Great Week!

I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well. Good luck with the end of the school year. As far as calling home goes, I'm not exactly sure what I want to do either. I would like to be on the phone when Nick opens his call, but I have no idea when that will happen, so I'm a little in the dark right now. We have interviews with President Bahr this week and I'll ask him about it. From my understanding the call home can be any time, but it's usually on Mother's day, but I can wait as long as necessary by the rules. I'll ask president.

Also, quick note, next week email will have to be on Tuesday, the Library will be closed for Memorial day.

This week was absolutely amazing, even with Zone conferences this week and service and a ward activity on Saturday, we still taught a lot of lessons
.

The area is doing well. On June 6th we have a baptism planned, Brian, a 9 year-old kid. I have certainly learned a lot about trying to teach simply working with Brian, trying to break the gospel down simply enough that a 9 year-old can understand is pretty difficult for me. I need to improve my teaching apparently. We are also getting close to setting a date with Joseph, Dolores' son, but we do see a potential challenge upcoming with trying to get his Mother's permission to baptize him. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, though, we first need to get him committed to being baptized.

With Brian we are also trying to get his Father the Aaronic Priesthood so he can baptize his son. We committed him to get interviewed by the Bishop this Wednesday, hopefully he can receive the Aaronic Priesthood either this Sunday or next. We have been trying to work with the family so they will be a strong family and can go to the temple together in a year.

Yesterday we had an amazing miracle. We went to try and stop by this former investigator, and were on the doorstep on the side of the building (he lived in the basement). And this other man walks up to the door, and just looks at us with the most confused look. He seemed like he was gathering his thoughts to say something, and I said hi, and introduced us as missionaries. We said that we were looking for Bismark, and asked if he knew him. He said that was his roommate. We asked him his name he said "Jairo" I started to explain to him our message (the usual street contact-type deal) and he said "Excuse me.." and in my mind I thought he was about to give us an excuse like "I already have a church" or something like that but he said "Excuse me, could we go inside first." We went in and taught him one of the most spiritual first lessons I have taught my entire mission.

He told us just before we met him he was with some friends, and they were drinking, and started poking fun at him, and said some offensive things, so he left, he doesn't like to drink. He said that on the way home he had been praying and asking God to give him strength, and help to resist temptation. When he got home there we were (hence the look of confusion, it was just too perfect of a situation). We explained the Book of Mormon, how that it can be that source of strength he was praying for, and how the Restoration of the gospel and the true church can give him more direction. It was one of the most miraculous experiences of my mission so far. The spirit was so strong and I know he felt it. He accepted a soft baptismal invite, and we are going to walk with him to church on Sunday. It was absolutely remarkable.

I hope Nick gets his mission call soon. I know that the mission will be a choice experience for him. I have had so many experiences that have shaped and changed me. When I came on a mission I didn't exactly have an "amazing" testimony, but it has grown so much, and I know, independent of anyone else, and without a shadow of a doubt that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the church is restored. I have seen that message change lives here, and it has truly changed me.

In other news I got an email from Daniel Barker (trainer) today. He is getting married on June 12th! I can't believe it! He said he wants to come to my homecoming talk, and to let him know when it would be, to which I thought, "I don't even want to think about a homecoming talk." Yesterday about 10:00 at night it hit me that I go home in 3 months, I didn't get a very good sleep last night. I have so much more I need to accomplish, and time is so short. I'm grateful for the support that you have been for me, both physically and emotionally. I am looking forward to talking to you. (hopefully sooner rather than later) but whenever it is, I'm not too worried about it.

Good luck with the end of school. Soon it will be time to relax during summer break. I love you all so much and miss you. I'll write again on next Tuesday.

Love,

Elder Isaac Ellsworth

May 17th

Things are going well. Yesterday Dolores got confirmed. It went well, Elder Larsen performed the ordinance. Unfortunately none of her family we able to come. She is really excited, and she is doing awesome. On Tuesday she is hosting a family home evening at her house, and she invited everyone that went to the one a few weeks ago at another members house. We are really excited for her, she needs to get a calling soon.

Last week I had forgotten my camera and stuff, so this week I am including pictures from her baptism.

