Boxing Day

Christmas just happened!!  I got to Skype home which was awesome!  The Cox family invited us to come over Christmas day to eat dinner and Skype my first evening in Apple Valley.  They were awesome to let me do that.  It was weird to call home, it didn't feel like I was gone at all when they answered it just felt like we were facetiming and nothing was out of usual.  It was a good time and we had chill vibes.  It was weird to see so many people all there at my house.  It was funny to see my brother pretend to steal all my stuff cause I know he ain't gon touch none of it.

An interesting lesson I had with Elder Reilly while on exchanges happened this last Wednesday. It was with one of our investigators named Mama Nita. We read from Alma 37 and had a very spiritual time. She confided in us her fears, she has open heart surgery coming up in January and asked us to pray for her. We invited her to church and that going to it will bring her peace. She ended up not coming but we will not give up our efforts!!

While we were out knocking doors one day.  We ran into this guy as he was downing a bottle of bourbon.  We got into a conversation with him and he told us he was a milk truck driver and his work gave him eggnog to get rid of.  He offered it to us so that we could use it and give to our church.  We gladly took it but the second we got home we were both checking the ingredients looking for the alcohol.  All of it was non-alcoholic and we both just celebrated in our hearts for the free eggnog

Tender Mercies of the Lord come when we do what he wants us to do.  Missionary work during the Christmas season is quite the experience.  I've seen so many miracles the past month here.  I bear testimony of the realness of the work.  It is incredible the way it has changed me so far.

Elder Ellsworth

Psalms 23 4-6

December 18

Elder Ellsworth continues to be a man of few words. We did get a wonderful letter in the mail this week.

“The work goes well here. We don’t have many planned lessons and we do quite a bit of tracting. We have a few investigators but mostly just one. I had an experience yesterday while  on some exchanges with other Elders. While bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon, I thought of her needing a marking in Moroni 10:3-5. I had bought these colored pencils previously and asked her to mark those verses. She told me afterwards how meaningful that was and thanked me. It was a very spiritual lesson I taught with Elder Perrine. I feel the Spirit strong here in the high desert. I still strive for the spirit in my lessons and my studies.”

From the Weekly Email:

Just a heads up, it will be short.

This week Elder Dietrich and I spent a lot of time contacting and tracting.  We were able to fulfill the Mission wide goal of 10 contacts a day for the whole week.  In Wrightwood I had never been able to do it because of the lack of people but here in Apple Valley everyone is home and are plenty nice to us.  Every now and again there are unpleasant folk but that's okay.  Here I have grown so much.  The Shack is quite the humbling experience.  And I get plenty of teaching experience while I'm at it.  

The Ranchos ward has been very warm to me my entire stay while I have been here.  I seek to serve them as I teach others.  Being a missionary is awesome!!  It's boring sometimes.  It's long sometimes.  But it's always worth it.  You just have to get past the bad times to see the Good.

Elder Ellsworth

Calif is on fire!

First an apology.  Last week was Elder Dietrich's ( my comp ) Birthday and we went out to treat ourselves and went to Ninja Sushi.  Just a note, I have never had sushi before and haven't had much fish in my life so my stomach is weak against.  I felt terrible afterwards and was kinda out of it.  When I was emailing last week I honestly just sat there and stared at the screen for like 20 minutes straight and did nothing.  I feel better now.

This last week we had an awesome exchanges with Elder McChesney.  An awesome day that started with the Ward Christmas party.  Later we went out talking to people that we are teaching, one of which is Mama Nita.  My black mama who we taught a lesson to and as we read Alma 36 we felt the spirit strongly.  We explained what the meanings of what we read were and had an awesome time.  

This Christmas season as a missionary is a great time to be a missionary.  I invite y'all to check out the Light the World initiative that the Church does.

Elder Ellsworth

From a separate email:

"Rest assured about the fires down here, the high desert doesn't burn, just the mountains for the most part. , so don't worry about me :).  It's crazy, so far I think the peak was 6 different major fires, Cali is on fire!

A very short weekly email!

