Thanks to everyone

Hi all, this is Liz, I just wanted to thank everyone who sent Isaac notes, cards, treats and gifts this year. He felt thoroughly spoiled and very taken care of. He has an amazing support system and Luke and I appreciate all of you! Our Christmas call was wonderful. Isaac sounds very happy. He is really enjoying his mission and is completely immersed in sharing the gospel.
He misses everyone, but is very focused on what he is doing. He loves the people in New Jersey although he says that Jersey in general is a filthy place.

During his mission he is able to attend the temple every 6 months, so he has gone to the Manhattan Temple three times so far. He has a family who he will get to go to temple with before he comes home. If your investigator/convert goes to the temple and you are still in the mission they allow you to accompany them. So he is very excited about that.

Again, thanks to those who sent Christmas packages. And as always we appreciate you keeping Isaac in your prayers. He is busy doing the Lord's work and we are grateful for his faithful service.

Love you all,
Liz

After Christmas email.....

Things are going well here in New Jersey. This week is looking to be a good week. We have a baptism scheduled for Saturday and for Sunday. Jeyckof should be getting baptized on Saturday, and his mom Jacqueline is getting baptized on Sunday, finally. We are going over tomorrow with the bishop and his wife, so that'll be good.

I know that the emails are usually shorter than mom likes, but not much has changed since Friday. Saturday was rainy, and slightly miserable in that regard. It should not rain in December, that to me seems barbaric, but, what can I do about it. I got a little sick afterwards, but I am feeling better.

Transfers are a week from Wednesday, we don't know when we will get the transfer fax, whether on Saturday night or not until Monday night. If I know what's up I'll give you the word. Last time the transfer fax didn't come until Monday night, so we had no idea when we emailed what was happening. We're pretty certain that Elder McBroom is gone this transfer, he has been in this area for 6 months now, and this is his first area. I'll most likely stay, and who knows? maybe I'll train or something.

Ha, I just discovered that with this new email system I can add emoticons, umm, anyways

I was looking at the calendar, and it would not be unreasonable if I was still in this area until mothers day. This next transfer will be in February, and I'll likely still stay, after that the next transfer is on March 31, and there is a big chance that I'll leave then, after that the transfers are on May12th, a few days after Mother's Day, so there is still a possibility that I'd be here.

We have a couple other investigators that are getting close to baptism. We found a new investigator a few weeks ago named Carlos, he is from Guatemala, he is really humble and really cool. Last time that we met with him we taught him the first lesson, and he accepted everything really well, he is really cool. We are hoping soon to set him with a baptismal date, he would've come to church I believe if he hadn't gone to Pennsylvania over Christmas, he wasn't sure if he'd be back by Sunday, we have an appointment on Tuesday.

Well, I better get going, I still need to write president, and put together the baptismal program from Jeyckof. I love and miss you all,

Love,

Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Email delayed till Wed.

We received a short email from Isaac yesterday. One line......
email will be on Wednesday.

Brief but to the point. Check back on Wed. if you want to see the latest news.

Liz

Joy to the World!

I love the Christmas season. It really is the best time to be a missionary. I'm glad that you got the Christmas cards. I sent ones out to all the addresses I had, but I don't have the address for Aunt Susan and Uncle Jason, or the address for Uncle Paul.
This week has been really good. We currently have 2 baptismal dates. Jacqueline will be getting baptized on Sunday! I am super excited. The bishop here will perform the baptism, and her son Jeyckof also chose a day to be baptized. He wants to be baptized on the 2nd of January, but he doesn't want a lot of people to be there, so he doesn't want to do it on a Sunday. Things are going great here.
Last night we had the Christmas Fireside. It was really good. It was really nice to see a lot of the people I love from the Union City ward and a few from Englewood were even there. Norbert was there, it was great to see him again. He mentioned that he reads your blog now, thank you for adding him.
The work is going forward here in WNY. This last week has been a little crazy with meetings, we had Zone meeting, Mission conference, and the Christmas Brunch at the mission home, and the fireside last night, so we didn't get a whole lot of "missionary work" done, but this week is going to be amazing. One thing that President Bahr mentioned in mission conference about getting through tough times is to remember the "Law of Compensation" the Lord compensates us for our faith in trials. I have noticed that every time we have a week jam-packed with meetings the week after is really spectacular. Such a stronger spirit after being so spiritually fed!
I hope that everything is going well at home. I'm glad to hear Ian will finally get his cast off. I hope Em had a blast on her first date. I remember that before leaving I teased her a bit, saying "Em, when I get home you will be 16! and you'll be dating boys!" She just scowled at me and said "No I won"t" But, well, I was right. I am glad to hear that it went well. I hope that school went well for Nick, good luck on those grades!
I'm glad to be a missionary here in this mission, I know that the Lord is behind this work, and I know that the church is true. I am so glad to be able to share that testimony with people every day, the more I share it the more it grows.
I love you so much, and I miss you all a ton. I hope you have a good week, I can't wait to talk to you in 12 days. I need to make the Baptismal Program for Jacqueline right now, I gotta go.
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth.

I loved Mr. Krueger!

I don't know if you've ever seen the old video "Mr Kreuger's Christmas" That the church made in, I think, 1980, starring Jimmy Stewart? well, we watched that yesterday with one of our members, and it was pretty cheesy, but a sweet Christmas video. So, that's about all I could come up with for the "clever tag line"

This week has been pretty good. The First Presidency Christmas Devotional last night was amazing! I hope you got the opportunity to see that. Last year I didn't get to see it because the New City Ward didn't broadcast it. Not a lot of people came, but it was amazing! The music was really good, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra on Temple Square. We even had an investigator come!

This week has been pretty good, we're still hard-pressed to find new investigators. Elder McBroom has been here for almost 5 months now, and has knocked about every door in the whole area. Of course, that's not hard when the area is only 11 blocks wide. We had some amazing lessons this week. Jacqueline is progressing towards her date on the 20th of this month, and will be baptized soon.

This week is going to be a little crazy. First of all, we have an all-mission conference in Morristown on Wednesday, That'll take pretty much the whole day, we also have the Christmas "brunch" in the mission home on Thursday, I don't know how long that is going to take, but it'll be nice. Last year we did kind of a "Christmas dinner" with the mission pres and his wife. I guess they didn't want to take away our evening as much this year.

I am also really excited for Christmas. Today I printed off Christmas Card to send to everyone, and as far as anything I need goes, I really don't need anything right now. I would like to get the new bible in Spanish, I was going to order one, but I would like to get it engraved with my name on it, but I really don't 'need' it.

I hope that everything is going well, I hope that everyone enjoys the Christmas season, and that things continue to go well! I hope that Nick does well on his finals, and I wish Dad the best of luck in his new calling. I think that it's kind of funny. I was thinking about it, and Dad has been a scoutmaster in every single ward we've lived in, I think. When you moved I was thinking, and predicted that, well, the logic fits, he'll be a scoutmaster again for sure!
I got to go, but I'll write again next week.
Merry Christmas!

Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

December.... and its not even cold yet!

It's December, and it hasn't even got any lower that 40 degrees. It feels a little chilly, but not nearly like it did last winter up in Rockland. I don't even know if we'll have a white Christmas here. The only part that really makes it cold is the wind chill.

As far as transfers go, there is really not much change. We have a new district leader and zone leader, but Elder McBroom and I are still together. We'll be together until probably January 6th, then he'll likely leave the area, but we never know.

This week has been good. Thanksgiving was good, we had a couple of appointments, but the rest of the day was kind of bummer, it's all good, though, we still taught 25 lessons this week, 6 member presents, and found 3 new investigators.

We hopefully will be having a baptism. Jacqueline (this whole time I've been spelling it wrong) is praying about whether to be baptized the 13th or the 20th. We are going by tommorrow, and will hopefully be able to set her with a solid date. We have seen her progress a lot. She has been taught on and off for quite a while, we just need to get her in the water! Her son Jeyckof we have set with a tenative date for the 3rd, meaning he gave us his usual answer of "I try."

Yesterday we had the Christmas fireside in Morristown. We have been practicing for a couple weeks getting ready, it was really quite amazing. The spirit was really strong. We'll be having another one in Union City on the 13th of December. I'm excited, we are trying really hard to invite all of our investigators and make sure that they come. The spirit was really strong last night at the fireside in Morristown.

It was a little down-heartening when we went last night, though. I was there, and the only time I've been on that half of the mission was when I was in Clinton, and I was only there for 6 weeks. No one recognized me. I said hi to a few people, and one of the members from there looked at me funny and said "did you serve in Clinton?" I said yes and she said "oh, okay," and walked away. I remember when I left Clinton I gave my testimony on Fast Sunday, and made a comment that went along the lines of "I'm almost afraid that I didn't have time to accomplish anything in this ward, I'm afraid that no one will even remember my name." and well, I was right.

It's okay, though, In a lot of my other areas I've done a lot of good. Elder Alldredge, our new district leader, just got transferred here from Rockland, and said that they are still talking about me there. I know also that a lot of people in Union City were sad that I left, and almost upset that I didn't have the chance to say goodbye. a lot of people were really excited to see me at the wedding.

