Christmas Eve!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

To my Family and Friends:

Well if you were wondering it did not snow this Christmas. It may not have been white, but it was Merry and Bright! It was great to have the Christmas spirit, and the Christmas season for these past few weeks! It is really a blessing that we have to be able to remember our Savior Jesus Christ! It is a little bit of a bummer to be away from all of my family and friends, but I have been taken good care of these past few weeks! I really do feel loved, by my family, by my Father in Heaven, and also by these great members here in California! Thanks for all of the gifts, Christmas Cards, and letters I have received, it helps me to feel loved during this season!

Just so everybody knows, this is actually my Second Christmas on my mission. It is pretty incredible for me to take time, and reflect on this past year of my life. I know that I have never worked so hard, learned so much, and had so much fun in any year before. I am grateful to be able to serve during this time, and to learn so much in the service of God! It has been a journey worth remembering, and I am also grateful to have a whole year to still work hard and serve out here in the California Mission! Not only is it crazy to look back to this past year, but thinking back to two years ago... I was a pretty hard hearted and a stiff necked dude! If you would have told me then that I would be on my mission today, I would have laughed at you! I am grateful that my Heavenly Father has reached out to me, and softened my heart and given me this opportunity to serve. I will praise his name forever! I will never regret this decision to serve!

Well, I guess I will tell you what I have been up to during this Christmas season! Christmas Eve we were still working during the day, we were able to meet a few people, and it was very good. Then that evening ate dinner with the McMartins, they are an awesome and fun family. We did a bunch of activities, sang hymns, and had a family tradition... homemade pizza for dinner! It was a lot of fun, especially since I gambled a little, and brought Elder Lee's and my pajamas to dinner with me, and the off chance that they open up PJ's Christmas Eve as well! It payed off, because it just so happens that they do! We had a lot of fun.

Christmas morning, we opened our presents, ate cinnamon roles for breakfast, and went to church. After Church we went to the Littlefields house next door, to the Littlefields, whom we live in their apartment upstairs, and made the dreaded Christmas call home! It was so nice to talk to my family, and I am grateful for their love and support! We ate dinner with the Bischoff family. They are great, and made us a nice dinner. It was really a great time to serve in Loma Rica!

Well I love y'all, and am so grateful for all you do! Keep working hard and being awesome!

With Love,

Elder Nick Ellsworth

Santa Claus is coming town.....

Dear Family and Friends,

It never ceases to amaze me how fast time flies, especially when you are working hard! It is crazy how much I have loved my time in this service. I am trying my hardest to be the very best that I can. I feel more and more blessed every time I give something up as submit my will to my Father in Heavens. One thing that our mission has been focusing on is having "Perfect Mornings". I have really struggled with this on my mission. A perfect morning consists of waking up at 6:30, working out, starting our studies by 8, and having companionship study by 9. Now it might sound easy but it is very hard. This week that has been my focus and I have felt so blessed for it. Even this simple little sacrifice is enriching my mission experience.

It has been an incredible week as I have strived to work hard. We have found many successes this week, and even found some new people that we are hoping to start teaching on a regular basis soon. The Lord has blessed us so much. I am so grateful for all of the blessings that we receive. I think that this is one of the beauties of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This Gospel is hard, it is not easy to be a member of this Church. Our Heavenly Father asks a lot of us. But for everything that we have to give up he blesses us ten fold. I love the quote from Elder Eyring's talk "We can't give so much as a crust to the Lord, without receiving a loaf in return." Now the blessings we receive should not be our motivation, but it is so nice to be blessed for our obedience. It is funny because as missionaries we have a lot of rules that we are asked to obey. We are very blessed when we obey, and we don't receive the blessings we could have when we choose not to be obedient. Now by obedience we are not promised to have a care free two years. Or Even to have many baptisms, but the Lord blesses us in our work, even when it doesn't seem like we are doing very much or making a difference.

I am so grateful for my strengthened testimony of obedience. It blesses me in every aspect of my life. Even though I am going through a rough time right now on my mission, I can take pride as I know that I am doing my very best to obey the laws of God. But even just in this week, as I have dedicated myself just a little bit more, I have found more happiness, and even a lot more success, and most of all a good feeling that I have done the will of my Father in Heaven. I know that the Lord is always mindful of each of us, and will support us and make our burden seem light, when we give him our effort. When we give him our heart. I am grateful for all the many blessing I have received in my life, and grateful for the Atonement of my Savior Jesus Christ. Because of his sacrifice, I can overcome any trial, and temptation, and any transgression as I rely on his mercy. I love you all, and wish you the best in this Christmas Season! Take time to remember our Savior Jesus Christ!

With Love

Elder Ellsworth

Things are starting to look up....

After two weeks of not enjoying myself, well not as much as I have been in the past, this week was actually pretty good. We didn't get very many lessons, but we worked hard and did a whole bunch of service. I have honestly been struggling with my new companion Elder Lee, but after this past week, I think that things are starting to improve their as well. We had this week a Companionship Inventory, where you talk about concerns, struggles, things that annoy you, or whatever else, so we had a good one this week. I learned a lot about my comp! I told him about my concerns of, the music that he listens too, what time he wakes up at, and about our companionship studies. And now he hasn't committed to live the rules necessarily
He won't wake up on time but he is willing to work on our studies as a companionship. So things are going to improve for sure.

Also this week, I had my first opportunity in my year out here to attend the temple. This Tuesday the Ellyson's (wicked awesome family) Loaded us up and took us farther south than I have been in many moons!!! It was a lot of fun, and I really felt the spirit strongly as I was able to renew my personal covenants. It was a big strength for me, it lifted me up, I guess that is the whole purpose of the temple. I have resolved to be the best that I can, regardless of what others want to do.

Also I had another cool experience this week. I was struggling, and very frustrating so before our District meeting on Tuesday, I asked Elder Paramore, my district leader for a blessing. It is actually the first blessing I have had, since the day I entered the MTC when Dad gave me a fathers blessing. What a good experience that was. I guess the Lord is truly blessing me this week with Strength to overcome my challenges.

Also President Weston came to Stake Conference in Yuba this week, and he spoke! That was another awesome experience for me! I love it when he talks. He is an amazing man!

Well once again my letter is short, but I want you to know I am doing good. I still have frustrations, but I know the Lord will support me! I love you'alls gutz!

Elder Ellsworth

LOMARICA

No email.....

We had the opportunity to 'chat' with Nick today. Really we just emailed back and forth with him for about 30 minutes. He is feeling a little discouraged this week. The work is slower than he would like. He sends his love and assures us that he still loves his mission.
Please keep him in your prayers.
Liz

Transfers again... six more weeks have flown by!

I think that the longer that I have been on my mission, the shorter the transfers seem to get! It feel like yesterday literally that I met up with Elder Whitney at the Yuba City stake center. And now I am going to say goodbye this afternoon, as he is taking his mission down to Roseville 2nd ward! Holy Cow that was fast.

Now my new Companion that is coming to Loma Rica is and Elder by the name of Elder Lee. I don't know too much about him, but he is white, and other than that there is not another good thing I have heard. Unfortunately. I am trying to be optimistic, but at the same time I am really really nervous. I am going to have an open heart though, and not let other missionaries affect my companionship. I already did that once, and I was not very happy for the first couple of weeks, so I am looking up this time around. Well I am going to be honest, I am really going to miss Elder Whitney. For all of the hard time that I give him, I really like the kid, and I am bummed he is taking off so soon. It actually came as quite a shock, we were both counting of six more weeks together. He is a good kid, and an awesome missionary. he will do good.

In other news Kyle Palmer's baptism was this past Saturday, and it went really well. I got the chance to baptize him as well, and on Sunday Elder Whitney got to Confirm him. I got the easier job, so I was really glad about that.

Also this week, I almost hit a dear going 60 down the highway. He came onto the road from my left, and I slammed on the break, and realized I was still headed straight for him, so I had to swerve into the other lane to miss the little guy. Afterwards, my adrenaline was pumping, it was a pretty epic dodge if I do say so myself.

I also had a doctor appointment this week about my ear, and it was awesome. I was in the waiting room for 5 minutes tops, and then went to the doctor's room, and I waited for 5 minutes, and then he saw me for 5 minutes. He looked in both ears, and wrote me prescriptions and I left! Quickest ever! So he prescribed some Medical Marijuana, which is helping my ear tremendously. I never realized the good uses of that herb. haha. Well he really prescribed me some ear drops, and two different pills. I went to Walgreens to fill them, and found out that the co-pay for each was 10 dollars well I had at the time a whopping 36.55 for the rest of the month, so I went outside to figure out what I was going to do. When a miracle occurred. Sister McArther drove around the corner out of this little alley. She came over to talk to us, and since we were out of our area, during the day, sitting in a parking lot, I felt that I should explain why. I started off by saying to her that she couldn't solve this problem for me, because she is so generous to us Elders. Told her my dilemma. She laughed and walked to her car, and pulled out her wallet and pulled out 40 dollars, I started rolling up my window, so she couldn't give it to me, but it wasn't fast enough and she threw the money in the window, and walked over to her car, got in refused to take it back, and drove away! So to sum it up the Lord provided a way for a poor missionary to have his dilemma resolved and buy his prescriptions. What a blessing for me. Of course I talked to her later and thanked her. She also told me that the Lord truly was involved because she had taken a wrong turn and that is why she ran into us! It was awesome.

