he has been out with Hno. Rodriguez which is great but in doing so we haven't been able to teach him. Luckily he continues to come to church and is always intrigued with the doctrine always trying to learn more and sharing what he learns with his "Friend" or esposa...
This week i had a wonderful experience of prayer, which i never feel like i deserve. I couldn't find my wallet and checked every pair of pants i have multiple times. My backpack desk everything over and over. Then decided to pray. I asked to help me calm down. I was having a hard time. Becuase Sister Turpin is leaving and thinking about her leaving and how fast this transfer has gone that in no time i'll be where she is scared me. I am beginning to love it. I dont look forward to that last transfer. Then after praying for comfort and strength and the ability to relax and find my wallet, and ultimately humbling myself before the lord i finished my prayer and stood there thinking of where it could be then grabbed one pair of pants. and sure enough there it was. The lord always helps us. Always. I had checked the pants several times but in haste and fear didn't find it. With prayer and guidance from my father in heaven i was able to search.
a small part of my week but made a great impact on me. not to mention the rest of the day went great!
Then this morning i was reading Alma 26 i have loved the chapters of the sons of Mosiah! and this chapter tops it off for me Ammon saying that he has recieved all strength from the lord! This has been the way i have felt and acted these last few days and maybe weeks as well. Realizing that i am nothing without the strength that i recieve every day to continue. THis work is not easy and as this chapter shares they were spit upon rejected and hurt. Luckily i have only been hit with words but they continued to go on in the cuase they knew was right. AMAZING! This this morning i also read the talk by Michael John U. Teh of the seventy in the January Liahona, and he talks about our faith and how at times it is shaken by the ways of the world. Little seeds of doubt. I have felt this as well but have been able to overcome it through the wonderful blessings we recieve daily. He shares the example of Joseph smith when he was tarred and feathered and how the next day he continued and preached to the people like he knew he had to.
I Love this gospel and i love the scriptures! I Love being a Missionary!
This week i dont really remember to many specific events but i remember that i enjoyed it. When we went contacting on Wednesday there was a lady that answered her door and said “shame on you” You’re mormons aren’t you”, in English too. And I replyed in English of course we are and what are you and she replied I’m born again Christian and I hope you guys see the light. And I replied I’m sorry you feel that way but that is why we are here. To share the light of the gospel with the world. And she said. Shame on you in a low voice and kind of creepy. Then I said well I hope god blesses you and have a merry Christmas. Then she said he does. And I said I know that’s our message that we can have more blessings. Then she said again I hope you see the light. And I said I hope YOU see the light good bye. And as we walked away she said 1 wife! I turned around and walked back up to her door. Then said Ma’am We don’t practice polygamy anymore but if you’d like we could teach you more of the truth and clear up the rumors you’ve heard. I felt strong in this moment as in alma 26. Then on the same street about 8 houses down another lady shushed us away and asked if we would give blood to our kids. My companion replied. Of course we would. Without a doubt. And the lady said well some people in your religion wouldn’t. and he said Senora No somos testigos. We are NOT Jehovas witnesses. We testify of Jesus Christ and are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints “Mormones” she shushed us off again.
This street was filled with funny things like this. =) Made me smile!"
Past e-mails from Elder Ellis
Dec. 15
"Well This week. Started Monday with p day and sorry but eright now I don’t have too much time we are doing a zone activity and only have a short time to write and read. But Monday we Had p day and didn’t do much exciting just prepared. Today we are going to the Caves and you will have so wonderful pictures to look at when I send this card. =) I had a whole lizard for you this last week but in one of our big rainstorms I lost it.Tuesday we had interviews with president Martineau and those were wonderful! He is a Great mission president! Always plans everything to a tee …he’s a lawyer so it makes sense. But some of my concerns have been feeling the spirit and the book of mormon. I know the book of mormon is the Word of god and my problem was when I prayed I didn’t receive an undeniable manifestation that it is true. President said well. When you testify about it do you feel like you are lying. I of course said no. He said then you know it is true. It doesn’t matter how you received that answer just that you know its true. Then he said that the way that I know it is true is the same way about 90% of my investigators will know it is true as well. I know every time I read without a doubt that the are words written by prophets of God! I Know it. He helped strengthen my testimony of this. As well I was having struggles “listening” to the spirit and have been studying and studying on how to feel it more. He also helped me realize that I have a fear of not having it and fear and faith are complete opposites. SO this week I strived to have faith and not be afraid I didn’t have it or wasn’t listening to it. One night while teaching a 15 year old investigator My companion finished his part and I started talking. After I finished my part and we concluded the lesson my companion looked at me and said elder ellis. You just said everything that I was going to say. It isn’t a huge miracle but I said the things that came to my heart and my companion assured me that I had covered all that he needed to hear. I by the power of the spirit, taught the lesson that we had planned.
Nothing huge no huge miracle like many people look for and not even really the types of story where people say they said the perfect thing to baptize. No. I didn’t worry. Had faith and thoughts filled my heart. And filled the heart of my companion as well. I know this church is true! I know that by the power of the Spirit we can touch the hearts of the people. I know that The book of mormon is true and I know it is true because the assurance I receive while reading it!
I Love Being a Missionary! And I love our mission president! He is a great man! He is a man called of god!
He shared with me another thing that really touched me. He said. Elder Ellis… I don’t know much of your life before but I do know that you have been called into this mission for a purpose. The lord knows what leaders he needs at what times. He knows that there will be a change in this mission right at the end (sound familiar yet) He knows that the leaders in this mission will need to be strong and ready for the change of the mission president when my calling is over (sound similar to anything yet) Again elder ellis I don’t know much about your life before the mission but I know that you are prepared to be here at this time. For the people and also for the other missionaries. Don’t worry. Work hard and do you part as a servant of the lord.
I have been prepared to be here at this time. I know the lord needs me.
The rest of the week we were practicing a lot for a Christmas choir fireside thing that we had. It was… interesting… =) made me laugh. Beautiful!
Then this Sunday. Our investigator Manuel He came into the church and looked like a completely different man! Completely Different! He had a huge smile onm his face and just looked happy! Doctrine and Covenants 130 talks about the blessings from obedience to the laws upon which blessings are predicated. He obeyed the Word of wisdom and is now receiving blessings of health and happiness. WonderfuL! Also he has a moustache and since he has stopped smoking it has gotten much cleaner and the smoke marks are gone. He just looks so clean and new! I can’t wait till his baptism!
We also had Jack the 15 year old in the church this Sunday. I was kind of upset because none of the youth introduced themselves and none sat by him or talked to him either. And also as many youth do in our ward. Slouch! Aahhhh this is one of my biggest pet peeves. They didn’t look interested nor did they show the happiness and joy that we are promising to this investigator. The workof the members in missionary work is so important. We are working with the young mens president to help fix this and have a little training session. I understand many youth come because their parents make them but for a missionary its so hard to do our work when they aren’t paying attention. I love these people I love this area. Although we have a lot of work to do!"
Dec. 8, 2008
"Monday don’t quiet remember what we did Monday. I think it was the Night we met with our Investigator Jack. Jack is 15 and loves what we’re teaching on Monday night I believe we set his baptismal date for the 27th of December but now it has to be later because he didn’t come to church yesterday. We taught him then it ended up being 9. We are supposed to be in our apt at 9 unless we are teaching a lesson. We had walked to his house and it took 45 minutes. So we could briskly walk back home or try otherwise. So we began hitch hiking! =) No one would stop…then one guy stopped and asked where we needed to go and we told him and he said sorry don’t have time to take you there. So we kept walking and about a third of the way home someone finally stopped. We found out he is the nephew of a member and that’s why he stopped. He recognized us. We got home late but much sooner than we would have otherwise. We had a member lined up to go with us that night but cancelled an hour before and we couldn’t find anyone else. It is really hard here working with the members. They just don’t have time or don’t seem to understand how important this work is. Like I have said before I feel so bad for the leaders because they are the only ones that we call anymore.
