Sick, sick, sick

My Dearest Parents,

         Well I have had an interesting couple of days.  It has been an odd, my first week with Elder McAllister was great! We had 17 lessons; that led our zone!  But when he came to Cottonwood he came with a  cough.  It got worse and worse until last Tuesday I cancelled all of our appointments. I said he was sick and had to get better. Well, day after day he woke up coughing and hacking. Day after day I cancelled dinners and lessons.

 I feel really close to Elder McAllister.  I really loved Elder Thomson but it was not the same. He, McAllister, is such a good missionary, he works hard and he does the Lord’s will.  Now we have not been very productive because of his sickness. In fact today was the first day we have gotten out of the house in a week. We drove up to Redding to go and have a Dr. Appointment.  It was snowing up there!  The cars were covered for a little while! It is pretty hard to be productive or feel productive after spending so long at home. 

         I love you guys so much and I want to thank-you for your love and support.  You are so good to me.  You write every week, Thank-you! 

         I know why I am here, and I am determined not to get discouraged.  Not by other missionaries, not by experiences. I know why I am here. To serve the Lord!  I you all a ton. Thank you guys for EVERYTHING.

Love Elder Ellsworth

What a week!

Well this week was probably the most interesting week of my Mission thus far!  When Elder McAllister arrived in Cottonwood, he was a little bit sick, but last Tuesday he started coughing his lungs out, and he has not been proselyting since.  He is still sick today, but he is on the mend. 

 

I have enjoyed him so much, and I really love serving with him, so hopefully he will be well sometime this week so we can get some work done, in all this week we had four lessons!  It is pretty exciting.  Elders Sommer and Shelton who serve in Anderson and live with us are really good to us.  I have been able to get out for a couple of hours a couple of days this week, so it has not been to mind numbing, Elder McAllister is pretty frustrated though.  

 

There was one expirience that was pretty cool for me this week that I would love to share.  A couple of weeks ago our ward had a Chili Cook-Off and I was approached by this deaf family (Cottonwood is the Deaf ward for the Redding and Anderson Stakes).  The Father is not a member, and they wanted us to come and to teach the lessons.  Well it took a few weeks but two days ago we ate dinner with this family.  I went to the Dinner with Elder Call from the Palo Cedro Ward.  The daughter who can hear, and possibly translate was not able to make it to the dinner,so we called Sister Richardson, and she came and Translated for us.  She was around 10 minutes late so we wrote back and forth on a piece of paper until she arrived.  It was very odd sort of dinner, but when she arrived it was pretty cool.  When we finally shared a message with them it was so interesting, we had to compress our lesson into short powerful statements because of the translation, and I felt the spirit very strong as we did.  It was a new expirience for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Dinner and Lesson.  We even picked him up as a new investigator.  Though he told us that he was not super interested after all. 

 

Overall it was a very good week, but I hope Elder McAllister is feeling better this week so we can go and do some work!  I love you all a ton, and sorry again for the length.  Have a very nice Valentines day.  I will be sending some pictures later this week as well!

 

Love Elder Ellsworth

HELLO!

Quick explanation this week: I had a moment of panic on Saturday Morning. I walked into the family room at about 6:45 am and could have sworn for just a second that Nick was asleep on the couch. Totally freaked me out..... turned out to be Isaac (of course), but for just a moment I was confused. I have taken a lot of ribbing around here, so  I shared it with Nick.
-Liz

 Dear Family,

     Well I must admit that I had a nice laugh that you thought Isaac was me as well.  It is pretty funny because, I actually drove home this past week, and took a little nap on the couch!

     Oh boy have I had a exciting week!  First of all yes I did get your package, and yes I love Reeses Peanut Butter cups thank you very much!  Second of all Sister Pendleton (mission presidents wife) was involved in a head on collision this week, and she broke her sternum, and a vertebrae in her back.  We all participated in a mission wide fast, and she is walking, and at home now.  She sent out a voice mail message, and she does sound a little beat up, but she is very grateful for her blessings.

     I guess the one that you would like me to tell you about is my new companion.  Elder McAllister is awesome! He is from Sandy.   I loved Elder Thompson, but he did not feel like a close friend to me.  I feel like Elder McAllister and I are very good friends, and we get along great.  He has been out on his mission for 20 months, so who knows, I just might kill him off.  I was very nervous to meet my new companion, but I am grateful that the Lord gives us these opportunities to learn and grow.  From other people, as well as from ourselves.  I also got a new roommate at exchanges.  Elder Shelton is the new Zone Leader, and he is very nice, except for the fact that we hate each other!  Well not exactly ha ha.  

This week it was very hard for me, Elder Thompson and his Tom Tom GPS left me all alone in Cotton wood, which honestly is the most confusing place in the world.  All sort of little streets weave in and out through the country, but we have survived thus far, and we are learning  the area more and more each day.

     We have had some awesome lesson this week too.  There have been a couple where it was just great feeling God's love in the room.  We watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with a recent convert Tracy McAninch and the spirit was so thick.  We talked about Baptisms for the Dead, and I teared up as I expressed my feelings as I was able to baptize Emily in the Provo Temple, that day so very long ago.

       Elder McAllister also had a couple of very interesting experiences.  First of all the first three nights that he was here, we were given steak each night, each night they got less cooked!  The last one we ate was still bleeding!  Let Ian know that he has a long way to go, because on your mission, you just eat it.  It doesn't matter of it is good or not, you just do it!  Don't get me wrong we are always fed very well, and I can think of only one meal that I sincerely did not like.

 

       The second was as we sat in a lesson with a less active lady named Mary Baker.  She got a phone call, and her neighbor informed her that there was a fire next door.  I thought maybe a bon-fire or a camp fire, but no.  It was a trailer fire, we realized that when we saw the first of three fire trucks driving up the dirt road!  So we walked outside and observed as this trailer burnt to the ground, honestly it was pretty cool!  Obviously nobody was hurt.

     My testimony grows stronger and stronger each day, and my desire to feel the spirit grows.  I hope to be the best missionary I possibly can.  I am trying to replace every doubtful thought with a faithful act!  I rejoice because "the hour of my mission is come" D+C 31.  Read it love it, it has some very powerful promises in there.  This is the most important thing that I could ever do.  And I do not want to miss out on it.

     I hope that this is enough for your blog!  Tell Isaac that I will write him this week!  Also I will not write Em or Ean Bean again until I get one back!  Thank you so much for you support and love.  I got a letter from John, and Ashley this week.  NO BUDS HAVE WRITTEN ME YET!!!!!  It is not a big deal it is not like it has been six weeks or anything!!!!  I love you lots, and keep you in my prayers always.  Look unto God in every thought, doubt not, fear not! D+C 6;36

Love Elder Ellsworth