It is finally fall here in California

Nick's final post:

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this week was going really well until Thursday morning when all of the sudden it turned from Summer to Winter in just one hour.  That was kind of a bummer.  I was loving the weather; even in the evenings when it was cooling off it was still not bad.  But then a storm rolled in on Thursday and the Summer broke and Winter arrived.  It will be very cold and rainy for the next few months until spring.  One thing that I love about California is that in the winter as soon as the rain starts everything suddenly comes alive.  All of the grass that was once nice and golden turns to fields of green lush grass.  It is funny how the seasons are so different from Utah.  But the leaves still act the same way aside from the grass.

I had been struggling these past couple of weeks so this week on Tuesday I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with President Weston.  It was very good, but I was warned I had to change a few things or he would be forced to transfer me.  It was not huge things but just a few areas where I was relaxing and showing a bad example for Elder Ashby.  So this week we made those changes and did a bunch better.  I am excited for the things that lie ahead. 

This week I took Dad's advice and spent the best $150 of my entire life.  There is a wonderful man in our area named Marcelo Gonzales.  He is a Philipino man who is so poor.  He has been looking for a bicycle so he can have some form of transportation, and I was thinking about giving mine (dad's) to him.  I asked Dad, and he requested that I just buy him one so Dad could have his back.  So I had $100 that I had saved up for the better part of my mission.  It was all of the pocket change that I had I put into a jar, and saved it up.  I thought and decided that this was the money I would use to purchase a bicycle for Marcelo.  So we got ourselves a ride to Wal-Mart and I found him one that will suit him just fine, and a helmet and bike lock as well.  As we delivered this Bike to him, he did not know what to say.  But his face said more than he ever could have.  He was so grateful to receive this gift that he didn’t know how he was going be be able to save up the money to buy.  He didn't want to accept this bike but I insisted, and I went away with warmth in my heart despite the pouring rain.  I am so grateful I was able to serve this wonderful man.

Life is good, not much else to say about it today!

With Love,
Elder Ellsworth

Hey!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well life is treating me well.  I had a bit of a rough week, but things are definitely looking up and I am excited to push forward and not look back.  The work here in the Tempo Park ward is still going well, and we are being blessed a lot.  I am loving being with Elder Ashby because he is such an example to me, and when I make a mistake he gently reminds me of what I should be doing.  He does it in a way that wouldn't offend anyone, so I love that.  We are looking on changing a few bad habits that we have been getting together, and starting fresh this week.  We are going to be looking for the miracles that are going to be flooding in I hope!

So I have a couple of crazy stories for you.  First off Halloween night we were told to be home by 6 o’clock.  So it was that afternoon and I did not feel very good.  So we decided to go home so I could get feeling better.  We rolled in around 4:30pm and I went to sleep.  I woke up just before six, and my stomach hurt, in the end I threw up my lunch and went back to bed until like 9 then got up called the mission nurse and got some tips.  Went back to bed around 10 and slept until 9 the next morning.  It was nice to get rested up, and the nurse told me to take it easy.  So on Thursday we only went out for a couple of lessons in the evening.  

Really Crazy Story...  So we were riding our bikes towards our dinner on Sunday afternoon.  As we rode through Tempo Park which is a regular thoroughfare for us in our area, we came across a large group of people who appeared to be of Hispanic descent.  There were about 15 of them walking in a big group through the park.  We rode around them and as we did both of us thought, oh they must have just wrapped up a soccer game.  As we went past the fields and back into the wooded part of the park we came across two more of these gentlemen.  One seemed fine, but the other seemed like he had just gotten his face smashed in.  He was bleeding and he looked pretty beat up.  They were both walking and I was a little nervous so we said hello and just rode on.  When we got to the other side of the park there was a group of older folks who were all standing there like something bad had happened.  Some of them had seen those some gentleman we had, when they were in a bit of a gang fight.  Gun shots were heard just a few minutes before we went riding happily through the park.  It was pretty scary and we have altered our night time riding route so that we won't be in the park!  By the way this all happened in broad daylight!  

Life is good and we are being protected and blessed.  I love this area it is great!

Elder Ellsworth

I'm getting transferred....

Dear Family and Friends,

Just kidding I am not getting transferred.  I found out last night that I will not be transffered but I will finish off my last six weeks here in the Tempo Park Ward with Elder Ashby.  I am super glad about that, so I am looking forward to having an amazing six weeks with him.  He is such a great kid, and a very good example to me.  I really like it when he encourages me to do something or he just quietly sets a good example, his actions speak louder than his words do.  I have enjoyed being with him, and this next transfer we are going to pound it.  Life is good, and our area is still doing really good.  With our two baptisms this week, we were worried that we were going to run out of things to do, because we are baptizing all of our Investigators, but the Lord is providing and yesterday afternoon one of our Formers who dropped us a few weeks back called us up and said he really wanted to get baptized, and have the Spirit in his life, so we are giving Ken a blessing tonight at the Church!  It should be sweet.

Our two baptisms on Saturday went great.  It was not by any means a seamless day, but we had a good one nevertheless.  We were thrilled to see first, Grace baptized at 11 then the Derek and Lynn be baptized at 12.  Both had great turnouts, and both were very Spirit filled events.  I hope that everyone there felt as good as I did.  Derek and Lynn are being just great examples to their parents, especially their mother.  Hilary works at Winco and they are working her to death.  This week Hilary to the great joy of everyone around her decided she was going to quit working there.  She said she has been feeling prompted to do so for weeks now, and was scared to follow it, but she is quiting very soon.  She will be blessed as she follows what the Lord is prompting her to do. 

We are also starting to teach and hoping to start teaching a family of Phillipino's.  They immigrated just 3 weeks ago and are very poor.  The husband joined the Church in High School, and hasn't been in quite a while.  The wife is not a member, we are hoping to be able to start teaching her.  There is also a friend who lives with them here.  Her name is Gurti.  Marcelo and Gurti, and Marcelo's daughter all came to Church on Sunday.  We gave Gurti a book of Mormon and she really enjoyed our church.  I will let you know how things progress there.  The wife work's a lot, so that is why we have not met her.

Finally I want to share with you about our experiences this week with Steve and Chantelle.  So they want to get baptized.  They want to come unto Christ in that regard.  But they are not married, and this week we addressed it with them.  We asked about what their plans were about getting married.  Originally, earlier this year, they were planning on getting married on the 20th of November because it was there anniversary of being together for 5 years.  But for tax reasons they pushed it back to Valentines day.  We encouraged them to consider the blessing that it would be for their family to be married and baptized, and asked them to talk, and pray about what they should do.  We are hoping that they will tell us they want to be married soon!  They are an amazing young family.

Life is good, and I am loving it

Elder Ellsworth

How is October half over already.....

Dear Family,

I don't understand why it has been going so stinking quickly lately.  Time that is, it really feels like just a few short days ago it was July!  And now look we are heading into the End of October allready.  Not going to lie, when Halloween, then Thanksgiving role by, I am going to have a panic attack, because it is just too quickly leaving me in the dust!!!  This week was a very enjoyable one.  We had a lot of cool experiences and a bunch of exchanges, but life keeps flying by, oh and by the way it is week 6 once again, so once again I am in danger of being transferred away!  Better not, that would not be very cool!! 

Well things are going very well this week, and we kept very busy, and were able to get a lot done!  I really have grown to love being busy, now I was very much chastised for that this past conference, so I will have to repent, and not like it so much, but it makes life quick, when you can't stop running around getting things done.  I guess it isn't so bad now because most of the things on our to do list involve baptizing people, and inviting everyone else to come unto Christ.  It should be a lot of fun this week, because we will have a whole lot of miracles for sure! 

That referral that we got from the Bishop for the Hunt family is pretty nice people, they didn't end up coming to Church, but we do have a lesson set up this evening with them at the Church.  It should be good to get to know them.  When we spoke with Roxanne the wife, she told us that she would be interested in Joining our church and that was just at the doorstep!  She has seen the change in her good friend Melody, and she desires those same blessings for her life I guess.  So we are excited and hope to possibly set a date with them to be baptized hopefully on the 17th at the same time as Christopher would be really wicked awesome.

We had a baptism on Friday for our good friend, and brother Randy Shelton.  A few weeks back I suggested to Randy while I was on an exchange that he should ask Elder Ashby to baptize him.  Elder Ashby was asked, and he was so nervous and excited to assist Randy in this regard as Randy entered those baptism waters, it was a great ordinance, and such a great experience for my young companion.  I think that it really has energized him, and made him want to be the very best that he can from now on.  On Sunday we had Bishop Weight do Randy's confirmation and that was a very cool experience as well.  We both were able to stand in, and Randy was excited to have the Gift of the Holy Ghost to be his constant companion.  What a blessing.

