Mother, I can't believe that September is gone either!

Well I do not have too much to say this week. It has been pretty good, and we have been doing a whole bunch of service this past week or so, and that has been very good. I love being a missionary. I love cool experiences that we have that someday will make some pretty awesome stories!

So here is one, that I was not even there to hear, but I will tell it anyways. As you know the Gardener's have been doing awesome. They also have been a little tight on money, which is part of the reason they weren't coming to church. Well little did I know, but last week when they showed up out of the blue, well to get there that day they put their last 10 dollars into their gas tank, to make the drive to church. When Jason went to work the very next morning, there was a tip that he had received, but wasn't given to him the last week! Not only that, but Jason also got a second job, so the Lord blessed them for putting their faith in him! He truly does provide! They also made it to church this past week, and they are just amazing! A family in the ward invited them over next week to watch conference at their house as well, so this ward is being so gracious and welcoming to the young couple.

I had another cool story while talking to them after church last Sunday. We were up in the Relief Society room, I say up because it is on the second story, and I was talking to them again. And Vonda told me she wished that I would stay here in Mount Shasta forever. Then she corrected herself, and said "no, you should go home, and then get married, and move back out here."

Well I was very flattered, and I am just again, so indebted to my Father in Heaven, so very grateful for the blessings I have in my life. They are not few, but they are many. I am grateful for my struggles, because when I have them I appreciate the good times that much more. I am grateful for this gospel. It has blessed my life, it has blessed my family. It is true. I know it is true.

Well that is just about all that I have for today. I am pretty tired, and ready for a nap, but doing well. We have the Potential to pick up like 11 new Investigators over the next few weeks, so the work is going well, and it is super rewarding. Well I will let you go, but I want you to know that I love you all very much, and wish you the best. Good luck Dad, and Em in Haiti. The Lord will bless you as you serve your fellow men. Thanks for all of the love and support!

With much Love

Elder Ellsworth

What an amazing week!

Well I must say that this week was really awesome. It was one of those weeks that in terms of numbers for the week was not very impressive, but the work that we were able to do was very good, and I am well to be honest I am so excited about the Missionary work up in Mount Shasta!


The week started off as kind of an odd one. As you know Elder Kearon of the Seventy came on Monday, and we had our P-day on Tuesday as a result, but what you probably don't know is the rest of the Story!

I started off the normal Proselyting week by going on Exchanges withe Elder Pennock the Greenie in the Zone. He is really cool, and has an excitement for the work, he is a little rough being brand new and all, but really a great guy. We had our truck waiting for us at the shop on Wednesday morning, so we were able to go about our business as usual. We met with the Gardener's that morning, and that lesson went really well. We talked about modern day prophets, their importance, and also that today the Chruch is set up in such a way that we will always have prophets, as well as that Priesthood Authority they hold on the earth. The lesson ended on an awesome note, when I bore my testimony about the Gospel how grateful I am for it. I shared that I always haven't had this appreciation for it, but because of those times, it is so sweet now. Then Elder Pennock bore his Testimony! Then Sister Gardener bore her powerful testimony on how she know that this Church, and what we have taught her is true. Followed last of all by Jason! He bore an awesome testimony as well. He said at one point that he could not deny that it was true! I am very grateful that I was able to be a part of that powerful lesson!


I got Elder Gillen back later that night, and things went really well. I have grown to love him, despite our differences. We actually had a talk this week one night, on how both of us pretty much feel the same way. The other made us mad for our first little bit, and it was pretty rocky for a while, but now we get along good. We had success this week with contacting a bunch of less actives that we have been trying to get in contact with. Set up two service projects for next week with Less active families, and our week was super awesome!

It was a really good week to begin with, but then Sunday came around. We were sitting in the Chapel 5 minutes or so before the meeting was going to start. Juanita was there, along with a couple of Less active people we are working with, when out of the blue the Gardener's walked into church! We had no idea they were coming so obviously we were ecstatic!! Even more so, when the High Council speaker and his wife both spoke about improving marriages and raising children for their talks! They stayed for Sunday School, which was a great lesson. And also they attended the third hour. I was a little worried because our Elder's Quorum President is a nut case, and he teaches some crazy "A" stuff if you know what I mean, but even the Priesthood meeting was livable.