Hey y'all

This week we had an awesome experience in following the spirit.  There was a evening that we had with a returning less active.  She confessed her sorrows with her family and her marriage.  We felt lost on what to say to her.  After a short silence we felt prompted to simply give her the Proclamation to the World: The Family.  She was excited to read it when we explained what it was about.  We left her a copy and left and have yet to follow up.  I will report on that next week.  

Sorry for the short email,  didn't have a lot of time 

Elder Ellsworth

In a recent pen and paper letter Elder Ellsworth made the comment:

"Being a missionary is easy, being a good missionary is hard! I'm striving for the latter with all my heart and soul and will be a great missionary."

Apple Valley - week 2

The week was awesome here in Apple Valley!!  We got so much work done here and I got to meet so many different people so far.  They all seem so inviting and I got to make friends here already!  Last week I moved in and barely was settled before I leave everyday.  We have so many investigators and a ton of others who all want our time and attention.  It is amazing as a missionary to have so many things to do that we have our heads spinning.

Getting here to the Shack was very humbling, it is known as the "worst apt. in the mission" but putting up Christmas decor made it so much homelier.  It feels like my own even though I know I'll leave it someday.  In my new area I have a number of investigators here.  Nicole is our most prominent one, she was described by her own husband, who is a member, as "the driest Mormon he has ever met".  She has a long running experience with the LDS and even married an RM and is just now moving towards baptism.  There was a date set for Dec. 2 but that has been pushed back to possible the 2nd Saturday of January.  I met her once and she is a super nice lady.  Another investigator is Mama Nita, and she insists on that we call her mama.  She loves the Book of Mormon but isn't really keen on coming to church.  

We also have a large list of Potential Investigators that is in constant flux.  We are constantly going through the list, this past week one that we crossed of was a guy named Rich.  He bible bashed us for an hour hardly letting us speak and we kinda just sat there as listed all these "sources" (mostly "documentaries" and anti-mormon material) and each point he made we tore down with a short sentence.  At the end we invited him to research himself other than the opinions of internet people, by just reading the actual Book of Mormon.  A short testimony later we left and scratched him off pretty easily.  

Missionary work here is very different from Wrightwood.  I'll always miss the people and the place but I'm excited to have a change of pace.  Everything is going great and pray for me as I continue.

Elder Ellsworth

Apple Valley

Transfers were today and I met my next companion, Elder Dietrich.  He is from Bountiful, UT and an awesome dude.  This is his 3rd transfer and younger than me.  It's funny with missionary culture.  Your trainer is your Dad, and your first non-trainer comp is your Mom.  So Elder Dietrich and I are each others mothers.  How that works I don't know but it does :P  My new missionary apt. is very small and is known for being the worst apt. in the entire mission, it's name is "The Shack" and we have a garage attached that is bigger than our whole apartment.  I don't have much time so I will just share a small missionary story.  We got to take Brianna to the temple for the first time which was dope!  Bishop Jorgenson did the baptizing while Pooley and I witnessed and also did the confirming.  The temple we went to is the Redlands temple which is a mini-temple.  We had to make an appointment for baptisms.  We had an awesome time there and got taken out to an Indian restaurant afterwards and I tried Goat for the first time.  The Leblancs are the ones who took us and paid for us.  With the Leblancs I have tried a number of interesting foods for the first time including: Snails, Lamb, Duck, Shrimp, and Goat.  It was a cuisine tour.  

Elder Ellsworth

Mom's note: Funny thing is that Elder Ellsworth never mentions where he is being transferred to. Luke had asked him in an email for his new address, so that is how we know where he is heading.

Visiting with the Bradys!

This weekend we had the pleasure of visiting with Brother Brady and his daughter. They are members living in Wrightwood where Elder Ellsworth has been serving for almost 5 months. It was so wonderful to visit with them and hear about their experiences with our son! Elder Ellsworth is doing great. The challenges of serving in a small town have been great, but they have helped him grow as a missionary. We are sure grateful to the Bradys and other members like them who take care of the missionaries!

New Investigator!

Life in Wrightwood has been super exciting the last little while.  WE HAVE A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!!  His name is Freedom and he has a little girl named Sabrina and he invited us back again.  Last week I spoke of our gaining obedience and it has paid off in getting us someone to talk to!  He is this amazing guy and only 20 years old with so much going for him.  He is also a Taekwondo black belt to the 5th degree and his hands are legally registered as a lethal weapon!  He is so nice and believes in Jesus and trusts him with his all and has found so much peace and blessings in his faith.  