We also have a baptism coming up this Saturday for Sister Grace.  She is a sweet heart, and the 20th will be her Baptism date as well as her 10th Birthday.  She is so excited and looking forward to it.  Her Father Curt was not active in the Church for his entire adult life, and has recently been changing his life to bring it in line with God's will.  I hope that both of their examples can impact Curt's wife, she will be attending and we hope to be able to start to teach her about the restored Gospel. 

We have also been working with a family that has struggled with activity.  The Cary family are such great people.  They have a nine year old and an eight year old that have both decided to be baptized as well.  We have been working on the scheduling, and finally the stars aligned and they will be baptized this Saturday as well.  Grace will be at 11 they will be at 12 so we are obviously excited for these ordinances to take place.  They are all such wonderful kids, and have that desire to come unto Christ!

Things are great and we are blessed.  We are nervous because this week we are going to attempt to address with Steve and Chantelle, and invite them to get married so they can be baptized.  They are very committed to each other, so I don't think that it will be a huge step for them to make that step.   We are so nervous because that is a big thing to ask.  They have that desire to be baptized however so I hope that it all works out, I will let you know how it went next week.  They are so awesome.  They had us over this week for dinner when I was on exchanges, and they invited us back this Thursday again for dinner and a lesson, so I think that they like us.  Plus they have both been reading in the Book of Mormon and Steven came to church this Sunday.  Chantelle didn't make it because she was up all night with a fussy baby, but hopefully we can catch them for next week! 

Life is treating me so well, and I do not even know why.  I definitely haven't earned it, but hey I won't complain!

With Love

Elder Ellsworth

P.S.  I would love to start attending school at Utah Vally University soon after returning home.  Sign me up for whatever you would like!

P.P.S.  I spoke with a brother who works at the MTC the other day, and that is going to be my goal when I get home to get on working there. 

The time is far spent, there is little remaining!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Hurrah for Israel!!!  I am so grateful for this work of the restored Gospel!  In case you were wondering I am ecstatic for the announcement that Missionary ages have been lowered for both the Elders and the Sister serving in the army of God!  Hurrah for Israel!  I am so grateful for the opportunity especially that it will give to the young women of the Church to serve God in this regard.  What an amazing chance it is we have.  I would urge everyone who reads this to prayerfully consider the reason why Heavenly Father has allowed this to happen.  This work needs to progress faster, more rapidly and more widespread than it currently is.  He needs us to serve and he is making it possible for more and more of his children even now.  How I wish that this would have been an option for me when I was 18.  I don't know that I would have responded and taken advantage of that blessing, but it hope that I would have.  Serving the Lord is the greatest blessing that I have ever undertaken in my lifetime.  This Gospel has blessed me so very much and I know that when we spread it everyone involved will feel God's love and sustaining hand!  I love this work and am grateful to be here in Citrus Heights California right now!  What a ride these past months have been!

Well enough about that I simply and amazingly enjoyed General Conference.  I especially love every talk that speaks about missionary work because that is the job I am now called to do.  Except for Elder Nelson's talk—he really put a lot of responsibility on us!!  It was an amazing spiritual feast that I was glad to be a part of.  The beginning of this week was really a tough one.  We had a lot of disappointment in our work, and even a few people that are avoiding us now who we were excited to work with, but these past two days have blessed my life so much as to fill the void that I was feeling, and now I am overflowing with gratitude for the Miracles that are happening.  Yesterday after Conference we went and had a lesson with Steve and Chantelle, one of the young families that we are currently teaching.  Our lessons was filled with the Spirit as we taught about the Prophet Joseph Smith and answered there questions.  At the end of our lesson we invited them to be baptized as they came to know these things were true.  They both agreed heartily that they would.  They also promised us that they would read by our next lesson.  At the close of the lesson Steve said a simply amazing prayer asking the Lord to guide them to where they should be!  What a blessing.  In the evening we met with Randy helping him to be ready for his Baptism Interview and Baptism both coming up this week.  He is just ready to be a member.  After Priesthood conference he is ready and excited to hold the Priesthood as well!  In the evening last night we got a call from Bishop Weight, who by the way is simply an amazing man.  He informed us that he had met with a Family of four yesterday who is ready to receive the missionary lessons!  There is a husband and wife, and two teenage sons who were all given copies of the Book of Mormon as well as a chapel tour and invited to meet us!  I was jumping up and down as Bishop was telling us and I am so grateful that he did.  We are hoping to teach them this week, we will let you know how it goes.  By the way they met the Bishop through the Recent Convert Melody Jacobs!  She is a jewel!  What a great example to me!  Two more miracles now!  Yesterday we also met a lady named Wanda.  Her daughter is a member of just two years, and she has seen the difference in her daughter.  Wanda was taking the discussions from the missionaries in New England before she moved, and just this week moved into our Ward Boundaries to live with her daughter.  We are excited to start working with her as well.  Finally, our last miracle, Melody Jacobs has an 11-year-old son with high functioning autism.  He has a desire to be baptized so we have just been waiting for his dad to sign a permission form for him to be baptized.  This morning before our studies Melody texted us and informed us that his dad has signed the form, and she wants him to be baptized on the 17th of November!  Things are going crazy here in Tempo Park, and Elder Ashby and I have set a goal to have 10 baptisms together by December!  We are praying like crazy for the strength to accomplish this goal and if everything works out we just might achieve it!  The Gospel is true and I love it!

Elder Ellsworth

Fall has not arrived

Dear Fam,

I really don't know what you are talking about because fall has not arrived.  I can testify to that because this entire week is supposed to be 100+!  ugh  I thought that the heat of the summer had passed me by.  But I will still have to ride my sweaty self in the heat on my bike for a while yet!  It is all good though I am not too worried about it.  I have had a really good week.  I am going to write a letter today, so I am not spending a lot of time emailing right now. 

We picked up another awesome young family this week named Steve, and Chantelle.  It was super awesome.  Monday night we were coming out of a lesson with a Less active family, and started to get ready to ride our bikes home for the night.  As I looked out across the parking lot of the apartment complex, I saw this young family sitting down, and playing a game with their son.  So we went over and talked with them.  We gave them a Book of Mormon, and set a time to come back and visit, and teach them about this book.  Our first lesson fell through, and then we saw them at Lunch in a restaurant we had another lesson set up the next day, and they told us they were excited to meet with us!  We set down in their apartment on Saturday afternoon, while there we felt the Spirit very strongly, and Chantelle told us that she had read Moroni 10:3-5 and had felt something inside of her while she read.  We testified that that wast the Spirit testifying to her that this book was true.  It was awesome.  We are looking forward to teaching them.

Things are great, and our area is doing very well.  I look forward to the challenges ahead.  This week we are moving to a new apartment, and I think that a change of scenary will be a breath of fresh air for me. 

I love you lots,

Elder Ellsworth

I am really running out of clever comments to put as the Subject...

To the Fam,

Well I have a great love for Elder Ashby.  He is a great guy and I have really appreciated him.  He is very teachable and willing to learn.  I think that he truly just wants to be a good missionary.  I hope that we can continue to see the great success that we currently are being blessed with—things are just going amazing in our area.  This week was filled with miracles as well.  Going into the week we had three young families that we were hoping to be able to start teaching.  And lone and behold we were able to pick one of them up and have a pair of lessons this week.  Their names are Jaime and Stephanie.  So Jaime is Columbian and Stephanie is American.  Together they have two beautiful young girls and Stephanie's niece lives with them also.  We had spoken with them a few times before and this week we had a lesson set up with them on Wednesday evening.  But I kind of figured it would just be blown off by them.  I didn't have a whole lot of faith as we were biking over there.  I honestly almost just decided not to go, but thought that we should give them a chance.  When we knocked on the door, Jaime invited us right in and we sat down for a lesson.  It went well and we were invited back for another lesson on Sunday.  So yesterday we had a member with us named Ryan who was amazing.  We taught the Restoration, but it didn't go as well as I would have hoped.  Ryan really picked up the slack for us and it was great.  At the end we invited them to prepare to be baptized and they accepted a date for the 3rd of November to prepare for.  It should be great to teach them.  We also still have two young families that we are hoping to teach starting this week, and I will let you know how it goes.

