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.