Tuesday we had our District meeting and our CAR meeting with the ward council. That was good. My companion made me explain a little about our investigators and it scared me to death but wasn’t too bad. Then after he was said “elder ellis I’m going to talk with Hermano Morales you need to talk with Hermano Maldonado” So I did it. I was terrified but I understood almost every word he said which was great! I felt like I had been giving help in the moment I needed it. Then Wednesday we started our exchange for this transfer. Elder Luna one of the Zone leaders went with my companion and I went with Elder schaeffer the other Zone leader. I learned a lot about making the lessons simple and like mindy told me before I left that I should teach everyone as if they are a child. We did that and it was so much better than previous lessons. I learned so much about enjoying my mission working with members more and learned more about the culture and how to make rice =) Elder schaeffer is a great elder! His parent sent him a package with a present for every day of December and one for his companion as well! That’s a neat idea especially for elders with companions from mexico like mine or like his. Because it costs more money to send things from there. So they don’t get mail very often. I feel like a baby complaining about not getting letters when my companion hasn’t gotten mail in a few transfers. But I got a Planner calendar thing and a bag of cinnamon bears! =) reminded me of you dad.
Then on Friday we went back to our companions and worked. On Saturday we met with Manuel the man we were trying to get to stop smoking. Man that is a hard task. Especially when people have smoked for over 40 years. He has smoked since his was a kid and has tried many times before to quit. I wish there was just a way to get people to stop smoking. Well there is! One week 7 days and he is now a non smoker!!! It is so exciting! He bore his testimony in church yesterday and said that the first 4 days were the hardest days of his life but with prayer and help from the lord he did it! He completed his goal and is now smoke free! Coffee free as well. This program requires that they stop drinking coffee for the week as well and he said that now he has no desire to drink coffee. It is so wonderful to see the miracles in our lives. The lord can give us so much more strength! He stopped smoking! He did it. And on Saturday he asked us if he could had to be baptized to wear a white shirt and tie. His love for this gospel is amazing! He has now attended church 5 times. We really have been working hard and fasting for him to make the decision to obey the law of chastity. Please keep him in your prayers.Then we were teaching another lady and she was paying us no attention! I was so frustrated but we were teaching and I was asking questions to her and she wasn’t answering so I thought I was saying something wrong and she still didn’t answer so I looked at my companion hoping he would take over. He didn’t just sat there looking at me. So there were a few seconds…felt like a minute or two of silence because I had no idea what to say and my companion wasn’t helping me. So finally after enough silence I walked her through my question and taught the rest of the lesson without my companion. Not what I should have done but I didn’t want to be there anymore. She has no desire to change. She knows that it is true. She does. She has told us. But she doesn’t want to change. Her daughter is 6 and loves when we teach. Always asking questions always volunteering to read and everything else. It is so sad to see the love she has for the gospel. She knows prophets are called of god and are on the earth to guide us. But her mom has no desire to follow the promptings. I pray that she will be able to find the gospel and missionaries will continue to work with her when she is older.That has been my week. Not too eventful…no it was very eventful. But yeah this morning we were cleaning and I went on our balcony to get a bucket and we had 2 buckets stacked on the balcony I picked up the first one and in the bottom one was a nice little frog! Woohoo! I Love the animals here. It’s so funny to walk or ride my bike on the sidewalk and you hear all this rustling in the grass. Lizards everywhere. And don’t worry. Tails are nothing =)
Tranfers are Christmas eve and I don’t know what is going to happen yet. I should know next week. We have interviews with the president tomorrow.
Last night we got to watch the Christmas devotional. I love the Christmas season and I love Idaho and Utah! This feels nothing of the sort. We put up Christmas lights for a sister in the ward Saturday but when it is 80 degrees it just doesn’t feel like Christmas. I miss home and I miss the cold weather. HOT HOT HOT. I checked my Thermometer last night on my clock and I go to bed in 80 degree weather in our bedroom. Wonderful isn’t it! =) I love listening to President monson and his counselors as well. I know they are men called of god and I know that they have the authority to direct us. I am excited that in just about 2 weeks I will get to call you! Woohoo! I hope I get to go to a different area this next transfer. My companion is great but I’m ready for change. But who knows I will most likely be humbled.
Service service service. Wonderful key to happiness.
This morning I was studying in doctrine and covenants section 101 and I had never realized before that there were parables in Doctrine and covenants as well. 101 has a wonderful parable and help me realize the importance of obedience and I also read a story in my little missionary quote book about a Platoon leader; he had received specific instructions to arrive at the locations at 0200 hours and wait until 0210 hours. He arrived as planned and saw the enemy sleeping tanks dismounted and everything tranquil. He thought that the instructions were wrong and sent his men for attack at 0200 hours. They attacked and then in a matter of seconds the air was filled with artillery and everyone was dead. The platoon leader sitting up on his perch watched it all happen. At 0210 hours silence and the platoon leader thought “if only I knew what the general knew”This sections is very similar. We are giving instructions in our lives. Commandments that don’t necessarily make sense. But we need to follow them. Other wise the enemy can attack. We won’t be strong and we wont be able to do what we have been called to. The parable in this section is a Olive Tree and the Owner of the trees wanted them to be protected and commanded towers be built. The people building them didn’t uinderstand the purpose of the towers and didn’t fulfill the commands. Then the enemy attacked and all was lost. Life is so similar. We must obey with Exactness. As a missionary we are required to live with exactness and have been told we won’t be able to teach if we’re not. Wow.
I Love The Scriptures!
I Love My Family!
I Love My Mission!
With tons of love,
Elder Ellis"
Tuesday we had our District meeting and our CAR meeting with the ward council. That was good. My companion made me explain a little about our investigators and it scared me to death but wasn’t too bad. Then after he was said “elder ellis I’m going to talk with Hermano Morales you need to talk with Hermano Maldonado” So I did it. I was terrified but I understood almost every word he said which was great! I felt like I had been giving help in the moment I needed it. Then Wednesday we started our exchange for this transfer. Elder Luna one of the Zone leaders went with my companion and I went with Elder schaeffer the other Zone leader. I learned a lot about making the lessons simple and like mindy told me before I left that I should teach everyone as if they are a child. We did that and it was so much better than previous lessons. I learned so much about enjoying my mission working with members more and learned more about the culture and how to make rice =) Elder schaeffer is a great elder! His parent sent him a package with a present for every day of December and one for his companion as well! That’s a neat idea especially for elders with companions from mexico like mine or like his. Because it costs more money to send things from there. So they don’t get mail very often. I feel like a baby complaining about not getting letters when my companion hasn’t gotten mail in a few transfers. But I got a Planner calendar thing and a bag of cinnamon bears! =) reminded me of you dad.