Unfortunately Ken who I told you about last week isn't meeting with us for the time being.  He got really overwhelmed when we tried to help him quit smoking and he doesn't really want to meet.  I feel bad but I don't know that I would do anything differently if I could go back.  He has his agency.  He is a nice guy and his son who is a member spoke with us and we asked Ken's son to speak with Ken and ask him to continue to meet with us.  I think Ken will when he is ready next time we will take things slow.  Randy is also doing really well.  We have had to push his baptism date back two weeks because he wasn't attending church as much as he should have but he is still looking forward to that day on October 12th.  We will continue to work with him and help him prepare for that day.  The children Derek and Grace are also doing well.  Grace wasn't at church—but that is okay—we will keep encouraging her.  She really does want to come unto Christ through baptism so there shouldn't be any problems with the 20th.  Derek will probably be baptized on the 20th as well.  So we will be very blessed in the month of October. 

Well things are good.  I find that going through the 12-week training program with Elder Ashby is turning out to be hard.  It is really impossible to not know how much time I have left when I am going through a program that keeps track of weeks!  So I am trying hard not to focus on how much time I have left out here.  But honestly, it is pretty hard a lot of the time.  I am not trunky, but I do think about it daily.  Finally in other news we found out this week that we will be moving in the next two weeks to a nicer place, but without the Zone Leaders.  It should be good though, and I am not worried about it.  It is a big distraction to be living with other Elders that is for sure.

Well I love you guys bunches,
 Elder Ellsworth

I love everything!!!

Dear Family and Friends

Life is good in the California Roseville Mission.  Things have been crazy these past few weeks, but I look forward to the assumption that it will start to calm down now.  This past week has been a roller coaster, and I want to get off now, and enjoy the view!  Well I will tell you a bit about my week.  So shortly after emailing you guys last Monday, we went home, and Elder Van Leuven got trunky and packed up his bags, so that we could drive him to the mission office, and see him off.  I was sad to see him go, we had a lot of fun together, and got a lot done at the same time, so it was good.  That evening I hung out with my roomates/ zone leaders Elder Netane, and Elder Arnett.  Elder Arnett was transferred as well so Tuesday night we spent some time for him to pack up his bags, and get ready to go.  In the evening we went and made some visits and taught a few lessons as well.  Wednesday things got crazier.  In the morning, I had to be back in Antelope for some meetings starting at nine.  So when I got there all of the trainees were there, as well as a whole group of trainers.  So there was 18 Trainees, and 18 trainers at this meeting, it was a huge group.  We met with President and he pumped us up to train, and challenged us all to be super obedient, and work really hard.  Then we met back together again, and we were assigned our new companions.  I was the very first missionary called to the front.  Soon after me Elder Ashby from Pocatello Idaho was assigned to serve with me!  I was so excited because he just looked like a stud.  As we talked and got to know each other a bit, I liked him even more. 

For Elder Ashby's first week we had a lot of success.  We already had 2 baptism dates set, and by Sunday night we had an additional two more set.  It was awesome, Thursday afternoon, Elder Ashby committed our Investigator Ken Prince to baptism which was awesome, and things are just going great.  We have had a bunch of meetings we have attended. so we have not had as much time as I would like to tract and stuff, but the few times that we have he has been a natural at it, and really just friendly.  He is not super self-confident in sharing the Gospel, but who is when they first come out on their missions.  I look forward to being able to learn and grow here in Tempo Park with Elder Ashby.

Saturday was a very special day for me.  Dorothy McDonald whom I taught over in Antelope was baptized Saturday morning.  I don't know if I told you this, but Elder Grover and I found Dorothy while tracting!  She asked Elder Simons and me to both be in the font with her for her baptism, and we were happy to oblige.  It is always so sweet to be able to see such faith, especially because her family tried to stop her from joining the Church.  One of the speakers who is a great friend of Dorothy, promised her that if she made and kept these Baptism Covenants, that there would come a day when her Children, as well as her ancestors would call her blessed for it.  There was power and the confirming witness of the Spirit in those words, and I hope that it comes sooner rather than later.  The baptism also pumped up Elder Ashby, and when I sat back down after getting dressed, he leaned over and told me that we were going to have one soon.  Oh yes we are!  Also at the Baptism was a lady whom I am not sure of her name.  My last week in Antelope however while tracting with Elder Simons we knocked on her door as well.  Now she has a date to be baptized!  It really strengthened my testimony that tracting works, and we can find people doing it!  It was a sweet day, a tender mercy of the Lord.

Things are good life is good, this church is true, and this Gospel can't be beat!  Because the Lord is with us nobody can stand against us.

With all the love that I possess. 

Elder Ellsworth

Why is September slipping away like this?!

Dear Family

Transfers are in, in the California Roseville Mission. Drumroll please: Elder Nicholas Ellsworth will be a Trainer, as well as a District Leader for the upcoming Transfer.  Obviously I didn't do a good enough job the first time around as one, so they needed me to learn a few more lessons while giving it a second go.  Honestly though, I kind of suspected that I was going to be both of these since our current District Leader had been here a while and was getting ready to take off to a new area.  Also Elder Van Leuven and I get along pretty good but I will be sad to see him go.  However we have some plans to go and hike down to Havasupai next summer so that will be a blast!  

So what else is new?  These past few weeks I have been having a lot of trouble with my stuff.  For example, my tire for my bicycle—I had yet another flat, and when I peeled it off of the rim for the last time, I stripped it clean, away from the bead, so It wasn't even fixable, so I spent 60 bucks at the bike shop to go and get it replaced.  Saturday night as we were riding home all of the sudden my bike seat snapped off of the post, and when I went to explore why I almost died.  The bolt that held it onto the post had snapped in half.  So I rode home standing up the whole way.  And then also on Saturday I discovered a hole in the side of my second pair of shoes, this time not in the sole of them, but a rip down the side of the leather right next to the sole.  So that was fun.  So my seat post I am going to have to replace, I fixed it for now, but I will need a real fix soon, but it is going to cost me like 40 bucks at least.  I want to buy a good one if I end up replacing it!  Finally as I was playing Pday basketball an unnamed Elder (whom I have been serving with for the past two weeks) punched me in the face on accident and it chipped my tooth!  This week has been awesome!!!  Don’t worry—I am in good spirits and I will call and check up on my tooth. 

Thanks for getting me the new shoes; I am going to need them with the rainy season coming up.  I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead of me, and I hope to be a great trainer for my new companion.  He is going to be a stud I bet.

Love ya,
Elder Ellsworth

Labor Day!

Hello Family and Friends,

Well this week was crazy.  On Tuesday morning I was assigned to serve with a new companion for the next couple of weeks named Elder Van Leuven.  He is a great missionary.  We served around each other many months ago up when I was serving in Mount Shasta he was in the Redding 2nd Ward.  For six months we knew each other, and then I left and we have only seen each other a few times since.  Elder Van Leuven was a zone leader until this last transfer when he dropped for the remainder of his mission.  It is going to be fun to serve with him, but it will be short lived because he goes home on the 11th of this month!  That is when transfers are, so I will be once again getting a new companion.  This time I have been informed that I will be training a new missionary.  So for my final two transfers I will be here with him hopefully.  Holy cow time has been going fast though.  It really just seems like yesterday is when I left Redding Zone on to new adventures, and now we have been reunited for now.  

In other news the work is going really well.  We have a couple of investigators that we have set baptism dates with and several more that are getting close.  The soonest baptism that I will be participating in is the baptism of Dorothy.  I taught her back in Antelope and she is getting baptized on the 15th.  She has requested that both Elder Simons and I be in the font with her, which will be awesome.  I look forward to that one.  Two weeks later on the 29th we have a man named Randy being baptized.  This week was our first lesson with him and he is really ready to accept the gospel.  He has already read the entire Book of Mormon and believes that it is the word of God.  He was being taught by our zone leaders and now we will be able to see him baptized soon.  Also we still have a baptism date with the 9-year old girl named Grace.  She wasn't at church because her Dad was sick, so we will catch up with them next Saturday.  Also coming up very soon is the baptism of Derek.  He is also 9 years old and his parents really want him baptized as soon as possible.  We are going to work with them, and see what our options are.  They had this Thursday in mind but I’m thinking a little bit different than that, possibly the 15th or 22nd.  So I really am hoping that with all of this success coming up my new missionary companion can get really excited about missionary work.  This will be much different than the area that I started in because when I first arrived in the mission as a new missionary, Cottonwood was dead!  I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in this work!