Well that is enough about my week. I am looking forward to Thanksgiving, and am very excited. We are playing some Turkey bowl in the morning, and having dinner with some awesome families that afternoon. It will be fun!

With Love

Elder Ellsworth!

Hello from Sunny Loma Rica!

Well good ole Loma Rica is probably not as exciting as Florida is Mom, and Dad, but it is still pretty exciting! We have had a little bit of a frustrating week lately, but we are excited and pumped after our weekly planning on Sunday night. So as you know we live with members, Brother and Sister Littlefield, but you might not have known that Brother Littlefield is our Ward Mission Leader, and also that they have both been out of town for the past month! So we had the place to ourselves for pretty much the entire time I have been here. I met them right before they left. Well this week they got back, and we have not been getting along the best!! They are so awesome and nice people but they can be a little bit overbearing. But Elder Whitney and I have committed that we are going to be the best missionaries they have ever had live in their attic! Our apartment is going to be squeaky clean, and we are never going to be home from now on, because we will be too busy serving the Lord.

I must admit that driving down the Florida keys seems pretty awesome, something that I might have to put on my Bucket List! The mission is going awesome! I am sad to say that Elder Sommer will be kicking his own Bucket next Tuesday, so hopefully his mission bucket list has been fulfilled! I really love that kid, and I wish him the best.

Kyle is doing really well, and we are looking forward to his baptism coming up on Saturday, and best of all, he is really excited, and he apparently invited a bunch of his family to come and see his baptism. I think that my Email this week is really random so I apologize! but also this past week or maybe more my left ear has been deaf! I can't hardly hear a thing, It's my own fault though. I had an itch in my ear for like 3 days until I caved and gave it a good scratch! Since then I can't hear really well! This is such an exciting time in my life! I have so many opportunities out here, and I am really excited to continue my learning process. I love my time serving the Lord.

This past week, I took a little bit of time and thought back on my time on the Mission. I still remember like it was yesterday my first day in the field. It really feels like yesterday that I was super nervous to meet Elder McAllister, and then Elder Brown. Who by the way is going home in like 7 weeks himself. The time has truly flown as I have served in my mission.

Well I am out of things to say. I am ready, and excited about this upcoming week, we are going to "do work"! Well I love all your gutz with all of my heart!

Sincerely

Elder Ellsworth

Happy Halloween

Well I will tell you what, when I was growing up and in my special years, I did not see eye to eye with my parents on a lot of things. But the older I get, the more I become like them for some reason. For example Dad hates Holidays especially Halloween, I too now hate Halloween. I think the whole idea is just dumb.haha Dad might be right about stuff once and a while!!

I will get to my week now I guess. It has been an interesting one to say the least. I love Loma Rica that po-dunk little town, but I don't really know how to do work here. There is not a town, no suburbs, as a result we can't really tract. Especially since most people out here are gun weilding pot farmers!! I don't think that they would like two men in black suits coming to knock on their door!! So I guess that is one of my frustrations here, is I don't really know how to work in an area like this.

Also like I said last week our Investigators and Less actives are dropping like flies!! But life is good, I really enjoy serving with Elder Whitney, and I really do love my mission. Well we have both been a little under the weather this week, so I don't have too much to say but I had a couple of stories I want to share.

First is that a recent convert of about 3 months named Melvin Jones died this week. I only met him once, and he was very frail just sitting in his bed when I did meet him. So Thursday morning we get a call from his care taker a member named Gail Scott, she was needing a friendly voice, because the hospice for Melvin had just told her he only had 2-48 hours left to live. Well we decided Thursday afternoon to go and see Melvin, when we got to the house he had already died, so we basically got volunteered to help take his body out to the Funeral home van. I imagined in my head something like the scene from Waking Ned Divine, and as you can guess I was ... Thrilled... to help out. Thankfully they had a stretcher to take him out on. Only on a mission haha. It was kind of funny though, when I said my last respects to him, I could not help but be a little envious of him, because I know he is in the rest of our Savior! What comfort that is to know that.

My second funny experience was just on Saturday night. Our ward had a Halloween party mixed with a Chili Cook Off. Well for my costume I decided that I was going to wear my Dress Lava Lava, and dress up like a missionary serving in Polynesia!! It was awesome and I had a good laugh just watching people's reactions to me wearing it. People asked me if I was supposed to be a sister missionary, and I was asked why I was wearing a skirt like 25 times but It was funny none the less!

Well that is just about all I had to say this week, and I want everybody to know that I love them! I love you guys, and I love my time on my mission. I don't understand how Aunt Effie thinks that two years was long, because it feels like yesterday I was at their farewells (Tyler's and Spencer's), and farewell party saying goodbye to two of my brothers in the Gospel!!

With Loving of your Gutz

Elder Nick Ellsworth

Holla from your son in Yuba City!!

Hello from Loma Rica!!! Well technically I am emailing over here in Yuba City, but still I am hollering from Loma Rica. So not to be redundant or anything, but I am here in the Yuba City library emailing you guys, but I am serving in the Loma Rica Ward. Does that make sense?

Well my first week in Loma Rica was awesome! It is pretty much nutz that I am serving with Elder Kevin Whitney from New Fork!! It is pretty awesome to say the very least. So as we have been talking to each other, we have discovered more about our relationship at Camp New Fork. We were roommates for about half of that summer. We both stayed on the two bottom bunks in the Cardboard Cabin, and I like him a lot. I got sick of our other two roommates, because they thought that our cabin was possesed by demons or something crazy! ha ha Still what are the odds, that five years after we lived together we would be serving together out here in Roseville Cali! We get along great, I think that it is the best I get along with a comp since Elder McAllister like 6 months ago!!

But I am not too sure of this area yet. I have such a love for the area, and for the people that live up in Mount Shasta, I know that as a I serve diligently, and pray earnestly I will grow to love these people as well.

My area is as country as it gets. As a matter of fact, it makes Cottonwood, and Mount Shasta look like bustling metropolises. But the funny thing is, the ward over here is bigger than any of the other two I have served in.

Plus the work is going really good as well, we have a couple of solid investigators, and we even have two Baptisimal dates! It is pretty sweet time to be serving here! It is a big adjustment though. I don't think that after serving here, I will ever forget the smell of marijuana! You drive down the road, and you just smell a nasty scent in your nostrils, a little bit like skunk, every five to ten minutes or so. It is not skunk, it is the pot industry going strong out in the countryside of California. It helps me sleep well at night to think that the welfare system is helping people to grow this lucrative crop! haha

Our apartment out here is pretty nice as well, there are only a couple of problems... there are spiders everywhere, we live above members so we have to be very quiet, and the members we live above their grand daughter lives next door to us, and she is gorgeous!!! It is pretty sweet too, because we are teaching her friend, and they are both like 19! haha

It actually freaked me out a little bit the first time we went over there to teach. It was weird for me because I have never really taught lessons to people my age, let alone girls, that are very pretty. But I will endure ;)

Well other than that I don't have a whole ton to say. The work is sweet, we do a whole bunch of service, which I love! Also I have been able to be more obedient, and hard working since I have been with Elder Whitney. He encourages me to be better, rather than a few companions that have encouraged me to be worse... It is a little funny to me, because I didn't really realize that I was becoming relaxed with the rules, until I had an obedient companion, who is strictly obedient. It is a good thing, and it will help me to improve personally.

Well love all y'alls' gutz

Elder Ellsworth

Loma Rica!, but again I am emailing from here in Yuba

Life is good!

Well just for a minute I wanted to start off by telling you guys just a little bit about the Gardners, and when I say a little bit, I will probably ramble on and on, but that is okay. The first time I met them, it was the end of the month, and Elder Brown, and I had many extra miles, so I wanted to go and see all of the towns that were far away in our area. So we drove to Lake Shastina, which is like 18 miles from our house in Mount Shasta. We got out there, and Brown was like we should contact his Former Investigator family named the Gardner's, and I really wasn't too thrilled, but we knocked on the door. Nobody answered, so we walked down their walkway towards the lake, and when we got down there, Vonda poked her head over the balcony, and said "oh, somebody was knocking on the door" So we talked to her, and set up an appointment. She was always a little more ready than Jason as we taught them, and wanted to come to church, and pray. Jason started to change and open up as he read from the Book of Mormon. I remember one week at church how he said that I said something that inspired him to start reading. I said that the Book of Mormon is the foundation of our testimony. That was the reason he started reading. Oh, also they have a 3 year old daughter named Kya, and a 1 year old named Roman. So they were reading, and started to pray, and it took a while for Jason's schedule to change, but eventually they made it to church again. They asked me to baptized them before I left, I was more than obliging to that request.