Then on Friday we went back to our companions and worked. On Saturday we met with Manuel the man we were trying to get to stop smoking. Man that is a hard task. Especially when people have smoked for over 40 years. He has smoked since his was a kid and has tried many times before to quit. I wish there was just a way to get people to stop smoking. Well there is! One week 7 days and he is now a non smoker!!! It is so exciting! He bore his testimony in church yesterday and said that the first 4 days were the hardest days of his life but with prayer and help from the lord he did it! He completed his goal and is now smoke free! Coffee free as well. This program requires that they stop drinking coffee for the week as well and he said that now he has no desire to drink coffee. It is so wonderful to see the miracles in our lives. The lord can give us so much more strength! He stopped smoking! He did it. And on Saturday he asked us if he could had to be baptized to wear a white shirt and tie. His love for this gospel is amazing! He has now attended church 5 times. We really have been working hard and fasting for him to make the decision to obey the law of chastity. Please keep him in your prayers.Then we were teaching another lady and she was paying us no attention! I was so frustrated but we were teaching and I was asking questions to her and she wasn’t answering so I thought I was saying something wrong and she still didn’t answer so I looked at my companion hoping he would take over. He didn’t just sat there looking at me. So there were a few seconds…felt like a minute or two of silence because I had no idea what to say and my companion wasn’t helping me. So finally after enough silence I walked her through my question and taught the rest of the lesson without my companion. Not what I should have done but I didn’t want to be there anymore. She has no desire to change. She knows that it is true. She does. She has told us. But she doesn’t want to change. Her daughter is 6 and loves when we teach. Always asking questions always volunteering to read and everything else. It is so sad to see the love she has for the gospel. She knows prophets are called of god and are on the earth to guide us. But her mom has no desire to follow the promptings. I pray that she will be able to find the gospel and missionaries will continue to work with her when she is older.That has been my week. Not too eventful…no it was very eventful. But yeah this morning we were cleaning and I went on our balcony to get a bucket and we had 2 buckets stacked on the balcony I picked up the first one and in the bottom one was a nice little frog! Woohoo! I Love the animals here. It’s so funny to walk or ride my bike on the sidewalk and you hear all this rustling in the grass. Lizards everywhere. And don’t worry. Tails are nothing =)
Tranfers are Christmas eve and I don’t know what is going to happen yet. I should know next week. We have interviews with the president tomorrow.
Last night we got to watch the Christmas devotional. I love the Christmas season and I love Idaho and Utah! This feels nothing of the sort. We put up Christmas lights for a sister in the ward Saturday but when it is 80 degrees it just doesn’t feel like Christmas. I miss home and I miss the cold weather. HOT HOT HOT. I checked my Thermometer last night on my clock and I go to bed in 80 degree weather in our bedroom. Wonderful isn’t it! =) I love listening to President monson and his counselors as well. I know they are men called of god and I know that they have the authority to direct us. I am excited that in just about 2 weeks I will get to call you! Woohoo! I hope I get to go to a different area this next transfer. My companion is great but I’m ready for change. But who knows I will most likely be humbled.
Service service service. Wonderful key to happiness.
This morning I was studying in doctrine and covenants section 101 and I had never realized before that there were parables in Doctrine and covenants as well. 101 has a wonderful parable and help me realize the importance of obedience and I also read a story in my little missionary quote book about a Platoon leader; he had received specific instructions to arrive at the locations at 0200 hours and wait until 0210 hours. He arrived as planned and saw the enemy sleeping tanks dismounted and everything tranquil. He thought that the instructions were wrong and sent his men for attack at 0200 hours. They attacked and then in a matter of seconds the air was filled with artillery and everyone was dead. The platoon leader sitting up on his perch watched it all happen. At 0210 hours silence and the platoon leader thought “if only I knew what the general knew”This sections is very similar. We are giving instructions in our lives. Commandments that don’t necessarily make sense. But we need to follow them. Other wise the enemy can attack. We won’t be strong and we wont be able to do what we have been called to. The parable in this section is a Olive Tree and the Owner of the trees wanted them to be protected and commanded towers be built. The people building them didn’t uinderstand the purpose of the towers and didn’t fulfill the commands. Then the enemy attacked and all was lost. Life is so similar. We must obey with Exactness. As a missionary we are required to live with exactness and have been told we won’t be able to teach if we’re not. Wow.
I Love The Scriptures!
I Love My Family!
I Love My Mission!
With tons of love,
Elder Ellis"
Nov. 24, 2008
"I had my first experience with real Puerto Rican food this week and oh boy was it great on my bowels. Ha ha. I was paying for it the whole night. And it didn’t even taste good. Ugh. It might take a while to get used to their food. The love Platanos or plantain bananas they just fry em and eat em. Yuck. Its just like a burnt banana. Although Rice and Habichuelas are great. I really liek eating those and Rice and avacado is pretty good too. Elder and Hermana Reyes, a senior couple here took my companion and i out eat, and it was interesting. They also invited us to Thanks giving.
Here they have many strange words that are not usually in the spanish language. The name for almost any car but mainly bigger cars and vans is Guagua ( Goo-aww-Goo-aww) then name for thanksgiving is Dia de accion de Gracias but they all say sans givin. They say Wiken ((weekend) but in spanish is fin de la semana) and many other silly little words that they know in english and just shorten. It makes me laugh. So as you can tell i am in a much happier mood this week than i was last week. I’m getting used to things and trying to work harder. Trying to forget myself for these two years. It’s a hard task but it can be done. Last night i made a goal to not pass a single house when Contacting and talk to everyperson that we see. I plan on keeping that goal all through my mission becuase i want to have the opportunity to share with all the joy that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We had some interesting experiences this last week. One was with a lady that said she was baptized but her husband wasn’t and so she didn’t go to church but she wanted us to come back and share a little message with her. So we planned a little lesson and she was very warm and welcoming. We watched the finding faith in christ DVD and then after asked her what she thought of it and she thought it was a great one and loves Jesus Christ. Then after we bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and Joseph smith and then began her little rant. She went on and on about how Jesus Christ has no religion that he is the religion and Said that the authority in the Bible comes from the holy ghost which is in all of us. Many other strange things but we just politely excused ourselves becuase she wasn’t allowing the spirit to be there. Needless to say we’re not going back there and are praying for her heart to be softened.
The other day we were out contacting and it started raining so hard. Within minutes there was inches of water on the street and we were soaked. My companion wanted to go drop off our Bicycles and walk with umbrellas but i wouldn’t let him. We rode our bikes to an investigator but her husband wasn’t home so we couldn’t teach her. So we stood outside talking with her and her little son probably about 3 or 4 came out and stood in the rain then Pulled his pants down a little and Started peeing in the rain. =) I started cracking up It reminded me of all the little kids at the pool that would pull there pants down and Pee into the pool. What a life. A little boy without a care in the world. Then his mom noticed and Pulled his pants back up and then he came out a few minutes later and did it again. It quickly turned our wet soggy day very crisp and entertaining. I Laughed so hard.
We have an investigator right now named Manuel, he comes to church every week and faithfully reads the Book of mormon. Although he is having some struggles with some things at the moment. He has lived with his girlfriend for the last 30 years and they are still not married. She recieves Social security and that would be gone if they got married, BUT he is willing to do what he needs to to have the blessings of the Gospel. He also smokes but wants to quit that as well. He is a great man and if he can continue in faith he will be a great member of the Church and great example to his family.
Other than that we don’t have too much else going on. A little wet this week a little busy but i am getting used to it. I still want to kill the rooster. I am going to freeze when i come home. I have noticed a lot of people are recieving social security here and are living in the urbinizations paid for by the government but have Plasma TV’s and brand new cars. Hmmm. Something doesn’t seem right. But i really am beginning to love it. I Love Being a missionary and i love the chance to Grow."