Well I also wanted to tell you about a sweet lesson that we had yesterday afternoon.  We have an investigator named Sean.  He has been meeting with the Elders here for about 5 months.  He is willing to meet with us, but his wife has never been very supportive and has never sat in a lesson with either.  But she is okay with him doing so.  So last Sunday in our lesson, at the end we offered Monica (Sean's wife) a copy of the Book of Mormon and she accepted it.  This week as we were sitting down to teach the lesson on the Restoration; Sean called Monica into the room right before we started talking about the Church that Christ set up upon the Earth.  She didn't look enthused but she came in and sat down and listened.  The Spirit was very strong, especially when we spoke about the First Vision.  I loved that lesson.  Near the end I told them how grateful I was to be in their home, and testified that I had felt the Spirit and its peaceful presence while we were talking.  I asked if they had felt it too and they both said they did.  I explained how the Spirit testified of Truth, and that is the same way in which God is going to answer their prayers about the Book of Mormon.  It was awesome.  At the end we asked that if they came to know that these things were true, would they follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding his authority, and Sean told us yes he would.  And Monica also nodded her head.  It was an amazing lesson, and next Sunday when we meet we will try and set a baptism date with them!

Something that happened on Sunday that absolutely inspired me was when our recent convert Melody, got up in church and bore her testimony of all the great things that she is going through right now.  She spoke about how she is happier now than she has been in a long time.  She also read a scripture from the Book of Mormon that really spoke to her when she read it.  It was in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Mosiah.  It is Mosiah 4:20 and she said that as she was reading it the Spirit spoke to her and she was touched by it.  It was awesome to hear her bear her testimony.  It pumped me up to be a good missionary.  It was a very rewarding experience.

Life is good while serving the Lord.  I love this work, and am excited to be here and that the work is progressing so well.  I look forward to the following weeks, and months!  

I love you all very much, 

Elder Ellsworth

Amazing week, I love this work!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

After a few weeks with not a ton to say, I have a whole bunch to talk about today.  It feels really good!  Well I will do this in a non-chronological order, so I can tell different stories that transcend multiple days—possibly even the entire week.  I think that it will go a lot smoother this way.  If you don't really like it let me know, so that in the future I don't do it anymore.  So with the beforehand explanation here we go!  I will also divide stories out into different paragraphs if that is okay with y'all.

First things first (and also probably the most important): Melody Jacobs.  We had an awesome and amazing week with her.  We had a lesson on Monday evening where we reviewed the baptism interview questions and answered any questions that she had about the ordinance itself or anything else.  It went well, and so did the baptism interview.  She is so ready to change, and accept this gospel that it is such a good example for me.  I think that changes are very hard for her because she is a single mother of two kids, one of whom has autism.  His name is Christopher.  Neither of them has really participated with the lesson up to this point however.  So anyways on Saturday I had the great privilege of baptizing Melody.  She is such a choice daughter of God.

We had me and Elder Larburg another Elder in the zone in the font because Melody has a bad back, and we wanted to make sure it all went smooth.  After the ordinance we invited Melody to stand and bear here testimony to us.  Holy cow did that invite the Spirit.  She is truly converted unto the Lord and his Gospel!  On Sunday she was confirmed by our Ward Mission Leader Brother Wright.  It was awesome.  Later on her son Christian who is 11 turned to his mother and said he wanted to be in Heaven with her, and he expressed a desire to be baptized.  So we will look into that.  It was an awesome experience.

The second story I wanted to talk about was awesome as well.  It is about Elder Craig Cardon from the Seventy coming to the California Roseville Mission.  A few days before the conference, President Weston gives me a call, and says that he had been doing some "research" and had discovered that my father served in the Rome Italy Mission.  He asked if Elder Cardon was my father’s mission President.  I told him that as a matter of fact he was.  He asked if I would be okay with him pointing me out, and of course I was fine with that.  For this conference, each of us missionaries were asked to prepare a talk for this meeting, to be three minutes long about what we have come to know about the workings of the Spirit on our mission.  As I took the time to prepare mine, I had an impression that I was going to be able to share my talk, because of a particular experience that I had.  The following day at the conference we started off by each having the chance to shake Elder and Sister Cardon’s hands.  We each had the chance to introduce ourselves, tell them where we were from, and how long we have been on our missions.

As I did I told them that Anziano Luke Ellsworth was my father.  Both of their faces lit up as I did so.  He had to think for a second but he remembered you from all of those years ago.  It was awesome!  Later on Elder Cardon was speaking when he announced that he was going to choose four speakers to come up and share their talks.  He pointed out in the crowd two Elder and two Sisters.  I was not chosen.  I was a little bit sad, but as we listened I said a prayer in my heart that I would be given the chance to share my talk, and experience.  As Elder Cardon stood back up, he asked if there was anyone in the audience that would like to share their talk that didn't get the chance to.  I raised my hand and was then invited to the pulpit to share my talk.

Tears were in my eyes, and I was so grateful that God had indeed answered my prayer immediately.  Later on while he spoke he mentioned that he had once received counsel from an apostle to always listen to the Spirit while presiding in meetings, even when it does not make any sense.  He didn't point it out, but I will.  I believe that when Elder Cardon invited me to speak, he heard the Spirit prompt him to do so.  He is an amazing man.  As he spoke it was incredible to think that this same man had once presided over my dad's mission, and that just as I sat and listened to his counsel, so had my Father at an earlier time.  Both of us were uplifted and edified by the same servant of God.  I know that he is called of God to do what he does.  I loved the chance I had to meet him.  After the conference I was the only missionary permitted to get a picture with him.  I am grateful for that wonderful day.

Now for my final story.  There is a less active man in our ward that has a desire to come back to church.  At the age of 17 he left the church and has now been away for 18 years.  As we went over on Saturday evening to start the lessons with him, his 9 year old daughter sat in with us.

We taught them the doctrines of the Restoration, mostly to the daughter, Grace.  She was so open and receptive, and honestly smart for such a young girl.  As we spoke about the Book of Mormon, we gave her a copy and challenged her to read it for just 5 minutes a day.  She said she was going to do 10!  When we invited her to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized she readily accepted.  We asked her to set a day for that to be her goal, and she spouted off that October 20th was her birthday and she wanted to be baptized on that day.  Turns out that is a Saturday!  I am so excited to teach this sweet girl and help her towards baptism!

Life is good. I am so grateful for the blessings that I have been given this week!  I know this Gospel is true, and I love my mission!

With Love,

Elder Ellsworth

Holy Cow is August simply flying by!

Dear Friends and Family

Well, things are going very well.  Well not as good as they could be but things are settling down hopefully for good.  Since I moved into my new apartment I can't seem to get well.  It has been pretty rough on me, I have had diarrhea on and off since I got here.  It is driving me mad not to mention it is not very good to help with missionary work when I kept having it hit the toilet.  But now I am feeling a whole lot better.  Still not all the way, but for the most part very good.  It has been pretty interesting few weeks since I got here to Tempo Park.  We still don't have a ton going on, but this past week we set up to start teaching a couple of new returning less active people, and families.  And of them there are three or so unbaptized children, that we are hoping to start teaching and bringing towards baptism.  This ward that I serve in is one of the best that I have yet to be in.  Our Ward Mission Leader and the Bishop are both super supportive, and always willing to offer help and ideas on how to better this work, and to help our investigators.  This ward is ready to explode with missionary work we just have to push things over the edge, so that they start to pick up and go well. 

We are still meeting with Melody Jacobs regularly.  And as a matter of fact tonight in our lesson we are going to finish getting everything set up for her baptism on Saturday at 10.  So I will let you know how that goes.  Melody also has a pair of kids.  But one has no interest who is 15, and the other is a little bit disabled.  He has some learning disabilities.  But Melody hopes that he being able to see her be baptized will inspire him and down the road that he can get baptized as well.  Either way it will be awesome to see. 

Things are about the same with Elder Allred.  We still get along great, but he is still not too motivated.  And because I don't even feel that well, I don't have the motivation to push him like I should be.  I am going to be better about that this week however.  I can also hardly believe that transfers are coming up in like three weeks.  This one is already half way over.  It is crazy how fast this time seems to fly.  I am grateful to be here to see and experience this work!

I don't have much to say this week but I want y'all to know how much I love you!

Elder Ellsworth

What's up in August? Too flippin' hot!

