Dear Mom and Dad,
Last night I opened the mail I got last week: a couple letters from Grandma Campbell and a letter from Mom with lots of letters inside. One of the letters in Mom´s envelope was from Dan. I especially liked Dan´s letter. He burned the edges to make it look more adventurous or something. Dan´s letters are fantastic. They always make me smile. I have the "mirror of reflection for when you are down" that he drew me pinned to my half of the bulletin board next to my desk. I still want to read his story about the tomatoes.
This week was really great. Here is the brief version of the notable but not that exciting stuff:
* We went to the capital to do paperwork for Hna Pullan´s visa on Friday. Then we went out for pizza with some of the other elders who went.
* Our zone leaders came to our weekly planning session and helped us plan. We learned a lot.
* Elder Godfrey came on divisions with us (accompanied by two pre-missionaries from the ward so it wouldn´t be scandalous) to meet all our investigators in the villa. It was hard to part with them, but I think it will be for the best.
Now for the best part: ANDRÉS WAS BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED! About ten of his daughters and grandkids came to his baptism, which made it really special. They filled up the whole front row of the chapel! Andrés stood up to give his testimony in his baptism and started crying really hard. He cries really easily. I think he was really happy to be baptized. Afterwards we invited Andrés´s family to eat refreshments: fancy crustless sandwiches ordered by the ward mission leader. I think they felt pretty welcome. Andrés told us his daughters are really proud of him for giving up smoking. I am too! Not even one relapse! He is amazing! I hope he can keep it up after his baptism. I think he will.
Andrés´s confirmation was really neat too. He told me beforehand that he was even more excited to be confirmed than to be baptized. In the mission I´ve learned to appreciate the moment of the confirmation more than I did before. There is something powerful about seeing men holding the power of God encircle someone and bestow a heavenly gift as essential as the constant guidance of the Holy Ghost. I kept my eyes open for a little bit during Andrés´ confirmation, and watched his face. He seemed to look younger than usual, and at peace. Now two of his grandkids and one of his daughters have baptismal goal dates! One of his daughters who missed the baptism and her son and another grandkid came to see the confirmation. I suggested to the assistants that we should show them the baptismal font and invite them to be baptized. So they did it, and Deborah, Axel, and Ariel accepted! That was pretty neat. The assistants will be teaching them because Andrés and his family live in the villa that is no longer part of our area, but I´m still really happy about it.
Well, I´m out of time as always, so this is it for the week. Thanks for keeping your letters mostly free of comments and ideas about my post mission life. It´s been a little bit harder to focus lately because I´m constantly reminded (by other missionaries or by myself) that I don´t have very much time left. I´m trying not to count the days or anything lame like that, because I want the last two months to be the best months. Especially because I want to give Hna Pullan a great start on her mission.
Oops. One little post mission detail. I`m pretty sure I wrote on some BYU form that I would be coming back for Winter semester (January to April). I´m allowed to come back as late as Fall semester of 2012, but I think I need to tell BYU that I won´t really be back until Spring or Fall. Mom, can you look into that and see what, if anything, needs to be done? Ugh. I really don´t want to think about that because I really have no idea what to do with those empty months before I can go back to school. I try to cheerfully imagine (thought not too often or while I´m tracting) spending lots of great family time together, but the truth is that everyone will be in school or at work. I, obviously, will need to work too, and figure out the rest of my life/school/career plans. . . that´s enough. When I get back in January I´ll figure it out. Until then I´m trying not to think about any of that. Please keep helping me out with that by not writing more than ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY about coming home.
Well, have a great week. I love you!
Love,
Ellis
Monday, November 28, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Last Week's Letter that I Accidently Sent to the Mission
Dear Family,
What a week! I really enjoyed working with Hna Reales for a week. Even though we only spent a week together, I learned a lot from her about how to plan more effectively.
My new companion arrived on Saturday. Her name is Hermana Hannah Pullan and she is from Payson, Utah. She was an art major at BYU. So far we have a lot in common and get along really well. She speaks almost no Spanish, but we are going to work on that.