Well, I gotta go, I'm about out of time. Love you!
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Turkey Day

Man, I had just written the email, then it all got deleted, so I'm sorry if this one is a little shorter.
Thanksgiving is looking good so far, we have a dinner set up with our new investigator, Marina and her Husband, Ronald. We have talked to them a couple times, and yesterday we finally got in the door. We taught her, well, I taught her in Spanish while Elder McBroom was busy talking to her husband. We have an appointment to Thursday to go and eat Thanksgiving dinner.
As far as transfers go, this Wednesday is transfers, and so far, we don't know if either of us is getting transferred, when we know, I don't know. hopefully tonight so that there will be time to pack.
Also, bad news, I lost our cell phone today, which means that if I can't find it It will cost me $50, and that will have to come out of my personal funds, and that is not so cool. I'll let you know next week.
Okay, picture time, I have a lot of pictures to send, so this is probably just email #1.
These first three are from the mission hike we took a few weeks ago. The first one is of Elder Boyer and I. (P.S. I took these pictures from another Elders camera, and I forgot my flash drive, so I need to send them all to you and to my email so I can rescue them next week) There are 12 pictures in total.

Choir + Glasses + Missionary Work

So, again the letter is a little later than usual. However, I guess it was kind of a good thing, since it gave you time to get the letter written. I hope that everything is going well with school/work. by the way, mom, what is your thesis about? You and Dad have both mentioned it quite a few times, I was just wondering about it. I hope you do well with it, even though it is a little stressful, I know it will be worth it.
Well, things are going well here in New Jersey. The reason why the letter is later this week is because of two reasons:
1) we had choir practice, which put us back a little bit. I had been practicing for the last week or two, but now I don't know if I'll be accompanying at all at the fireside, but, whatever happens it'll be good. The other reason is today I had another eye appointment. When I went in last week to pick up my glasses, they were not the right prescription, so I went in again to get it checked out again, and this time we got it right. I don't know what my old prescription is, but my new one for my glasses is -4.75 in the left eye and -5.50 in the right. I also got the thinner lenses, so that cost me an additional $32. Next week I'll pick them up, and this whole ordeal will be behind me, and I'll have my new glasses.
This last week was really good. On Saturday I got to go to the wedding of Yawdy and Gabriel, it was really good. I think that is the first time that I have ever been to a wedding in my life. Gabriel was then baptized yesterday. It was really good to partake of that. In a year when they go to the temple, I want to go with them, but that won't be until after my mission ends, but I really want to come back and see that. I'll make sure to send pictures next week from the wedding.
As for my area, things are also going really well here. We should be having a baptism fairly soon. We have an investigator, Jacklyn, set for the 21st of November. We are also hoping that her son, Jeyckof, who has been investigating for over a year, will also decide to follow the example of his mom and be baptized the same day. When that happens I will most definitely have some Pic's!
My companion and I are doing well. This week we have a lot of things planned, it will be pretty bomb. Tommorrow we already have 4 appointments set pretty much back to back. Things are really picking up well in the area. I am really glad to be working with such a a great companion. Elder McBroom is a really hard working missionary. He has a lot of good ideas about how to do missionary work. He has a lot of faith, and even though he is really young in the mission, his spanish is pretty good.
I am really excited to hear that Tyler is going on a mission. Definitely give him my email address: I don't know what the rules are everywhere, but I know that in our mission we are allowed to email direct family members, and friends that are on missions. I've been keeping in contact with Jimmy Newland via email.
I hope that everything goes well for you, I love and miss you so much, don't miss me too much...
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Late.....Hike.......

Sorry that the email is so late this week. We had a mission wide hike today in Boonton New Jersey, and we just barely got back from that.

I'm really sorry to hear about Ian. Is he doing better? That sound really painful. I really hope that he is feeling better by now. Fortunately, I've never broken a bone, but it sounds painful. I'm also excited that Ian will get the priesthood in a couple weeks. I know his Birthday is on the 14th right?
by the way, this is slightly embarrassing... but I am not entirely sure on the dates of importance in November. I think that Ian's is on the 14th, Mom's is on the 17th, and Emily's is on the 27th, but I'm not entirely sure. I remember about a month ago when I tried to get new glasses, and to look up Mom's insurance they asked me for her date of birth, and I was stumped. please correct me if I am wrong on those dates.

In other news, things are going well here in the new area. We currently have one baptismal date. Her name is Jacklyn, she is from Colombia. She has a date to be baptized on the 21st of this month, she is pretty prepared, but we do need to reteach her basically all the lessons. I think that she really understands the importance of baptism, and wants to be baptized, but right now she doesn't really have a testimony yet of if the Book of Mormon is true and if Jose Smith (as we say it in Spanish) was really a prophet, but she has a desire to know, and that is the first step.

We have a pretty good teaching pool, well, a lot of people, at least. People are dropping off like flies, but we do have a couple of really bomb investigators.

Oh, also, another random Sidetrack, Today we went on a hike out in the woods here in Jersey, almost everyone in the whole mission was there. President Bahr shared some good testimony with us. The area was really pretty, and I only twisted my ankle once! It was really difficult to hike because the ground was covered in leaves, so it made it difficult to see the trail and that rocks and roots that could trip you up. Really cool, though it did kill about 80% of our P-day.

This evening we also have an appointment with another really cool investigator. She has definitely felt the spirit, and I think that she knows that the Book of Mormon is true, but she wont come to church. We are bringing a couple of members with us as well, so, it'll be good.

I love you guys and miss you a lot. I hope Ian gets to feeling better soon, and I hope that everything goes well for you. I'm sorry that the email is a little short, we are a little short on time. Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Noche de las Brujas

This week is Halloween, which means two things, 1 October is almost over, finally. I must admit, Halloween is my least favorite holiday, I'm tired of walking around seeing fake decapitated heads and other stupid decorations. Also, On both Halloween day and on Mischeif Night, 30th, we need to be in before dark, so not much is going to be accomplshed.
One thing I am excited for though, is that this year the mission will be doing another Christmas fireside. We'll be having Choir practices on the Zone Conferences we have this week, and on every other P-day until the firesides.
In response to the email ?'s. Thank you for the pills, I usually take them on and off, so hopefully they'll last me a while. Also, as far as music goes, just some type of Hymn arrangements, as long as they are not too difficult, I don't have tons of time to practice. Also, if there is a good arrangement of "Joseph Smith's first prayer" like the one I played for Grandma and Grandpa's farewell would be good, and maybe a Christmas hymn, so I can play around Christmas time. Thank you!
This week has been pretty good, We are starting to get things rolling well here. This week we set one of our investigators with a baptismal date. Jacklyn is from Colombia, her daughter, Nicole, is a member, last Sunday Nicole came up to us at church and said "Yeah, I think my mom is ready for baptism" So we went over there on Thursday and had a really good lesson. We set her with a date to get baptized on November 21st. I am super excited. She has been taught by the missionaries for a while, and she is super ready. She comes to church whenever she can, but she has to work almost every other Sunday. Next time we go by we are going to encourage her to ask her boss for Sundays off. It'll be bomb.
I'm also really excited because I got permission to be able to go to the Wedding of Yawdy and Gabriel on the 7th. Gabriel is really excited for his baptism, which will be the day after. I have seen those two come a long way since we started teaching them. They have progressed a lot. That is one of the biggest reasons I was so sad to leave Union City, but at least I'll be able to go and see that, even though I am not still currently teaching them.
Life here in New Jersey is going grand. As far as new clothes go, I my need to buy one or two more long sleeved white shirts, also, I want to buy some long underwear-type stuff. I'm not sure if I need to get a new winter coat. My old one will probably still work, but it is a little worn out. As far as hats and gloves and scarf and stuff, I'm still good.
I love you guys a lot, and miss you tons. Hope you have a good Halloween, just don't get too sugared up okay Em and Ian?
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Week of Oct. 19th

Well, this week has been pretty good. I don't know if I have a problem with myldsmail, or not, I know of at least one missionary that there was a problem and he could not receive emails from his parents on the service, so he got permission to use a different email service. If you have sent me an email this week, I didn't get it, so maybe there is a problem.
This week week has been good, we had a little bit of a tough time with numbers this week. We had a lot of appointments juke this week, but other that that things went well. Elder McBroom and I are getting along pretty well. He is a really hard working missionary, wants to do what is right.
Today when we go to Walmart I will set up an appointment to go to the eye-doctor, I don't think we have time today, but I'll set it so that we have time the next monday so I can go. Also, there is a national shortage on the H1N1 vaccine, and there will not be another opportunity to get vaccinated out here, so I haven't had the vaccine, I'll just need to be careful, and take a lot of vitmin C. I'm not too concerned, I'll probably go and pick up some Airborne or something like that.
I hope everything is going well at home, I'm happy out here in the field, sorry this email isn't really long, not a whole lot of excitement happened this week, but we are getting the area progressing. We have a lot of investigators, and we just need to start getting them to come to church and to get baptismal dates.
Alrighty, I've attached two pictures.
The first is of Brother Romero and I. Brother Romero is a member from my first area. I saw him again at stake conferences and we took this picture.
Second is of P-day a few weeks ago. There is a soccer field that has a great view of the city.
I hope that everything is going well, I love you guys and miss you a lot. I hope to hear from you next week.

Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

In other news......

Okay, sooooo much has changed since the last email, and this will shock you, well, maybe not.
In no particular order the items of business are as follows:
1) I did not yet go to get the glasses, I didn't get the chance the last week, but I will go in on this next Monday. hopefully it won't be too expensive.
2) I will go in this Friday to get the H1N1 vaccine, actually on last Friday my companion went in to get it, it is about $30 dollars here, and I need to pay in cash, so I will also need to pull out the money. They do it on Friday, so I will go in and get that taken care of, I have been sick over this last weekend, and I don't want to get sick with the swine flu, so I'll take care of that.
Okay, on to the Shocking news:
I am actually not in Union City now... On Tuesday I was E.T'd, which, being interpreted, is Emergency Transfer. I am now in West New York, 49-60 area, so actually only one area up from my last area. My new companion is Elder McBroom, he is from Northern California. He has been in this area for almost two transfers, he is really new to the mission, so I am senior companion. Shockingly enough, we have not gotten the transfer fax or leadership calls yet, so we have now idea what is going to happen with the transfers on Friday. If ElderMcBroom got transferred, that would be hard for me, I will have only been here for a week and a half, and then half to take over the area on my own, well, with a new comp, of course, but it'll stil be tough.
So, next Monday I'll definitely have the news about transfers. The mission president gets home tonight, he had a conference in Utah, and we will get the transfer fax tonight. I'm a little nervous, but I'll be fine.
I will (hopefully) be able to pick up the pictures today, the Zone Leaders have a van, I'll ask them if right after email if we can run to the Walgreens over on Park and 33rd.
Umm, in other news, I still haven't gotten the picture of Pepe's baptism from the other Elders. Hopefully we are going to have a baptism in this area soon, we don't currently; have anyone with a baptismal date, but we have a goal to set someone with a date this week. It'll be bomb.

I'm doing well here in this new area. Its pretty similar to Union City. The ward seems pretty cool, things'll be great.
Well, I got to go soon, Here is a random picture for this week, I drew this with a dry erase marker on my desk a few weeks back, I thought it was pretty cool, so I took a picture of it, and a rediscovered it while searching on my flash drive, enjoy

I love you all and miss you a lot. I hope that things are going and continue to go well here. I hope everything went well with grandpa and his surgery. I hope you had a good Canadian Thanksgiving, I'm so jealous, because out here Columbus day is a school holiday, but it never was when I was growing up, oh well.
Love you all,
Elder Isaac Grant Ellsworth

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Dear Family,
This week has been pretty good, it' been a little tough, I've been having pretty bad headaches from the fact I need new glasses, so it's been a little tough, I also have no idea how the whole medical world works, so it's slow going trying to figure out haw to get new glasses, so...
But other than that life is going good here in New Jersey. Next week on Monday the Library will be closed, so the next Email will be on Tuesday. I wanted to wish you a happy Canadian Thanksgiving, I was hoping to be able to say it on Canadian Thanksgiving, but the library will be close for "Columbus Day"...
Also, This Saturday will be 13 months! wow, lucky number 13 right?
This upcoming Saturday we will also receive the transfer fax, so that means in the next email I will know whether or not I am leaving Union City, I hope not, but we will see. This tranfer has been tough with the threesome thing, but we have seen blessing and a lot of success, 2 baptisms this transfer, the baptism of Leidy and also of Pepe, speaking of Pepe, I again forgot to bring the stuff, so I will send a pic next week.
Um, in other news, the conference was amazing. I always love hearing from the Apostles and Prophets. I watched 3 and a half of the sessions in Spanish, and I understood quite a bit. It was also awesome to see two of our investigators and all of our recent converts make ot to see at least one of the sessions. I think at home, being able to watch it from our living room makes us too casual about conference, Wathcing all the sessions in the church really allowed to feel the spirit more powerfully and to pay attention more... It was really a good experience. I also learned something very interesting, Richard G Scott, and Neil L Anderson as weel as Elder Cristofferson all speak spanish. When they gave their talks, rather than having a translator, they had pre-recorded their talks in Spanish, and when they gave the talk it was their own voice in spanish, it was really interesting. I never would have known that in English. I watched the last session and half of the priesthood session in English, but the rest were in Spanish, and I understood a lot of what was said.
Well, I got to get going, and wrap up this email. The time on the computer is about to end, but I can log back on in a second, I need some help still figuring out this whole glasses thing. So, I will be back on.
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Wake me up when September ends....

Today is September 28, which is 2 days before the end of September, which is only 2 weeks left in the transfer. I can't believe as well that it is almost October! I'm not too excited for October, though, because that means Transfers are coming up and Halloween, which we will not be allowed to go out on Halloween, or the day before, so two days of boredom in the house, but that's not for a month, so..
Transfers this time will be on October 16th, so about 18 days away. This transfer will be different, because of a conference in Utah that President Bahr has to go to the transfer conference will not take place until Friday instead of the normal Wednesday, so the transfer is basically 7 weeks, and the next one is a little but shortened. It'll be good though, I hope I stay, I don't know why I am worrying about it already, it's not until almost 3 weeks away, so...

This last week has been pretty good. On Saturday we had another baptism. His name is Pepe, he is from Peru. Unfortunately I can't send the picture today, but next week I will send you the picture. Yesterday Elder Gamez Confirmed him, he was pretty nervous about it. Yesterday I also was asked to ordain someone to the Melchizedek Priesthood. His name is Norbert. He is a guy in our ward who is starting to get ready to go on a mission. He comes out with us whenever his schedule allows, he and I have become pretty good friends. Today while I'm here at the Library I need to prepare and print out his line of authority for him. I'm so glad I had that.
Next week I'll also send a picture of him.

This week has been amazing. Of course, any week with a baptism is amazing. We've had quite a lot lately. However, as of right now we don't have any investigators with dates until the 18th of October, and he's not even 100% sure right now. We still need to work with him.

Yawdy and Gabriel are also doing really well, they had to postpone their wedding until the 7th of November, I really hope I'll be here. If I don't get transferred I will, the next transfer (after this one) will be the day before thanksgiving. (I know, bummer, right?) Hopefully I'll be here one more, if I do get transferred, though, I want to ask for special permission to go to their wedding.

In other news, I'm glad to hear that everyone at home is doing well, though I sad to hear that you guys have been sick. Hopefully everyone gets feeling better soon, right?
Oh, by the way, I think I need new glasses. Well, I definitely need new ones because mine broke, but I mean I think I need to see the eye-doctor. I think that my prescription is slightly different. I've been having difficulty reading, and I've been having some really bad headaches. I have no idea what the process is for that, but I think that the mission doesn't cover eye-care.

Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Half-way through the transfer....almost

This week is now week 4 of this transfer, which means that we are halfway through. I don't know whether or not I am staying, I hope so, but for sure at least one or two of the three of us are out, I don't think that they'll keep us in a threesome for two transfers. I hope that at least I stay, I bet I'm gone though. The investigator that was supposed to get married this transfer had to move it until November 7th, so now If I get transferred I won't be there. argh.
I'm fairly certain I'll leave, though. I've been here now for about 4 months. It is has been good in this area. I really love the ward and the work here.
This week has been a tough week. Our numbers haven't been stellar, especially we've had a rough time with the member present lessons. We got 'juked' more times this week than any other week in the whole time I've been here. This upcoming week looks really good, though, Yesterday we had stake conference, and set like, 10 or so appointments for during the week.
This week'll be good.
In other news, we also have another baptism coming up. Because of General conference in 2 weeks, we will be having the baptism on Saturday and the confirmation on Sunday, so that he can get the Holy Ghost without having to wait two weeks. His name is Pepe. He is from Peru. He is super cool, we found him on the very first day of this new transfer, August 31st. And he will have been baptized within a month. How we found him was a miracle, and from that point onward, he has really accepted the Gospel and changed his life. We were speaking with his wife a few days ago, and she said that she has seen a really big change in him since we started meeting with him, and now she also wants to learn more! It is super bomb. She said she would be there for the baptism on Saturday.
I am also excited because General Conference is coming up. The last one I was in Englewood for. I love general conference, and the opportunity we have each six months to hear from living prophets and apostles of God here on earth. I think a lot of times, especially those of us that were raised in the church, we take this opportunity for granted. I know I did and have in the past. Thinking, 'oh, man, we have to sit around and listen to old people for 10 hours this weekend', and not really appreciating the opportunity this really was and is. For example, Isabel is really excited for the opportunity to listen to the prophet, she really wants to be there.
I'm glad that everything is going well at home. It's good to hear that Ian is doing well in school, I hope that Emily is doing well as well. It was also good to hear that Nick is doing well adjusting to college life. It's not easy. You said he had a roommate from Mexico, right? What part, does Nick know? Around here in Jersey, especially here in Union City, there aren't a whole lot of Mexicans, but out Bishop here is from Mexico. Most of the Mexicans here are from Puebla, For example, the bishop and his family are from Puebla, and Genaro (recent convert from back in June) and his daughter are from Puebla. There's also a missionary here in the mission who is from Mexicali.
Well, I gotta go, I hope that everyone is doing well, I don't have any pictures to send home this week, but I am doing well, Next week I'll send a photo from Pepe's baptism. I'm super-excited!
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Mom's note

Okay, this week's posts are backwards. Start at the bottom (Baptism again and then read the part II). The pics are backwards also, but you get the idea.
Thanks for all your prayers and support for Isaac.
Love,
Liz

Weekly email part II

Okay, I'm back. It took me forever to transfer pictures today because I took pics from 4 different cameras, so the process took me a while, but here are this weeks pics.
Pic #1.
This is a picture from our baptism on Saturday. This is Leidy, and the Miranda family, and us on the side, and then Leidy's Sister, (The only one of her siblings to come, her mom refused to be there) and her brother and law.