Elder Gillen went to the Bathroom so he was not their for the ensueing conversation, but it went something like this. Jason and I were sitting in the Chapel after Priesthood meeting and just chatting. I asked him if he had any questions for me, and he did from his reading. He is now in Mosiah by the way I answered his question, and eventually during the course of our conversation Vonda showed up with the kids. Then out of the blue Vonda told me that her and Jason had been talking about things, and they had decided that they wanted to be baptized by me before I left the area! I was of course more then obliged, and pulled out my planner, and set a baptism date with them for the last week of this transfer. So they are getting baptized on October 8th!! I cannot even describe how excited I am. I was pretty much floating 3 feet off of the floor for the rest of the day yesterday. I am so very grateful for this amazing family. I am so grateful that I have been given this chance to teach them, and share with them my testimony of this Church and this Gospel. I love this gospel so much, and having succeses out here on my mission, inspire me even more to go out and work harder, and to be better than I am. I love you guys very much, and I will hopefully chat with you next week again! With much love

Elder Ellsworth

Half Mission Conference with Elder Kearon

Well this week was a very good one. We had our Mission Tour, AKA Half Mission Conference Yesterday down in Yuba City. Which by the way is the furthest south that I have been in the mission in nine months, since the day that I was picked up at the same building by Elder Thompson! Pretty Crazy of you ask me!

It was a long drive down, and very cramped! I was sitting in the back of a Toyota Corolla for the entire trip down, and back up with two other Missionaries! I am glad to be out of that car to say the very least! The Conference was pretty awesome. We first heard from Sister Weston, then President Pendleton, and then we were addressed by Sister Kearon. Then for the next 4 hours or so Elder Kearon stood up there and addressed us about lots of stuff. We did have a lunch break in between, which was very nice, and needed. By the end of the meeting, I was pretty shot to pieces. We did wake up at 4:30 to make it there on time. I had a very enjoyable meeting, and it was cool to listen to him speak, we could tell that they had such a love for us Missionaries. Here is some cool facts. Elder Kearon was a convert, at age 27, they have four kids, the oldest of whom is only 14 years old. Elder Kearon is only 48! He is an awesome guy, but he does not look very much like I remember him from conference, he has aged a bit, and his hair is pretty much all gray now. I remember attending the Priesthood conference in which he gave that talk, that session impacted me very deeply, during a hard time for me and gave me strength and conviction to come out and serve the Lord. One of the main points in the lesson today was finding places where we lack, and improving. He talked a lot about the analogy of the rich young man, who asked the Savior how to get to Heaven, and he responded that he should obey the commandments. The man from his youth was obedient, and said, what lack I yet? that is the Question that we should ask ourselves.

Well I should mention the rest of this crazy week as well I guess. We taught the Gardener's about the law of Tithing, and they want to Obey it, but they are scared. I know that the Lord will bless them if they put forth their Faith, but how can I ask them to make that sacrifice? That is a scary situation, and I am scared as well as to how I can approach the subject lightly, and showing love to them.

Later on this past week, our Truck broke down, the battery went bad and is wouldn't start anymore, so we had to jump the Truck on Friday 6 times, and on Saturday it wouldn't start at all, so we had Shasta Lake Elders drive up on Sunday and pick us up. The truck was towed, and is waiting for us in the shop in Mount Shasta, now we just need to get back up there!

Also we were given the chance to speak this past week in Sacrament meeting, that was a cool thing for me. Especially since I spoke on the Restoration, and basically just taught the first lesson from the stand! It was good though, and Elder Gillen spoke on the Converting power of the Book of Mormon. I thought we did pretty good, especially since we only left 10 minutes for Brother Ingraham! Also things are going better with Elder Gillen. I like him, but when he gets around a certain group of Other missionaries, who I am not to fond of to begin with, they become very abrasive, and make me very mad. The key to this, is keeping the 3 of them apart from each other. So I will try to stay at Shasta Lake while in Redding rather than the Zone Leaders apartment. Well that is about all, I love you guys so much.

