Boxing Day

Dear Family,

Well I really do not have a whole lot to say today, but for the sake of your blog I will say a little, please feel free to add anything from the phone call that you feel is appropriate.  First Sunday in the field was pretty weird everybody in the ward wanted to come and introduce themselves.  It is impossible to remember, or even attempt to all of the names of the ward members. We have great support here from the members, they feed us every night. I haven't eaten a dinner in our apartment yet.

We have a couple of investigators in our investigator pool. This week we spent some time going through the books of old investigators and tracking some of them down.  I had a really neat experience this week. We were out trying to talk to people, we stopped at one house and as we were getting out of the car I had the impression that someone at that house was prepared to hear the gospel.  We spoke to  a woman at the door, we have an appointment to go back and see her on Thursday this week.

Our investigator Ron was at church yesterday, but he always comes. He is struggling to quit smoking and is pretty convinced that he can't do it. He knows the church is true, but hasn't been able to quit yet. I hope that we can get some inspiration to help him quit smoking.

I have really enjoyed my time here so far, and I almost have a whole week under my belt.  Cotton wood is a tiny little town, it has a really cool Historic Downtown section, but tell you the truth it is just really old.  There is tons of fields, and farmland, etc.  And the houses in town seem to be pretty spread out.  I have set foot on two or three sidewalks because mostly it is just dirt on the side of the road.

We are working in Cottonwood, but we actually live in Andersen which is about 4 miles away. 

In our apartment we have my companion Elder Thompson and myself, plus the zone leader and his companion. The ZL is Elder Thompson's Dad, so that makes him my grandpa, they told me to call his companion Grandma!

Sorry that isn't much family,  next week I will give you more to work with. 

Also after a get moved out of Cottonwood, or away from Elder Thompson, we need to think about purchasing a GPS,  apparently Utah missionaries cannot find their way around in California, so please price them out if you have time.

Ya, I know that there is other things, but I can't remember, so it will have to wait... do you need extra postage to Canada?  Also... We got a bunch of presents, I got a blanket, a green tie, some brown socks, a plethora of candy, and another stocking, and a pocket knife!

 Well I had better head out, I love you all so much, and next week I will try harder to write personal emails, and a better family one. For the sake of the blog, use some of what we talked about on Christmas.  I love you all, but I am the Lord's for now.

Elder Ellsworth

3 Nephi 5 :13