(funny story)

So one day this week while Elder Pooley and I were comp studying we were talking to each other and in the middle of the story I stopped and was staring and a certain corner of the room.  Elder Pooley asked me what was wrong and I responded..."there's a lizard on the DVD player".  He didn't believe me for a moment and looked at the corner between desks and saw it too.  He caught it and pondered for a while and came to 2 realizations.  1st, this lizard has probably been in here for weeks when the door was left ajar for a whole day and 2nd, this probably isn't the only one...  He have yet to find any others but it is still a serious prospect to realize that there are lizards in our apartment and possibly our stuff...

Temple trip was amazing!! We had our wards bishop drive us, he offered last minute and saved our lives because otherwise we would have had to pass the opportunity.  Awesome spirit stuff happened there, and afterwards he took us out to dinner.  He asked us what we wanted to eat and we replied politely that we "we're hungry for whatever you want to feed us Bishop."  "Well looks like we're eating steak then."  HE TOOK US FOR STEAK!!  We rolled up to Black Angus steakhouse and he told us to order whatever we wanted.  To be polite we ordered less price than him but he ordered a 30 dollar steak for himself and we both had the same.  It was the most amazing steak I had in a very long time.  I also had a lettuce wedge salad which was dope.

The Church is true!! True I tell you!

The last time the Prophet spoke was in the Priesthood session of general conference and spoke of Charity.

Moroni 7:45

1 Corinthians 13:3-8

"If we have not Charity, we are naught, we are nothing"

Thomas S. Monson

Elder Ellsworth

Temple Trip Week!

The work is going along better than it has lately previously, with a renewal and a bit of a wake up call on our efforts, my companion and I have done everything that we can to do better in our finding and our obedience.  Being in Wrightwood is a challenge these days.  On Halloween we were out contacting for a few hours in town and got to see all the Trick'o'Treating that happens here, there are no street lights here so everyone goes to town for candy.  We actually got more contacts than we usually do so we felt really proud of ourselves.  Then the next day the we had a stern talking to by someone in the ward that we were seen by members of the ward, Trick'Treating and people were disappointed in us for our actions :(  We were a little shocked that someone would assume that and not even confront us about but instead went to somebody else.  We both felt entirely discouraged and even a little hurt by the assumptions against us.  We felt a little down because of the whole situation until a member of the Stake High Council let the Zone Leaders know and told us that they had seen us out on Halloween contacting and were Proud of us and our efforts.  We had an awesome phone call and found that out so we felt amazing about the whole thing.  We are truly monitored at all times without us knowing and sometimes we might feel discouraged by how people judge us.  But if we will hold true to our conviction and our works, we will be rewarded for it!  We must Always do our best to represent the Lord in all we do and to never do something we wouldn't do in front of Him.  I wanted to share that story with you, now onto less depressing stufs.

This week I get to go on my first Temple trip!!!  I am so stoked to have the opportunity to do so on my mission as an Elder.  It will the fourth time doing so ever and I can't wait!  Also on the 18th, Brianna our recent convert, is taking us to do baptisms with her family and her.  SO I get to go to the temple twice in 2 weeks!!  My time is looking up in the near future, I do feel rewarded for sticking through the hard times of my mission.  Just after the baptism of Brianna, Elder Law told me something before he left.  "Don't falter after the hype is over".  I didn't get what he meant at the time but, after the baptisms we had this huge dry time when we didn't teach any lessons and no one talked to us more than a minute on the street.  It was truly a trial that hit me hard as a new missionary with so much early success.  Now that I have made it through, I think things are finally looking bright for us.  We have lessons lined up with recent converts, and service with non-members all the time!  I hope to be able to continue in feeling the Lords blessings up here in the chilly mountains of Wrightwood!!  

2 Timothy 1:7 

"For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of Power, and of Love, and of a Sound Mind"

John 3:35 

"Jesus wept"

Some verses to ponder

Elder Ellsworth

125 Days!

So, I've been on a mission for 125 days today...

