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