So, this Saturday around 10:45 I had the amazing experience of baptizing this family, that I love so much. I am so grateful that the Lord has touched their hearts. I love them, and know that they will be awesome members. And a year from now, they will receive eternal blessing when they enter the temple, and are sealed for time and all eternity! I hope that I can make it! They were confirmed Sunday in church. Brother Taylor in the ward did that. And Jason was interviewed, sustained and Ordained to the office of a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood! One cool thing that happened, was when Will Weidmann, passed the Sacrament to Jason and Vonda. That was a sweet experience for me.

In other news. Transfers have come in this morning, and I am getting the boot! I am getting transferred to the Loma Rica ward in the Yuba City stake! Pretty crazy too, my new comp's name is Elder Kevin Whitney, you might know his name, because he worked with me at Camp New Fork! He is one of the Four Whitney Brothers, he has been out for 3 months I think, and he is excited about his work. I am excited to serve with him!! We are going to work our butts off down there. I have loved my past few companions, but I have been waiting for one that just has the fire!! I think Elder Whitney does!

Well that is about all. Life is Good. I love my mission so much, I know this Church is true! It changes lives, and it blesses families!! I know because it has changed my life, and it has blessed my family.

Ian! You heard what the apostles had to say! I urge you, and command you with all of the brotherly love that I possess to prepare for your time to serve now!! This mission is the best decision I have ever made. When you get to see, and be a participant in somebody's conversion, it makes it all worth it! There is sacrifice involved, but that makes this experience so much sweeter. Read, Pray, and Prepare boy! I say that with love ;)

Love all of your gutz do I,

Elder Ellsworth

Mother, I can't believe that September is gone either!

Well I do not have too much to say this week. It has been pretty good, and we have been doing a whole bunch of service this past week or so, and that has been very good. I love being a missionary. I love cool experiences that we have that someday will make some pretty awesome stories!

So here is one, that I was not even there to hear, but I will tell it anyways. As you know the Gardener's have been doing awesome. They also have been a little tight on money, which is part of the reason they weren't coming to church. Well little did I know, but last week when they showed up out of the blue, well to get there that day they put their last 10 dollars into their gas tank, to make the drive to church. When Jason went to work the very next morning, there was a tip that he had received, but wasn't given to him the last week! Not only that, but Jason also got a second job, so the Lord blessed them for putting their faith in him! He truly does provide! They also made it to church this past week, and they are just amazing! A family in the ward invited them over next week to watch conference at their house as well, so this ward is being so gracious and welcoming to the young couple.

I had another cool story while talking to them after church last Sunday. We were up in the Relief Society room, I say up because it is on the second story, and I was talking to them again. And Vonda told me she wished that I would stay here in Mount Shasta forever. Then she corrected herself, and said "no, you should go home, and then get married, and move back out here."

Well I was very flattered, and I am just again, so indebted to my Father in Heaven, so very grateful for the blessings I have in my life. They are not few, but they are many. I am grateful for my struggles, because when I have them I appreciate the good times that much more. I am grateful for this gospel. It has blessed my life, it has blessed my family. It is true. I know it is true.

Well that is just about all that I have for today. I am pretty tired, and ready for a nap, but doing well. We have the Potential to pick up like 11 new Investigators over the next few weeks, so the work is going well, and it is super rewarding. Well I will let you go, but I want you to know that I love you all very much, and wish you the best. Good luck Dad, and Em in Haiti. The Lord will bless you as you serve your fellow men. Thanks for all of the love and support!

With much Love

Elder Ellsworth

What an amazing week!

Well I must say that this week was really awesome. It was one of those weeks that in terms of numbers for the week was not very impressive, but the work that we were able to do was very good, and I am well to be honest I am so excited about the Missionary work up in Mount Shasta!


The week started off as kind of an odd one. As you know Elder Kearon of the Seventy came on Monday, and we had our P-day on Tuesday as a result, but what you probably don't know is the rest of the Story!

I started off the normal Proselyting week by going on Exchanges withe Elder Pennock the Greenie in the Zone. He is really cool, and has an excitement for the work, he is a little rough being brand new and all, but really a great guy. We had our truck waiting for us at the shop on Wednesday morning, so we were able to go about our business as usual. We met with the Gardener's that morning, and that lesson went really well. We talked about modern day prophets, their importance, and also that today the Chruch is set up in such a way that we will always have prophets, as well as that Priesthood Authority they hold on the earth. The lesson ended on an awesome note, when I bore my testimony about the Gospel how grateful I am for it. I shared that I always haven't had this appreciation for it, but because of those times, it is so sweet now. Then Elder Pennock bore his Testimony! Then Sister Gardener bore her powerful testimony on how she know that this Church, and what we have taught her is true. Followed last of all by Jason! He bore an awesome testimony as well. He said at one point that he could not deny that it was true! I am very grateful that I was able to be a part of that powerful lesson!


I got Elder Gillen back later that night, and things went really well. I have grown to love him, despite our differences. We actually had a talk this week one night, on how both of us pretty much feel the same way. The other made us mad for our first little bit, and it was pretty rocky for a while, but now we get along good. We had success this week with contacting a bunch of less actives that we have been trying to get in contact with. Set up two service projects for next week with Less active families, and our week was super awesome!

It was a really good week to begin with, but then Sunday came around. We were sitting in the Chapel 5 minutes or so before the meeting was going to start. Juanita was there, along with a couple of Less active people we are working with, when out of the blue the Gardener's walked into church! We had no idea they were coming so obviously we were ecstatic!! Even more so, when the High Council speaker and his wife both spoke about improving marriages and raising children for their talks! They stayed for Sunday School, which was a great lesson. And also they attended the third hour. I was a little worried because our Elder's Quorum President is a nut case, and he teaches some crazy "A" stuff if you know what I mean, but even the Priesthood meeting was livable.

Elder Gillen went to the Bathroom so he was not their for the ensueing conversation, but it went something like this. Jason and I were sitting in the Chapel after Priesthood meeting and just chatting. I asked him if he had any questions for me, and he did from his reading. He is now in Mosiah by the way I answered his question, and eventually during the course of our conversation Vonda showed up with the kids. Then out of the blue Vonda told me that her and Jason had been talking about things, and they had decided that they wanted to be baptized by me before I left the area! I was of course more then obliged, and pulled out my planner, and set a baptism date with them for the last week of this transfer. So they are getting baptized on October 8th!! I cannot even describe how excited I am. I was pretty much floating 3 feet off of the floor for the rest of the day yesterday. I am so very grateful for this amazing family. I am so grateful that I have been given this chance to teach them, and share with them my testimony of this Church and this Gospel. I love this gospel so much, and having succeses out here on my mission, inspire me even more to go out and work harder, and to be better than I am. I love you guys very much, and I will hopefully chat with you next week again! With much love

Elder Ellsworth

Half Mission Conference with Elder Kearon

Well this week was a very good one. We had our Mission Tour, AKA Half Mission Conference Yesterday down in Yuba City. Which by the way is the furthest south that I have been in the mission in nine months, since the day that I was picked up at the same building by Elder Thompson! Pretty Crazy of you ask me!

It was a long drive down, and very cramped! I was sitting in the back of a Toyota Corolla for the entire trip down, and back up with two other Missionaries! I am glad to be out of that car to say the very least! The Conference was pretty awesome. We first heard from Sister Weston, then President Pendleton, and then we were addressed by Sister Kearon. Then for the next 4 hours or so Elder Kearon stood up there and addressed us about lots of stuff. We did have a lunch break in between, which was very nice, and needed. By the end of the meeting, I was pretty shot to pieces. We did wake up at 4:30 to make it there on time. I had a very enjoyable meeting, and it was cool to listen to him speak, we could tell that they had such a love for us Missionaries. Here is some cool facts. Elder Kearon was a convert, at age 27, they have four kids, the oldest of whom is only 14 years old. Elder Kearon is only 48! He is an awesome guy, but he does not look very much like I remember him from conference, he has aged a bit, and his hair is pretty much all gray now. I remember attending the Priesthood conference in which he gave that talk, that session impacted me very deeply, during a hard time for me and gave me strength and conviction to come out and serve the Lord. One of the main points in the lesson today was finding places where we lack, and improving. He talked a lot about the analogy of the rich young man, who asked the Savior how to get to Heaven, and he responded that he should obey the commandments. The man from his youth was obedient, and said, what lack I yet? that is the Question that we should ask ourselves.

Well I should mention the rest of this crazy week as well I guess. We taught the Gardener's about the law of Tithing, and they want to Obey it, but they are scared. I know that the Lord will bless them if they put forth their Faith, but how can I ask them to make that sacrifice? That is a scary situation, and I am scared as well as to how I can approach the subject lightly, and showing love to them.

