Here is what happened this week.
* On Monday Hermana Schneider and I had to go to capital to do paperwork for her Argentine ID. We waited in the wrong line twice, had to deal with grumpy immigration workers, and the whole thing took about 4 hours, but we figured it out eventually. I learned from the experience that I am still relatively incapable of holding my own with grumpy, angry people (especially angry Argentines). When people speak angrily to me, I still often turn into a wet noodle and thank them several times instead of arguing back. Sigh. Stuff to work on.
* We are teaching a promising new investigator named María. She´s about 60 and lives alone in a small apartment. She was born Lutheran and later became a fairly devout Catholic, but she is very curious and seems open to the gospel. She agreed to pray about Joseph Smith. We´ll see what happens.
* Felipa is very hard to find and didn´t come to church on Sunday, so her fecha fell through. I´m not ready to give up yet though. We are going to visit her several times this week, if possible.
* I had a great day on my 9 month mark in the mission. Our district leader, Elder Garcia, and his companion, Elder Woodruff, who arrived on the same plane as me, came to visit our area. We went to visit Elvira with them and committed her 22 year old daughter, Celeste, to be baptized. Celeste missed church on Sunday because of the rain, but I´m confident she´ll come next week and get baptized this transfer.
* Elvira will be baptized this Saturday. The first baptism I will attend in Hurlingham! I´m really happy for her and I love seeing how much she loves the gospel.
* I have a cold and feel lousy today, but at least it is P-day so I can rest a little bit.
Well, that´s all I have time for. I hope everything continues to run smoothly at home. I´m praying for you. Thanks for always being supportive and understanding.
Love,
Ellis
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
What Ellis Thinks Ben Should Know About a Mission
Dear Ben,
Here is my advice/what I´ve learned so far on the mission. I hope it helps you or at least is interesting. It´s going to be kind of stream of consciousness, but here goes.
* We can understand better what God is like by looking at the good qualities in other people. Because we are his children, the good qualities we have are the same ones he has. God just has the perfect versions of all those qualities. For example: I´ve realized more how kind and forgiving God is because I know people who are kind and forgiving to me. Everyone you will ever meet on your mission is a child of God and in at least some small way, like God.
* God often shows his love for us through other people. So when you get nice letters from home or receive service from members or investigators, thank them but thank Heavenly Father too, and remember that he is showing the enormous love he has for you through them.
* Sometimes people do the wrong thing (or something that initially seems wrong or not right) because they are good. For example, delay getting baptized because they have a desire to learn more or do it sincerely. Some faults are just strengths we don´t know how to control yet, and all faults are evidence of a person´s deeper needs.
* Sometimes you will be having a hard day and not do quite as much as you are supposed to and your companion will cover your slack. When it happens, don´t be too hard on yourself, just be grateful that your companion is there to help you. That´s part of why we work in companionships-- so we can cover for each other´s weaknesses and be stronger together.
* Try to trust your companion and not dominate the teaching conversation during lessons. As much as you can, don´t let your companion talk for the whole lesson either (this is tricky when you are new). The lesson really is better when you take turns talking and switch off often, even if one of you can´t speak well. I am still working on this one and I have a long way to go.
* The first time I read part of Preach my Gospel, during my freshman year in college, I was not impressed. I remember thinking that the first principles of the first lesson were not really relevant. But my ideas have changed before and during the mission-- Preach my Gospel is a very very inspired manual that will help you be the missionary you want to be. Reading it (especially chapter 3) will help you prepare for your mission.
* To prepare for your mission: read PMG, study your scriptures, think about how the gospel would seem to an investigator, and go on splits with the elders.
* Obedience to the mission rules is always worth it, but you might not always realize why until after you´ve been obedient. Just be obedient and you will be happier and more blessed.
* Don´t confuse being obedient with following everything your district or zone leader says. Sometimes they might get carried away, especially when it comes to trying to get more baptisms. Be willing to follow their advice, but think carefully about it first. If you have a doubt about what they are telling you, just ask the mission president.
* Try to think about yourself as little as possible, but don´t be too discouraged by how hard this actually is (still struggling with this one too).
* Push yourself but don´t be too hard on yourself.
* Always think positively. (still working on this one too)
Well, that´s it for now. I hope you have a fabulous week. I´m so excited for you to go to Brazil!
Love,
Ellis
Here is my advice/what I´ve learned so far on the mission. I hope it helps you or at least is interesting. It´s going to be kind of stream of consciousness, but here goes.
* We can understand better what God is like by looking at the good qualities in other people. Because we are his children, the good qualities we have are the same ones he has. God just has the perfect versions of all those qualities. For example: I´ve realized more how kind and forgiving God is because I know people who are kind and forgiving to me. Everyone you will ever meet on your mission is a child of God and in at least some small way, like God.