Pic #2
This is me in front of New York City on Sept. 11. We had gone over to see the lights that they put up where the twin towers where, but it was so foggy that you coulndn't see them. You can't even see the top of the Empire State Building in this picture, but that night it was lit up in Red White and Blue on the three sections of light at the top.
Pic#3. This is a picture of Elder Sopeña and I cleaning the Font before the baptism. (last post)

So there you go. There are a few pictures. I'm glad to hear that everything is going well with the new house. Hopefully you'll be 100% moved in soon.
By the Way, dad, I did get the letter you sent. Thank you. The envelopes will be helpful, because sometimes I'm a little too lazy to handwrite the address and such on there, especially the mission address for the return address, writing the mission address and name and such is a lot to write.
Things are going well her in Union City, we'll be having another baptism in a few more weeks, It'll be awesome. Pepe, from Peru, we found him on August 31st, and he already has a date and is really excited for his baptism. It is so bomb.
Well, I got to go, sorry that it took me so long to respond with part 2, It took me forever to put all the photos on my flash drive. I need to go soon and print some pictures up at Walmart or something.
Well, I got to get going. I love you all and miss you tons. I'll write again next week. Good luck with school, work , life, moving, everything, etc.
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth.

Baptism again....

On Saturday we had another baptism! I think that last week I forgot to mention that. Leidy, a young woman that Elder Ward and I began teaching was baptized on Saturday by her Uncle, Brother Miranda. She was originally going to be baptized on Sunday, but next week is Stake conference here, so she would have to wait 2 weeks to receive the Holy Ghost, and we don't want that, so we moved it back one day, so she was baptized on Saturday and I confirmed her Yesterday. It was really awesome. This is the first investigator that I have been there from start to finish. Isabel had been found by the missionaries that were here before. Back in July Elder Ward and I got a call from Sister Miranda, who gave us a referral to teach her Sister-in-Law, Amparo. We went an taught them twice, but Amparo wasn't really interested, but Leidy really was, and then Elder Sopeña and I finally got back in touch with Leidy, and now she got baptized! I will send you some pictures in a little while, I need to get them transferred from another Elders camera.
Things are going really well here. The work in this area has really taken off. With three of us we are able to get a lot more work done, because we only need to take out one youth to go on a split, one of us goes with the youth, and the other 2 can go to a different appointment. Being in a threesome is good in that sense, but it still is difficult, a lot of the time I feel like a third wheel on a bicycle, where I really don't fit and am really not needed, but we are getting a lot of things done here.
This last week has been good, we found 7 new investigators this last week. Even with the basic training meeting and Zone conferences, which compleltely destroyed two mornings we've actually done really well. And then a baptism and a confirmation to top the week off.
Oh, by the way, it was super weird on sunday, because I had no idea that I was going to do the confirmation. When they asked Leidy who she wanted to do it she said her Uncle, but I think the Uncle said no or something, he was in the circle, but for some reason next thing I know the bishop says "Elder," and looks at me and kind of points at me, and I was super confused. So then I reviewed the steps, and then I confirmed Leidy a member of the church, and se received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I had no idea what was going on, but it went well. I haven't given a whole lot of blessings in Spanish, but I think I did well, with the language.
This week has gone really well. I will write another letter in a second, I have to move computers, but I will write and send some pitures in a few minutes.
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Labor Day.... 24/12= 1/2

Yes, because of Labor Day yesterday, the library was closed, but we got a text message the other day that we would be able to take a little bit of time today and do email. This last week has been pretty good. We had 2 confirmations and a baby blessing in sacrament on Sunday, so the testimony part of the meeting didn't get started until quarter till 11:00. One thing that is very different between a Hispanic ward out here and fast and testimony meeting back home is there is not the awkward silence waiting for people to get up and bear their testimony. right when the time for testimonies began, about 10 or 15 people stood up and sat on the stand to wait to bear their testimony. It was also really great because we had 5 investigators at sacrament, that is more than I've had in my whole mission almost! It was amazing, almost the whole middle back row was our investigators! This week I played the piano for sacrament for the first time on my mission. I always play in priesthood, but I played for sacrament, one of the sisters asked me, "Why haven't they had you play, you play beautifully".
Oh, by the way, on Wednesday we had the transfer conference, I didn't go to this one, but my new companion is Elder Gamez, no that is not a misspelling, it is actually spelled Gamez, not Gomez. It threw me off as well. We are in a threesome now, which is not as bad as I thought it would be, but it is still tough. Elder Gamez is a really cool guy. He is from Phoenix Arizona, he is fresh out from the MTC. He is really humble, and willing to work hard. Elder Sopeña is the trainer, so there is not as much stress for me, having to report on his progress and things, but It's still tough, there have already been a couple of incidences where it has been 2 verses 1 on a disagreement. I have been playing the piano whenever a get a chance this week. It is a really good stress relief for me. As far as we know, the threesome thing will only be for one transfer, so for now I just have to endure.
Oddly enough, this is also the first time that I have kept a companion for more than one transfer, Elder Sopeña and I didn't split, however, Elder Gamez is still companion #8 in transfer #8.
In two days, by the way, is my year mark. I can not believe it. One year down. This year has gone by so fast. SO far in the first year of my mission I have had 8 companions, 4 areas, lived in 5 different apartments, and have had 2 baptisms. Hopefully in the next year of my mission a few of those numbers will be lower, and one will be higher.
Time really has flown by, I don't know if it's gone as fast for you guys as it has for me. I can hardly believe how fast it's gone. Yesterday I was thinking about it. "wow, my year mark is on Thursday, how did that happen?" I hope that I can work hard to make the second half even better.
I'm glad to hear Nick is doing well, I still haven't heard anything from him, but I hope that he is doing well, Emily did send me an email, apparently Peanut is getting pretty big. She said that she is doing well in school, and I'm glad to hear that.
Ian is on student council, huh? that's pretty bomb. I never was really into that, but I hope that he has a lot of fun. Maybe he'll do that all through High School. That is cool that he is getting into Orchestra, what instrument is he going to learn? When I get home I really want to learn how to play the Saxophone. I hope that he does well.
Oh, by the way, I may need some money. I got a suit given to me by one of our investigators and I need to take it next Monday and get it dry cleaned. Also, I need to buy some new sheets, they are getting a little gross, and they haven't been coming clean, I don't know if that would be possible, but if you can that would be great. I don't want to sound like I'm begging for money, but I can't buy those things with mission funds.
Also, I got a check from Grandpa and Grandma that I can't cash out here, so I will be sending that home. Thank you!
I love you a lot, and I miss you all tons. I'm doing well out here, the work is going well, this ward is amazing, I love this ward, On Sunday while I was up on the front, I looked out at the congregation and realized how many people there are in the ward here that I have so many good feelings for. I love being a missionary, it's hard, but it is the best experience of my life to date.
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth.

Baptism and Transfers

With next week being Labor Day, the email may or may not happen. It will most likely be on Tuesday because the libraries will all be closed on Monday. Hopefully we will be allowed to take an hour on Tuesday to come and do email.
This last Saturday we received the transfer fax. Elder Sopeña is training, but I am not leaving... we will be here in a threesome. It will be very hard. Threesomes are always difficult, it is a small apartment, and getting 5 of us through the shower on time will be tough to accomplish. It will prbably be really good, but I am honestly not excited at all for being in a threesome. It will be tough, being in a companionship, being with the same person for the whole time, is not easy, I think being in a threesome will be even more frustrating.
Other than that things are going well. We had an amazing baptism on Sunday, the spirit was really strong. This is a picture from the baptism. She was in tears, she was really happy to be baptized. Next week will be the confirmation.
This week has been pretty good, it's been a little rough, though. We didn't get as much done this week as we could of. On Tuesday and Wednesday Elder Sopeña and I got sick with food poisoning, and we stayed at home basically all day Wednesday. By Thursday we both were feeling better. The week was good, but we lost a lot of time between being sick, weekly planning, and cleaning the house. We have 3 baptismal dates right now for the next transfer, its going to be good, but I'm really not excited for being in a threesome. But, I guess it's what the Lord wants, but is will most definitely be a trial for me.
I love you guys a lot. I miss you all, but I'm glad to be here on a mission. It is the most difficult but most rewarding thing that I could every do.