Later on this past week, our Truck broke down, the battery went bad and is wouldn't start anymore, so we had to jump the Truck on Friday 6 times, and on Saturday it wouldn't start at all, so we had Shasta Lake Elders drive up on Sunday and pick us up. The truck was towed, and is waiting for us in the shop in Mount Shasta, now we just need to get back up there!

Also we were given the chance to speak this past week in Sacrament meeting, that was a cool thing for me. Especially since I spoke on the Restoration, and basically just taught the first lesson from the stand! It was good though, and Elder Gillen spoke on the Converting power of the Book of Mormon. I thought we did pretty good, especially since we only left 10 minutes for Brother Ingraham! Also things are going better with Elder Gillen. I like him, but when he gets around a certain group of Other missionaries, who I am not to fond of to begin with, they become very abrasive, and make me very mad. The key to this, is keeping the 3 of them apart from each other. So I will try to stay at Shasta Lake while in Redding rather than the Zone Leaders apartment. Well that is about all, I love you guys so much.

I love feeling the Spirit of the Lord. I love that warm, love that I feel. During our meetings yesterday, his words made my heart burn. They inspired me to be better, to work harder, and to be more dedicated. To ask myself what I lack, or where I can improve. The Lord will bless me as I strive to be a better more obedient servant of him. I know this is true. I know that my Savior lives, and he loves me. I know he atoned for my sins. I know that he knows me personally, and completely. I know that this Church is true, that this work will change lives, that when somebody is touched by the Spirit of the Lord, they can truly be Converted to the Gospel of Christ. I love my mission, despite the hardships, despite the struggles, the letdowns, the frustrations, the fear. I love it. I have never felt closer to my Savior then I do now. I am really hard on myself, and I know that I am sometimes a little extreme, but I am hard on myself because I know that I can be better, more effective, and harder working than I am. When I build the Lord's trust in me, he will lead me to those I am here to teach. I have done some good, on my mission, but I need to live up to my full potential. I love you guys very much, and I am grateful for the Love the Support and the Prayers in my behalf. I have had a cool experience these past few weeks, I have been putting in a greater effort to write in my journal. I have at the same time started to read from Dad's mission journal. I love it. It inspires me. I know that he had struggles to, but seeing him overcome them, is awesome what I neat experience that has been for me. He just got transferred from Napoli, his greenie area I think, and I have learned a lot from him already. I love you guys so much, and if I don' pray for you every prayer, I do it often.

With Love

Elder Ellsworth

Stayin in Shasta!

Well I will start off by saying that I am very happy with transfers this week! I was hoping that Elder Clifford would take off, and that I would have six more weeks up in Mt. Shasta, and well that is exactly what is happening. Clifford is taking off, and going to serve as a District Leader down in the Lincoln 1st ward, and I am going to stay up in Banishment with Elder Gillen. I don't know much about him except that Elder Squires my current Distric Leader described him as a jerk! haha Well Squires is a little up tight about things, so I think that we will get along very good. Plus, if we don't I will just sit on him because he is pretty small!! Other than that I really don't have much in the way of news. Time still is just slipping through my fingers, and I am still trying to be a better missionary than I am. I don't think that I will ever get to where I want to be, but that is okay. I want myself to be the perfect missionary but I just don't think that it is possible.

I did have a very frustrating week this week. Elder Clark and I had an awesome exchange. Probably the best that I have ever been on, and we taught 9 lessons, and had a blast. And Elder Clifford came back up and just sucked the drive out of me! We only had 4 lessons for the rest of the week after Clifford came back up. :( I was very frustrated with him, and just ready to be done with our companionship. Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoy serving with him, but we just aren't that good at working together. We get along great though. We both agreed that we were ready for some change though.

Our investigators are still doing well, and for the most part progressing. I don't have anything else to say really. I love the Gardener's they are awesome this week we taught the 10 C's and we put some hand signs to them so they could remember them better. Alyssa is awesome but I don't know what to do with her. We can't ever teach her for reals when her dad is their she just kind of shuts down, and won't respond or do or say anything to us. He kind of just pushes her aside. So she is definately not progressing. Oh I have a talk in two Sundays that I am pretty excited about, and I think that you guys should write it for me. Last time you did it worked out pretty well so, take that into consideration please. haha

Well I love your gutz,

Elder Ellsworth

Time flies when you are having fun!

Oh. boy how time flies on my mission!  It is good though, it freaks me out pretty good.  This week was a very good one, and we got some good work done, and worked our butts off, well until the last few days of the week.  Saturday and Sunday were a little rough for me.  Elder Clifford is a good guy, but he destroys my motivation!  I am really pumped up with our area, and really excited about missionary work, and he just isn't.  I try really hard to get motivated and excited and then he just puts a damper on my excitement.  Especially when it comes to tracting.  He will teach lessons, and he doesn't like to but he will go out and harrass less active people, but he hates tracting.  Our week was a good one, we had 17 lessons this week, but we would have had at least 20 if not for a couple of cancellations, and not working very much on Sat, and Sunday.  So I was pretty frustrated with him, and so last night we sat down and had a little heart to heart, and I told him that he is killing my motivation.  It might have offended him, but it needed to be said.  He is willing to work harder, with me.  I told him that he doesn't have to have a good attitude, and be pumped up to go and tract, just to not discourage me from going to tract.  So he is willing to comply. So we are going to work really hard this last week that we have together.  And we both agree that hopefully it is our last together!  We love each other but are ready for a change of pace.  Personally I hope that he gets transferred, and I stay.  He said he would be cool with that too! 

 

What else is new?  Well the Gardener's are doing good.  We taught just Jason last week, and talked about the Word of Wisdom, we weren't supposed to but Elder Clifford started teaching it so I just went along with it.  The lesson was not very good, and Jason understands, but not completely.  Jason wants to get baptized but he has to wait till his work schedule changes in October or November sometime.  Which is a bummer because I will be gone by then, but who knows I might come back.  We asked Juanita to pray and ask God everyday this week if she should get baptized, but she probably didn't do it, isn't listening, or just forgot, or feels unworthy to pray or something.  But who knows!  Will is doing good, last week was his first time that he passed the Sacrament!  I think for me that is one of the biggest rewards of Missionary work!  Not only that, but we gave him a copy of Preach my Gospel, and he wants to serve on his own Mission some day!  That is super rewarding as well. 

 

Well that is about all.  This last week we had Zone Conference, and it was so much fun!  I love getting together and having meetings with a ton of Missionaries!  President Weston is awesome too!  He makes me want to be the best I possibly can.  I am going to work harder, and be better.  Well I have now run out of things to say... Other than expressing  my love for all of you!  Thanks for the package, and for all of the support you give me.  I listened to the new CD on the drive from Mt. Shasta, and I love it so thanks a million!

I love your gutz!

 

Love Elder Ellsworth

 

Quote of the Week:

" Do not teach in a way that people can understand, teach in such a way that they cannot misunderstand."

 

Unknown.

Time flies....

It is pretty crazy it feels like time just flies by!  It shows no signs of slowing down!!!  Well another good week this one was.  We taught 15 lessons again, as well as we picked up 1 new investigator.  Which meets our goals for the week for our zone.  We want to achieve 500 lessons this month as a zone and that is going to take 15 lessons a week from everyone.  But we aren't going to stop with that.  We set our goal high this next week going for 19 lessons and 2 New investigators!  We are starting to work a lot harder too.  We have made it a goal to waste less time which is the whole reason we have gone up thus far in numbers!  Well that is enough about numbers!  Well I started off this week on exchanges down in Redding.  Which despite everyones complaining I didn't mind the heat too bad.  I was really hot and sweaty most of the time but other than that I was usually in the car.  We had a couple of bummer days during which we had like 4 lessons cancel!  We only actually taught one because our dinner cancelled too!  I had a really good time with Elder Collier my Zone Leader, and he has inspired me to work harder!  I am also really excited because I am going to get into my low carb diet a lot more these next few weeks.  So that should be very exciting, I am going to lose some weight, and eat healthier. 

Because of my exchange this week I missed our lesson with Jason and Vonda.  They both agreed to start thinking more about baptism, they suggested the end of August, but then they realized they have to attend church.  So they started saying that he could not come to church until like November when his work schedule changes!!  So I don't really know what to do now.  Just keep loving and teaching them and now we need to wait.  In other news Will is not coming to Church!!!  He has missed the past two weeks, so I don't really know what to do about that.  We will ask him about it this week, but it is pretty frustrating when you are expecting a bunch of people to church and nobody shows up!  That is basically how Sunday was. 

In other news the Griffeth's from Cottonwood, well they are moving to Dunsmuir, which is subsequently on my area, so I get to teach them again!!  But the reason they are is Justin and Amber are separating.  I guess Justin was not being a nice guy, well actually he was abusing her.  I am really actually worried about them.  What those kids really need is a nice place to live, in a nice place like Orem Utah.  They need love and support, and I am worried that they are not going to find that up in Dunsmuir.  She is a single Mom with 4 kids under the age of 14.  So if you have any suggestions please let me know. 