The first one is with all the family. I don't know the lady and little girl on the left, but then comes Joseph, Samuel(Dolores' son), Dolores, Myself, and then Joe (Dolores' other son and Joseph's father).

The second pic is just Elder Larsen and myself with Dolores.

We currently have two baptismal dates. We have one set for the 6th of June, his name is Brian. He is 9 years old. Both his parents are members. We are trying to get his father prepared to recieve the Aaronic Priesthood to baptize his son on that date. We have an appointment tonight we are looking forward to. We are going to talk about family prayer, family scripture study and family home evening as ways to strengthen their family.

Our other baptismal date is Cesar, on the 13th of June. He is an older Dominican man who used to be a pretty ligit musician, but now he can't play anymore because he had a stroke. Things are going well, he has been progressing, on Thursday we are going to take him on a tour of the church.

We are also hoping to set Joseph (Dolores' grandson) with a baptismal date soon. We committed him to pray and ask God if he should be baptized on the 13th or the 20th of June. Things are going well here. I am really excited for what is coming up.

I hope Nick gets his papers submitted soon. Hopefully he can see the stake president soon. I try not to think about it, but I am excited to talk to you all, I hope sooner rather than later. Hopefully he gets his call within the month.

Hopefully everyone does well in school. Good luck with the end of the year. I, personally am looking forward to summer. Last summer was amazing, up in Union City, and now I'm not too far away. I know we are going to see a lot of success these last few months.

Last night as I was up late sleepless I was reading through my old journal entries. It was really interesting to me reading about these old things. Some of them seem like it was so long ago, but others feel like it was only yesterday. Time flies by so fast.

I hope that everyone is doing well. I miss you all a ton, and love you all. Good luck!

Love,

Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Baptisms and Transfers.....

Transfers are Tomorrow, but the good news is that neither Elder Larsen nor I are getting transferred. We'll be here together for at least one more transfer. (June 22) this transfer has just flown by, it seems like just yesterday I was packing my bags and leaving WNY. Elder Larsen and I have been tearing things up here in Jersey City.

Yesterday we had a baptism!!!! However, today I forgot the stuff to transfer pics, so I don't have pictures for you this week, but next week I will send you pictures. I baptized Dolores yesterday, it went well. the water was a tad warm and a little too low, so it almost was really bad, but it went well. Both her sons came to the baptism, They really felt the spirit.

The area is going well right now. We just baptized two really great people. Now we are going to focus on working with Dolores' family and get them baptized as well. Samuel, her son, is getting close. He has a lot of things he would need to give up if he were to get baptized, and he doesn't see that happening. However, the fact that he came to church yesterday was a big step. hopefully he'll be able to keep coming and feel the spirit and make that change in his life. Joseph, the grandson, is also progressing well, we are hoping to get him baptized soon. He has expressed desires to get baptized, and even said he's thought about serving a mission, we will need to get permission from his Mom to baptize him, however, he lives in the heights with her, but we always teach him at Dolores' house.

Juan is also doing well. He got confirmed yesterday. The bishopric had forgotten or did not know, and so as he was announcing that we were going to do the sacrament I started hand signaling him from the congregation. I performed the confirmation. It went well. He really felt the spirit, we are starting to teach him the new member lessons, so that he can remain a strong member of the church.

I know that the church us true. I love being a missionary. The other night I was having a hard time sleeping, so I got up and started reading my journal and writing to get a few things off my mind. I started writing a sort of abridged journal and I was writing about the MTC. I was thinking about that first day, where they used to take you into a big room, and watch a teary-eyed video, and then families go out one door and missionaries out the other. I made the comment that "I had no idea when I walked through that door how much my life was going to change" My mission has truly changed me. I have seen how the gospel changes others lives and in the course, my life has been changed.

Yesterday I completed my goal I set for baptisms I wanted to have in my mission. My goal was 10. Now I have had 10 people I have taught and was there when they got baptized. I have done some thinking over the last few days, and I want to reset my goal, because I still have a few months left. My new goal is 15. I have a goal to get 5 more people to the waters of baptism before I go home. I pray that God will help me accomplish that goal.