Love you,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Isaac with Isabel

This is Isaac with Isabel Castro. She is the investigator that Isaac mentions in this week's letter. He has been teaching her for quite some time. She went on a long vacation to Cuba during the time that she was being taught. Her baptism is set for this coming Sunday.

bautismo! (that's baptism in spanish)

This week Isabel Castro will be baptized. She came to church on Sunday and is very excited for her baptism. She has completely quit coffee, and is ready, we will have the baptismal interview on Friday and then the baptism next Sunday! I am very excited. One of the pictures I am sending is of her and me, I will make sure to send a picture from the baptism next week.
Things are going amazing here. Right now we have 5 investigators with baptismal dates. One of them is for this next Sunday. This week will probably be one of the longest weeks of my mission. This is the first time that I have been here for the baptism of an investigator I've taught. Genaro was my first baptism, but I really didn't teach him a lot before his baptism. Isabel: Elder Ward and I taught her before she went on vacation, and Elder Sopeña and I have been teaching her since she got back. Also, she has asked me to perform the ordinance! It's always better if a member performs the baptism, but she really doesn't know any of the brethren in the ward, I am so excited!!!
We also have baptismal dates scheduled for the 6th of September, but we are probably going to set her for a different date, the 13th of September, the 27th of September, and the 4th of October! Next transfer is going to be amazing. Elder Sopeña and I are doing so well here, I hope that we'll stay together next transfer.
I'm really excited to hear that everything is going well with the move. It's probably really chaotic right now. Yesterday we helped teach one of our members how to dedicate his home, and when he blessed and dedicated his home the Spirit was strong, It's weird/cool to think that Dad will be doing that soon for our new house. I still can't get over the fact that you are moving, well, by this time you have moved... weird.
I love the mission, things are going amazing here in Union City. I love this area. The members here are SUPER supportive of missionary work. We are accomplishing a lot. It's very true that when the members are behind the work it is so much better. 3 of our current baptismal dates were member referrals!
I'm glad to hear that everything went well with moving Nick off to college. I hope that everything goes well for him. I haven't heard from him yet, but hopefully I'll hear from him next week. I'm sure that he'll to great off at college.
This whole week has been just unbelievable (spelling?). Neither of us expected the miracles we would see this week. We set 2 new dates this week. We had a goal at the start of this month to set 1 new baptismal date per week in August, so far we've done it, this week setting 2, and this next week we need to set one. Things are going stellar! This week we set Leidy and Gabriel with baptismal dates! Leidy is the niece of one of our members, she is also super excited for her baptism.
Hopefully we don't get transferred. The next transfer conference is on the 2nd of September, so that means that next week I'll have the news whether I am leaving or not. Hopefully not, hopefully Elder Sopeña and I will be together one more.
I love you guys a lot and miss you tons. I'll send some pics today, Elder Sopeña is using my USB drive right now, but once he's done I'll send another email with some pictures. I love you and keep up the good work back home. Em and Ian, good luck in school this year. Mom, that is awesome that you are starting your thesis! it will be awesome! Nick, good luck at SUU. And Dad, good luck with work!
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth.

And the work goes on................

This week has been amazing. On Saturday we had our "Noche de Talentos" activity, it was amazingly successful. The members had a lot of fun, and we had a couple of our investigators come. At church this week we still had only one investigator at church, we still are struggling getting our investigators to come to church. I'm still really sad about the Cruz family, they are just completely not progressing right now, they are a wonderful family, but they simply wont come to church. Yesterday we set a new baptismal date. Alex is the son of a less active member, and he has been coming to church for about 2 months. He told us that he wants to turn his life around, that he wants to do better. Yesterday we were finally able to go over to his house and teach him a lesson, and we set him with a baptismal date for the 27th of September. I think that this is the first time on my mission that I have set a baptismal date on the first appointment, I've set a date on the second appt. before but never on the first.

Here in Union City things continue to go great, our investigator that has a date for the 30th of August got back on Saturday from Cuba, and we have an appointment to go back over Tomorrow, hopefully everything is still great for her to get baptized, when she left she was really excited for her baptism.

I'm glad that everything is going well back home, I can't believe school is starting already. This summer has just flown by. I'm also glad to know everything went well with the move. I will call the office today and give them the new information. I got an email from Emily today, she said that she is nervous about going to Timpanogos. I think that High school will be a good experience for her. I still can't believe how old she is getting!

Things are still going well here in New Jersey, I haven't got the package yet, but hopefully I will get it today. I had a really good Birthday, my companion and my roommates made me a cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. My trainer, Elder Barker, and Elder Kemp called, they are working in the same ward, and they sang "Happy Birthday" to me as well. We had a great appointment with Gabriel as well. I am really excited for Gabriel, we are trying to help him to live the word of wisdom, it's not easy, he usually drinks on Saturdays. However, this last Saturday he came to the talent show, and he didn't drink at all this week! When we went by yesterday and talked to him he said "If I have something to do I have no reason to drink." or something to that effect. Next Saturday we have something planned as well so that he won't drink. This week we hope to be able to set him with a baptismal date, right now they have a date to get married, but we need to set him with a date to be baptized, hopefully the day after.

I love you guys so much and miss you. I hope that you have a wonderful week. Em and Ian, good luck going back to school, and Nick, good luck at SUU. That is a great school, I remember when I went to that dinner/tour thing when I was looking at colleges. You'll do great.

Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Happy Birthday to me....

Wow, I can't believe that my birthday is so close. Today is my 11 month mark. A year ago today I was getting home from scout camp. It's pretty crazy how much time has flown. This week has been pretty good. This month we are doing something similar to the "30 days to perfection" thing we did as a mission in December, but without the weekly fasts, that was really hard. We are going to see a lot of success this transfer. This week was also really tough. We had a baptism that was supposed to happen next Sunday, but he didn't come to church yesterday, so he cannot get baptized now, he needs to come at least twice to church. We are going to try and set him with another date this week. However, yesterday was filled with some joy as well. Sundays are always filled with so many mixed emotions, joy for those who came, and sadness for those who didn't. One of our investigators, Gabriel, came yesterday, and him and his Girlfriend, Yawdy, who is a member, are planning to get married in September. They talked to the Bishop and things are going really well. Gabriel wants to get baptized, but before he can they need to get married, and he needs to quit drinking and smoking. Yawdy's father is Genaro, our recent convert, Genaro is really excited for them.

I am really excited as week this week because Isabel Castro gets back this week. She left in mid-July to go to vacation in Cuba, but before she left we set her with a baptismal date for the 30th of August, and she was really excited to get baptized. She gets home on Friday and Saturday we are supposed to call her and go over again. I am very excited.

I'm excited things are going well with the new house. Oh, I have a question. How much approx. are you going to be asking for rent per month on the old house? There is a member here that is thinking about moving to Utah, and wants to get an idea of how much a house would be to rent there.

I'm really excited for Nick, he leaves in a week right? He is going to have an amazing experience going off to college. I'm excited for him, I'm sure he'll do great. Nick, you need to write me while you're there, I can't rely on mom and dad anymore to tell me how you are doing! I hope that everything is going well with Em and Ian too, it sounds like it. It's crazy that Emily is going to high school next month. Everybody is growing up on me. I'm almost 20, Em's going to high school, Nick's 18 (scary!) and Ian is growing up too!

I feel like I'm missing out on everything back, home, but I wouldn't trade being in New Jersey for the world.
I remember a couple of weeks back you mentioned that you were going to take a trip to Italy. When is that again? I remember that Mom has been asking to go for a long time, years! I was thinking about that the other day, I don't think that my future wife will ever beg me to take her to Jersey...

Elder Sopeña and I are doing well together, we have been working hard and are sure to see a lot of success, hopefully we'll be together longer that one transfer. I was thinking about this last transfer, about how much I"ve moved around. Every area and with every companion, Ive learned something. I guess I just had a lot to learn, so I've been with a lot of companions in a lot of places.
I love you guys a lot, and miss you tons, See you in 13 months!

Love you, Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Almost 20.... How did that happen?

Next week's email will be 3 days before my birthday. I cannot beleive how fast time is going. I'm glad that everything is going well with the preparations for the new move. The new house looks pretty cool, Dad sent me a few pictures. I'm sure the old house is looking good too. Actually, I think a lot of the holes in the doors were me... I'm not sure though, I know I punched at least 5 or 6 holes in the course of the years we lived in that house.
I'm still trying to get used to the fact that you are moving. I guess for me it's a little different trying to get used to it because I'm not immediately present getting the house ready and touring the house and such, I'm just here about 2,500 miles away hearing about it, but in about 13 1/2 months when I get home the reality will be immediately present. Even then I won't live there very long, at most for one semester... Still, it's weird that I'll be coming home to a different ward and stake. It's a long ways away, but even then it will be strange.
My companion and I are doing really well. We are seeing a lot of success in this area. Now that the area is smaller we are able to focus more. We have been spending time trying to find the investigators that were lost with the combining of the areas at the beginning of last transfer. With the areas combined it was difficult for Elder Ward and I to focus on finding them, especially when we lived on 13th street.