Holy cow, I hate the heat.  And this past week has been the hottest of the summer, with a forecast of upwards of 107 for the upcoming week, being on a bike is not too fun, when it gets tough to breathe because it is so hot!  But other than that things are going really good.  This is really turning out to be a odd transfer, I am not too thrilled about the situation that is going on right now.  I went from an area that is doing very good, to a dead area once again.  My companion is a very good guy, but is lacking in the motivation category.  It is a chore to get him out the door into the heat.  I can hardly blame him though.  It has been a couple of miserable days last week.  Even standing in the shade I sweat something fierce.  Also another reason for his lack of motivation is that we really don't have a whole lot going on, so throughout the day we leave the house to go and knock doors, or to visit less active members.  A third and final reason is that because of some things that happened last transfer Elder Allred might be emergency transferred, which is another reason I am not thrilled with this area yet.  There was some laziness and apostasy going on in this area.  And because of that I get to clean it up.  I am not happy about that.  On Wednesday this week President Weston came to our apartment and asked me some questions, and looked through some papers.  While there he told me that the reason I was dropped from leadership and sent here was so that next transfer I can train.  I am excited about that, but even that is a tossup.  I could get someone really awesome or some greenies can be a pain!  I don't know I am just kind of down this week, and not much hope for the rest of the transfer.  I am simply going to do my best even though I am not in control of everything else.  Also I have been having bike trouble this week.  When I loaned out my bike in Antelope I get it back with a ruined inner tube.  So I went and bought a new one this week.  While trying to put that stupid incredibly hard to put back together tire back together I put a hole in my new inner tube.  I took that out and patched it, then took the tire to a bike shop and had them put it together, then while riding it today my patch gave out and leaked again, so I took it back and bought a brand new inner tube and had them put it in so I didn't wreck it or blow up and destroy something.  It was a very wise 16 dollar purchase.

On the bright side, our sole awesome investigator Melody is doing amazing.  She is such a star she came to church on Sunday again, and had many questions.  We did our best to answer, as we taught the Word of Wisdom she was so accepting and willing to change her coffee drinking habits.  She knows that these things are true, and she won't let anything stand in her way of being baptized on the 25th of August.

 She is doing great.  Well that is all for the bright side.

I am being a little sarcastic, I really am not that annoyed, but things really are kind of tough right now.  I am grateful to be here serving God, but I wish it was not so hard right now.  Don't worry I will figure things out.  Finally this week I had my third mini missionary of the summer.  His name was Micah Gandola from the Lincoln Spanish Branch.  He is a good kid, and the hardest worker I have gotten yet.  He had the worst three days of the whole summer of heat with us.  But what a trooper.  Well that is all that I have to say at this time.

I love you all

Elder Nick Ellsworth

Sorry about last week

Dear Family and Friends

I want to start off by apologizing for not emailing you at all last week.  Things were pretty crazy with transfers.  I had intentions of Tuesday morning going to the library to send something off to you, but when we got there the wait for the computers was around an hour long, and we didn't have that much time to spend waiting.  So I had already told my companion that I had emailed, so then I just didn't bother going email at all.  So I am sorry, and that's why I wrote you that letter this week instead.  Like I said last week was pretty great, especially being able to go to two baptisms, and participate in those wonderful ordinances.  I love my time serving in Antelope, and I am sad to see it go, but I am excited to serve here in Tempo Park now.  My last area was probably the most frustrating I have yet served in, so I hope that I can finish off very strong here in this ward.  It should be an adventure. 

My new companions name is Elder Allred.  He is from Saratoga Springs Utah, and he is a very young missionary.  And matter of fact he was trained in the same area that I was.  Cottonwood, as well as one of the Zone Leaders that I live with was trained in the Cottonwood ward, so it is pretty cool to see that.  It has been kind of a rough week for me though.  As I have gotten familiar with this area and people that are in it, I don't think that Elder Allred and his previous companion worked all that hard.  I think that for the most part they just hung out with members, recent converts, and less-actives.  There has not been a whole lot of finding going on recently, so it was awesome that we were able to pick up 3 new ‘gators this week.  We also are teaching a very awesome lady named Melody.  She is scheduled to be baptized on the 25th of August, she comes to church every week, and she even got up on Sunday and bore her testimony of this Church!  It was awesome; I look forward to being able to teach her more.  She is a great lady.

It is a little weird no longer being in mission leadership.  Like on Sunday night I no longer have to take numbers, or do any of that extra garbage or deal with any of the crap that I used to.  It is such a relief to just have to focus on being obedient, and on working hard.  But at the same time, it is a little disappointing.  I for sure was not expecting it.  Another reason it has been tough here is because Elder Allred and I have both been sick.  Elder Allred was throwing up earlier this week, and we both have some nasty diarrhea right now, it kind sucks but oh well.  Things are good though.  I am excited to finish out my mission strong; I look forward to being the best that I can while enduring to the end.  This Gospel is true, and I am grateful for how much it has blessed my life. 

With Love,
Elder Nick Ellsworth

What's up in Utah?

Dear Family, and Friends

Well life out here in the mission is as usual crazy.  It never seems to slow down.  It is this week going to be week six of the transfer once again, and a week from tomorrow I could be transferred for the last time.  Who knows though.  I believe that I will be transferred one more time before my mission is through, but I am not sure if it will be next week or the following transfer.  It should be exciting either way.  I would love to stay for a couple of reasons, and I would also love to leave Antelope for a few reasons as well.  I love Elder Simons, we work very well together, and we just have very similar personalities.  It is a lot of fun to be with him.  I really love a lot of our Investigators.  I also really enjoy working with Brother Round, he is the Ward Mission Leader in our family ward.  He is such a sarcastic guy, but we get along great, probably because we both give each other a hard time.  Somedays we gang up on Elder Simons as well.  It is great.  I am very tired of being a Zone Leader though.  It just takes away from the time we get to proselyte, and I don't like dealing with other Elders problems very much.  It keeps things interesting, but I don't love it that is for sure.  I also am worn out of working with this Ward.  In Particular our family Ward.  They are very good people, but just really hard to work with, and not super supportive or friendly in missionary work.  I will also miss the Singles Ward, I really like a ton of the members there.

Next week will be very nuts.  Because of some things that happened this week.  We have two baptisms of people that I have worked with here coming up which should be great.  Mark Andrews, is a great guy.  He is married to a member who was baptized about 4 years back.  So he already had a basic knowledge of what it meant to be a member of the church.  He has lived a rough life, and hasn't always been a great guy, but he wants to change now, and be a better man.  We have been teaching him for about 2 months.  We picked him up because he called us and wanted us to come and teach him about Christ.  We are excited to see him enter the Waters of Baptism next Saturday.  Alicia is from our Young Single Adult ward.  We met her when she came to church with a friend and wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon.  However she lives out of the mission.  But this week on Saturday we had a lesson with her, which was great as usual.  She reads the Book of Mormon every single day and already knows that it is true.  She also reads our pamphlets that we leave with her and knows the material before we teach her about it.  When we passed her off to the Sacramento Missionaries, she told them she still wants to be baptized next Saturday so they agreed.  So we will attend her Baptism in the morning, and Elder Simons will baptize her, then we will run back to our baptism with Mark.  It will be an amazing day.  I am very excited.

We had a miracle on Sunday as well.  Passing off Alicia, is one of the hardest things that I have had to do on my mission.  But on Sunday we met a new guy named Frank.  He is Polynesian.  He has his girlfriend out on her mission right now, and he reads from the Book of Mormon every day because she encourages him to.  He has grown up around the Church and he has felt the Spirit very strongly at our meetings.  We had a lesson with him yesterday at the chruch and we were able to set a date for his baptism on the 25th of August, but as it turns out he might live outside of the mission as well.  We will sort things out though.  Life is treating me very very well.  I am grateful for the many blessing that I have felt in my life, and I hope to be able to be a great tool in the Hands of God.  I love this work, even the hard days.  I love this time I have to be a tool in the hands of God.  This Church and Gospel are true. 

Dad, I hope that you have a blast up there in the Wind Rivers, I am super jealous of your trip, and someday in the near future we will have to go up there as well.  I love backpacking!  Well thanks a ton and a half you guys rock!

With Love

Elder Nick Ellsworth

Sorry- July 16th letter

Dear Family,

Things are going really really, well out here in the mission field.  I am so grateful for this gospel in my life, and I am grateful when I have an experience when I fell my Father in Heavens hand reach out and give me amazing experiences.  I want to tell you about one this week.

Alicia was a girl that we met in our singles ward a few weeks back when a friend brought her to church.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and encouraged her to read from Moroni Chapter 10 and then to start from the beginning.  So I did not see her again for a few weeks, until she came to church last Sunday.  She was excited and she wanted to have a lesson with us.  But she lives out of our singles ward area.  That was okay, but I was not super comfortable with teaching her because in the end we would have to hand her off anyways.  But we decided to set up a lesson anyways.  So Monday evening we met with her, mind you when we saw her at church I gave her a Restoration Pamphlet.  When we came to the lesson she told us that she had read the entire pamphlet, and the chapter in the Book of Mormon we had left her, and then she had started from the beginning, not only that but she has already had a spiritual confirmation that the book is true.  She accepted a date to be baptized for the 28th of July.  It was awesome our second lesson on Saturday was amazing too.  Then on Sunday we found out that for sure we are going to have to hand her off.  But we will be able to attend her baptism.  It is going to be very hard because she is the most prepared person I have ever had the chance to teach before.  I am grateful for the lessons I have been able to teach her though.