That's a thing

How fast it's already gone by astounds me the more I think about it, how much time has gone by.  I've been a missionary for over 4 months now, something I never even thought about.  It  all came about over a conversation about my calendar and the month.  But it seems amazing just how much I've done and in how little time it has all happened.  I feel not that long ago I was in the MTC still.  I have learned so much from so many, and I cherish even more here in Wrightwood.  I have a feeling this will be my last week here so I will be packing soon I suspect.

I finally got to see Brianna a teach her again recently.  We have seen her twice the recent past, once we ate pizza with an associate of Thierry's who is from the Nederlands.  And the second time we ate with the Leblancs, Maryann (the mom) was running late with the groceries so Thierry made us canned duck.  It was Very interesting and a bit salty, but tasted way better than it sounds.  Whenever I'm over there I always try something new.  Lamb, Escargot, Duck, and the next time he was teasing about a french delicacy called "Rat".  I turned a little pale before he explained it was a joke.

We have had a bit of rough patch when it comes to perfect obedience due to my sickness and inability to sleep. But ever since we decided to renew our efforts we have been blessed with so much to do.  We have been able to teach more lessons, we have more service opportunities, we actually have less contacts but the ones we do get seem so much more personal!  The Lord rewards exact obedience so much!!  We have been blessed so much for our efforts I know!  

Elder Ellsworth

El letter.....

Life is has been hard during the past little while.  With sickness and sleep deprivation, lost papers and exchanges.  But the world is looking to be one the UP side!  

I feel that we have been getting less contacts, but the ones we do get feel far more worthwhile, more solid contacts.  I met this lady who lives in Evanston, Wyoming, and whose sister has cancer in the area, we had an amazing conversation and got talking about the impending snow shoveling to be done.  We are invited to come do all the shoveling we want!!

We also helped the local Catholic Nuns put on a food bank and helped them out! The Catholics and The Mormons teamed up to save the world!!  We helped back to back days and put in hours with two different companions.  The first day was with Elder Pooley my comp, and the second was with Elder Kelly on exchanges.  It was funny when they all of a second didn't recognize one of us.

Spending time out here is certainly an eye opener to the possibilities for my life.  I have a more sure plan of what I want to do and how I want My Life to go.  I thank the Lord so much for both the challenges and the blessings he gives me.

Elder Ellsworth

Conference Weekend

WOW!! This conference has been so amazing!  So many amazing talks from the seventies and also the apostles!! Elder Hollands talk during the Saturdayymorning session was AMAZING, about the sermon on the mound!  It was so funny and shined a light on something I didn't know much about.

 "The final commandment in the chain is sure to do the job, 'be ye there perfect, even as your Father in Heaven' with that concluding imperative, we want to go back to bed and pull the covers over our head" 

I always enjoy Elder Hollands talks as he makes me laugh while also making me feel insufficient. :P 

Another talk that I feel so much had an impact, was Elder Anderson, he had an amazing talk on Conference Talks, a bit meta.  But the final message at the end where he read a few lines from the words that Elder Hales prepared.  I could feel the spirit and emotions coming from him as he remembered and honored a dear friend who had passed away not even 5 hours prior.  The love each of the apostles feels for the others is so amazing and to have the strength to give a conference talk even while mourning is simply so beautiful to me.

The last talk I want to point out for this email was Elder Richard J. Maynes of the seventy, he talked in the priesthood session.  The story of his fathers business and the refusal to accept bribery was so amazing to me.  I felt the spirit speak to me specifically when he said the words "Listen Rick, once you take a bribe, or compromise your integrity, it is very difficult to ever get it back. Don't ever do it.  Not even once."  This stood out to me so greatly and I was so impressed by the message of integrity that it represented.

A quick update on WW,  not much has changed recently and we are still just working with out RC,  we also started teaching the Allyssa and her son, Kaelin, the lessons again even though they are recent converts that don't remember much from the first time around.  Also here are some dope photos in the next email I'll send.

Elder Ellsworth

The long lost missing email......

