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