I'm glad that everyone is doing well. I'm really excited to be able to talk to everyone in a few weeks. I was a little bummed last night not calling home, but it was definitely a sacrifice I was willing to make, I know how important it is to Nick, and I also really want to be on the phone when he opens it. I'm glad that President allowed me to do it. Hopefully he gets his papers sooner rather than later. I'm so excited, I remember how nervous I was waiting for my mission call to come. I still hold to my guess being Greece. That would, however make calling home a little complicated.... But , wherever he gets called to go, it'll be where the Lord wants him to go.

I'm glad to hear as well that Em did well on her test. Hopefully she finishes out the school year strong.

I can't believe that Ian will be going to Jr. High next year! time has flown, I can't believe how much things have changed since I've been gone.

I love you all so much, and I hope Mom had a good Mother's Day. I hope everyone does well this week and things go well for you. I love you all so much and I am grateful for your support and your prayers.

Love,

Elder Isaac Ellsworth

Baptism....

Yesterday we had a baptism, the first baptism of this area!!! Also, the first Dominican I have baptized on my mission!

The baptismal service went really well. It was a little long, though. He was super excited to get baptized. Another cool thing that occurred from the baptism is that Dolores stayed, and she absolutely loved it! She is completely set to get baptized this next Sunday, we just need to plan everything now. We are going over again tonight to visit her. Things are going really well, and we are definitely seeing the miracles from our hard work.

Ok, picture time! The first picture is of Juan's baptism. The photographer who took the picture with my camera caught me with my eyes closed. From left to right: Elder Larsen (my comp), Juan's son, also named Juan (he's from boston, and he came and baptized his dad), Juan senior (He's usually a very happy guy, but every time the camera comes out he puts on this grumpy old man face) and of course myself (in case you were wondering).

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well for you. I'm glad to hear the bathroom is all fixed now from the flood. Hopefully there isn't another incident like that.

Thank you dad for the money. Today I went and bought new pants and a couple ties. Thank you for helping me out. Today when we get home I'll be throwing away a couple of pairs of pants that are a little trashed. One of them I've had my entire mission and have worn pretty frequently, they've lasted me pretty well, but they are a little torn up. The other pair I was given in Union City, but I had a run in with a fence and the fence won. Also, good news! I discovered today shopping for pants that I am a 36 inch waist! That's 2 inches smaller than the pants I bought before my mission! I'm shrinking!!

I'm really excited for Nick. I hope everything goes well with his papers. I am very excited to be on a the phone when he opens it.... My prediction is he will go to Athens Greece. I was reading a few weeks ago a small article in the Liahona about church history in Greece, and I got the feeling that Nick is going there. I think that'd be really cool!

Ok. The second picture included is of my district right now. From Left to Right: Elder Larsen, Elder Ellsworth (me), Elder Wray (MTC district), Elder Rosas (Elder Wray is training him this transfer, Elder Godfrey (Also from MTC distict), and Elder McBroom (My old comp.)

We took this picture to put on the missionary board here in the church as well as pictures of all the baptisms here in the ward.

Quick note involving baptisms, I must say that the ward here has the nicest water heating system I've seen on my mission. They have two small automatic heaters that instantly heat up the water, rather than a boiler, so it'll pump out water at the same temperature and pace the entire time and gets filled up with perfect water in about an hour and a half. It was really cool. It was definitely a lot less of a headache than Jeyckof's baptism in WNY when the water heater broke. Fun times.

I want to apologize if this email is a little sporatic.

I love being in New Jersey. It is so different. Living in the city is pretty crazy, people's lives are completely different to the life I am used to. Everything is so fast paced here. Also, here in Jersey City it is so diverse. There are tons of people from India, from Africa, we've met a couple of Egyptians the other day, Spanish people, black people, just a huge melting pot. It's incredible. Although I do miss the great view of New York City we had in WNY, most of the places we work in the only thing we can see is downtown Jersey City. I haven't yet been to the waters edge here.

I love you all so much, I can't wait to talk to you in person, hopefully Nick gets his call sooner rather than later. I am so excited fro him. I would trade places in an instant, be about to go out to the mission than about to go home. I tell the young missionaries all the time, " Elder, I wish I was in your place, I'd trade you in a heartbeat. " I love missionary work.

I love you, I'll write again next week.

Love,

Elder Isaac Ellsworth