After the meeting this morning, I decided to teach Hna Pullan how to do contacts. I tried to focus entirely on helping her be confident and helping her understand how to contact people. Sometimes she didn´t know what to say and some people didn´t listen, but she kept trying! I was impressed by how hard she tried and how much she wanted to share the gospel. I felt the Spirit that Hna Pullan brought with her from the MTC, and it helped me be excited about the rest of my mission and about helping her learn. I´m so excited for the opportunity to train and to learn from Hna Pullan! I really need her spirit to help me stay focused for the last 2 transfers of my mission. I think if I just focus, like I did this morning, on helping Hna Pullan be the best missionary she can be, I won´t have time to worry about anything else and I will be happy and excited about the mission.
Last week I was able to find and teach Daniel and Rubén, who disappeared the week before. And we started teaching Daniel´s mother too! Daniel told me he finished reading the book of Mormon and that now he wants to read Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price! He says he really wants to get baptized too. He is one of the strangest investigators I have ever had. I was explaining the Word of Wisdom to him this week and I told him his body is the temple of his Spirit. He told me "Oh, that makes sense, because the spirit has the same form as the body." What? How did he learn that? I asked and he said "Inspiration." Apparently the reason he knows the Book of Mormon is true is because it says a lot of things that God already revealed to him. It´s kind of weird. I think it has to be a good thing, as long as he doesn´t think he is destined to be the next prophet.. . .
Unfortunately, neither Rubén nor Daniel nor Daniel´s mother came to church on Sunday, so this week I have to figure out how to help them with that commitment.
The biggest focus of my week was helping my investigator, Brian, get a testimony of the Restoration. I wanted him to be baptized because he had a testimony, not just because his aunt and uncle wanted him too. So we taught him about the first vision again. I decided to tell it to him like a story to help him imagine what it would be like to be Joseph Smith. The next day we asked him if he had received an answer to his prayer and he said yes! He said he felt happier and more excited to work-- he decided that was his answer. I asked him if he believed the church was true and he said yes! On Saturday he was baptized! It was really special to be able to help him gain his testimony.
My investigator Andrés is doing really well! He met every goal we set for the number of cigarettes he was allowed to smoke this week. He smoked the last one on Saturday and on Sunday told me he will never smoke again in his life! Now his daughter, Julia, has baptismal date too. I´m pretty excited about it.
Well, I am out of tiempo. Thank you for your emails and have a wonderful week!
Love,
Ellis
What a week! I really enjoyed working with Hna Reales for a week. Even though we only spent a week together, I learned a lot from her about how to plan more effectively.
My new companion arrived on Saturday. Her name is Hermana Hannah Pullan and she is from Payson, Utah. She was an art major at BYU. So far we have a lot in common and get along really well. She speaks almost no Spanish, but we are going to work on that.
After the meeting this morning, I decided to teach Hna Pullan how to do contacts. I tried to focus entirely on helping her be confident and helping her understand how to contact people. Sometimes she didn´t know what to say and some people didn´t listen, but she kept trying! I was impressed by how hard she tried and how much she wanted to share the gospel. I felt the Spirit that Hna Pullan brought with her from the MTC, and it helped me be excited about the rest of my mission and about helping her learn. I´m so excited for the opportunity to train and to learn from Hna Pullan! I really need her spirit to help me stay focused for the last 2 transfers of my mission. I think if I just focus, like I did this morning, on helping Hna Pullan be the best missionary she can be, I won´t have time to worry about anything else and I will be happy and excited about the mission.
Last week I was able to find and teach Daniel and Rubén, who disappeared the week before. And we started teaching Daniel´s mother too! Daniel told me he finished reading the book of Mormon and that now he wants to read Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price! He says he really wants to get baptized too. He is one of the strangest investigators I have ever had. I was explaining the Word of Wisdom to him this week and I told him his body is the temple of his Spirit. He told me "Oh, that makes sense, because the spirit has the same form as the body." What? How did he learn that? I asked and he said "Inspiration." Apparently the reason he knows the Book of Mormon is true is because it says a lot of things that God already revealed to him. It´s kind of weird. I think it has to be a good thing, as long as he doesn´t think he is destined to be the next prophet.. . .
Unfortunately, neither Rubén nor Daniel nor Daniel´s mother came to church on Sunday, so this week I have to figure out how to help them with that commitment.
The biggest focus of my week was helping my investigator, Brian, get a testimony of the Restoration. I wanted him to be baptized because he had a testimony, not just because his aunt and uncle wanted him too. So we taught him about the first vision again. I decided to tell it to him like a story to help him imagine what it would be like to be Joseph Smith. The next day we asked him if he had received an answer to his prayer and he said yes! He said he felt happier and more excited to work-- he decided that was his answer. I asked him if he believed the church was true and he said yes! On Saturday he was baptized! It was really special to be able to help him gain his testimony.