So about that phone call funny story.  So we had just hooked up Elder Simons GPS to Bluetooth with our phone while he was driving I typed in our home phone number as a joke, and was threatening to call home, and he leaned over and hit the button to call you.  I hurried to hang up the GPS but the phone was still calling, then you called back and I had a heart attack.  So I apologize that it happened, and now you know my cell phone number.  So ya, it was a joke that backfired on my part.  But I still love you guys and I am doing really well. 

Well thanks so much for everything you do.  Have a great day and an amazing week.  I will talk to you next week.  Transfers are coming up soon, so who knows what will happen!

With Love,

Elder Ellsworth

Sorry about last week....

Dear Family and Friends,

Well last week was pretty crazy.  I sent you that letter that I promised on like Friday so you should get it soon, I will give you a breif synopsis of what down.  Two missionaries didn't get along, and one of them ended up getting transferred over it.  I was not really thrilled about the one that ended up leaving the area, but I will make due.  It was a very stressful week, but that is okay, I had a good one anyways.  We were in a meeting with President Weston, talking about what was happening, and he told us "Elders welcome to Priesthood Leadership, stay on your toes"  It was a good week, and I am grateful for the lessons that I learned, I just wish that things would not have worked out the way that they did.  This week was awesome and crazy as well.  Well it was to say the very least a week of some of the highest highs of my mission, and a few of the lowest lows.  I am probably more frustrated then I have ever been my whole mission with members.  I feel like Elder Simons and I are working our tails off out there in the heat, and the members just simply are not stepping up and supporting us.  There are a lot of good people here in Antelope, but they just miss the bill when it comes to Missionary work.  I think that it is a problem church wide that members think that our 55 thousand missionaries are just going to go out and do the work, and we will sit back and watch.  It is a joint respionsibility that we all share, and a lot of times members just don't understand that.  So my frustrations this week reached an all time high in that regards.  And it was also a week of the highest highs in these regards.  I had the chance to have my personal interview with President Weston on Tuesday afternoon.  We had a very nice talk together, and I told him of the many frustrations that I have with the Wards that I am serving in, and he told me that I need to remember the lessons that I have learned out here on my mission for a future time when I will be a Bishop.  I felt like telling him that he should not put that evil on me, but I let it slide anyways.  He also is always so positive and builds me up, he always tells me how good of a job I am doing here in Antelope, even though I have my weaknesses.  I am grateful for the things that he does for me.  I love him and I sustain him in every thing that he asks me to do.  We also this week had our zone leader council on friday.  I found out that we once again in August are having a member from the Quorum of the Seventy coming to tour our mission, I know that the Lord is very mindful of me because when President Weston announced who was coming my eyes welled up with tears.  Elder Craig A. Cardon of the first quorum of the Seventy will be coming to the mission on the August 22nd.  I am very excited to meet your mission president Dad.  I will wear your nametag that I still have in honor of you Father. 

 

I love my mission, and I am so grateful for the many blessings that I have received.  The Lord blesses me and sustains me, and carries me through even the hard times, and I rejoice through the good times.  I am so grateful that I am out here on my mission.

 

So I have decided and am going to attend college at the University of Utah Valley.  I hope that that is okay with you guys.  I will be applying to it in the next few weeks, and will let you know how it goes.  Also I got those pills on Saturday thanks for the refills!

 

With much love,

Elder Nick Ellsworth

Only a partial letter......

Dear Family and Friends,

 

I just finished one of the most stressful weeks of my entire life.  It was a doozy.  We had an amazing week planned, especially because the week before we were working our buts off, and we got a lot of things done.  So we were looking forward to a good one, little did we know what this week was going to be like. 

We started off Tuesday was a great day.  We had Elder Barney with us, so it was not super productive, when we have Elder Barney we can't go tracting, or about our normal activities, so we really just got to our appointments.  I always love being with Elder Barney because he really invites the Spirit, but it is very tiring having him with us, because into every house we visit, we have to help him every step of the way.  He has Serebral Palsy, so he can't walk on his own, he has a walker that he can get around in pretty well though.  He also is very smart, he is really all there upstairs, but he does not speak very fast.  But he can crack jokes just like anybody else can.  What a great day it was on Tuesday life was good.  We even set  a baptisimal date Mark Andrews for the end of July, so we look forward to that date with anticipation. 

Tuesday evening things got interesting.  We got a call from President Weston on Tuesday afternoon asking us what time we could be home, and help him out.  There was a companionship in our zone, that needed to be split up, and they needed to both stay over at our apartment.  It was a very stressful situation.

 

Hey I am not going to be able to finish this email. so I will write you a letter and send it this evening!

Elder Simons is the worst companion ever!

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Well things are going really well!  I am so grateful to be here, and for this service that I have been able to do.  I want to have more, but I get scared every time I think about how long I have been out, and just how short it really seems!  I don't want this to be over!  So I will make every second count while I am still here!  I love this work, I love serving the Lord, and how good I feel as I do so.  I love trying to be better and to improve.  I love it when I make progress, and something makes it through my thick skull, and I am disappointed when I make stupid mistakes, and bad choices.  I am ready and willing to improve.  I am also very grateful for new challenges and oppurtunities.  I was just kidding with the heading of this email, because I love Elder Simons.  I think he is going to be one of my very favorite companions.  He is just like me.  We both love sports, we love to work hard, and we love to be obedient.  I am so excited for this time that I get to serve with him, I hope that it lasts for a while!

 

This first week we have hit the ground running, and we had an absolute killer week.  We didn't get to the Mission Standard for member present lessons, but everything else was very good.  I am excited to work hard and find a lot of success in these next few week with him.  Elder Simons is from Draper Utah, and he has been out for 13 months now, so I am 4 transfers older than he is, and excited to be with him.  In other good news, we got a truck this week.  I mangaed to talk the mission car coordinator into giving us a truck , so today we traded in our Malibu and got a silver Silverado, just like the past two I have driven.  I am excited, it should be a whole lot of fun.

 

 The work is progressing well in both of our wards, things aren't as good as they could or should be, but I hope to be able to improve that.  I have been pretty frustrated with the work this week though.  Just for the fact that I don't feel like we have the ward support behind us in either of the wards that we serve in.  There is a lot of good people, but they are just not that helpful, or willing to do things, or fellowship.  It is pretty tough to get members to teach lessons with us, and other things are frustrating me as well, but I know that the Lord will bless me for patience.  We were asked to speak this past week in our Family Ward, so I have been speaking in church a lot recently, but that is a good thing.  I spoke about missionary work, and how members can be involved, who knows, maybe it inspired somebody to change.

 

I want to tell you about a couple of good experiences I had this week.  One we were walking through and apartment complex to go and see a former investigator, and all of the sudden this girl drove by in her car.  She looked like she wanted to say something to us, but she just kept driving.  We kept walking, and suddenly she stopped backed up and called us over to her car.  She asked us what the "good word" was and we were excited to tell her.  Hopefully this week we will be able to starte teaching Precious regularly.  Second we went to contact this former investigator named Hugh.  We stopped across the street, and walked over to Hugh's door.  A dog was barking inside the fence, so we didn't want to go in.  But Hugh came out and talked with us.  Not the Hugh we were looking for, but his father.  He was so nice, we gave him a Book of Mormon, and testified of it's truthfulness.  He told us if there were any church that he would join it would be ours.  He also said that there was a void in his life that he doesn't know how to fill.  Something is missing!  I know that Hugh is searching for this Gospel.  We meet with him again this upcoming week.  I am excited.  Also in a lesson with Marez, we have reset a baptism date with him.  We hope that he  can be baptized on July 14th. 

 

Well I am tired, and need to go.  We have more mountains to climb before this day is through.

With Love

Elder Ellsworth

Transfers are so short

Dear Family and Friends,

It always amazes me how quickly a transfer comes to pass.  It is so crazy because I feel like it goes week 1..2..6 and then it is on to new challenges.  So this week has been absolutely crazy.  President Weston has really changed how things have worked in the past with the outgoing missionaries, but now it is a whole week affair.  So on Tuesday afternoon Elder Grover had his departing interview, holy cow if there is a way to distract a missionary for his last week, I think that his might do the trick.  On Tuesday it was good though because we had Elder Barney with us, so it was a great day.  On Wednesday we were on exchanges with the AP's.  I was with Elder Rockwood, who is simply a beast mode missionary.  He is awesome, and we had a lot of success, and fun while we were together.  Thursday President Weston took all of the outgoing missionaries for a temple trip together.  So I got to see a bunch of my old buddies there.  That was a chunk of our day gone in a flash!  The rest of the day on Thursday went very well.  We were able to teach a lot of lessons that day, and we met a nice Philipino man who said that we could come back this upcoming Sunday so hopefully good things pan out there.  This Friday was also strange.  There was a south mission leadership meeting.  Because Elder Grover was going home a few days afterward, even though he is a zone leader, he was not invited, so I was with both of our District Leaders in a trio for the day.  Finally on Saturday we had a normal day to proselyte together.  It was such a nice relief to have.  I am so grateful for the many lessons and things I have learned by serving with this Gentle Giant.  He has taught me a lot, and is such a good missionary.  Plus I promised him that when he comes to school in Utah, and that he can date and marry my sister, so we will see him again!