I love feeling the Spirit of the Lord. I love that warm, love that I feel. During our meetings yesterday, his words made my heart burn. They inspired me to be better, to work harder, and to be more dedicated. To ask myself what I lack, or where I can improve. The Lord will bless me as I strive to be a better more obedient servant of him. I know this is true. I know that my Savior lives, and he loves me. I know he atoned for my sins. I know that he knows me personally, and completely. I know that this Church is true, that this work will change lives, that when somebody is touched by the Spirit of the Lord, they can truly be Converted to the Gospel of Christ. I love my mission, despite the hardships, despite the struggles, the letdowns, the frustrations, the fear. I love it. I have never felt closer to my Savior then I do now. I am really hard on myself, and I know that I am sometimes a little extreme, but I am hard on myself because I know that I can be better, more effective, and harder working than I am. When I build the Lord's trust in me, he will lead me to those I am here to teach. I have done some good, on my mission, but I need to live up to my full potential. I love you guys very much, and I am grateful for the Love the Support and the Prayers in my behalf. I have had a cool experience these past few weeks, I have been putting in a greater effort to write in my journal. I have at the same time started to read from Dad's mission journal. I love it. It inspires me. I know that he had struggles to, but seeing him overcome them, is awesome what I neat experience that has been for me. He just got transferred from Napoli, his greenie area I think, and I have learned a lot from him already. I love you guys so much, and if I don' pray for you every prayer, I do it often.

With Love

Elder Ellsworth

Stayin in Shasta!

Well I will start off by saying that I am very happy with transfers this week! I was hoping that Elder Clifford would take off, and that I would have six more weeks up in Mt. Shasta, and well that is exactly what is happening. Clifford is taking off, and going to serve as a District Leader down in the Lincoln 1st ward, and I am going to stay up in Banishment with Elder Gillen. I don't know much about him except that Elder Squires my current Distric Leader described him as a jerk! haha Well Squires is a little up tight about things, so I think that we will get along very good. Plus, if we don't I will just sit on him because he is pretty small!! Other than that I really don't have much in the way of news. Time still is just slipping through my fingers, and I am still trying to be a better missionary than I am. I don't think that I will ever get to where I want to be, but that is okay. I want myself to be the perfect missionary but I just don't think that it is possible.

I did have a very frustrating week this week. Elder Clark and I had an awesome exchange. Probably the best that I have ever been on, and we taught 9 lessons, and had a blast. And Elder Clifford came back up and just sucked the drive out of me! We only had 4 lessons for the rest of the week after Clifford came back up. :( I was very frustrated with him, and just ready to be done with our companionship. Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoy serving with him, but we just aren't that good at working together. We get along great though. We both agreed that we were ready for some change though.

Our investigators are still doing well, and for the most part progressing. I don't have anything else to say really. I love the Gardener's they are awesome this week we taught the 10 C's and we put some hand signs to them so they could remember them better. Alyssa is awesome but I don't know what to do with her. We can't ever teach her for reals when her dad is their she just kind of shuts down, and won't respond or do or say anything to us. He kind of just pushes her aside. So she is definately not progressing. Oh I have a talk in two Sundays that I am pretty excited about, and I think that you guys should write it for me. Last time you did it worked out pretty well so, take that into consideration please. haha

Well I love your gutz,

Elder Ellsworth

Time flies when you are having fun!

Oh. boy how time flies on my mission!  It is good though, it freaks me out pretty good.  This week was a very good one, and we got some good work done, and worked our butts off, well until the last few days of the week.  Saturday and Sunday were a little rough for me.  Elder Clifford is a good guy, but he destroys my motivation!  I am really pumped up with our area, and really excited about missionary work, and he just isn't.  I try really hard to get motivated and excited and then he just puts a damper on my excitement.  Especially when it comes to tracting.  He will teach lessons, and he doesn't like to but he will go out and harrass less active people, but he hates tracting.  Our week was a good one, we had 17 lessons this week, but we would have had at least 20 if not for a couple of cancellations, and not working very much on Sat, and Sunday.  So I was pretty frustrated with him, and so last night we sat down and had a little heart to heart, and I told him that he is killing my motivation.  It might have offended him, but it needed to be said.  He is willing to work harder, with me.  I told him that he doesn't have to have a good attitude, and be pumped up to go and tract, just to not discourage me from going to tract.  So he is willing to comply. So we are going to work really hard this last week that we have together.  And we both agree that hopefully it is our last together!  We love each other but are ready for a change of pace.  Personally I hope that he gets transferred, and I stay.  He said he would be cool with that too! 