The new apartment is pretty cool, a lot smaller than living in a 2 story house. I'm also going to miss the free washer and dryer. Our landlady is really cool too. We have a good relationship with her, we do need to be quite in the mornings, we accidentally wake her up sometimes. There are now 6 missionaries in the ward again. This ward and the West New York ward are the only wards in the mission that have 6 missionaries. There used to be a pair of sisters in West New York, but now there are 6 Elders. Most other wards have at most 4, many have only 1 pair of missionaries. We have been working really hard, but we need to focus more on getting members to come out with us. This week we didn't do so well with that, We are still trying to get things rolling here with the new area. We found 6 new investigators though this week, and that will help us get our teaching pool up.

Today we area going to have a family home evening with one of our investigator families. We are going to do a joint FHE with them and one of our member families, we are going to teach them how to do it so that they can strengthen their family. This family is amazing, Martin and Fani Cruz. They are so prepared. They have a date set for the 16th of August, but they haven't come to church yet. Martin is really excited for his date, though, and we are working hard to get them ready. They have an amazing family, they have 3 kids, and he is an amazing father.

I am so excited also for Tyler, He is going to have an amazing time in New Zealand. By the time I get home Nick will be on a mission, and by the time he gets home maybe Ryan? From this point on there will be a lot of missionaries going out. Could you guys get Tyler's email address so that I can email him. I haven't heard from him yet, but I am so excited for him! Maybe Nick will go to Uruguay or something, then we'll have missionaries close to all 3 of Grandpa's missions, or he'll go to Italy, close to Dad's. That's still a ways away, but interesting to think about.

Well, I love you all and hope and pray for the best. I miss you tons, keep up the good work, the house looks awesome!

Love, Elder Isaac Ellsworth

New Comp, New area-ish

This week's been a little weird. On last Monday we switched to Monday P-days, which was a little strange, but is was pretty cool, we played soccer, and we even had an investigator come to play with us.

On Wednesday we had the transfer conference, that morning we moved all my stuff to the 36th street apartment and then went to the transfer conference. My new companion's name is Elder Sopeña, he is from Puerto Rico. He's been on his mission for about 5 months now, including the 2 months in the MTC learning English. He also did a 7 month "mini-mission" before so he knows really well how to do missionary work.

Sorry today that the email is later than usual, today we have a different schedule, we are living in the apartment on 36th street now, and I no longer have access to a washer and dryer, so we had to do laundry and such earlier today.

This week has also been weird with the area split. Now I am only covering from 30th to 49th street, and no longer am working with the investigators and members that were in the 15-30 part of the area. We are also now living with 2 English elders that cover the "North Bergen" area from the Jersey City ward. Their names are Elder Brox and Elder MacDonald.

One thing though, our landlady is unreasonable. She basically expects us to walk around on tiptoes all the time. We make even the slightest noise, walking on the floor, and she gets mad at us. We can't even get ready in the morning without her getting mad and telling us that we woke her up. It makes living and doing the work really difficult.

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well with the house. I looked the new house up on google maps, it looks huge. I'm not sure if I was looking at the right house, but it was the only one I think it could be. That is really awesome.

I still can't believe how fast time has been going on my mission. Tyler is already going to be heading out. He'll be going into the MTC exactly 1 year since I left the MTC and flew to New Jersey. I'm really excited for him to serve a mission. New Zealand will be an awesome mission. People there will probably be more open than they are here. Serving in the United States is hard. The Spanish people here are usually pretty humble, but the American, white people are so hard-hearted. Just yesterday we were trying to check up on a potential, and we knocked on her doorbell and the neighbors downstairs came out to the door, and he was getting mad at us. "Come on, its Sunday evening, don't come knocking on my door, some people don't like that" He was really angry with us, and I hadn't even knocked on his door. My last area, Clinton, was especially hard, because the people there were also very wealthy.
Speaking of Clinton, this transfer they re-opened Spanish there. Elder Secrist, my MTC comp, and Elder Wolthuis, who was here in Union City 1-15 went to go serve in my old area. I'm going to talk to them in a few days to find out how things are going. It's going to be good that they are putting Spanish back in Clinton.

Things are going pretty well here in Union City, yesterday was kind of hard, only one of our investigators came to church, it was a little down-heartening. This week we are also going to do a lot of finding, with half the area not with us anymore, we need to find some new investigators to jump start our teaching pool. Elder Sopeña is a really hard-working missionary, we have already seen some cool things happen here.

Well, I love you all a lot, and I hope things are going well for you, recent update, we just got a call from one of our investigators to see if we were playing sports today, he's really cool, he played with us last week. I got to get going, but I hope that everything is going good.

Love, Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Transfers + P-day change = madness

Well, we had one baptism that was scheduled for yesterday, but we hadn't seen him since we set the date almost a month ago, he kind of disappeared after that, the one where we have three baptisms scheduled is the 16th of August. Sorry for the confusion.
Transfers are actually in 2 days, but we received news on Saturday evening. So, here is what we know so far:
They are splitting the area back up. I am moving to another apartment and working from 30th street to 49th street. Elder Ward is staying down here and will be working in his old area of 15th to 30th. My new address as of Wednesday will be:
202 36th street 2nd floor
Union City NJ
07087
Elder Ward will be training, he'll be having a brand new missionary directly from the MTC. We looked at the list of names and my guess is his new companion will be Elder Unga. We don't know, he'll meet his new comp on Wednesday. I and Elder Neilson will be getting new companions as well, and so we'll have 6 Elders here in the ward again. One of the baptismal dates that we have lives in the 15-30, and the other 3 are in my area. Im really excited for what is going to happen this transfer. It's going to be a little weird though with P-days on Monday. This is already weird to get used to and this is the first time.

This week was pretty good. The work will also go better I think because we will not be so overwhelmed with the size of the area.
As for Tylers mission call, my official prediction is the Dominican Republic. I can't wait to hear the news.

Ok, to answer your questions:
I probably could use a few more pairs of garments, I have a few pairs that need to be disposed of.
I have not bought the shoes yet, we are (possibly) going to go today, if not today then next week.
The Motab CD's I have are: Called to serve, Consider the Lilies, Spirit of America, Greatest Hits, Mack Wahlberg's Requiem, Praise to the Man, and I think that is it. I really want to get the new one "Come thou Fount of every blessing", but I don't have it yet.
And yes, I have envelopes, I bought a bunch last week, I just don't have stamps.

As for Keashawn, apparently near the end of last transfer he had called the Elders in Englewood, he had felt something different in his life when we had gone over and taught him and when he came to church, and he wanted to learn more. Elder Taylor was telling me that Keashawn pretty much set his own baptismal date on their second or third appointment with him, and he got baptized to Sundays ago and confirmed yesterday. On Wednesday we got to play basketball with him, it was a lot of fun, and he is really good.

Next Monday I will have more info for you i.e. new comp, etc. Once again I'll be changing comps, he will be my 7th companion, but I have the opportunity to learn from each companion , and hopefully we'll be able to accomplish a lot of good.

Well, I love you and miss you a lot, I can't wait to see the pictures of the new house.
Oh, by the way, a quick picture. Apparently somewhere down the line our family is connected here in Union City, this park is not very far from the church here, just about a block away.
Well, have fun.
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth.

Moving?????

Wow, that IS a big change. It is going to be a little weird coming back to a different ward and stake. I hope that Em and Ian are going to be alright. For me, well, it doesn't change a whole lot, but I do need a few things. On Monday when we come to do email I need to have the new address and the new ward and stake information. The mission president has asked to know if our home ward or stake changes and he needs the mailing address in case something happens. Also, I need the new address so I can send letters.
Thank you for the money for shoes, That will definitely help. I will probably go and shop a little today, I think the money you put in will be enough. I also got the package. Thank you for sending me that stuff. I saw the flier from the Oquirrh mountain open house, it looks like an absolutely beautiful (spelling?) temple. I also saw the pictures. G.G. looks so happy in the pictures. Also, Dad looks really weird without facial hair. Just saying....

I've been doing well. We set another baptismal date this week. I am so excited, We have a lot of good things going to happen next transfer. We have 3 baptismal dates for the 16th of August, and one on the 30th of august. We are really excited. Also this week we started teaching a man named Gabriel, who is the boyfriend of the daughter of Genaro, one of our recent converts. Genaro is really strong in the gospel a true convert. Elder Ward and I are really excited for this next transfer. Whether the areas split or not, we have some really good things coming in both the upper and lower parts of our area.

This week we've done a lot of good. Our numbers weren't the best this week, but we still accomplished a lot. I am really excited for this next transfer. Well, this probably isn't going to be a very long email. I'll be writing again on Monday, and if I say too much now I won't have anything left to say on Monday, right? Also, we are a little rushed to day, we are playing basketball with some of the other missionaries at about 10:30, and I still need to write the mission president. A couple of members from the Engelwood ward are coming to play with us as well, including a recent convert that I found. You remember when I talked about Keashawn, right? well, he was baptized last week. I'm going to be playing with him today. I am so excited. Elder Cauffman and Elder Taylor have been telling me that Keashawn is doing awesome. On monday I will tell you the whole story. I love you guys, and miss you. Please let me know on Monday the new address, and ward and stake. I will write again on Monday. Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth


Mom's note:
In case anyone hasn't heard, Luke and I are purchasing a home in the Heatheridge Stake, it is a move of about 7 blocks from our current home.

