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