Today was craziest day of my life.  So we have the missionaries that are going home stay with us the night before they go home, well that was last night.  So we had ten people staying over.  Naturally we didn't get to bed until 1 in the morning.  Well the problem this time is that because my companion was going home with them, I had to go to the airport with them and the AP's to escort.  Their flights started leaving at 6 am and we had to be there at 5 am so I had to wake up at 2:30 am to shower, and go back to bed until they were ready.  So I am very tired today.  It was way trippy to go back to airport I haven't seen in 18 months.  It was way weird.  I also felt special kicking it with Elders Rockwood and Norwood.  Today I get Elder Simons around 2 pm so I am way excited to start this next chapter of my mission.  We are going to work hard and be exactly obedient.  It will be awesome!

I luv yo gutz!

Elder Ellsworth

P. S. I got a letter from the Ellsworth Grandparents yestzzz

I'm emailing you on Monday! Shazam!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it is pretty crazy how fast time flies, because this upcoming week is week six again.  It feels like I got transferred to Antelope like only two days ago.  I can't believe how fast it is going.  Elder Grover goes home at the end of this week, so we got to work our butts off to make his mission finish strong.  He is BEAST-MODE.  He puts up with my teasing and I love him a lot.  It is going to be hard, and I hope it doesn't make me trunky when I send him home.  He leaves next Tuesday at like 4 o’clock in the morning.  I’m not getting up to see him off.  I need my beauty sleep.  So I know for a fact that I will be getting a new companion.  This is a first on my mission.

Things are going well in our area.  I am very grateful that we have been able to find so much success.  We are hoping to pick up a trio of investigators from our YSA ward but we will see how it goes this week.  Our family ward is still going very well.  We have a lot of work right now, so it is pretty exciting.  I hope to be able to keep it up this next week.  We don't have anybody that is super close to baptism at this point but we have a bunch of investigators that I think will be baptized in the future.  Dorothy is in her 70's.  She is a black lady who grew up in Ogden Utah.  She is madly in love with Elder Grover.  We talked this week about temple work for the dead, and she said she wanted her ancestor’s work to be done.  I bet she will be baptized at some point.  Gary and Kay are still doing well.  They haven't read yet, or attended Church, but are still trying to get settled into their new home, so it is understandable.  They are great, and they love us missionaries, they fed us some dinner after a lesson this week, after we left we drove to our signed up dinner and had dinner again.  It was fun.  Mark Andrews is married to an active member of the Church.  They are going through marital problems, and Mark wants to meet because of it.  But he is doing good.  He does not have any Christian background so pretty much everything that we teach is brand new to him, and he likes to ask us about the Cavemen and how they fit in with Adam and Eve, but it is okay.  He finally came to church this week, so hopefully he keeps on progressing.  We also are meeting with Marez again.  We were asked to stop for a week or two by our bishop in the YSA ward, but he is okay with us meeting with a couple of restrictions.  So we had a lesson with Marez yesterday and he is doing good.  He said the opening prayer, and asked God to help him to know, he even said that he can go home after and pray and ask God if the things we were going to teach him were true.  It was really touching and I think he is starting to get it—even though he is a little rough around the edges.

I can hardly believe that my 21st birthday is tomorrow.  I am excited, but not really.  I will go out and have a good hardworking day and that will be my present to myself.  Plus we have Elder Barney with us tomorrow, so it will be a good day.  Well, it is time to go.  I get to email this morning because we are having car troubles again and at the same dealership for the same problem!  yay

I love yalls gutz!

Elder Nick Ellsworth

CRM

Arrgh!

This is my third attempt to email you and I am getting tired of trying so it will be very short and to the point.

This week was good, I was able to work hard with Elder Grover, and to be blessed and find a bunch of new people to teach.  We actually found 6 New Investigators.  All of which were through our own efforts.  We look forward to help these great people to come unto Christ.

I did get a chance yesterday to see the Transit of Venus.  It was just a spec on the sun from what I saw but it was cool.  I wish I would have had those glasses just like two weeks before they would have been cool to watch the Eclipse in!  Oh well. 

Cool story, so last week on Sunday our Singles Ward did a "Break the Fast" dinner.  So after church we had a spaghetti dinner.  I was talking to the boyfriend of one of the sisters in the ward (he is from south Sac area) and we started talking about missions.  Through our talks I found out that he not only served in the same mission as Spencer Harris, they were MTC companions and later Zone Leaders together!  It was awesome to talk about a friend that I have not seen in 2.5 years now!  Apparently Spencer was a stud muffin in his mission and was an AP for a few transfers!

There are a million more things I could talk about for last week, but I really am not in the mood.  I love you guys, and hope you have a good one.

Love, 

Elder Ellsworth

Life, life is good!

Dear Family and Friends,

Things have been pretty crazy here in California.  This past week has been an absolute blur!  I can't believe how fast this week has seemed to slip away from me.  I am grateful that it has gone fast, but it is a little scary to think that I have now been here in Antelope for two whole months!  Not only that transfers are coming up again pretty fast, this is week four allready!  I don't want it to go too fast because I love my time out here serving the Lord.  It will be interesting for me this transfers to see my companion go home.  Especially because he will spend his last night with me here!  It will be pretty odd.  I am really excited for him, but it makes me think about going home a little bit too much, I still have four more transfers to finish strong with after he leaves, so I will keep my head in the game and work hard.  

I have had a bit of a struggle week.  I love Elder Grover, but he has some quirks that drive me crazy, and this week they seemed to be  very prevelant in our lives.  Multiple times we had talks and at the end of them we both walked away frustrated, but all is worked out now, and things are good.  This past week I got my first taste of the Spanish life.  I went on exchanges with our Spanish District Leader Elder Correa.  He is a good kid.  He has only been out for three months and he has a great fire for this work.  It was a cool time for me, and the dinner we ate was awesome, they were like these carne esada hamburgers, with melted cheese and all of the good stuff.  Isaac will be very jealous of them.  It was cool to have a taste of his mission out here.  Elder Grover and I also had Elder Barney with us one day this week.  Elder Barney is a missionary that has some physical handicaps, he still wanted to serve a mission so he was called to a unique one.  He goes out with the missionaries around the south of the mission every day.  His home is in Lincoln, so he lives with his family who take him around to different companionships to allow him to sere the Lord.  He has such a strong testimony, and he is a hoot to be around.  We also were able to pick up an New Investigator from tracting this week.  Her name is Porsha.  She is a young mother, and was willing to accept a copy of the Book of Mormon, and a return appointment for the next day.  When we went back we had a nice lesson on her front lawn and talked about the Book, and how it testifies of Jesus Christ.  It was a great expirience.  We also have a couple named Gary and Kay we are hoping to pick up this week sometime.  We helped them two weeks ago to paint their new house, and last week to move in.  They are looking for a new church because they don't like theirs.  They are older and are both in power chairs, so it is going to be awesome.  Gary weighs over 400 pounds so he will a beast to baptize, but we can handle it!  Life is good.  I am looking forward to another great week, it will be busy!  We have zone conference on Wednesday, then Zone Leader Council on Friday, as well as we need to do our transfer inputs on friday as well.  We will be running around like crazy, but I like it that way!

I am grateful for my mission, I am so grateful for the lessons I have learned during the course of my service.  I have grown so much.  Something that I am working on personally right now is changing the reason I do things.  I am trying to be an obedient missionary, but I don't know if it is for the right reason.  I want to be obedient from now on because I love my Father in Heaven, and my family, current and future.  I want to work hard because I love my neighbor, and want them to expirience greater joy in their life.  I try to do the right things, but what is the motivation behind my actions?  I want to purify my heart and do it for the Lord, and not for anything else.  I love you guys and thanks a bunch for all that you do!  

Almost forgot, Elder Grover and I also gave talks in the Singles Ward on Sunday, once again I was missing Mom and Dad because they need to write those for me.  Don't worry though my homecoming talk will be another chance for you guys to serve me by writing it for me!  haha

With Love,

Elder Ellsworth

Things are looking up in the Antelope Zone!