Here they have many strange words that are not usually in the spanish language. The name for almost any car but mainly bigger cars and vans is Guagua ( Goo-aww-Goo-aww) then name for thanksgiving is Dia de accion de Gracias but they all say sans givin. They say Wiken ((weekend) but in spanish is fin de la semana) and many other silly little words that they know in english and just shorten. It makes me laugh. So as you can tell i am in a much happier mood this week than i was last week. I’m getting used to things and trying to work harder. Trying to forget myself for these two years. It’s a hard task but it can be done. Last night i made a goal to not pass a single house when Contacting and talk to everyperson that we see. I plan on keeping that goal all through my mission becuase i want to have the opportunity to share with all the joy that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We had some interesting experiences this last week. One was with a lady that said she was baptized but her husband wasn’t and so she didn’t go to church but she wanted us to come back and share a little message with her. So we planned a little lesson and she was very warm and welcoming. We watched the finding faith in christ DVD and then after asked her what she thought of it and she thought it was a great one and loves Jesus Christ. Then after we bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and Joseph smith and then began her little rant. She went on and on about how Jesus Christ has no religion that he is the religion and Said that the authority in the Bible comes from the holy ghost which is in all of us. Many other strange things but we just politely excused ourselves becuase she wasn’t allowing the spirit to be there. Needless to say we’re not going back there and are praying for her heart to be softened.
The other day we were out contacting and it started raining so hard. Within minutes there was inches of water on the street and we were soaked. My companion wanted to go drop off our Bicycles and walk with umbrellas but i wouldn’t let him. We rode our bikes to an investigator but her husband wasn’t home so we couldn’t teach her. So we stood outside talking with her and her little son probably about 3 or 4 came out and stood in the rain then Pulled his pants down a little and Started peeing in the rain. =) I started cracking up It reminded me of all the little kids at the pool that would pull there pants down and Pee into the pool. What a life. A little boy without a care in the world. Then his mom noticed and Pulled his pants back up and then he came out a few minutes later and did it again. It quickly turned our wet soggy day very crisp and entertaining. I Laughed so hard.
We have an investigator right now named Manuel, he comes to church every week and faithfully reads the Book of mormon. Although he is having some struggles with some things at the moment. He has lived with his girlfriend for the last 30 years and they are still not married. She recieves Social security and that would be gone if they got married, BUT he is willing to do what he needs to to have the blessings of the Gospel. He also smokes but wants to quit that as well. He is a great man and if he can continue in faith he will be a great member of the Church and great example to his family.
Other than that we don’t have too much else going on. A little wet this week a little busy but i am getting used to it. I still want to kill the rooster. I am going to freeze when i come home. I have noticed a lot of people are recieving social security here and are living in the urbinizations paid for by the government but have Plasma TV’s and brand new cars. Hmmm. Something doesn’t seem right. But i really am beginning to love it. I Love Being a missionary and i love the chance to Grow."
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"
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"
Nov. 9, 2008
"Woohoo! So this week was wonderful! Coming to the close of our firsty week here in the CCM it has been a different week but good. We had our teaching experience this last week and it was wonderful. We were able to go back and forth very smoothly and understand the investigator much better. Having the dominicans here makes it so much easier to understand spanish. We have continued to sing with Elder Gonzales and we sang i have a family here on earth and i started crying. Man i hate crying but i just really had a wonderful feeling of confirmation that i do ahve a fmaily here on earth and i will be able to live with them forever. I am so grateful for the wonderful blessings that i can experience here. Then the second verse i realized if i serve him well and do what i need to do i will be able to have a family of my own for eternity as erika will soon understand. What a great blessing we have to be born in the dispensation of the fullness of times and have the blessings of temple work in our day and age.
Friday we got special cookies from presidents wife and they are amazing. She makes the most amazing cookies. and i don't know if i told you guys but a few weeks ago President Harris's wife Made cookies "in honor of me" for every elder and sister here. She had them all bagged and everyrthing. They were amazing! Then Saturday, saturday's are the hardest day of the week here. We don't have Gym, we have MDT Class MDT Missionary Directed Time where we study and study and study. and only breaks for Breakfast Lunch and Dinner. ALL DAY IN THE SAME CLASSROOM! AAAHHH but We started adding in some verb games to not make it so Aburrido. Then sunday was fast sunday and probably one of the most spiritual fast's i ahve ever had! I have never really taken the words to heart of Fasting from food but feasting on the words of the lord. Being that the scriptures are our way of personal revelation It is so amazing how people including all of us can be directed to a certain scripture at certain times in our lives. Monday, i don't remember much of monday morning because our whole monday is focused on gearing up for our trip to the university. We went and it was wonderful the first few people we talked to weren't interested and it didn't bother me but my companion was having a hard time with it. We remembered the alst time we talked to a big group of people and decided to try it again. So we walked up to a group of 4 people and started talking to them and it was great things went smoothly then we asked if they wanted to elarn more and by what he said i became so frustrated. He said he had written his name down three times with three other missionaries like me and has never gotten a call. I was so frustrated with missionaries here and all over the world that don't do their job. I go out and make such an effort and try and make mistakes and work up a sweat to help other missionaries do their job and it makes me sad that they aren't doing what they need to to reap the fruits of our labor. We ended up walking away without a name or number. Then We walked over to another couple and they both signed. Then again our next one got angry with us and let us finish our short message and then told us he has one problem with us missionaries. He said "i was studying and trying to learn what i needed to and then you came along and just took some precious moments of my time. She has an exam now and we were trying to use these last few minutes to study so she can pass her class. My problem is this, you come and waste our time and say it is from god. I have a hard time believing that servants of God would interrupt people from their education."
we apologized for using his time promised him that our message would be worth the short amount of time and moved on. Then we met another man who Sincerely wanted a book of mormon and wanted to attend the church. He said that he loved what our church does for people that endure natural disasters and he wanted to be part of such a church. What a wonderful experience, now i hope he doesn't turn into one of the lost names that we seem to have from our contacting. It is a big pain in the rear. Our goal was 12 but we only got 5 contacts with lots of people that weren't ready. Tuesday we had our last large group meeting with president and his wife and that was good. I was in the back of the room and had elders falling asleep left and right and just sat and tried to catch what i could since it was in spanish. Then the last few days have just kinda passed by. I will write more a little later but now i need to get get my hair cut."
Friday we got special cookies from presidents wife and they are amazing. She makes the most amazing cookies. and i don't know if i told you guys but a few weeks ago President Harris's wife Made cookies "in honor of me" for every elder and sister here. She had them all bagged and everyrthing. They were amazing! Then Saturday, saturday's are the hardest day of the week here. We don't have Gym, we have MDT Class MDT Missionary Directed Time where we study and study and study. and only breaks for Breakfast Lunch and Dinner. ALL DAY IN THE SAME CLASSROOM! AAAHHH but We started adding in some verb games to not make it so Aburrido. Then sunday was fast sunday and probably one of the most spiritual fast's i ahve ever had! I have never really taken the words to heart of Fasting from food but feasting on the words of the lord. Being that the scriptures are our way of personal revelation It is so amazing how people including all of us can be directed to a certain scripture at certain times in our lives. Monday, i don't remember much of monday morning because our whole monday is focused on gearing up for our trip to the university. We went and it was wonderful the first few people we talked to weren't interested and it didn't bother me but my companion was having a hard time with it. We remembered the alst time we talked to a big group of people and decided to try it again. So we walked up to a group of 4 people and started talking to them and it was great things went smoothly then we asked if they wanted to elarn more and by what he said i became so frustrated. He said he had written his name down three times with three other missionaries like me and has never gotten a call. I was so frustrated with missionaries here and all over the world that don't do their job. I go out and make such an effort and try and make mistakes and work up a sweat to help other missionaries do their job and it makes me sad that they aren't doing what they need to to reap the fruits of our labor. We ended up walking away without a name or number. Then We walked over to another couple and they both signed. Then again our next one got angry with us and let us finish our short message and then told us he has one problem with us missionaries. He said "i was studying and trying to learn what i needed to and then you came along and just took some precious moments of my time. She has an exam now and we were trying to use these last few minutes to study so she can pass her class. My problem is this, you come and waste our time and say it is from god. I have a hard time believing that servants of God would interrupt people from their education."
we apologized for using his time promised him that our message would be worth the short amount of time and moved on. Then we met another man who Sincerely wanted a book of mormon and wanted to attend the church. He said that he loved what our church does for people that endure natural disasters and he wanted to be part of such a church. What a wonderful experience, now i hope he doesn't turn into one of the lost names that we seem to have from our contacting. It is a big pain in the rear. Our goal was 12 but we only got 5 contacts with lots of people that weren't ready. Tuesday we had our last large group meeting with president and his wife and that was good. I was in the back of the room and had elders falling asleep left and right and just sat and tried to catch what i could since it was in spanish. Then the last few days have just kinda passed by. I will write more a little later but now i need to get get my hair cut."