Good news now for today is we are hoping to pick up 3 or 4 new Investigators tonight down in Dunsmuir.  There is a family that has Less Active parents, that lives there, and they invited us over for dinner tonight.  We are going to do some sort of Family Home Evening activity with them and hopefully pick the kids up as Investigators.  We allready picked up a girl named Samantha who is like 23 who is their cousin so we are excited to teach them.  Also crazy vietnam vet  came again last week while we were there and got mad at us again.  It is pretty epic. haha

I guess my struggle right now is trying to find joy in the mundane.  Trying to learn to love and have the Faith to go out and Tract.  Trying to get over my hold ups.  I have not been an apostate missionary but I would be okay with being called lazy in the past.  But now is my time to overcome that.  I just need to keep finding that motivation to get out there and go to work! 



By the way, I loved the letters from cousin camp. They were a lot of fun to read. Thanks!
Well I am peacing out!  Love your gutz!

Elder with the big head.

Quote of the Week

"A person cannot give a crust to the Lord without receiving a loaf in return."

Melvin J. Ballard.

Lovin Mt. Shasta

Well we had a pretty good week this past week, and I feel pretty good about it.  This past week we set a new record for Mount Shasta at least since I have been here.  We taught 15 lessons last week, so we are very excited about that.  Also we are looking forward to a great week ahead of us.  

 

We picked up a new Investigator named Thema this week.  She is a lady from Dunsmuir that was invited to one of our lessons with Juanita our Eternal Investigator.  She is very religious, and has been back and forth throughout her life.  She is actually very Golden.  She has stopped attending her local church recently because the minister was preaching stuff that she didn't like.  Pretty much all of her views are lined up with ours so we are very excited to be teaching her.  She asked us about babies being born sinners, she didn't think so, neither do we.  She doesn't like the Holy Trinity, she wondered how they could all be one when it refers to them each individually, well we believe the same.  All of her lifelong questions we were there, and we had the answers for her!  It was pretty awesome!  Juanita will be out of town this week, so we won't be meeting with either of them, but next week we will be having an awesome lesson. 

 

Another cool expirience was that family I told you about last week that approached us at church and invited us to come over.  So they live in Dunsmuir as well, so on Friday we drove down to go and introduce ourselves.  They live in this, for lack of a better word, Ghetto trailer park.  We walked over to their trailer, and the husband waved us to come over.  He said his wife was down in Sacramento, and asked us if we could come back another day.  So we rescheduled and were walking away when this family, who were also outside the trailer waved us to come and to talk to them as well.  So we went and shared a little bit about the Book of Mormon with them.  It was a very interesting lesson... to say the least, constant interruptions from an  Irish man who was fixing his truck screaming and swearing about something, the people we were talking too drinking and smoking, and this odd neighbor came over, and was yelling at us because we were mormon, and in essence swore profusely about his oppinion of our church!  Now is sounds pretty bad, but it was actually very entertaining!  We had a very good laugh about the whole thing later, and we are hoping to pick them up as Investigators this week.  So I will let you know more when I know some more! 

 

Well our meeting with Jason went well this week, Vonda is in Oregon for the week, and so we just went over to answer a couple of his questions about prayer, and read some of the Book of Mormon with him, we ended up having an awesome discussion.  We shared a conference talk about prayer by Russell M. Nelson, which was awesome.  And he sayed he is praying more, even they have prayed as a family of couple of times.  Their Daughter Kiya loves to pray, and things are going good.  He let us in a little bit more I would say, he told us more about his beliefs, and why they feel the way they do, and a lot of those expiriences that have led them to believe in Reincarnation are so close to the Gospel.  I can see how it relates to his beliefs, but it fits right in with ours!!  For example when Kiya was like 3 months old, they had such a strong connection with them, they could understand what she wanted, and they just felt that she was too smart to be 3 months old!  Well she lived with them in the Pre-earth life!!  Kiya also told Vonda that she missed them up in Heaven!!!  Jason also with tears in his eyes thanked us so much for being there for him.  He thanked us for inviting God into his life.  He said that God was always there but before he just wasn't recognizing it.  It was awesome! 

 

Well that is about all I wanted to say for today, I want to tell you all that I love your Gutz!!!

 

Elder Ellsworth

 

Quote of the Week!

 

There is not one great and grand thing we can do to arm ourselves Spiritually.  True Spiritual power lies in numerous smaller acts woven together in a fabric of Spiritual fortification.

 

Elder Ballard

July 25th

Oh boy, I have had an up and down week!  It was one of those weeks were at times I could hardly hold in my excitement, and others could hardly hold in my anger, well frustration is a bettter word I guess.  

 

I was  pretty excited to have six more weeks up in Mount Shasta, and also excited to serve with Elder Clifford, but this week was a tough one!  Things are exciting up in Mount Shasta with Will (15) getting baptized on the 30, so we still had a bunch of stuff that we needed to cover with him this week, so the good news is we met with him like 3 times this week, and he is ready to go.  His Baptism Interveiw is on Tuesday and all that we are going to cover is talk about President Monson a bit.  His mom, sister, aunt, and cousins are all semi active member, trying to get active, and his dad is a non member, and they all live together in the same house up in Weed.  I had a bit of a releif this week because we finally have his baptism suit.  We didn't have one in the right size.  So that was a bit stressful trying to get it, but finally the AP's gave it to our Ward Mission Leader down in Sacramento so it should have arrived early this morning in Mount Shasta! 

 

Also we had an amazing lesson this week with the Gardener's.  It was totally guided by the spirit, Sister Gardener answered one of Brother Gardener's Questions, and they practically committed themselves to have nightly family prayers.  Plus Bro. Gardener told us that he is becoming a believer, and he is now in 2Nephi 2!  That was one of my favorite lessons with them ever!  So they are doing good.  Now all that we need is for Bro. Gardener's boss to let him have Sundays off of work, and they would totally come every week!  

 

We are meeting with a couple of other people, but those are the ones that are progressing.  I am still struggling to get out and find new people but this week will be a good one, I just know it!  Well I really have nothing else to say so... good bye

 

Elder Ellsworth

 

Quote of the Week:

 

Life is hard, it is even harder when your stupid

 

John Wayne

Captain Moroni

We met Nick's mission President last week (at his homecoming). It was so neat to met him and talk to him.  He described Nick as a "Captain Moroni", which we thought was so cool cause Captain Moroni is Nick's scripture hero. Then Nick sends us this pic, which was taken before we met President Pendelton.

Transfer...

Well this week leading up to transfers, I was once again caught in the thought, that I really don't have a preference.  I could see myself being here for another Transfer, and if I were to leave that would not be that big of a deal.  

Well it turns out that President Weston is not transfer happy.  I will be staying in Mount Shasta for six more weeks serving with good old Elder Clifford!  I am really excited for these next six weeks, but I have some high expectations for us.  I have some goals that I want to acheive personally, and as a companionship.  I am going to make a greater effort to be the best I can be! 

I had a long two day exchange this week with Elder Squires down in Shasta Lake, and he really did impress me.  He has been out for a couple months more than m

I have been much more obedient this week, but the better I am, the better I want to be!  I figure that that is a good thing.  Well I will tell you guys a few of my goals that I have.  First off is I want to finish the D+C by the end of July, I am on section 77 now, so I am on pace to complete it.  Personally I have a huge goal for myself.  I have this system of keeping track of my obedience, I have little sticker stars, there are 5 different colors, I get one in my planner day for each of the tasks I complete.  They are getting up at 6:30, working out in the morning, effective studies, 6 pages of the standard works daily preferebly not in my morning studies, and the last one is writing in my journal.  So this transfer, my goal is too get every star every day for 42 straight days! It is pretty cheesy if I do say so myself, which I do!  But it is an easy way to keep track of how I am doing. 

And my goal with Elder Clifford is to do a finding activity daily this transfer.  This transfer is going to be a good one I can feel it. Well I have pretty much run out of things to say.  I love you guys a whole lot, and will twalk to you guys next week!

Elder Ellsworth

Thought of the Week:

 No, in matter of discipleship the Church is not a fastfood outlet; we can't always have it "our way".  Some day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ and that Salvation can only come His way.

The picture was taken this morning. There was 15 feet of snow blocking the road!

Two in a row!

Well when I said that last week was probably the most notable to date.  Well this one is right up there with it.  This week has truely been a good one.  I guess that it starts last tuesday.  I was finally after 7 months going on my first exchange in my own area.  I have not really avoided it, but it always just seems to get cancelled when I have one scheduled.  