Dear Family and Friends,

I struggled quite a bit this past week.  I don't know what it is, but I really didn't have the desire to get out and work for a couple of days.  We still were able to have a successful week, but I just wasn't super focused on the Lord's work for a bit.  But on Sunday we were able to figure it out.  I think the real thing that makes me feel like a missionary is getting out and working.  So days when it takes us a while to get out and do some real work, it is hard for me to focus!  So I am looking forward this week to being able to get out and work my tail off.  

We had a disappointing week in terms of investigators.  We did meet one awesome couple, and picked up another investigator.  But we also were asked by our bishop in the YSA Ward to drop Marez, even though he wants to be baptized.  I am really disappointed about that, but we need to support and sustain him, and the bishop does have his reasons.  We had a good meeting on Sunday when once a month we go with the mission presidency and report on the work stake wide.  Things are looking up, and we have a good group of missionaries that are willing to work hard.  I do have one upsetting set though.  It was the missionary that last transfer was released as a district leader because he wouldn't follow the rules.  He is being a pain this transfer.  He is trying to not be a part of this zone because he dislikes me.  Oh well, I will just love him anyway.  Also we had an exciting weekend.  Friday night we got home, and our power was out.  Not any of our neighbors, but just us.  Turns out our Power bill had not been paid so the company turned it off.  And they didn't turn it back on until Monday.  So we stayed over at the Spanish missionaries’ apartment all weekend.  Now we have moved back home yesterday so that is going good.  

So this new family I talked about is awesome.  We met them because President Weston requested that we go help a lady with some service in our area.  She needed help painting this house.  We did not really know why she did.  But we went and did anyways.  So this new couple is moving from South Sacramento to Antelope, and they are both interested in finding a church which is right for them.  As we were painting Gary and Kay were talking with us (we had the Spanish elders with us as well) so we had Elder Edwards and myself painting and teaching Kay on one side of the room, and Elder Grover, and Elder Correa on the other side teaching Gary!  It was great.  We haven't picked them up yet, but we are looking forward to teaching them this upcoming week, while we help them move in tomorrow.  Things are really looking up in the Antelope Zone!  Thanks a bunch for everything.

With Much Love, 

Elder Ellsworth

Transfers continue to fly by.......

Dear Family and Friends,

Well things are going well still, and I am trying my best to work hard and be obedient.  This past week has been one of the craziest of my entire mission.  We have been running around like crazy, I have been a bit sore, and things are going good in our areas.  So I will do my very best to put into words what is happening in my life.  So we have had a problem companionship in our zone.  I love and respect both of them, but they just can't love and respect each other!  So they had a big problem last Friday morning, and almost got into a fist fight as a result.  So we had to split them up like I told you.  Well because of that President did not feel that they should be left together for the time being, so Elder Grover, and myself were left to the task of splitting those bone-heads up this week.  We went on three exchanges with them, as well as one with the Spanish Elders.  So the only days that Elder Grover, and I were even together were Monday Wednesday and Sunday.  It was a crazy week.  

Elder Grover got the shaft because on every exchange he left the area.  So I was home all week.  Which was good because I would not have wanted to ride a bike with my shoulder like it is, sore.  I think that we still had a pretty successful week though.  WE were able to stay busy, knock a lot of doors, and set up a lot of return appointments.  In the end last week we taught around 17 lessons.  It was a lot of fun and very successful.  I grew to love these Elders.  Each one has his own strengths, and I may not love everything that they do, but they are good kids, and have great desires.  I went on exchanges with Elder Frei for two days this week, he is a convert of just over a year!  I got a lot of respect for him when I learned that his family practically disowned him when he converted from Catholocism.  They were even less thrilled about him coming out here on his mission.  He has sacrificed a lot to be here.  I am grateful for his wonderful example to me.  

Our Investigators are doing well.  Nobody is doing super great.  The dates that we set with Marez and AJ are not going to happen on the original scheduled days, but that is okay we still love them, and will help them to come unto Christ.  I am really excited for this upcoming week because we have a lot scheduled, and a lot of Potential.  I hope to be able to Thrash Antelope with the Spirit in the coming weeks and months!

Also you are right Transfers are today!  Luckily Elder Grover and I although we were not together last week, will be together for the remaining six weeks of his mission.  It should be good, because our area is looking good.  Plus he is an absolute stud-muffin.  I am grateful for all that he does to serve me and this zone.  He has a big heart, and is very calm, and thoughtful while I just try to jump in fully clothed sometimes.  I have learned many great lessons from him.  But also every companionship in the zone is getting shuffled these transfers, which makes me super sad because like 3 of my favorite missionaries are heading to new areas, and I will miss them a lot!  I hope our new peeps coming in are awesome as well.

Finally my shoulder is doing very  well Mother.  It has been sore for a lot of this week, but now it is great.  This morning I even went out and jump-roped.  It was a lot of fun.  It is still tight, but I will work it out by the end of the week.  Also sad note, I don't know if I ever explained this to you, but in our new house all of the missionaries that are going home, their last night, and those coming in, their first night stay with us.  So it is a lot of fun.  But hard to sleep.  Last night we had the ones going home, they just wanted to stay up and talk.  I was very sad to have my mission papa Elder Thompson going home today.  It has been many many months since we served together, but I still have a great love and respect for that amazing Elder.  You guys should look him up and have him to dinner or something.  He lives in Utah county, and is a nice guy.  

Well I am about out of things to say.  The Church is true, and I am grateful to be a missionary here, now.  I love you all a lot and look forward to talking to you on Mother Day!  Which just happens to be on Sunday!

With Love,

Elder Nick Ellsworth

I am STRESSED out!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Well I was a little bit exaggerating about being so stressed, but not that much because this has been one of the most stressful weeks of my mission thus far.  So I am not sure if I mentioned it or not but last week at our p-day activity Sister Totau, one of the sisters in our zone broke her ankle.  Well that was very unfortunate, but she is doing well now.  That added to my stress.  We had 13 appointments cancel this past week, that added to my stress.  We had to turn in our zones monthly goals, and they are all very high, probably unachievably high.  So I get to go to our zone leader council next week, and report these goals to the whole mission, that makes me stressed.  The last one is by far the worst one.  Elder Grover and I went over to the Antelope 2nd wards apartment on Friday to pick up their zone goals.  When we got there they informed us that they had almost gotten in a fist fight the night before, and even that morning their had been a physical exchange.  So we obviously couldn't leave them together, so we went on an emergency exchange and split them up.  That made me stressed.  Then they had an interview with President Weston on Sunday, and he asked us to split them up for the entire week, so we get to go on 3 exchanges with them, and 1 with the Spanish.  That makes me stressed.  Transfers are coming up soon, that makes me stressed.  And best of all.

Yesterday for our zone p-day activity Elder Grover and I got a hold of a pinata.  It was a person, and so we dressed him up as a missionary and beat him to death.  It was a lot of fun.  We were a little worried about safety but everything was going well.  Everybody got three shots at him with these bamboo reads that we had taped together, and then we pulled out this metal bar.  everyone got three more whacks with the second bar.  Round 1 everyone was blindfolded, round 2 go for it!  So, I was the second to last batter in both rounds, and Elder Honeycutt bless his heart was the one right before me both times.  So in round three with his eyes open he got his three swings, swing 1 was a big whiff, the rope man gave him a strike, swing 2 hit home, he nailed the pinata in the head, some candy cascaded from his wounds.  Swing 3 was another big whiff, halfway through his swing the "bat" flew from his hands very quickly and headed straight for guess who, ME!  It drilled me in the shoulder!  The end of it caught me straight on, and it surprised me very much!  I took a step back, and looked down to see the damage, and their was a hole in my shirt, I was pretty ticked because I was still in my proselyting clothes, and there was a nice rip, I then realized that their was a corresponding hole in my garments, and in my shoulder!  So I calmly walked to the bathroom, I almost passed out in there, and got very light-headed.  Then I laid down elevated my feet, got bandaged up, and cleared my head.  Then I went back into the gym, and played some b-ball.  I still won!  That stressed me out!  Not winning but getting a hole in my shoulder.  So I am going to send you the shirt, and the Garments, because they truly did protect me.  I was only hurt a little bit, I should have been hurt a lot worse than I was.  I am grateful for the Lord's protection at our p-day activity.  Today my shoulder is sore for sure, but I am in high spirits, just stressed out!  Love y'all.  I hope that you have a good week, keep working hard, and being awesome!

With Love,

Elder Ellsworth  

P.S.  Don't worry about me I am doing fine and feeling blessed!