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