Well this has been quite the interesting week.  I ate Escargo with Thierry, who is an amazing cook, but I'm not the biggest fan...  I think my family would so proud of me! There has yet to be something placed in front of me that I haven't ate, although there have been plenty of things I haven't taken seconds from. :)

The most awkward dinner I have ever ate happened this week as well.  We were eating tacos with some members.  Their dog is blind in both eyes and had an eye infection in one eye.  During the course of dinner, one the teens took off the cone of shame so the dog could drink.  Because the eye was irritating it tried scratching to resolve the pain and ended up ripping it's own eye open.  It started crying out in pain as it's fluids in the eye leaked out.  All of the children started crying and freaking out in different ways and the Dad told us to keep eating the tacos while the bleeding dog continued to howl in pain... my appetite had left the house when I saw what had happened, but I had to keep eating in silence has the family lost it.  

Elder Pooley also found out he isn't allergic to peanuts that night and his favorite candy is Reese's.  So it wasn't all bad!?

Being a missionary up here in the mountains is AWESOME even with the jacket weather.  The mornings are around here are freezing.  Most mornings are 30 degrees and don't get better til the sun wakes up!  So the thermostat is working and the windows are all closed.  Tracting nowadays are different because I'm no longer sweating from walking around, now we wear big jackets!  The work that we do has shifted a great deal to working with less actives, the Bishop gave us a great deal to do and we are struggling to get in contact with those people.  We do our best but fall short sometimes.  I hope to do better and do the work the Lord has assigned me!  

Elder Ellsworth 

PS... I tried to send this last week but a video corrupted it and didn't send, sorry...

Life in WW

The Mountains got COLD!! this week.  It got so cold so quick that I have been a little sick ever since.  It hit out of nowhere and even with all my blankets I'm still cold.  What the heck, this is supposed to be SoCal.  Somewhere it doesn't get cold in the middle of September.

Anyways, so Wrightwood has become an interesting place recently. The temperature dropped suddenly with no warning and I started living like it's winter.  The world is different right now, with no investigators and cold nights, it feels like a different area.  My experience here in California as a missionary has been very slow this week.  Not a single door opened to us as we tracted, and all the people we street contacted have outright rejected our message.  It is very discouraging to be here at the moment, but I will stand tall even with all the down times.  The high moments are settling and now we just have the grunt work ahead of us.  I went on a few different exchanges the past two weeks and was able to experience some hilarious moments with Elder Richins and Elder Sutherland.  Elder Sutherland is one of the Phelan members and we had a blast the other day.  We had no food ready to eat so we made all our own.  He made Pepper Jack Chicken BBQ sauce wraps.  And I made tortilla chips by frying corn tortillas.  No oils burns were had, or at least serious ones (sorry mom)  And exchanges with Elder Richins were crazy because we went tracting out in the desert and met a lady who belonged to "The Church of What's Happenin Now".  She told us that "whatever makes us happiness, is what needs doin".  She was for sure a missionary story.  

Missionary work is changing me for the better!  My favorite book right now is Jesus the Christ.  Every chapter blows my mind!  Learning more is what life is all about right? anyways thats' all for now

Elder Ellsworth

Finally, a real email!

I LIVE!!

So life has been crazy the last while of my life as a missionary.  A great many things have happened and more continues to happen.  Last week a ton of things happened and I lost track of it all so I skipped out on the email last week, sorry.  Brianna had her baptism date set for August 26th and learned like 3 lessons in 2 weeks.  Trevor also had an epiphany about Joseph Smith and his actuality as a Prophet of the Lord so he is also ready for baptism.  Teaching the two investigators has truly blessed my life and has been the best possible teaching experience for me seeing the full conversion from beginning to baptism.  The opportunities that are presented before me each day are challenging at times but are all blessings in different masks.  

Every night we eat at a members home, we eat only a few repeats every month so don't worry I'm well fed.  We taught a few lessons these past few weeks since my last big email mostly to Brianna, but we did teach Trevor twice.  Every lesson is a new experience as I learn more and more about the spirit.  Brianna got baptized by Elder Law and confirmed by me last Sunday, both were awesome events to witness and be apart of.  Also Elder Law went home as his mission was over and I got a new comp!  Elder Pooley is my foster Father and is excited to train me.  He is also the DL so there are some extra responsibilities added with that but that's alright. 