Oct. 30, 2008
"Hmm. This week passed again just as fast as the last. Study Study Study. I am using my study times even more affectively and it pays off. I GOT MY BALLOT. I am filling it out and then the mail goes out tomorrow. That measure about the THPRD NEEDS TO GO THROUGH. Then they can fix things like the boiler that goes out every year and be able to get things up and working like the lights in our pool that have a short.
But here in my world. The Dominicanos are great! My companion and i go into one of their rooms and teach them an english hymn every night. It's awesome. But we were singing last night and i forgot the words in english. I could remember every word in spanish but the english words slipped my mind. Then last night i got a little prideful about my memorization and offered to race a dominican that just got it all memorized and stupid me. He kicked my butt!. I wasn't even half way through it and he was done. Very Humbling experience. We teach him english words and he is helping us with out spanish. I can't wait till i'm fluent. Today we are doing the Endowment in spanish. I will definitely have a headset =) oh man.
We had set up an appointment to meet with this girl at the university on monday becuase last time we left here with an english pamphlet becuase she want's to talk english with us. So we were going to meet her but she never showed up. So much prayer and this sunday is fast sunday so hopefully we can see her again on monday and answer questions and help her find the Restored Gospel. Josh- i'm sorry i keep giving you advice but I LOVE PREACH MY GOSPEL. Start going through it and studying it. The lessons especially. They are great. I love Lesson Three. Thats all... =)
What else what else. We play basketball during our gym time and we had a pretty good system down and then all the domincans and they have completely different rules. They don't take the ball back. I swear they don't know what a foul is. and the scoring team gets the ball and they don't know what traveling is either. It makes the games interesting. It's pretty fun! I also started playing ping pong. It's way fun! I'm no good yet but i enjoy playing. But non missionaries who aren't supposed to be in our gym come in and break the balls and paddles and stuff so it makes it a pain to go and then not have a ball to play with. I usually play by myself anyway. Just fold it up like forest gump and go for it.
I am almost through Our heritage. WHAT A WONDERFUL BOOK! So many Miracles happened to the Saints. Their Faith was tried many times and they still kept going. Constantly moving constantly being attacked and constantly Trying to create a temple to Worship God. There is one story that Tells of a man who was tied up, and one of the guards walked over and said if you don't denounce mormonism right now i'll shoot you. and he replied never will i eny my god. and then the man tried to shoot him but the bullet would not fire. He seemed confused becuase he said his gun had never missed a shot. He cleaned it and tried again and still it would not fire. So he Cleaned it again and put a new pack in and tried again and it would not work. So the fourth time someone else cleaned it and he went for it the 4th time and his gun backfired killing the man who was trying to shoot the mormon. Crazy! So many stories and accounts of people that gave up everything they had to obey. Watched family members be killed and everything. Amazing Faith. It makes me feel like i have life so much easier. that there is nothing that i cannot do.
Another thing. I went to the Joseph Smith website the church has and was looking and some of the Documents they have there and i was just shocked at Joseph Smiths writing ability. What a Testimony to me that he was called of God. There are a few letter he wrote to Emma in Liberty Jail. He has terrible spelling and makes so many mistakes. For a man with that little education to produce a book so profound is a miracle and we are living it! We are seeing the fruits of those Pioneers who endured more trials than we could comprehend. But as the lord works to help us and guide us we know that satan tries just as hard. We have problems and trials in our day as well Much different but they are there. What an amazing blessing to be born in our day. Into families and Diversity and all the intricate details of our day.
There were some interesting times this week. We were talked to by the President about using our study time for things that our investigators will need. Some elders got on the subject of Cain. and whether Cain is alive or dead and it got pretty bad one elder went a little too far with it. But another elder started quoting Parly P Pratts Journal entries where it talks about his run in with Cain. and then president told us that that is of no importance to us at this time nor is it really important in any time of our lives. The main chunk of the Gospel we should focus on is the Atonement and Jesus Christ. Kind of like the Quote from Thomas Edison. "You and i have 16 hours in a day in which we can do something, the difference, you spend your time doing a bunch of unrelated things i spend all of mine focused on one thing and eventually my work is bound to amount to something." (paraphrased) Our purpose for coming to the earth is to prepare to meet god. I can be focused on something that will be more involved to my purpose in life at this moment. To help other Children of God to begin their preparations
Enough on that. Studying the scriptures has such a great impact on my day. In the Knowledge Christlike Attribute in Preach my gospel it says to Study the Scriptures Every day, and also the words of the living prophets. Why did i not do that before my mission? oh boy. It gives such great peace and comfort to my soul. At the university i am having a hard time being bold. In preach my gospel it tells us we need to be bold but not overbearing. This is people's salvation and not something to just say ok i understand if they say they are catholic or something else. I am practicing sharing with them the importance of our message.
Well my email is quite long and you're probab ly bored. I'm going to the temple."Life is not easy, becuase Salvation was not a cheap experience"Jeffrey R Holland.
I love Being a missionary!
Elder Ellis"
But here in my world. The Dominicanos are great! My companion and i go into one of their rooms and teach them an english hymn every night. It's awesome. But we were singing last night and i forgot the words in english. I could remember every word in spanish but the english words slipped my mind. Then last night i got a little prideful about my memorization and offered to race a dominican that just got it all memorized and stupid me. He kicked my butt!. I wasn't even half way through it and he was done. Very Humbling experience. We teach him english words and he is helping us with out spanish. I can't wait till i'm fluent. Today we are doing the Endowment in spanish. I will definitely have a headset =) oh man.
We had set up an appointment to meet with this girl at the university on monday becuase last time we left here with an english pamphlet becuase she want's to talk english with us. So we were going to meet her but she never showed up. So much prayer and this sunday is fast sunday so hopefully we can see her again on monday and answer questions and help her find the Restored Gospel. Josh- i'm sorry i keep giving you advice but I LOVE PREACH MY GOSPEL. Start going through it and studying it. The lessons especially. They are great. I love Lesson Three. Thats all... =)
What else what else. We play basketball during our gym time and we had a pretty good system down and then all the domincans and they have completely different rules. They don't take the ball back. I swear they don't know what a foul is. and the scoring team gets the ball and they don't know what traveling is either. It makes the games interesting. It's pretty fun! I also started playing ping pong. It's way fun! I'm no good yet but i enjoy playing. But non missionaries who aren't supposed to be in our gym come in and break the balls and paddles and stuff so it makes it a pain to go and then not have a ball to play with. I usually play by myself anyway. Just fold it up like forest gump and go for it.
I am almost through Our heritage. WHAT A WONDERFUL BOOK! So many Miracles happened to the Saints. Their Faith was tried many times and they still kept going. Constantly moving constantly being attacked and constantly Trying to create a temple to Worship God. There is one story that Tells of a man who was tied up, and one of the guards walked over and said if you don't denounce mormonism right now i'll shoot you. and he replied never will i eny my god. and then the man tried to shoot him but the bullet would not fire. He seemed confused becuase he said his gun had never missed a shot. He cleaned it and tried again and still it would not fire. So he Cleaned it again and put a new pack in and tried again and it would not work. So the fourth time someone else cleaned it and he went for it the 4th time and his gun backfired killing the man who was trying to shoot the mormon. Crazy! So many stories and accounts of people that gave up everything they had to obey. Watched family members be killed and everything. Amazing Faith. It makes me feel like i have life so much easier. that there is nothing that i cannot do.