 

Well rewind!  This week we had a Zone Conference on Thursday, because of that we did not go down to Redding, District Meeting was cancelled.  So we stayed up in Mount Shasta all day on Tuesday.  We had a couple of really good appointments, including one with Juanita, we recommited her to really
Read the Book of Mormon.  We also had a meeting FINALLY with the Gardener's.  They are awesome, but we got out of touch with them for a few weeks there!  So also with them, we mostly just went and talked about the Book of Mormon, and bore our testimonies of it's truth.  We also talked about how it is the proof, it is the evidence.  

 

We then went and drove down halfway to Redding to exchange with the Shasta Lake Elders.  Elder Clark came up with me back to Mount Shasta.  On the drive back up we were going 68 on the freeway, when out of the Darkness a Brown Bear darts across the road!  At first we both thought it was a dog, but it was way to big to be a dog.  It was so quick that I did not even have time to slow down, luckily bears run fast, and he got across the lane before we got too him! 

 

With Elder Clark we had a killer lesson with Will, who is still on track to get baptized on July 29th.  I think, so things are going good.  

 

We then took our long drive down to Redding on Wednesday night for Zone Conference.  This was going to be the first time that I would ever meet the Weston Family.  Man, I can't even tell you how impressed I am!  The whole family was there at Zone Conference.  They each bore their Testimony, then the kids got up and did a musical number for us.  So they have twin 15 year old daughters, a 13 year old son, and a 9 year old daughter!  I am so impressed by the whole family, their willingness to do this.  Something that probably was not an easy thing to do!  But they discussed as a family, and each of them commited to come out here and serve!  Then as President and Sister Weston spoke, I was so inspired, they made me want to be better, to work harder, to be the best I can!  One quote that stuck out to me was Sister Weston talking about President she said, he is obedient Everyday, every page, every way!  That makes me want to be as good as he is!  

 

Then I will skip forward to today.  The whole zone came up today and together we hiked Black Butte.  It was a vent for the big volcano Mount Shasta, and we had a lot of fun!  Then the Ingraham's provided a barbaque for us!  It was a lot of fun, and I think the whole zone enjoyed it!  Well that is just about everything.  I love you guys a whole bunch and am grateful for you support. 

 

With Love

 

Elder Ellsworth

 

Quote of the week:

 

 "Line upon line and precept upon precept, gradually and almost imperceptibly, our motives, our thought, our word, and our deeds become alligned with the will of God"

 

Elder David A. Bednar

Happy 5th of July!

Well this is probably the most notable week of my mission thus far.  I had a couple of cool experiences that I wanted to share with you guys.  First off was this week we got our new mission President!  On Thursday President Weston arrived out here in California with his young family to the place that they will live for the next three years.  Three hours later President Pendleton went to the airport and flew back to Utah, which he described as now being jobless, homeless, and living on church welfare! I have really enjoyed getting to know him and have learned so much under his leadership for these past few months.  I have not met President Weston yet, but this Thursday we our having our zone conference, which will be great, followed by interviews so hopefully I will get to know him just a little bit. 

After that my week went pretty unfazed until on Friday morning I got a call from Elders McCollough and Ericson from Cottonwood.  They informed me that the Griffeth family, whom I taught for four months in Cottonwood, were getting baptized... the next day, at two in the afternoon.  Needless to say I was a little bit annoyed that I wasn't told this until the day before it was going to happen.  So Saturday morning Elder Clifford and I drove down to Cottonwood.  I first saw the Griffeth's while the whole family was sitting in the Foyer of the Anderson Stake Center, and they recognized me immediately!  The boys came up, and wanted a high five, and it was super awesome to see this great family.  Justin, the husband, is a less active member, and his wife Amber, and her four kids were taking the lessons.  The Oldest three, Sean, Seth, and Michael, all got baptized, while Zach, who is only 5 watched jealously—he wanted to get in the water too!  It is really hard to describe what I felt as they were each in turn baptized.  I have hope for this family; I know that they are taking the first step to Eternal Life.  I was so happy!  I can't even describe it.  I love that family and those four boys were awesome.  I am so happy that my Father in Heaven gave me the opportunity to learn and grow with them.  I am grateful that I was able to know this family, grateful that his Holy Spirit came and touched their lives, and grateful that they are willing to enter into this covenant with God.  It was incredible how they have changed from the first day that we ever met them.  Six months ago, Elder Thompson and I went to their house where previous missionaries had lost contact with them after an awesome first lesson.  We gave those kids each their own copy of the Book of Mormon.  Now they are so different.  Amber couldn't keep a smile off of her face!  What a blessing this Gospel is.  It brings joy to all!

Well that was my week.  The 4th of July in Mount Shasta is...odd.  The hippies are real, and they are interesting bunch.  Yesterday was a full p-day, so we got to just hang out at all of the stuff pretty much all day.  We even watched fireworks last night.  Our AP's said that if a member drove us that we could watch them, and we did not got home last night until 10:33, so today I am flat out pooped!  Well enough of my rambling.  I love you guys a whole giga-ton! 

Elder Ellsworth

20... I feel old now!

Well there are a few perks that come along with being twenty years old.  Now I can viably say "kids these days", and shake my head, and people will nod in agreement.  Also when people are generalizing about how horrible teenagers are, I am no longer included in the category!

Well enough about that.  As you know, I had a little bit of a tough time with Elder Brown, we just did not really hit it off as a companionship.  I think he is a very nice guy and all, but we well our personalities didn't really mesh that well.  I would say that Elder Clifford, and my personalities are much more alike.  He is a maybe a little bit taller than me, but a lot skinnier than I am.  He is actually a bean pole!  He has red hair, and he makes me laugh.  When he found out that he was going to Mount Shasta, he was a little bummed because he wanted to go and serve in the City, I laughed and told him he was in luck because we have got 5 cities in our area!

Elder Clifford has been out for 13 months and is from Mesa.  His family is from Safford though, so we figure we are probably related somehow!

Well our week went relatively well, we tied lasts weeks 7 lessons, but next week we are going to pound it into the dust, we are planning on getting 16 so we better get out there and work!  This week was not very exciting, I really don't have that much to talk about.  We re arranged our whole house, which was very nice, I am no longer on the top bunk. 

We didn't meet with either the Gardener's or Will (the big black kid that wants to get baptized) but we did set up lessons for next week, so that is good.  Other than that, my life is pretty boring. 

I rode my bike for the first time in the mission field this past week which was awesome.  We rode over to the church which is just a little 1.1 mile ride up hill at high alititude the entire time.  I would be lying if I told you I was just fine when we arrived... but the ride home was very fun, about 25 miles per hour the whole way! 

This area has a lot of Potential, but I think that the last few missionaries have just gotten lazy.  I can see why, we are an hour away, so you can do whatever, and nobody would ever know.  That is no excuse, me and Elder Clifford are going to work hard.  I have gone through some good and some bad times, some easy, some rough.  Some times where you can't do anything right, and some times when nothing goes wrong.  You can learn from everything that happens to you.  That is the blessing of knowlege!

Love

Elder Ellsworth

Transfers are here again......

Well I am really begining to freak out now.  This last transfer was number four.  I am now officially one quarter of the way done.  But it is going to fast.  I swear that the last six weeks has just... well I blinked and it is gone.  Well I guess I won't keep you waiting, I am staying in Shasta, and Elder Brown is being transferred.  My new Companion is Elder Clifford, I hear he actually might be my size, well at least that he is really tall.  I also heard that he was a pathological liar, but that was from a dumb source so I won't give it any mind.  I always get super nervous right before I find out what is going on.  Actually I kind of start to have a panic attack.  Not really but, the butterflys in my stomach dance around pretty good.

Well I mentioned that last week I was pretty at much at my wit's end with Elder Brown.  Well I had that exchange down in Shasta Lake, and that was very therapeutic I was able to organize my thoughts.  So I talked about my frustrations with Elder Jackson.  I did not bag on my comp, but I told Jackson how I was feeling.  Then when we exchanged back Elder Brown and I had a very long heart to heart talk.  We were able to express our frustrations, and work it out.  We have been good ever since. 

I had two experiences that I wanted to tell you about this week, which stuck out in my head.  Saturday night as I prayed I asked my Father in Heaven if I could have the opportunity to bear my testimony to somebody.  I did not realize that the next day was Fast Sunday.  At church I didn't get up and bear my testimony but a member brought her 20ish year old friend who isn't a member.  After priesthood, we were talking to him, and I was able to bear to him my testimony of the Book of Mormon.  After I bore my testimony I immediately recognized it as an answer to my prayer.  Also at church there was this family that came in.  They are less active part member family, and one of the boys, named Will.  A big black boy( not being racist) came up to us, and said he wanted to take the lessons, and get baptized!  Well of course we immediately set up an appointment for Friday on this upcoming week!  What a miracle!

One more story I wanted to tell you guys about.  So I mentioned about that Revelation that I got I guess while reading a conference talk.  Well on my exchange in Shasta Lake we taught a lesson about the Priesthood.  During the lesson I felt inspired to share my experience with them of the day that I entered the MTC.  When Dad laid his hands upon my head and gave me a blessing of comfort.  The Spirit of God burned in my chest, and tears streamed down my face as I told them how grateful I am to my Father, and for his worthiness so we can have the Priesthood in my home growing up.