 Wrightwood is an awesome area to serve in but is filled with challenges.  Everyone here kinda knows who we are and what we're doing, so they have their rejections already pre-planned.  Work is hard and long but oh so worth it.  Whenever we help someone progress it all becomes real.  Being a missionary is a way different experience from anything else I have ever done.  For one thing, doing nothing isn't an option now.  I have the Spirit to guide me whenever I am lost and am constantly finding things to do for other people.  I hope to keep up what I am doing for others as long as I live.

Elder Ellsworth

LIfe in Wrightwood

Dear anyone who is reading this.  

Wrightwood is the first area of my mission up in the mountains above the high desert.  It is a long drive anywhere and so we get a lot of miles everyday on the car.  I absolutely love it up here.  Even though no one in this town has air conditioning and every street is either uphill or downhill, I love every day of being here.  I suffer emotionally sometimes, it's a hard area to be a missionary in.  In a high mountain town with a population of just 5,000 residents, many of which are just vacation home, it is hard to find investigators and make contacts with others.  Every door here has been knocked so every person knows who we are and don't ask questions.  In the 2 weeks I've been here only one door that opened got past, "We'd like to share a message about Jesus Christ".  My companion, Elder Law, has been up here for the last 5 months of his mission and has only had 1 investigator get past the first discussion.  We have actually doubled our number of investigators since I've been here. From 1, to 2, and the second was a referral.  The members are the absolute key up here, and we spend most our time visiting and serving them.  There are 37 single sisters in this ward which makes it especially hard to meet them for very long as we can't even enter their homes without another member present.  I have had some amazing experiences up here already even with all the trials presented before me.

 I gave my first priesthood blessing this week which was quite the experience for me.  I felt so nervous before hand, I felt maybe I wouldn't be able to feel the spirit fully and maybe I would choke on the words.  I had all these doubts before but realized as soon as I started that it was all in the mental.  I let go of Ian, I let go of Elder Ellsworth, and let the spirit do what needed to be done.  I don't remember much of the things I said but afterwords the family, the Brady's whom I mentioned before, noticed a similarity to another blessing received before I had arrived on my mission.  The previous Elder had mentioned Mike Brady's, the recipient of the blessing, ancestors and how much they cared for and watched over him.  I also said something along those lines without foreknowledge.  I absolutely love the Brady family, every time I go over there I learn so much about myself and the spirit.  Also sister Brady makes some Bomb cinnamon rolls! Love those so much but if I keep eating them I'll gain weight they are so good.  

I have learned so much from so many up here in the mountains.  I have learned humility and charity.  Grandma Anderson is my hero.  She is the wife of the ward mission leader and such an amazing person.  The first day I met her she told me that she was my grandma now because I couldn't see my grandma anymore for 2 years.  She has had one trial after another, enough for anyone to lose their faith.  Yet she has retained her love for the savior and takes care of so many selflessly.  Even though she has so many kids and takes care of her sisters kids, she still acts as my Gma because she loves her savior enough to love someone she just met as her own.  I love her so much and want to serve her as much as possible.  

My faith has grown this past week more than I thought possible.  I hope to keep growing in my faith and my knowledge everyday I have. 

Elder Ellsworth

Made it to Rancho!

Hello parents!

SO, I made it to Rancho Cucamonga safely even with a very bumpy flight, turbulence.  I spent the night in the mission home and the very next day I was assigned a father and drove to my first apartment that night.  I'm actually in a town called Wright Wood up in the mountains above the high desert where it is really cool.  I love it so much I never want to leave this area the entire time I'm here, even if it snows here in the winter and I'll have to do a LOT of shoveling, I wouldn't mind even a little bit.  The people are all so inviting every time I talk people want to listen to me because my missionary status.  The ward I'm in is so very little and the hearts of the people are so very big.  Sister Anderson has already adopted me as her grandson, along with every other missionary, and is so inviting and friendly that I feel as though she were my own grandmother.  I have also eaten at a number of members homes since I've been here and they have all been so welcoming to me even though I am a greenie and replacing Elder Golden.  My Trainer is Elder Law, he comes home in around 5 weeks and lives in Midway.  We are both so very close to each other in home and here.  Out of all the wonderful people here I think the Brady's might be my favorite (don't tell anyone I said that!) because Elder Law and I gave 2 blessings the other night and I haven't the spirit so beautifully in such a long time.  I have been so blessed to have such an amazing trainer and even if I went home tomorrow my testimony has already been affirmed because of him.