* God often shows his love for us through other people. So when you get nice letters from home or receive service from members or investigators, thank them but thank Heavenly Father too, and remember that he is showing the enormous love he has for you through them.
* Sometimes people do the wrong thing (or something that initially seems wrong or not right) because they are good. For example, delay getting baptized because they have a desire to learn more or do it sincerely. Some faults are just strengths we don´t know how to control yet, and all faults are evidence of a person´s deeper needs.
* Sometimes you will be having a hard day and not do quite as much as you are supposed to and your companion will cover your slack. When it happens, don´t be too hard on yourself, just be grateful that your companion is there to help you. That´s part of why we work in companionships-- so we can cover for each other´s weaknesses and be stronger together.
* Try to trust your companion and not dominate the teaching conversation during lessons. As much as you can, don´t let your companion talk for the whole lesson either (this is tricky when you are new). The lesson really is better when you take turns talking and switch off often, even if one of you can´t speak well. I am still working on this one and I have a long way to go.
* The first time I read part of Preach my Gospel, during my freshman year in college, I was not impressed. I remember thinking that the first principles of the first lesson were not really relevant. But my ideas have changed before and during the mission-- Preach my Gospel is a very very inspired manual that will help you be the missionary you want to be. Reading it (especially chapter 3) will help you prepare for your mission.
* To prepare for your mission: read PMG, study your scriptures, think about how the gospel would seem to an investigator, and go on splits with the elders.
* Obedience to the mission rules is always worth it, but you might not always realize why until after you´ve been obedient. Just be obedient and you will be happier and more blessed.
* Don´t confuse being obedient with following everything your district or zone leader says. Sometimes they might get carried away, especially when it comes to trying to get more baptisms. Be willing to follow their advice, but think carefully about it first. If you have a doubt about what they are telling you, just ask the mission president.
* Try to think about yourself as little as possible, but don´t be too discouraged by how hard this actually is (still struggling with this one too).
* Push yourself but don´t be too hard on yourself.
* Always think positively. (still working on this one too)
Well, that´s it for now. I hope you have a fabulous week. I´m so excited for you to go to Brazil!
Love,
Ellis
Monday, April 4, 2011
General Conference was Greater Than Snot
Dear Mom and Dad,
* last week we ate lunch with an adorable elderly couple, Hna. and Hno. Fiorito. Hno. Fiorito recently went blind because of his diabetes, but now that he can´t read he has discovered (atraves de su hija) the mp3 files of old conference talks and loves listening to them. Hna. Fiorito has about as much meat on her as a bird and is full of energy. While we enjoyed their very healthy and delicious food (fish tart and stuffed squash)hey told us lots of great stories about how they found the church, how the met, etc. My favorite part of lunch was when Hno. Fiorito asked me if I was related to J. Reuben Clark. I said yes and he said, "he was a great leader, very intelligent. We still talk about him." Then when Hna. Fiorito came back in from the kitchen, Hno. Fiorito wasted no time in telling her I was related to JRC and she was equally impressed. I felt very proud of my ancestor!
* We are still teaching Reina and Esmeralda. They are doing great! Esmeralda came to mutual on Wednesday and wants to come again! Both of them came to general conference on Saturday and seemed to like it. We are going to try to set a baptismal date with them this week! I don´t remember if I told you or not that they live in a villa (vee-sha, not vil-uh) next to the train tracks. A villa is a bunch of very poor houses built all stuck together. Their is usually a long, narrow passageway in between all the doors of the houses, making the villa sort of maze-like. Reina´s house is actually at the entrance to the villa, sort of tacked on to the side, so we don´t have to walk down any passageways to get in. Her house is very rustic in the real sense of the term, but very clean, cheerful, and cozy. It has a blue door and flowers in front. I love going to teach them because there is so much love in their house! Reina really cares about her granddaughter and wants her to have a good life, which I think is why she is so open to the message. She wasn´t ready to get baptized with the elders years ago, when it was just about her own life and salvation, but now that she is thinking about Esmeralda´s future, she is listening for both of them.
* something funny: Sending laundry to the laundrymat is supposedly rather expensive here and I haven´t made the effort to figure out a number to call or exactly how much it would be, so for now we wash our clothes by hand. This saves us quite a lot of money (or so I imagine, not having actually checked), but brings some challenges. I put my garments in a bucket with detergent to soak and then, as an afterthought, threw in my socks, several of which were black (not from being dirty, but because they came that way). Bad idea. When I rinsed my garments and hung them up to dry I found that several pairs had dark colored stains that looked just like. . .tie-dye. Yup. Tie-dyed my garments. If I´m not careful, I´ll probably end up doing something even more apostate, like wearing them inside out.