Keashawn is an investigator Isaac taught in another area. He opened the door when they tracted him out and told the missionaries that he had been praying for the Lord to send someone to teach him.

P-day's are changing to Monday starting next week. So my posts to the blog will also change to Mondays. Finally a reason to look forward to Mondays.

Summer Cleaning

Today I don't have a whole lot of time. Today we are doing a really intense summer scrub of our house. We rented a carpet cleaner and everything for this job.
I hope everything is going well at home. I'm glad to hear that Grandma and G.G. had a good time. If there still there tell them hi from me!

This week has been pretty good. Last week we managed to get pretty good numbers, miraculously (spelling?) getting 6 new investigators, which is one of the new mission standards. We also have 4 people with baptismal dates right now. One of them right now does not look so solid. We had an appointment with him yesterday at the church, and he juked the appointment, we don't have his phone number, so we can't call him. So, it doesn't look like he'll be getting baptized on the 17th, but we have three others with baptismal dates that are pretty solid. Two of them are with a family, the husband and wife have agreed to a date, and there ten year old son will probably be baptized too. It is really cool, they are an awesome family from the Dominican Republic.

Up and coming they'll probably be splitting the area again. Transfers are not next Wednesday, but the week after that. Next week will be the last P-day that we'll ever have on Wednesday, as the next week P-day is changing to Mondays. Next week I'll also have some pictures again. Now that I have the digital camera it makes it a lot easier to send pic's home.
Oh, I have a question: I was wondering if I could have some money to buy some new shoes. One of my pairs of shoes is really worn out, and they give me horrible blisters, and my Rockport's have also been giving me blisters. I need to get some new shoes so that I'm not only wearing out the one pair, it's the only one I have now.

I love you guys and miss you all. I got the letters from cousin camp. Thank you so much for that. I really enjoyed reading some of those. I hope Nick is having a great time at camp, I don't know if I'll have time to write him a letter this week, but I will definitely write him next week at camp.
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

July 4

The fourth of July is in just a few days, and I'm pretty excited, we will be allowed to go and watch the local fireworks. It will be pretty cool, we are going to watch the fireworks in New York City from accross the Hudson. I'm going to try and take some pictures for next week's email.
Here, by the way, is a picture from the baptism we had not long ago. From left to right is Elder Ward, Genaro, Brother Duran, the ward mission leader is in the back, then Bishop Martinez, then me. Genaro was really excited and happy about his baptism.
The second picture is Union City as seen from the 14th floor.
We've had a pretty good week. In the past week we've set 2 of our investigators with Baptismal dates. We have one that is set for the 19th of July, and one for the 30th of August. The one in August is a lady named Isabel Castro. She is going on vacation soon to Cuba, and wants to get baptized when she gets back. We are really excited.
I am really excited as well to hear that Tyler is getting ready to go out on a mission! Congratulations (spelling?)! My guess on where Tyler is going... Brazil. Or Argentina. Or... I don't know.
Thanks for sending me the pictures. I picked them up last Wednesday. I've been showing them to everyone. Sending them through Walgreens will probably work pretty well to send more.
That's cool to hear that Nick is in Wyoming. He probably, maybe won't get this email, then. Next week could you send me the address. I would like to write him a letter there. Hopefully if I write next week it'll get there soon, right?
One thing, though. Here in Jersey it is HOT! and humid. I'm jealous on Nick right now, it may be a little cold early in the summer in New Fork, but I'd mich rather that than the heat. also, almost daily we get freak rain storms. We get dumped on. The other day we got caught out in a rain storm, and we were SOAKED. We went over to the Bishops house to see if Brian could come out with us to an appointment, we got there, and they gave us a towel, so we could dry ourselves off, then they were giving us dry shirts, and even a dry garment top. They are so nice to us here in Union City, we also get fed a lot.
Random side track. I love Hispanic food. Yesterday I had for the first time a dish called Ceviche, from Ecuador. It was absolutely amazing. Real hispanic food is soo good. Blows the "mexican" restaurants back home out of the water. I've been learning a little bit how to cook some of the food. It is really awesome. I'm probably going to gain some weight because we get fed so much, and it's so good!
I love you all and love you tons. I'm glad you had a good time at cousin camp, I always loved those. Tell sorry to everyone if I don't respond to letters very quickly, I don;t usually get a lot of time on P-days to write letters.
Love you, and I will write next week.
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth.

P.S. Elder Ward and I will probably only be companions for this transfer, they will probably split the area into two areas next transfer, so we will split up and each get a new companion.

Pictures.......

Pictures....

Pictures!!!

So, I have a lot of pictures, and I can only send, like 3 at a time in the email, so you will be getting weekly pictures for a while, having a digital camera now, I have been taking a lot of pictures.
The first picture is the New York Skyline as seen from my area.

The second pictures is myself, Elder Barker (my trainer) and of Elder De La Cruz, who Elder Barker is training this transfer. In missionary lingo Elder Barker is my "Pops" and Elder De La Cruz is my "Brother", so, there you go.

The third picture is of of my temple trip 2 or 3 weeks ago. From left to right is: Elder Alldresge, Elder Boyer, Myself (obviously), Elder Halvorsen, and Elder Duncan. This is not the most flattering picture of me, but it's the only one I have of us in Times Square.

Next week I will send a picture from the baptism we had on Sunday. This Sunday we have another baptism, hopefully. A lady named Isabel, she is really excited and really wants to be baptized, but her husband wont let her. We are really hoping and praying that the Lord will soften his heart.

The work here is going awesomely, (English?) we are doing really well. It has been kind of difficult just because we have such a large area. Yesterday we had kind of a neat experience. We had accidentally double booked, and set two different appointments on complete opposite sides of the area both at seven o'clock. We had planned, and had called two of the youth, and they agreed to go on splits with us so that we could go to both appointments, but they both canceled on us. We were with Brian Martinez at the time, he had just gone to three appointments with us in a row, and he agreed to go to one appointment, but we still didn't have anyone to go with us to the other, right then, Brother Pareira drove by, and we talked with him, and asked him if he could help us out, he said he would, so I went with him to one appointment, and Elder Ward and Brian went to another appointment. The night before we had just been praying, Lord, we need to find someone to come out with us, please help us, and lo and behold, we had a miracle and were able to go to both appointments. It was really neat. I love you all and hope for the best.

Thanks dad for sending those pictures. I miss you all, and hope you have/had a fun time at New Fork, I have so many good memories of that place.
Love you, Elder Isaac Ellsworth.

Union City

I am now in Union City, New Jersey, almost right across the river from New York. Yesterday I went and took some pictures of New York. Union City is a packed city. Apparently it has the highest population density of any city in the united states. Two reasons why it is so densely populated is 1) property value is probably pretty high because it is so close to New York, so people live in smaller spaces, and 2) the city is almost entirely Hispanic, who also are living in smaller living spaces. The ward here is really cool. An entirely Spanish ward. I am really excited.
My companion is Elder Ward. He and I went into the MTC at the same time, but we were not in the same district. We were in a threesome for a week with Elder Johnson, but he left to fly home this morning, so now it's just the two of us in a companionship. It is really cool to be here, I had been hoping to come to union city for a while now, and I am really excited. one, because it is a Spanish ward, and two, because it is a walking area.
Our area is huge, though. it is two areas combined, from 15th street to 49th street. before they were two separate areas. From what I understand, next transfer they will divide the area again. Elder Ward and Elder Johnson had been working in the 15-30 area, and two other Elders were working from 30-49, so, it's been difficult, because Elder Ward doesn't know the investigators from the 30-49 area. Brian Martinez, one of the members here, has been helping us out a lot. He was called on a mini-mission for 2 months, and he worked in the 30-49, and he is back home now, working again, and getting ready for school, but he has been helping us out a ton with getting the area rolling. I'm also really excited, too, because this Sunday we will be having a baptism!!! Genaro, an investigator that the Elders who were in the 30-49 had been working with, came up to Brian and said that he wanted to get baptized next week. I went over with Brian yesterday, and we reviewed the baptismal interview questions, and taught the 10 commandments, and then we are meeting with him again tomorrow, then the baptismal interview is going to be on Friday, after Zone conference, then he will be baptized on Sunday. We also have an investigator scheduled to be baptized the Sunday after that! The work here is already strong, and we are going to help it take off! Serving a mission has been the greatest decision I have ever made. I know that I am doing the right thing because I can see the difference the gospel makes in peoples lives. I love you all and miss you so much, but I know that I am where I need to be.
Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth.

Transfers.....

Well, today I am writing from Morristown NJ. We had to come early today to drop Elder Duncan off, because he is training. Elder Boyer and I are actually being doubled out of Clinton, and they are not bringing in more Spanish missionaries, it will just be Elder Duncan and his new missionary. The mission is really short on missionaries, especially Spanish missionaries, so they are temporarily closing down some areas.
Fortunately the incoming missionaries weren't delayed. We were told that they would not come for at least a week, because of the swine flu breakout in the MTC. Fortunately we have them here, though. Hopefully I will be able to write either later today or tomorrow to let you know where I am. The transfer conference isn't until later today, I only hope to go to a Spanish ward.