The other night that I spoke of was Friday the 21st.  That night we went over to visit them for a while because the second daughter, R., was in a lot of pain from girls camp and we just wanted to visit.  R. wanted nothing to do with the church even though the rest of her family are all strong in the church and was converted by Elder Law and Elder Golden.  All they did was read the scriptures with her and bore testimony every time they would visit and she became active and even got her patriarchal blessing.  At girls camp this last week there was a CPR demonstration where it was explained what to do and the counselor actually accidentally pressed down on her chest as if they were doing it for real.  Her sternum didn't break, thankfully, but she was in a lot of pain and wanted a blessing from Elder Law.  I did the oil and he gave the blessing in which he spoke about her lasting impact on the hearts of the girls she served while at camp.  At the time neither of us knew anything about her experience other than her sternum was nearly broke.  Later we found out there was a girl being bullied and she attempted to comfort the bullied girl and felt that she didn't "really" help the girl.  This touched R.'s heart and she was crying by the time the blessing was finished.  I even had to fill Elder Law in on what he even said because he couldn't remember the contents of the blessing.  I had my hands laid on her head along with her father and Elder Law and I felt the spirit so strongly it felt as if I was being pierced in the back by it it was so powerful.

The church is absolutely true!!  If it wasn't, then Elder Law would be a liar.  If it wasn't I would be lost in California.  If it wasn't the world wouldn't be.

So sorry about the radio silence.  I have been super sick for close to 3 weeks now and still not getting over this cough.  I have plenty of medicine and have access to a doctor so I'll be fine.  Last week of MTC the group headed to Rancho Cucamonga left around noon and took us all day to travel to the mission office.  My P-day in the MTC was Tuesday and my P-day here in California is Monday so I got he short end of the stick there.  I love and promise to always write and email you when I can so you can be assured of my living.  Also google chatroom is not allowed in my mission and we really aren't supposed to do the emailing back and forth thing, so yeah.  I will still keep in contact but it will be quite slow.  As for my scripture for the missionary plaque I have one in mind and any other scripture would be sacrilege to use any other so I can hold off the picture for a little while.  Besides even if I gave you one the plaque wouldn't go up at the church for another 3 months anyways so there is no harm waiting right?  Also here is the photos of the Moses mural and also another that will receive no context.

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Also I gave my first missionary talk on Sunday.  (Pday is Monday).  It was pretty terrifying but I made it through without anything too horrible happening.  I gave a pretty short talk even though I was supposed to go longer I fell short on that part but I lived regardless.  I love you peoples so much and will return with honor.

Elder Ellsworth

   

MTC Week 2

I LIVE!

But seriously, I am still alive.  This week was exciting.  We moved from T1, which is one of the old buildings, to T4, which is one of the new buildings. Specifically the big one visible from the south end.  It is seriously amazing!  The air conditioning is fully working and the windows provide so much light.  I love it so much.  The old building that I was being taught at was cramped, and the window was tiny, and the air conditioning was poor at delivering cold air.   But the new one is simply divine.  Also all of the water fountains also have the really cool water bottle fillers that say how many plastic bottles were saved.  Also we finally got a permanent teacher for our second class.  His name is Brother Anderson, and he is probably one of the best teachers I have ever had in any class.  His way of teaching is seriously strict, but we all feel the spirit so strongly every class.  Also he gets everyone engaged in such a way that everyone learns by the spirit every class.  I am thriving here at the MTC because of the unique atmosphere that I feel in every room.  

I am also planning on emailing you more than just insignificant day to day worries.  I don't know what else I am supposed to talk about.  If you have any questions just let me know i suppose.

Elder Ellsworth

Our friend and neighbor, Dean Wright, made a delivery for me today. Ian is holding a loaf of homemade bread still warm from the oven. 