 

What else is new?  Well the Gardener's are doing good.  We taught just Jason last week, and talked about the Word of Wisdom, we weren't supposed to but Elder Clifford started teaching it so I just went along with it.  The lesson was not very good, and Jason understands, but not completely.  Jason wants to get baptized but he has to wait till his work schedule changes in October or November sometime.  Which is a bummer because I will be gone by then, but who knows I might come back.  We asked Juanita to pray and ask God everyday this week if she should get baptized, but she probably didn't do it, isn't listening, or just forgot, or feels unworthy to pray or something.  But who knows!  Will is doing good, last week was his first time that he passed the Sacrament!  I think for me that is one of the biggest rewards of Missionary work!  Not only that, but we gave him a copy of Preach my Gospel, and he wants to serve on his own Mission some day!  That is super rewarding as well. 

 

Well that is about all.  This last week we had Zone Conference, and it was so much fun!  I love getting together and having meetings with a ton of Missionaries!  President Weston is awesome too!  He makes me want to be the best I possibly can.  I am going to work harder, and be better.  Well I have now run out of things to say... Other than expressing  my love for all of you!  Thanks for the package, and for all of the support you give me.  I listened to the new CD on the drive from Mt. Shasta, and I love it so thanks a million!

I love your gutz!

 

Love Elder Ellsworth

 

Quote of the Week:

" Do not teach in a way that people can understand, teach in such a way that they cannot misunderstand."

 

Unknown.

Time flies....

It is pretty crazy it feels like time just flies by!  It shows no signs of slowing down!!!  Well another good week this one was.  We taught 15 lessons again, as well as we picked up 1 new investigator.  Which meets our goals for the week for our zone.  We want to achieve 500 lessons this month as a zone and that is going to take 15 lessons a week from everyone.  But we aren't going to stop with that.  We set our goal high this next week going for 19 lessons and 2 New investigators!  We are starting to work a lot harder too.  We have made it a goal to waste less time which is the whole reason we have gone up thus far in numbers!  Well that is enough about numbers!  Well I started off this week on exchanges down in Redding.  Which despite everyones complaining I didn't mind the heat too bad.  I was really hot and sweaty most of the time but other than that I was usually in the car.  We had a couple of bummer days during which we had like 4 lessons cancel!  We only actually taught one because our dinner cancelled too!  I had a really good time with Elder Collier my Zone Leader, and he has inspired me to work harder!  I am also really excited because I am going to get into my low carb diet a lot more these next few weeks.  So that should be very exciting, I am going to lose some weight, and eat healthier. 

Because of my exchange this week I missed our lesson with Jason and Vonda.  They both agreed to start thinking more about baptism, they suggested the end of August, but then they realized they have to attend church.  So they started saying that he could not come to church until like November when his work schedule changes!!  So I don't really know what to do now.  Just keep loving and teaching them and now we need to wait.  In other news Will is not coming to Church!!!  He has missed the past two weeks, so I don't really know what to do about that.  We will ask him about it this week, but it is pretty frustrating when you are expecting a bunch of people to church and nobody shows up!  That is basically how Sunday was. 

In other news the Griffeth's from Cottonwood, well they are moving to Dunsmuir, which is subsequently on my area, so I get to teach them again!!  But the reason they are is Justin and Amber are separating.  I guess Justin was not being a nice guy, well actually he was abusing her.  I am really actually worried about them.  What those kids really need is a nice place to live, in a nice place like Orem Utah.  They need love and support, and I am worried that they are not going to find that up in Dunsmuir.  She is a single Mom with 4 kids under the age of 14.  So if you have any suggestions please let me know. 