Well I want you guys to know how much I love you, and I really appreciate your support of me.  I can't believe that I turn the big 20 next week!  Scary.  So there is a series of talks called "our savior"  It is a 14 part series done by a bunch of BYU professors.  It is pretty cool I have listened to it before, so I don't know how much it is but that would be a cool B-day present, as well as money or ties!  Love them all!  I love you guys and thank you for your support!  Love your gutz


Elder Ellsworth

Oh by the way did Isaac serve with and Elder Henry McBroom in New Jersey?

A Week of Highs and Lows

A quick note from Liz: Sorry I didn't get last week's letter posted. Things have been a little crazy. I have posted last week's and this week's letters on here. Nick is doing well, loving his mission inspite of some of the challenges of missionary work......

Dear Family,

Well things in Mount Shasta are going very well, but I have been a little bit frustrated lately.  Elder Brown and I get along well, but there are just some things that drive me nuts about him.  I will talk about that later.  I had a very cool experience, I guess you could say that it was a spirtual personal Revelation.  

 

This week, I got your box in the mail, and that was very good to get that care package, I especially love the Ensign's that you guys made me, they are so awesome, and so packed with spiritual insight.  I have been having this problem lately and one of the articles in the Ensign really spoke to me.  I thought that I was having problems feeling the spirit, these past few weeks have been a struggle, and I thought that I was not feeling the spirit in my life.  It really was worrying me, and this week as I read out of the Ensign there was a talk that was written with me in mind.  Elder Bednar's talk on Revelation was the talk.  As I read it I came to realize that I felt that I wasn't feeling the Spirit because I had not been having these overwhelming experiences that I thought I was supposed to have.  I allowed myself to believe that because I wasn't having those experiences I was not feeling the Spirit.  As I read the talk, I realized that you don't need that.  I did not need that to feel the Spirit!  There was a part in particular that talked about how if we are living our lives in conjunction with the Commandments, we can move forward, and know that God approved.  It might sound like a small experience, but it has made a world of difference to me.  That was probably the highlight of my week.

 

  I started this week something else that I am thoroughly enjoying.  So I have been trying to read one General Conference talk everyday, and as I read I highlight specific things that I like.  When I finish the talk, I go and I pick 1 or two quotes from the talk, and then right those in my Quote book that I started last week!  So now I have like 10 quotes already written, and it is really great to have those words with me always, I even used one in a lesson this week. 

 

I have really been struggling lately to get along with my Companion.  He just does some things and I know it is my fault for being frustrated, but it just makes me mad sometimes!  I love him, but I need to learn to like him now.

 

Starting today I will be on exchanges with my District Leader Elder Jackson.  He is really a sharp guy, and I have enjoyed serving around him.  So this will be my 5 exchange on my mission, and I have never been on one in my area.  Now for the big news... Tomorrow I have been a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints for 6 months!  It blows my mind!  It has felt like I have not even served for... I don't even know.  But it honestly feels like yesterday that I was dropped of at the MTC.  If this trend of flying time continues I will be freaking out very soon.  A quarter of my mission gone and I have not done very much.  I need to work even harder for the Salvation of many Souls.  

 

Also I wanted to share with you guys some cool insight that I gained today at District Meeting.  Elder Jackson mentioned that Sister Pendleton told him this when they first arrived in the mission field.  She said that the Most important missionary work on your mission will be in your Journal, and in your letters home.  I hope that I can fulfill that while I serve the Lord.  To Serve my family and friends, and also my posterity.  I love this Mission.  I hope to Thrive during the high points and endure well the Low's!  This is God's work, I know that is true! 

 

Love Elder Ellsworth

Hello Again from Mt. Shasta!

Wow I can hardly believe how time flies!  It has been so fast, this week I hit my 5 month mark since a arrived in California!  Also this is already week 5 of the Transfer this week!  I don't even believe how fast it goes.  

 

This week has been another slow one, but I have some things that I will talk about.  For most of the week Elder Brown has been pretty sick, and so we have been in and out...  We are still trying to get stuff done, but it has been a toss up because he has a nasty cough, and nobody really wants that in their home!  So we have been picking and choosing what we go too.  Mostly we stay home, and go to our set appointments.  It has been a real bummer!  But because of having so much time at home I have read a ton in the Book of Mormon.  Since last Sunday I started in the book of Omni, Last Sunday I read the entire book of Heleman, and since that time I have read the book of Alma, finishing it last night!  As you can probably tell I have had a lot of down time, and many oppurtunities to read this past week.  

 

The other thing that I wanted to talk about was the Gardener's!  We missed them this past week, and I was a little bummed about that, but Elder Brown was sick and they have two little kids, so I thought it was the best to cancel it.  They came to church yesterday, and stayed for the whole three hours!  Not only that but they loved it!  Their two year old daughter Kiya was crying again, because she wanted to stay because she had so much fun!  I was again very impressed by the ward, because they were so great, warm, and welcoming!  I was very impressed, especially with the Taylor Family.  Brother Taylor was the last Bishop in the Ward, and he is very missionary minded.  He mentioned last week at dinner that the week before he wished that he would have sat with the Gardener's with his family.  So this week, he did.  Him, his wife, their 13 year old daughter, and their 8ish year old daughter.  They took Kiya, and kept her happy for the entire meeting playing barbies with her!  It was so awesome that they did that.  We were talking to Brother Gardener later after Priesthood had ended, and he mentioned that he had read 14 chapters in 1Nephi!  Now keep in mind that when they were taught before they never attended church or read.  He said that something that I said in our last meeting had inspired him to read, It stuck out to him I guess.  I mentioned that the Book of Mormon is the foundation of our belief and our testimony.  And that really hit home with him for some reason, and as a result he read a bunch!  Plus the talk in church talked all about Nephi, and he was excited becuase he had just read that!  What a great experience! 

 

One more thing as of this morning, the Griffeth's are on pace to be baptized on June 4th.  Next Sunday is do or die though.  If they don't come they will have to postpone!  So they had better go!  Elder McAllister is going home on June 7 so it is now or never for him!  Well that is about the jist of my week, I was able to keep busy this week despite being home for a good portion of it.  I cleaned our entire apartment so that is good.  Also Elder Brown is going to take the test to get his learner's permit today so things are about to get pretty interesting... I am actually not that excited about it especially if he gets all of the driving priveleages.  That would suck!  Well that is it.  I have run out of things to say... So ....   Love your stinking Gutz! 

 

Elder Ellsworth

 

Hey I would love copies of some talks!

I would like a copy of the Raising the Bar talk by Elder Ballard, and the talk by President Hinckley that talks about Raising the Bar. 

 

Also I need Alyssa Richins, and Nat Bristow's addresses, I only have their school address, and I am guessing that they are home by now so I cannot write them!

 

Thanks for everything, and I got the money thx Isaac and Ian!

What a week!

Dear Family,

      Well to be perfectly honest this week has been one of ups and downs for me!  I have had lots of both to be honest there has not been much time in the middle!

 

       I guess that I will start with my first District Meeting in Redding.  My District Leader up here is named Elder Jackson.  He is very very short, I love him a lot, and he takes his responsibility very seriously, tell you the truth, I have never had so much homework to do before our meeting tomorrow morning. So last Tuesday our district meeting was the most enjoyable that I have been too.  We started off with all bearing our testimonies of the Book of Mormon, and it was a very spiritual meeting.

 

  During the bulk of the week, Elder Brown and I had it a little rough!  I was doing things that bothered him, and he got a little chippy with me.  It was a good thing, because we talked about it, and learned from the experience.  I need to stop being a bossy know it all!

 

  We had a lesson with our awesome investigators the Gardener's on Wednesday, they are super great, but they said they were coming to church yesterday and they were a no show, well it was snowing so I will cut them a break this week.  They are pretty close already.  Both have family members in the church so they just need a little bit of a push! 

 

      Well I am skipping now until Saturday, well Friday night.  We drove down to Redding on Friday evening, and spent the night in Shasta Lake.  The Elder's stayed up, and kept me up until Midnight, and I was pretty upset since I had to drive to Gridley on Saturday, oh well I as supposed to forgive so I will.  So Saturday morning we got up at 4:30, for those of you who are not good at math that is 4.5 hours of sleep, and we drove to the Gridley Stake Center!  This was way worth it though.  We had a full mission Conference!  

 

     Every Elder, all 200+ missionaries were there at the same time!  I got to see Elders Thompson, Sommer, McAllister and  Call!  All the Buds!  And we met for a reason too, Elder D Todd Christopherson was there, President Donald L. Halstrom from the Presidency of the Seventy, Bishop McMullin from the Presiding Bishopbric, Elder Waddell from the Seventy, and Elder Trythall our area Seventy were all in attendance! 

