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​