* Our investigator, Elvira, who came to church for the first time last week, set her own baptismal date! She just started talking about baptism all by herself during our lesson on Thursday (well, I admit we had brought it up before, but not that particular day). I suggested a date, but she said she would be out of town that weekend. So she took out her calendar and picked her own baptismal date! She is getting baptized on April 23! I really love Elvira! She is a really sweet, 60 something grandma who watches her 4 year old granddaughter all day. She was raised Catholic and was taught to pray to Jesus, but she always felt like that was forgetting Heavenly Father. So when we taught her that she should pray to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, she loved it! Now she prays to Heavenly Father and it makes so much sense to her and makes her happy. She also loves reading the Book of Mormon and how clearly it explains things. She felt almost right away that it was true just because it made so much sense to her.
* On Thursday we had interviews with President Benton. I was kind of worried because our zone leaders were pressuring us to find someone to baptize in a zone wide baptismal service on general conference sunday and we didn´t have anyone yet. They told us during district meeting not to give up and told us stories about missionaries who got permission to baptize people who had only been to church once. This bothered me because off course I really wanted to baptize someone, but I didn´t want to baptized anyone who wasn´t ready. I thought about the examples in the scriptures where people just hear a prophet speak and get baptized right then and there, but that didn´t really resolve my doubts. So I asked President Benton about it in my interview. He said that a lot of the time, being ready for baptism doesn´t take as long as we think it will, but that there are also many times when we baptize people who aren´t ready. He told me to give people the time they need and not to worry about baptizing anyone that weekend. That advice felt good and I was so relieved! We didn´t baptized anyone on Sunday, but I felt content thinking about the baptisms we´ll have next transfer with people who are really prepared to do it.
* Finally, General Conference was FANTASTIC! I loved it. We had to go to the stake center in Ramos Mejía to watch it. I listened to the morning sessions in Spanish with our investigators and the afternoon sessions in English. On Saturday Elvira, Reina, and Esmeralda came and on Sunday an old investigator that we had dropped miraculously accepted our invitation to come to the baptism that morning and the conference. His name is Mario and he is indigenous, I´m not sure what tribe. He has some really interesting indigenous beliefs, but we stopped teaching him because it seemed like he liked talking about what he thought more than really thinking about our message. But he really liked the baptism and the conference and now he wants to read more in the Book of Mormon and learn more about the church. I really like him and I´m excited to give him another chance.
* Emphases from conference that I noticed: marriage is a partnership of equals (this was repeated by 3 different people I think) and caring for the poor and needy. My favorite talks were Elder Bednar´s about gradual revelation from the Spirit and Elder Scott´s where he talked about his deceased wife-- it was so touching! One of the things I learned that stands out for me was what Elder Samuelson (BYU president) said: "Being too hard on yourself is just as bad as being overly casual about the gospel." Darn. I guess I´ll have to work on that.
Well, time is almost up. I keep meaning to send photos but I guess that will have to wait another week. I meant to send Ben a list of ideas to prepare for the mission too (President Benton´s idea from my interview), but I guess that will also have to wait.
I enclose for your pleasure the following delightful email Katie sent me (she is allowed to email me, but I can´t email back-- frustrating!).
I just have to tell you before I forget that today, a Catholic nun told me that I was going to be a really good missionary. this, of course, thrilled the snot out of me and like validated my whole life.
I love you. And if I were a nun, I would tell you the same thing -- you are a great missionary, sister clark!
love, sister watkins
That is so Katie. It made me smile.
Well, I hope you are all well and that you have a great week. Keep writing!
Love,
Ellis
* last week we ate lunch with an adorable elderly couple, Hna. and Hno. Fiorito. Hno. Fiorito recently went blind because of his diabetes, but now that he can´t read he has discovered (atraves de su hija) the mp3 files of old conference talks and loves listening to them. Hna. Fiorito has about as much meat on her as a bird and is full of energy. While we enjoyed their very healthy and delicious food (fish tart and stuffed squash)hey told us lots of great stories about how they found the church, how the met, etc. My favorite part of lunch was when Hno. Fiorito asked me if I was related to J. Reuben Clark. I said yes and he said, "he was a great leader, very intelligent. We still talk about him." Then when Hna. Fiorito came back in from the kitchen, Hno. Fiorito wasted no time in telling her I was related to JRC and she was equally impressed. I felt very proud of my ancestor!
