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