Another thing. I went to the Joseph Smith website the church has and was looking and some of the Documents they have there and i was just shocked at Joseph Smiths writing ability. What a Testimony to me that he was called of God. There are a few letter he wrote to Emma in Liberty Jail. He has terrible spelling and makes so many mistakes. For a man with that little education to produce a book so profound is a miracle and we are living it! We are seeing the fruits of those Pioneers who endured more trials than we could comprehend. But as the lord works to help us and guide us we know that satan tries just as hard. We have problems and trials in our day as well Much different but they are there. What an amazing blessing to be born in our day. Into families and Diversity and all the intricate details of our day.
There were some interesting times this week. We were talked to by the President about using our study time for things that our investigators will need. Some elders got on the subject of Cain. and whether Cain is alive or dead and it got pretty bad one elder went a little too far with it. But another elder started quoting Parly P Pratts Journal entries where it talks about his run in with Cain. and then president told us that that is of no importance to us at this time nor is it really important in any time of our lives. The main chunk of the Gospel we should focus on is the Atonement and Jesus Christ. Kind of like the Quote from Thomas Edison. "You and i have 16 hours in a day in which we can do something, the difference, you spend your time doing a bunch of unrelated things i spend all of mine focused on one thing and eventually my work is bound to amount to something." (paraphrased) Our purpose for coming to the earth is to prepare to meet god. I can be focused on something that will be more involved to my purpose in life at this moment. To help other Children of God to begin their preparations
Enough on that. Studying the scriptures has such a great impact on my day. In the Knowledge Christlike Attribute in Preach my gospel it says to Study the Scriptures Every day, and also the words of the living prophets. Why did i not do that before my mission? oh boy. It gives such great peace and comfort to my soul. At the university i am having a hard time being bold. In preach my gospel it tells us we need to be bold but not overbearing. This is people's salvation and not something to just say ok i understand if they say they are catholic or something else. I am practicing sharing with them the importance of our message.
Well my email is quite long and you're probab ly bored. I'm going to the temple."Life is not easy, becuase Salvation was not a cheap experience"Jeffrey R Holland.
I love Being a missionary!
Elder Ellis"
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."
"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."
Oct.16
"October 16, 2008
Este semana pasado fue muy bien. It started with a big day of service on last thursday. We sweat a whole lot and all enjoyed it. Then Friday and saturday rolled around. So far friday and saturday are my least favorite days. In los estados unidos i would have something to do. It's the weekend lets do something... but in the CCM friday and saturday are just like every other day. Sundays are great however. We get nap time which feels like one of the most divine blessings we have =) and time to write letters... letters not emails.
But back into the mission. Lately we have been focusing on using scriptures effectively. Introducing a scripture and then having them read it then helping them understand it and apply it. So earlier when i Told josh to study the scriptures thats a more focused study plan for you. START NOW! learn how to do all of that. It will make your MTC experience better if you are learning a language, not to mention the amount knowledge you have before you go into the MTC.
On sunday we also got to watch Jeffrey R Holland in his Devotional at the MTC in 2000. It is magnificent. Nothing has ever given me such a strong testimony of the power a mission can have as his talk did. He speaks with power directness and Authority. What a wonderful Man. I stress the Greatness of that in hopes that you will be able to find it to watch and maybe show the young men if you feel so inspired.
one monday we went to the university again. My spanish is coming along nicely but i can't understand hardley a thing they say back. I try to translate it and then end up a few sentances behind them and then just say no entiendo (i don't understand). We had a goal of 6 Refferals and this week we realized we're talking way to much and need to bring our goal up to 10. we talked with another lady for 20 minutes. She was catholic and loved when we read out of the book of mormon becuase she knew they were inspired words. She just didn't understand why we needed another book. I recited the first vision to her in spanish (from memory) and she said Amen amen amen the whole way through but she never quiet understood. or maybe there was something i didn't understand. Probably the latter. then i realized we had taken way to much time so apologized and said we ahd to go. We said goodbye and then as we were walking up we saw a guy that said he already had a book of mormon and said that his family didn't want any of it in their house so he asked where he could get more answers so i gave him a pass along card and showed him the web site. THEN it started to Rain like a mad man. POURING... It only rained for 5 minutes and by the time it stopped we were soak to our skivveys. Completely wet. Swimming in my shoes. Then liek i said it stopped in 5 minutes. We started to walk back to the CCM and we were standing on the street corner. Cars are crazy here so we were just waiting to cross and a big bus with people hanging off every side comes driving by. Just like in a movie me and my companion Got our whole lower halfs soaked. The bus hit i big puddle and just drenched our legs. THEN we kept walking up this little hill and a little love bug was stopped. Just cranking his engine. Just would not let off the ignition. So we walked and i wanted to help and other missionaries were saying no no come on we have to go. and I would just let him sit there becuase there was no way any other drivers were going to stop. If you could see it you would know exactly why. So i ran up and asked if he needed help, he shook his head yes. So i got on the side and pushed pushed pushed. Since it was on a hill it rolled back a few feet and then some other elders started to help and we got it up the hill. It was sputting all the way up the hill then he finally got it in gear and started to go. Now we were soaking wet and hands black from all the dirt on his car. we walked the rest of the way back and then later that night my first case of Churria hit. =) only lasted for an evening thank heavens but boy was it unpleasant. We learned this neat new word becuase someone had heard it and didn't know what it was so they asked their teacher and it spread like wild fire.
Then we had a wonderful Meeting on tuesday with the Caribe area president he shook every missionaries hand and walked around as he talked wth us. It was wonderful. FYI there are about 50 missionaries here. all the guy are at the north end of the 4th floor the middle section is all classrooms and the south end is the 4 girls rooms. Next week we say goodbye to all the Haitian elders and then we have 30 Latino elders coming in. I am very excited. We will be using spanish much more and hopefully get much better at it.
on tuesday we got to go to the store the Tienda. I wanted to get some regular food that i'm a little more used to and so i did i got two cans of pringles. and sadly they are already gone. We only had an hour and so it was hard to decide what i wanted to get. i got a pretty Cool Shirt. Pretty redneck but pretty cool.
I Love being here i love being able to experience a completely different culture and completely different language. It is by no means easy work. and i mean it in all seriousness just being in the MTC has probably been one of the hardest things i have ever done in my life. To sit and study For hour after hour every day of the week is very draining physically emotionally and mentally.I love being a missionary. It's hard but it's worth it!"
Este semana pasado fue muy bien. It started with a big day of service on last thursday. We sweat a whole lot and all enjoyed it. Then Friday and saturday rolled around. So far friday and saturday are my least favorite days. In los estados unidos i would have something to do. It's the weekend lets do something... but in the CCM friday and saturday are just like every other day. Sundays are great however. We get nap time which feels like one of the most divine blessings we have =) and time to write letters... letters not emails.
But back into the mission. Lately we have been focusing on using scriptures effectively. Introducing a scripture and then having them read it then helping them understand it and apply it. So earlier when i Told josh to study the scriptures thats a more focused study plan for you. START NOW! learn how to do all of that. It will make your MTC experience better if you are learning a language, not to mention the amount knowledge you have before you go into the MTC.