* We are still teaching Reina and Esmeralda. They are doing great! Esmeralda came to mutual on Wednesday and wants to come again! Both of them came to general conference on Saturday and seemed to like it. We are going to try to set a baptismal date with them this week! I don´t remember if I told you or not that they live in a villa (vee-sha, not vil-uh) next to the train tracks. A villa is a bunch of very poor houses built all stuck together. Their is usually a long, narrow passageway in between all the doors of the houses, making the villa sort of maze-like. Reina´s house is actually at the entrance to the villa, sort of tacked on to the side, so we don´t have to walk down any passageways to get in. Her house is very rustic in the real sense of the term, but very clean, cheerful, and cozy. It has a blue door and flowers in front. I love going to teach them because there is so much love in their house! Reina really cares about her granddaughter and wants her to have a good life, which I think is why she is so open to the message. She wasn´t ready to get baptized with the elders years ago, when it was just about her own life and salvation, but now that she is thinking about Esmeralda´s future, she is listening for both of them.
* something funny: Sending laundry to the laundrymat is supposedly rather expensive here and I haven´t made the effort to figure out a number to call or exactly how much it would be, so for now we wash our clothes by hand. This saves us quite a lot of money (or so I imagine, not having actually checked), but brings some challenges. I put my garments in a bucket with detergent to soak and then, as an afterthought, threw in my socks, several of which were black (not from being dirty, but because they came that way). Bad idea. When I rinsed my garments and hung them up to dry I found that several pairs had dark colored stains that looked just like. . .tie-dye. Yup. Tie-dyed my garments. If I´m not careful, I´ll probably end up doing something even more apostate, like wearing them inside out.
* Our investigator, Elvira, who came to church for the first time last week, set her own baptismal date! She just started talking about baptism all by herself during our lesson on Thursday (well, I admit we had brought it up before, but not that particular day). I suggested a date, but she said she would be out of town that weekend. So she took out her calendar and picked her own baptismal date! She is getting baptized on April 23! I really love Elvira! She is a really sweet, 60 something grandma who watches her 4 year old granddaughter all day. She was raised Catholic and was taught to pray to Jesus, but she always felt like that was forgetting Heavenly Father. So when we taught her that she should pray to Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ, she loved it! Now she prays to Heavenly Father and it makes so much sense to her and makes her happy. She also loves reading the Book of Mormon and how clearly it explains things. She felt almost right away that it was true just because it made so much sense to her.
* On Thursday we had interviews with President Benton. I was kind of worried because our zone leaders were pressuring us to find someone to baptize in a zone wide baptismal service on general conference sunday and we didn´t have anyone yet. They told us during district meeting not to give up and told us stories about missionaries who got permission to baptize people who had only been to church once. This bothered me because off course I really wanted to baptize someone, but I didn´t want to baptized anyone who wasn´t ready. I thought about the examples in the scriptures where people just hear a prophet speak and get baptized right then and there, but that didn´t really resolve my doubts. So I asked President Benton about it in my interview. He said that a lot of the time, being ready for baptism doesn´t take as long as we think it will, but that there are also many times when we baptize people who aren´t ready. He told me to give people the time they need and not to worry about baptizing anyone that weekend. That advice felt good and I was so relieved! We didn´t baptized anyone on Sunday, but I felt content thinking about the baptisms we´ll have next transfer with people who are really prepared to do it.
* Finally, General Conference was FANTASTIC! I loved it. We had to go to the stake center in Ramos Mejía to watch it. I listened to the morning sessions in Spanish with our investigators and the afternoon sessions in English. On Saturday Elvira, Reina, and Esmeralda came and on Sunday an old investigator that we had dropped miraculously accepted our invitation to come to the baptism that morning and the conference. His name is Mario and he is indigenous, I´m not sure what tribe. He has some really interesting indigenous beliefs, but we stopped teaching him because it seemed like he liked talking about what he thought more than really thinking about our message. But he really liked the baptism and the conference and now he wants to read more in the Book of Mormon and learn more about the church. I really like him and I´m excited to give him another chance.
* Emphases from conference that I noticed: marriage is a partnership of equals (this was repeated by 3 different people I think) and caring for the poor and needy. My favorite talks were Elder Bednar´s about gradual revelation from the Spirit and Elder Scott´s where he talked about his deceased wife-- it was so touching! One of the things I learned that stands out for me was what Elder Samuelson (BYU president) said: "Being too hard on yourself is just as bad as being overly casual about the gospel." Darn. I guess I´ll have to work on that.
Well, time is almost up. I keep meaning to send photos but I guess that will have to wait another week. I meant to send Ben a list of ideas to prepare for the mission too (President Benton´s idea from my interview), but I guess that will also have to wait.
I enclose for your pleasure the following delightful email Katie sent me (she is allowed to email me, but I can´t email back-- frustrating!).
I just have to tell you before I forget that today, a Catholic nun told me that I was going to be a really good missionary. this, of course, thrilled the snot out of me and like validated my whole life.
I love you. And if I were a nun, I would tell you the same thing -- you are a great missionary, sister clark!
love, sister watkins
That is so Katie. It made me smile.
Well, I hope you are all well and that you have a great week. Keep writing!
Love,
Ellis
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