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