Yesterday we went to New York to go to the temple, and I needed travel money. Our temple trip yesterday was amazing though, I love the feelings inside the temple.

Well, I love you all a lot, and wish for the best. I will hopefully write soon to let you know the news. Love,
Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Week of June 1

This week has been really remarkable. We didn't get a whole lot of finding hours in, but we had some other big successes. In a lot of ways, the work we have been doing for weeks is finally paying off. This week we had 4 Member present lessons, more than we had the last two weeks combined!
Yesterday especially was an amazing day. We had a pretty full day of appointments, and every single one of them happened. Nobody canceled, nobody juked us, it was amazing. We also had 2 member presents yesterday. Lat night the youth in our ward had an activity where the priests came out on splits with the missionaries. Only 3 youth came, so Elder Duncan and Elder Memmott went on splits and took 2 of the youth knocking with them. Elder Boyer and I took Brent Pinkerton out with us to an appointment with Jeff Rascoe. We taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation and spent a good bit of time talking about the Atonement, especially how we can apply the atonement in our lives to give us strength.
As we were driving back we had a good conversation with Brent. He is 17, and he's a really cool guy. Last night was the first time he had gone out with the missionaries. He said that usually he found a way to get out of it. It made me think about before my mission. I remember only once having the opportunity offered to me to go out with the missionaries, and I turned it down. That is one regret I have from before my mission. It probably would have helped me prepare a little more...
Also Yesterday we had a return appointment with Carla, a lady who we met last week. We had given her a first pamphlet to read at our first meeting, and she told us she would read it. When we got there yesterday, we weren't able to get a team-up, so we had to meet on her back patio, and it was threatening to rain, so I said a prayer in my heart that the rain would not fall, at least give us an hour, I said. when we asker her if she had read the pamphlet she said she had, twice, and had also answered the questions in the "additional study" section. She said it took her almost 2 hours. We were amazed, we hadn't even asked her to do the questions! She had learned a lot, and we had a really good lesson. We are meeting with her again next tuesday. She is really prepared to hear the gospel, I think.
I was very excited to hear that Nick graduated. Way to go!!! Also, quick side note, Dad looks weird without his beard. I guess I got so used to it, I think that is the first time I've seen dad without his beard in quite a while.
I hope that Mom is having a good time in Washington DC. I remember that was the day we got the ticket because of the highly confusing sign. Out here in New Jersey the parking signs are really confusing. There is even one here in our area that says "One way, monday through friday from 8-5, november-June" or something like that. I think out in the east the signs are confusing on purpose.
I'm always glad to hear that everything is going well at home. I hope that you guys have a great summer. It's crazy to think that this summer I turn 20, hit my year mark, Nick turns 18, and at the end of the summer Nick is going off to College!
A few months ago Great Grandpa Smith sent me a copy of Don Carlos Smith's mission experience tape, and I've read it a few times, it is really cool. I was noticing on there the day that Don Carlos Smith went on his mission. Tomorrow is 100 years from that day. Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the first missionary in our family. It is really cool to think that I am carrying on that legacy. The mission has been an awesome experience. We have a missionary in our apartment that is going home in 6 days, and seeing his determination to work is inspiring. You can tell that he has served his mission well. I want to make the best of these two years, and I know that the Lord will bless m to do so.

Love you guys, and miss you tons, as always.
Love, Elder Isaac Ellsworth.

Awesome

That is awesome to hear that Nick is graduating! I am so proud of him. I remember that I wasn't very excited/happy at the practice either, it was really boring, but I was really glad that I was there the actual day of graduation.
That is really awesome Nick, class of '09. This time next year he'll probably be preparing for a mission! I am very excited for you. Good luck next year at school also!

I can't believe that May is almost gone. Next week It will be June already!! That is crazy in so many ways! Next month Nick'll be turning 18! Wow! I still have a hard time believing how old everybody is, I haven't even been gone for a year, and at Mother's day I was so surprised. Nick's voice sounded deeper, and Emily and Ian sounded more mature, and I was really kind of stunned. Time really has been flying here.

I also can't believe that the transfer is almost over. We have today, then next week, then the Wednesday after that is transfer conference. Today is actually Elder Memmott's last P-day, next week they are going to the temple, then the next Tuesday he is flying home.

We've had a pretty good start to the week. We haven't been able to get out and do any tracting, but that's because we have been so busy. Monday I was on an exchange in Dover with the Zone leaders, and Yesterday was an amazing day. We had two Member-present lesson yesterday, one in Spanish with a new investigator. We had our first appointment with a Media referral. She was really cool, and seemed really interested. Then we had another appointment with Jeff Rascoe, and Juan came with us to that one as well. Juan is really helpful, and a really awesome member. He loves coming out with us, and he speaks both English and Spanish, so he really has been a great help to us this week. Jeff even said he'd come to church, and when we invited him to be baptized, he said that he feels he isn't ready, but it is something he wants to do. He said that he wants to "follow that path", and he really is doing really well.

I am doing well here, I had been getting discouraged, we hadn't had a new investigator in almost 3 weeks, but the exchange with Elder Hammond really helped to renew my faith. I know that this is the Lord's work, and that He directs us. I am excited for the good that we can accomplish here. I hope Elder Boyer and I are still together for at least 1 more transfer. I want to actually have a companion for more than just 6 weeks...

I love you all and miss you all. I'm glad to hear that you are still doing well. Love, Elder Isaac Ellsworth.

May 20th- "I"ve run out of clever tag lines"

Well, another week has come and gone, I can hardly believe it! Today I am emailing from Ledgewood NJ, we came here to do our P-day with Elder Kempler. His companion as well as Elder Duncan's companion, Elder Memmott, went to see the Statue of Liberty this week. In our mission they have a statue trip every transfer for the departing missionaries. Elder Memmott is going home this transfer. He keeps saying that he can't believe how fast 2 years went by.
It sounds like you have a busy week. I was reading the list and it made ME exhausted. So, right now is field day. I am so excited to hear that Nick is graduating!!! I always knew he could do it! You'll have to send me pictures from the ceremony tomorrow. Elder Boyer's sister is also graduating tomorrow. Are they having it in the Marriott center?? Wait, is that this week or next week???? either way. (It is actually next week, Isaac is a week off)

Oh, quick story. Elder Boyer and I were knocking the other day, like we always do. We were talking about things, and part of our conversations was about how, a lot of people, when we say who we are assume that all Mormons are from Utah. Well, in all my previous companionships, Except with Elder Barker, I was from Utah, but my companion is from like, Missouri, or California, or Wyoming, well, we're both from the same high school, so we really can't disprove the theory. Well, we were talking and he said "I'm just going to say from now on I'm from Puerto Rico" and I joked back, "I'm from Canada, we'll just jump back a generation and say where our Mom's are from." We chuckled about it, and that was that. A few days later we were talking to this lady, and when we asked if she had ever heard of our church she said that we were a cult, and she was worried for our souls, and then she asked us if we were from Utah. I said yes, then Elder Boyer just said "I'm from Puerto Rico" and I tried hard not to laugh, and she just kept going off on us.

We've been doing well here. This is probably the strongest ward I've been in. It's a really good-sized ward, and the ward-mission program is really good. The ward mission leader, Brother Bean is a really nice guy. The missionaries, we are just finishing up a program that was started 2 trasfers ago. They called many of the member families on 42 day missions. They made up little call letters and call packets. The call letter said something like "you have been called to serve as a missionary in the New Jersey Clinton Ward. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 42 days. You will prepare to invite your friends to come to church, to meet the missionaries, etc." It was really neat. The member families set goals as to how many invitations they were going to make during the 42 days. Several of the families have finished now, and we are doing the "homecoming parties" We have a little video that the missionaries made, and we have them sare testimonies, it really is a neat ward missionary-type program. This week has also been really neat, we had a really awesome lesson Yesterday.

Well, Yesterday was an interesting day, full of ups and downs. Yesterday morning we got a call from a member in our ward, who's husband is not a member, and has been meeting with missionaries for about 3 years. Last week we invited him to set a goal, a date, when he wants to be ready for baptism. well, it was going good, but him and his wife had an argument in the middle of it, and it was a mess. Well, yesterday she called us and told us that he doesn't want to meet with us. She said she thinks he's embarassed, so we lost an investigator Yesterday.
Then, later in the day we had a really awesome lesson with our 1 remaining investigator, we had a member come with us, and the lesson went really well. His name is Jeff Rascoe, and he is really awesome. He had been meeting with the Sister's about 6 months ago, and we looked him up in the Former's section of our area book, he is doing really well.

Things are going well here in Clinton, but it is a little down-heartening. We knock for a long time, we work really hard, but nothing ever comes of it. For example, we knocked for 4 hours on Monday, and we got 1 potential investigator, who, when we called her, proved to be really not that interested. We will continue to work hard and pray, and hopefully we'll be able to see some success here.

I love you all and miss you so much. I hope everything is going well for you back home.

Love, Elder Isaac Ellsworth.