On sunday we also got to watch Jeffrey R Holland in his Devotional at the MTC in 2000. It is magnificent. Nothing has ever given me such a strong testimony of the power a mission can have as his talk did. He speaks with power directness and Authority. What a wonderful Man. I stress the Greatness of that in hopes that you will be able to find it to watch and maybe show the young men if you feel so inspired.
one monday we went to the university again. My spanish is coming along nicely but i can't understand hardley a thing they say back. I try to translate it and then end up a few sentances behind them and then just say no entiendo (i don't understand). We had a goal of 6 Refferals and this week we realized we're talking way to much and need to bring our goal up to 10. we talked with another lady for 20 minutes. She was catholic and loved when we read out of the book of mormon becuase she knew they were inspired words. She just didn't understand why we needed another book. I recited the first vision to her in spanish (from memory) and she said Amen amen amen the whole way through but she never quiet understood. or maybe there was something i didn't understand. Probably the latter. then i realized we had taken way to much time so apologized and said we ahd to go. We said goodbye and then as we were walking up we saw a guy that said he already had a book of mormon and said that his family didn't want any of it in their house so he asked where he could get more answers so i gave him a pass along card and showed him the web site. THEN it started to Rain like a mad man. POURING... It only rained for 5 minutes and by the time it stopped we were soak to our skivveys. Completely wet. Swimming in my shoes. Then liek i said it stopped in 5 minutes. We started to walk back to the CCM and we were standing on the street corner. Cars are crazy here so we were just waiting to cross and a big bus with people hanging off every side comes driving by. Just like in a movie me and my companion Got our whole lower halfs soaked. The bus hit i big puddle and just drenched our legs. THEN we kept walking up this little hill and a little love bug was stopped. Just cranking his engine. Just would not let off the ignition. So we walked and i wanted to help and other missionaries were saying no no come on we have to go. and I would just let him sit there becuase there was no way any other drivers were going to stop. If you could see it you would know exactly why. So i ran up and asked if he needed help, he shook his head yes. So i got on the side and pushed pushed pushed. Since it was on a hill it rolled back a few feet and then some other elders started to help and we got it up the hill. It was sputting all the way up the hill then he finally got it in gear and started to go. Now we were soaking wet and hands black from all the dirt on his car. we walked the rest of the way back and then later that night my first case of Churria hit. =) only lasted for an evening thank heavens but boy was it unpleasant. We learned this neat new word becuase someone had heard it and didn't know what it was so they asked their teacher and it spread like wild fire.
Then we had a wonderful Meeting on tuesday with the Caribe area president he shook every missionaries hand and walked around as he talked wth us. It was wonderful. FYI there are about 50 missionaries here. all the guy are at the north end of the 4th floor the middle section is all classrooms and the south end is the 4 girls rooms. Next week we say goodbye to all the Haitian elders and then we have 30 Latino elders coming in. I am very excited. We will be using spanish much more and hopefully get much better at it.
on tuesday we got to go to the store the Tienda. I wanted to get some regular food that i'm a little more used to and so i did i got two cans of pringles. and sadly they are already gone. We only had an hour and so it was hard to decide what i wanted to get. i got a pretty Cool Shirt. Pretty redneck but pretty cool.
I Love being here i love being able to experience a completely different culture and completely different language. It is by no means easy work. and i mean it in all seriousness just being in the MTC has probably been one of the hardest things i have ever done in my life. To sit and study For hour after hour every day of the week is very draining physically emotionally and mentally.I love being a missionary. It's hard but it's worth it!"
Some e-mails:
"October 9,2008
So this week was crazy! First week in La Republica Dominica, and nosotros fuimos a la universidad. First week and my distrito went to the university. CRAZY! Ahhh we weren't ready for it at all. (this was monday) We went to the university to practice contacting. Meeting people and getting to know a little bit about them and what they believe then asking them if they would like to learn about waht we believe. Many people here are very friendly but also many people are very almost offended i guess. Becuase they say only rich people come to help them. I'm not very rich. Wow... Big thunderstorm outside right now. Crazy! but We talked with a few people and saw very little clothing. AAAHHH... got 4 refferals and the last one we talked with for 20 minutes. She talked so fast and we held on to just the little things we could. She would ask us if we understood and sometimes we would understand a few things and so we would say yes then she would ask us what we understood and we couldn't say anything back to her and so she just kept laughing at us and trying to help us. She would correct things we said. We ended up giving her a book of mormon. What an awesome experience. She wanted to know what time we had church on sunday and so we had to explain that we had church in the CCM and so we didin't know what time the church was. We went back and had our normal meals. Breakfast in the CCM or Desayuno consist of Pan (Bread) Cereal (cereal =p) and Fruit. FRESH FRUIT. FRESH BANANAS FRESH PAPAYA AND FRESH PINAPPLE. So good! Oh my word. Papaya is so soft and refreshing. But that is our breakfast EVERY DAY! then Almuerzo(Lunch) Pollo (chicken) Carne (usually Beef) Arroz (Rice 3 different kinds. yellow white and this stuff called ConCon it's like a big pancake of Burnt rice. Its crispy and pretty much just burnt. its good though. Habichuelas (Beans) then more pan (bread) and Jugo (juice mango, orange and some other flavor.) and then Cena (dinner) is a little different every night unlike breakfast and lunch. Either Tacos Fajitas pasta or whatever other american meal they want to try to copy. and That always turns out interesting. =) Same meals every day. Its great!
Then we have just been working on our spanish and conjugating verbs. That is the hardest part for me. I have an extensive vocab in spanish but don't know the grammer quite yet. and it might take a while to get to that point. i feel like i need Six weeks just relearn the gospel in spanish. The names are all different. Talking about the priesthood or sacerdocio the names for peter james and john are Pedro Santiago y Juan. AH MI MADRE! so every time you watch Napoleon Dynamite just think his name is peter in english. Woohoo!
Not too many other things happened. I will send a picture or two with some of our hatian friends. There is a big group of Hatian Missionaries here and they all speak french. It's hard to communicate but some of them know a little english and we teach each other here and there. I know that Yellow is Juon Brown is Maron White is Blan Red is Ruj and blue is blu and black is nowa. I doubt those are the right spellings but woohoo my colors in french. Now back to spanish. Other than those things we have been learning learning learning. My MTC experience was much easier and less frustrating than my CCM experience has been so far. The teacher here are much different they teach in a much different way and sometimes they try to speak english to us and its almost easier for us when they speak in spanish.
This week the presidents wife took us to the temple to do baptisms and that was so cool. We got to do it all confirm and Baptize each other. So as of yet in my mission i have baptized 5 People! Woohoo! Not even out of the CCM and i have Baptisms.
Next week we get to go to the Dominican Republic equivelant of walmart. i am excited. I have heard there are some nice ties made from people here in Republica Dominicana.
Today we went to the temple this morning and got to go through and endowment session. It was in english luckily but the last part was in spanish. a hard communication barier there. The temple is much bigger than i thought it would be and it is beautiful with palm trees and lizards everywhere. after the temple we were walking back and the water truck arrived so we helped them unload probably 55 water jugs to take up to our reserve on the 4th floor. HOLY COW!!! i got so sweaty. but it felt so good to help. After we ate our meat rice and beans then went to the Universidad to pick up trash in the parque. TONS OF TRASH!!! I WAS SHOCKED. and i have never sweat so much in my life. While we were there these guys asked me about the Hermanas. and asked if they were single. The men here seem to be interested in white women. and i replied No Lo siento. Las mujeres van 2 anos sino hombres. The women go two years without men. they all started laughing. Then as i walked by a couple the guy said Quierre Conocer. i beleive he was asking if i wanted to get to know his Girlfriend. and i said no lo siento despues de mi mision posible. No after my mission maybe. Pero Ahora nosotros Hablamos sobre Jesucristo. But now we can talk about Jesus Christ. =) again more laughing.
