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