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.