 

     The meeting started with every Missionary shaking all of their hands!  it took like 30 minutes.  It was followed by them each in turn speaking to us.  Before Elder Christopherson spoke he invited President and Sister Pendleton to stand up and bear their Testimonies!  Their final testimony as my mission President and wife!  Oh how they love us!  With all of their hearts, I teared up just listening to them!  They love each other and they love the Lord with all that they are!  We then had the privilege of listening to an Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ speak to us!  He is a powerful man!  If I had any doubt that the Quorum of the Twelve, and the First Presidency were called of God, it was swallowed up by this experience! His word caused my Heart to Burn!  The Sprirt was so strong in that room!  For most of his talk to us he did a question and answer segment and that was incredible!  He know the scriptures so well!  Oh it was one of the coolest expiriences of my Mission! 

 

     We then turned around and had a 160 mile drive back to banishment in Mount Shasta!  Sunday was rough we attended church, and dinner and spent the rest of the day at home... Elder Brown is still feeling pretty lousy!  

 

     So all day I read from the book of Mormon, and I read they entire book of Mosiah!  It was a cool expirience for me!  Right now I am marking all of the Deity, so when it refers to God or Christ in blue, and the Words of Christ and the Father in Yellow so it is really cool to see!  And it ends with right now talking to you guys it was a good week, a few rough spots but my Testimonty and Faith have grown this week! 

     You wanted to hear a little more about the Gardnener's have two kids, they are in their late 20's early 30's.  Kiya is 3 , and Roman is like 8 months old.  Sister Gardener's mom was Baptized when Sister Gardner was in her teens, and rebellious.  so then she did not want anything to do with it.  Brother Gardener's Dad joined like 5 years ago, and his Dad baptized Bro G's two young step brothers.  They are great. 

 

     Our next Mission President will be President...I can see his picture but what is his name...Weston.  He is younger than You two! haha  He is bringing 3 or 4 young kids out with him! Well, I am sad to see the Pendleton's go, I have grown to love them so much, but it will be cool to meet the Weston's.  President Pendleton says that it is not in the man!  So it will be cool to see Pres. Weston work!

 

     Man it has really made my day to hear from  you guys, I do feel disconnected from the zone but it is a good place to be at especially for the summer.  I am so grateful to be a missionary I love having the opportunity to bear my testimony everyday, I love that I just get to devote my time to learning the gospel, It is so great to serve English speaking in California! 

 

I love your guy's guts! Thanks for all you do! Please send more letters!

 

Elder Ellsworth

 

Mother's Day Phone Call

Hi everyone, since yesterday was Mother's Day we didn't really get much of a letter today. I guess Elder Ellsworth figured we talked about everything yesterday. I thought I would include a run-down of our phone call and what we learned.

We had a great phone call, we talked to Nick for about 80 minutes! He had an opportunity to talk to each of his siblings individually! It was so wonderful to hear from him. He sounds great!

Nick loves his new area. He says Mount Shasta is absolutely beautiful! The mountain is right near him, lots of trees and lakes too. His areas includes 5 small towns including the towns of Lake Shastina and Weed. All five towns make up the ward in Mt. Shasta.  So you can imagine that the missionaries are doing a lot of driving these days.  In fact his mileage allowance is 1800 miles a month. He is already worried about mileage this month because last week they drove 400 miles.

He is in the Redding District, so whenever they have district meetings (every Tuesday) they have to drive an hour south to Redding. They usually go on Monday and participate in the P.D. activity and then they stay overnight for the meetings.

They had two baptisms this week and they had to leave their mission for the baptisms.  There is no font in Mt. Shasta so they have to go to Yreka, which is part of the Eugene Oregon mission.  Nick is hoping that they get to go to Yreka frequently!

Nick's most exciting news was that his old companion, Elder McAllister, called this past week to tell him that the Griffith family has committed to baptism. They will be baptized on June 4th. He is pretty excited, they worked with the Griffith's quite a bit. The dad is already a member (although inactive before the missionaries found them), the mom and three kids will all be baptized.  Nick and Elder Brown will be allowed to travel to Cottonwood for the baptism. He is really excited about that!

Nick really loves his new companion. Once again however, he got a new companion who is sick.  Poor Elder Brown has been sick for a couple of weeks and Nick ended up getting it as well.  They are both feeling better and are determined to work hard to build up their teaching pool.  I guess the previous missionaries didn't leave them with very many contacts, so they will be working hard to find new investigators.


Well, that is about all the news that I can think of! It was so fun to talk to Nick and we look forward to hearing from him again next week. He sends his love and appreciation for everyone that has written him. He loves you all.

Liz

Mount Shasta!

Well I am sure that you guys have many questions about Mount Shasta, I will do my best to answer them all.  Well Tuesday I drove up to Redding and met Elder Brown, and got my frist glimpse at the truck, which by the way is beautiful! 

 

Anyways we had zone meeting the next day in Redding, so we spent the night at another Elder's apartment.  It was fine, but I was so nervous to get transferred, meeting Elder Brown as usual when meeting someone you could spend the next six months of your life with was awkward.  But we got through it just fine.  

 

My new zone is a whole bunch of Elders that I have never met before, heard of a few of them, but for the most part don't know a soul!  So shortly after zone meeting we were off to Mount Shasta!  Which was hindered by the fact that Elder Brown has a very poor sense of Direction, and I had no idea where we were going.  After asking for directions at a gas station, we headed straight up I-5 into the Mountains.  The drive that we had was about an hour, and it is super beautiful, right by Shasta Lake, over some very cool bridges, and up to the base of the Mountain.  We headed straight to an appointment where we taught one of our 2 Total lessons this week!  

 

 

It has been a little rough up there, since arriving I have discovered a few important things 1. I had better be careful because before Elder Brown the last 4 missionaries who served here were pretty apostate.  2.  Elder Brown is almost as lost as I am in our area.  3.  I don't blame him our area covers 5 little towns, and the areas in between,  including,  Mt Shasta, Lake Shastina, Dunsmuire, Weed, and McCloud.  Elder Brown has only been here for six weeks more than I have so I'll give him a bit of a brake.

 

 

Once again I have had a pretty sick companion for most of the week, so I have been our little apartment for a long time, so I have gotten to know Elder Brown very well.  I know that he has struggled with a couple of previous companions, he was indeed home schooled, he is from Maine,  He is a very nice little guy,  I like him a lot but we are very different, and we are very much away from the rest of the mission.  I am going to need patience and love, but we will get along great.

 

 

Another great story is that I had a very... odd reception to the ward.  In C-wood pretty much all of the young women ignored the missionaries, here not so.  I think all of the young women at some point either stalked me in the halls, talked about us behind our backs, or came up and introduced themself with a very bogus name (ex. Olga).  So it was an interesting reception to say the least.  The Ward building up here is super cool!  When the went to build it they built it to support the snow that Mount Shasta gets.  By Some mistake they designed it for a ton of snow, but the town only gets like 8-10 feet each winter, all at once.  There is still piles of it on the side of the road, and a little bit in the shady areas.  What Else... I drive a lot, and I really love the Truck, it is a 2011 Chevy Colorado, super nice, and has 8k miles on it.  Good DEAL!

 

 

Mother's Day call will be next Sunday at two or three o clock my time, just to keep you guessing.  Um  I don't know what else to talk about.  I would really love a GPS...  hint...  Still no mail from Blake Kyle or Andrew.  This last week I hit my 5 month mark can you believe it, that is super CRAZY.  Well I love you guys a lot, and look forward to talking to you next week on the phone.  I can't Skype, I think I told you that I could, but President Pendleton changed his mind so oh well. 

 

Love Your Gutz

Elder Ellsworth

Snail Mail Letter

The following letter arrive U.S. post, the library in Mt. Shasta is closed Monday and Tuesday, so we don't expect email until Wednesday!

                                                                                                                                             April 28, 2011

Dear Family,

Well I just wanted to write you and tell you that I am still alive. As you know I am now serving in Mount Shasta, this is the farthest north in the Roseville Mission! I sure serve in a bunch of small towns up here, Weed, Mount Shasta, Lake Shastina, Dunsmuir and McCloud.  This is going to be a crazy area! Plus I am driving. Elder Brown doesn't have a driver's license so I go that job. I am driving a 2011 Chevy Colorado. It is so nice, I love it!It is bigger than I am used to, but I will get used to it!

To get up here you drive an hour north of Redding on I-5.  It leads right through Dunsmir, Mt. Shast and Weed.  I will get used to driving eventually, but for now I always feel lost.  I don't know where anything is.  Shasta lake and Mount Shasta are both beautiful, and I look forward to spending time in this beautiful area.

The church building here was dedicated by Howard. W. Hunter and is built to withstand up to 20 ft of snow!!

The work here is pretty slow, but Elder Brown and I are going to work really hard anyway and find people to teach!  Elder Brown has a cold today so we are trying to get him healthy.

I love all your gutz a bunch!

Love Elder Ellsworth