My time is about up. But this sums up my week. Lots of Spanish Lots of Rice Lots or Beans Lots of SWEATING. I Love IT!
I love Being a Missionary"
So this week was crazy! First week in La Republica Dominica, and nosotros fuimos a la universidad. First week and my distrito went to the university. CRAZY! Ahhh we weren't ready for it at all. (this was monday) We went to the university to practice contacting. Meeting people and getting to know a little bit about them and what they believe then asking them if they would like to learn about waht we believe. Many people here are very friendly but also many people are very almost offended i guess. Becuase they say only rich people come to help them. I'm not very rich. Wow... Big thunderstorm outside right now. Crazy! but We talked with a few people and saw very little clothing. AAAHHH... got 4 refferals and the last one we talked with for 20 minutes. She talked so fast and we held on to just the little things we could. She would ask us if we understood and sometimes we would understand a few things and so we would say yes then she would ask us what we understood and we couldn't say anything back to her and so she just kept laughing at us and trying to help us. She would correct things we said. We ended up giving her a book of mormon. What an awesome experience. She wanted to know what time we had church on sunday and so we had to explain that we had church in the CCM and so we didin't know what time the church was. We went back and had our normal meals. Breakfast in the CCM or Desayuno consist of Pan (Bread) Cereal (cereal =p) and Fruit. FRESH FRUIT. FRESH BANANAS FRESH PAPAYA AND FRESH PINAPPLE. So good! Oh my word. Papaya is so soft and refreshing. But that is our breakfast EVERY DAY! then Almuerzo(Lunch) Pollo (chicken) Carne (usually Beef) Arroz (Rice 3 different kinds. yellow white and this stuff called ConCon it's like a big pancake of Burnt rice. Its crispy and pretty much just burnt. its good though. Habichuelas (Beans) then more pan (bread) and Jugo (juice mango, orange and some other flavor.) and then Cena (dinner) is a little different every night unlike breakfast and lunch. Either Tacos Fajitas pasta or whatever other american meal they want to try to copy. and That always turns out interesting. =) Same meals every day. Its great!
Then we have just been working on our spanish and conjugating verbs. That is the hardest part for me. I have an extensive vocab in spanish but don't know the grammer quite yet. and it might take a while to get to that point. i feel like i need Six weeks just relearn the gospel in spanish. The names are all different. Talking about the priesthood or sacerdocio the names for peter james and john are Pedro Santiago y Juan. AH MI MADRE! so every time you watch Napoleon Dynamite just think his name is peter in english. Woohoo!
Not too many other things happened. I will send a picture or two with some of our hatian friends. There is a big group of Hatian Missionaries here and they all speak french. It's hard to communicate but some of them know a little english and we teach each other here and there. I know that Yellow is Juon Brown is Maron White is Blan Red is Ruj and blue is blu and black is nowa. I doubt those are the right spellings but woohoo my colors in french. Now back to spanish. Other than those things we have been learning learning learning. My MTC experience was much easier and less frustrating than my CCM experience has been so far. The teacher here are much different they teach in a much different way and sometimes they try to speak english to us and its almost easier for us when they speak in spanish.
This week the presidents wife took us to the temple to do baptisms and that was so cool. We got to do it all confirm and Baptize each other. So as of yet in my mission i have baptized 5 People! Woohoo! Not even out of the CCM and i have Baptisms.
Next week we get to go to the Dominican Republic equivelant of walmart. i am excited. I have heard there are some nice ties made from people here in Republica Dominicana.
Today we went to the temple this morning and got to go through and endowment session. It was in english luckily but the last part was in spanish. a hard communication barier there. The temple is much bigger than i thought it would be and it is beautiful with palm trees and lizards everywhere. after the temple we were walking back and the water truck arrived so we helped them unload probably 55 water jugs to take up to our reserve on the 4th floor. HOLY COW!!! i got so sweaty. but it felt so good to help. After we ate our meat rice and beans then went to the Universidad to pick up trash in the parque. TONS OF TRASH!!! I WAS SHOCKED. and i have never sweat so much in my life. While we were there these guys asked me about the Hermanas. and asked if they were single. The men here seem to be interested in white women. and i replied No Lo siento. Las mujeres van 2 anos sino hombres. The women go two years without men. they all started laughing. Then as i walked by a couple the guy said Quierre Conocer. i beleive he was asking if i wanted to get to know his Girlfriend. and i said no lo siento despues de mi mision posible. No after my mission maybe. Pero Ahora nosotros Hablamos sobre Jesucristo. But now we can talk about Jesus Christ. =) again more laughing.
My time is about up. But this sums up my week. Lots of Spanish Lots of Rice Lots or Beans Lots of SWEATING. I Love IT!
I love Being a Missionary"
Sorry!!
Sorry guys for not updating! It's mid-terms for me so I'm runnin' a little behind on things. Here is Elder Ellis' address:
Elder Ellis
Centro de Capacitacion Misional
Bolivar #825 Esq. Génesis Los Robles
Santo Domingo Republica Dominicana
Elder Ellis
Centro de Capacitacion Misional
Bolivar #825 Esq. Génesis Los Robles
Santo Domingo Republica Dominicana
New Pictures
Hey everyone! Elder Ellis sent us some pictures. Just look to the right and click on the little box that says "mission pictures"
He is in the Dominican Republic!!
Elder Ellis
CCM Dominican Republic
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City 84130-0150
"as for mail we have the pouch and it has been narrowed down to a timeline of 4 days to 4 months for letters and such to get here."
He is doing great!! He gave our family phone calls at the airports to say hello and speak in spanish. It was really cool.
CCM Dominican Republic
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City 84130-0150
"as for mail we have the pouch and it has been narrowed down to a timeline of 4 days to 4 months for letters and such to get here."
He is doing great!! He gave our family phone calls at the airports to say hello and speak in spanish. It was really cool.
One more step closer to Puerto Rico!!
Well hello everyone!! Here is a little bit from Elder Ellis:
"I started balling in class becuase i realized for the first time so far i really miss my family. I really do. I am so glad that GOD DOES HAVE A PLAN FOR US AND FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER!!! What a blessing to know that. That no matter what happens we will be able to be with each other. This week we taught on the plan of salvation and it was a very humbling experience for my companion and I. We didn't necesarily study it before our teaching appointment and were searching for scriptures left and right. We focused on spanish a little more and so i guess it was a fair trade off. My spanish is coming along better. I feel like each day i start with a wall in front of me and i cna't learn any more spanish, then i realize at the end of the night some how i made it through."
Elder Ellis is LOVING what he is doing!! As far as what his plans are, today is the last day he is in the MTC in Provo and tomorrow he is leaving for his next adventure!! As soon as I know the address I will post it so he can have letter sent to him. Thanks for all your love and support!
"I started balling in class becuase i realized for the first time so far i really miss my family. I really do. I am so glad that GOD DOES HAVE A PLAN FOR US AND FAMILIES CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER!!! What a blessing to know that. That no matter what happens we will be able to be with each other. This week we taught on the plan of salvation and it was a very humbling experience for my companion and I. We didn't necesarily study it before our teaching appointment and were searching for scriptures left and right. We focused on spanish a little more and so i guess it was a fair trade off. My spanish is coming along better. I feel like each day i start with a wall in front of me and i cna't learn any more spanish, then i realize at the end of the night some how i made it through."
Elder Ellis is LOVING what he is doing!! As far as what his plans are, today is the last day he is in the MTC in Provo and tomorrow he is leaving for his next adventure!! As soon as I know the address I will post it so he can have letter sent to him. Thanks for all your love and support!
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