Ian- Week 1

This has been the first week of the best 2 years of my life.  That's the way other people describe it and I've never fully understood what they meant by that phrase even though I've heard it so much.  Now I suppose I've experienced at the least the fist week.  The MTC is amazing.  I never knew that the world could hold so much spirit in such an area as small as campus.  Every missionary here is here to serve the lord and is looking to improve themselves to prepare to serve.  So far my experience has been pretty awesome, though the food is only getting worse as time goes on.  The cafeteria is pretty awesome but every meal is so heavy that after a while it just becomes too much.  I miss cooking for myself, something I never imagined I'd say myself but I miss cooking the raw tortillas you get at Costco.  I wish I could just make myself a box of craft dinner and just eat in peace.  Anyways, my district is pretty awesome.  There are 12 of us in total in district 31D.  All 4 Sisters are going to the Las Vegas West mission while all the Elders are going to the St. Louis Missouri mission.  It's just my companion, Elder Nordgren, and I that are going to Rancho Cucomonga.  Although we have met 2 other Elders also going to Rancho and heard from another Sister that there's like another 30 of us in a different building.  The work is hastening to be sending so many missionaries just to California.  There is 20 different missions just in the state of California.  That accounts for close to 10% of all missions in the world.  In my residence hall, I live in the basement with my district and zone.  The other half of the basement is shared by the missionaries going to Russia the surrounding countries so we have come to know them as simply, The Russians.  Day 1 Elder Doolen, an Elder who had been here the week prior, informed us they were crazy because the chanted in Russian at 1 in the morning and flipped the lights and wearing cloaks and such.  As it turned out it was just a misconception and the Russians are actually super nice.  They are all excited to go even though the rules there are crazy and they are doing their best to learn the rules and the languages.  My companion and I have had some amazing conversations with them and say hello whenever we find the opportunity.  I don't wish I could stay here at the MTC forever, but I am seriously enjoying every minute of it.  I have gotten so much reading of the Book of Mormon done here even though my schedule is absolutely packed.  I read the Book of Ether the other day and got so much more out of it than I ever thought possible in my life.  Even though every minute of my day is heavily planned by someone else, my scripture study is so much more productive than ever before in my life.  I have so many scriptures marked in my papers scriptures and I keep finding new scriptures to mark.  I hope my marking pens can last me my mission.  A great deal of my studying is all done in the brand new T-4 building, the building visible from the BYU Creamery.  It has the most amazing murals I have ever seen all about the stories of the Bible and Book of Mormon.  Below I've included the one about Moses parting the Red Sea, which is y favorite that we've found so far.  Also we've begun our TRC on Monday.  TRC is a kind of mock teaching an investigator and we have 2 people to teach this week.  Jose and Matthew, I'll leave out their real names for privacy's sake.  But I've really gotten to know them both and got Jose to open up to me about family and especially his dad  who grew up in a poor village in Guatemala.  I have really improved in my teaching abilities since I've come here and I think I got at least Jose to trust me.  Although, it's funny, all the TRC participants are supposed to make it seem like they aren't a member even though most of the are.  We know for sure that Jose is a member because when he opened his phone his background screen was a picture of him wearing a suit and a black name tag.  So he's an RM.  But our other investigator, Matthew is for sure a real investigator.  Either way we still teach the same message and treat them the same way so there's isn't much of a difference.  My testimony has never been as strong as it is right now, and it will only increase from where I am right now.  On Sunday evening we were shown a talk by Elder Bednar who addressed the missionaries in a Christmas devotional and changed the way I think.  His talk has inspired me to be better than I was and better than I am.  While talking to us he said a number of things that have had long lasting effects on my faith, increasing it exponentially.  One of the things he spoke about was someone who had lost their faith and said to Elder Bednar, "The Church isn't true" "No! You're not true to the Church!".  It struck me to my core because there was a time around when I had my concussion that I lost my faith in my depression and felt the church wasn't true.  I was wrong then and was scolded for it again by Elder Bednar.  The talk also spoke about a great many other things that have struck me deeply that I won't go into but I just need to say that there is no way that the Church isn't true.  I don't have a single doubt for myself that it isn't.  I need to exclaim this to all that I meet in California and I will beg them to pray for themselves to know that it is true.  Every day I come closer to my God.  Every day I learn more of his love.  Every day I feel the Holy Spirit by my side.  Every day I will better myself so I can bring more unto him.

Elder Ellsworth​

Here we go again!!!!

Ian has been called to serve in the Rancho Cucamonga Mission. He leaves June 28th. Stay tuned!!!