Good news now for today is we are hoping to pick up 3 or 4 new Investigators tonight down in Dunsmuir.  There is a family that has Less Active parents, that lives there, and they invited us over for dinner tonight.  We are going to do some sort of Family Home Evening activity with them and hopefully pick the kids up as Investigators.  We allready picked up a girl named Samantha who is like 23 who is their cousin so we are excited to teach them.  Also crazy vietnam vet  came again last week while we were there and got mad at us again.  It is pretty epic. haha

I guess my struggle right now is trying to find joy in the mundane.  Trying to learn to love and have the Faith to go out and Tract.  Trying to get over my hold ups.  I have not been an apostate missionary but I would be okay with being called lazy in the past.  But now is my time to overcome that.  I just need to keep finding that motivation to get out there and go to work! 



By the way, I loved the letters from cousin camp. They were a lot of fun to read. Thanks!
Well I am peacing out!  Love your gutz!

Elder with the big head.

Quote of the Week

"A person cannot give a crust to the Lord without receiving a loaf in return."

Melvin J. Ballard.

Lovin Mt. Shasta

Well we had a pretty good week this past week, and I feel pretty good about it.  This past week we set a new record for Mount Shasta at least since I have been here.  We taught 15 lessons last week, so we are very excited about that.  Also we are looking forward to a great week ahead of us.  

 

We picked up a new Investigator named Thema this week.  She is a lady from Dunsmuir that was invited to one of our lessons with Juanita our Eternal Investigator.  She is very religious, and has been back and forth throughout her life.  She is actually very Golden.  She has stopped attending her local church recently because the minister was preaching stuff that she didn't like.  Pretty much all of her views are lined up with ours so we are very excited to be teaching her.  She asked us about babies being born sinners, she didn't think so, neither do we.  She doesn't like the Holy Trinity, she wondered how they could all be one when it refers to them each individually, well we believe the same.  All of her lifelong questions we were there, and we had the answers for her!  It was pretty awesome!  Juanita will be out of town this week, so we won't be meeting with either of them, but next week we will be having an awesome lesson. 

 

Another cool expirience was that family I told you about last week that approached us at church and invited us to come over.  So they live in Dunsmuir as well, so on Friday we drove down to go and introduce ourselves.  They live in this, for lack of a better word, Ghetto trailer park.  We walked over to their trailer, and the husband waved us to come over.  He said his wife was down in Sacramento, and asked us if we could come back another day.  So we rescheduled and were walking away when this family, who were also outside the trailer waved us to come and to talk to them as well.  So we went and shared a little bit about the Book of Mormon with them.  It was a very interesting lesson... to say the least, constant interruptions from an  Irish man who was fixing his truck screaming and swearing about something, the people we were talking too drinking and smoking, and this odd neighbor came over, and was yelling at us because we were mormon, and in essence swore profusely about his oppinion of our church!  Now is sounds pretty bad, but it was actually very entertaining!  We had a very good laugh about the whole thing later, and we are hoping to pick them up as Investigators this week.  So I will let you know more when I know some more! 

 

Well our meeting with Jason went well this week, Vonda is in Oregon for the week, and so we just went over to answer a couple of his questions about prayer, and read some of the Book of Mormon with him, we ended up having an awesome discussion.  We shared a conference talk about prayer by Russell M. Nelson, which was awesome.  And he sayed he is praying more, even they have prayed as a family of couple of times.  Their Daughter Kiya loves to pray, and things are going good.  He let us in a little bit more I would say, he told us more about his beliefs, and why they feel the way they do, and a lot of those expiriences that have led them to believe in Reincarnation are so close to the Gospel.  I can see how it relates to his beliefs, but it fits right in with ours!!  For example when Kiya was like 3 months old, they had such a strong connection with them, they could understand what she wanted, and they just felt that she was too smart to be 3 months old!  Well she lived with them in the Pre-earth life!!  Kiya also told Vonda that she missed them up in Heaven!!!  Jason also with tears in his eyes thanked us so much for being there for him.  He thanked us for inviting God into his life.  He said that God was always there but before he just wasn't recognizing it.  It was awesome! 

 

Well that is about all I wanted to say for today, I want to tell you all that I love your Gutz!!!

 

Elder Ellsworth

 

Quote of the Week!

 

There is not one great and grand thing we can do to arm ourselves Spiritually.  True Spiritual power lies in numerous smaller acts woven together in a fabric of Spiritual fortification.

 

Elder Ballard