My investigator Andrés is doing really well! He met every goal we set for the number of cigarettes he was allowed to smoke this week. He smoked the last one on Saturday and on Sunday told me he will never smoke again in his life! Now his daughter, Julia, has baptismal date too. I´m pretty excited about it.
Well, I am out of tiempo. Thank you for your emails and have a wonderful week!
Love,
Ellis
Food for Thought: Does Eternal Life Have a Cherry or Peach Flavor?
Dear Family,
I was excited to hear that Ruby was born! I loved the picture of her and Josh. He and Brenda must be so happy. I can´t wait to meet Ruby. I´m also slightly dismayed with you to hear about the ward boundary change, but I am sure it will be for the best in the long run. Do you think the Nielsens and the Carmans will still be in the ward with us?
Sister Pullan and I had a pretty great first week together. We´ve found out we have a lot in common: a love of hiking and cooking, really liking the Lord of the Rings movies, etc. I think I will have to share a Sister Pullan quote weekly, she is really funny. This week´s quote: "I wish the dogs here were intelligent so we could teach them the gospel. I would tell them, 'Don´t freak out! It´s okay! You´re going to be fine!'"
Speaking of quotes, I just got the letter mom sent with Elder Morse´s email about the top 10 reasons senior missionaries shouldn´t go trick or treating. I couldn´t stop laughing.
Highlights/News of the Week:
* I don´t know if I mentioned that this transfer our area was divided in two and the assistants to the president now share the area with us. They conveniently drew the area boundaries so that they have the Carlos Gardel Villa (aka government housing project) where ALL our investigators live. Elder Godfrey, one of the assistants, who is usually really sweet and spiritual, is not able to conceal a demonic gleam in his eyes whenever he mentions it. At any moment I expect him to break into a villainous cackle and squeal "La villa es mia!" while greedily rubbing his hands together. Well, to be fair, the villa is in the half of the area closest to the mission office where they spend most of their time, so it just makes more sense for them to have it, but it´s kind of a bummer for us. However, Elder Baudon (the other assistant, from Cordoba) and Elder Godfrey decided we could keep teaching our investigators in the villa until they got baptized. So for the last couple weeks we have been running back and forth between our half of the area and the villa. But the assistants told us to stop looking for new investigators in the villa, which made it really difficult to reach our goals for new investigators and lessons because we had to spend most of our time in the villa with the progressing investigators and didn´t have time to work in our half of the area. I got fed up with the situation and accidentally complained to my district leader, who held some sort of over-the-phone council with the zone leaders and the assistants, who decided for us that we have to give all our investigators to the assistants, except for Andrés, who is getting baptized this Saturday (WOOHOO!). Anyway, I´m relieved because now I can focus on finding new investigators in our half of the area, but sad because I won´t be able to keep visiting my convert César or his awesome family (the Monserrats) or teach Andrés the lessons of retention after his baptism. I can only imagine Elder Godfrey´s grin.
* Andrés becomes more amazing every day we visit him. Every time I ask him how the quitting-smoking process is going, he says, as if he doesn´t know why I bother to ask something so obvious over and over again, "I never smoked again!" He says he has cravings but that he can hold them off by eating caramels. A favorite moment with Andrés this week:
* Teaching about the importance of scripture study using the story of the iron rod in Lehi´s dream: Andrés has begun reading the Book of Mormon from 1 Nephi 1 and is determined to read the whole book. We brought him the extra large one with enormous print (he has vision problems) and he loves it! After we taught him about the iron rod and the tree of life, we had a conversation that went something like this (forgive my meager translation):
Andrés: Can I ask something?
Me: Of course
Andrés: What kind of tree is the tree of life?
Me: (laughing) Well, it´s symbolic, but I think. . .probably a peach tree, because I like peaches.
Andrés: Could be. Or maybe a cherry tree. Yes, I think it is a cherry tree.
Me: (still laughing) Why not? A cherry tree.
Andrés: (seriously) Listen to me, sisters. I have to heed what you say, so you have to heed me too. We are going to become closer to God and we are going to find out what that fruit is. We will be there with God and we will see that tree. (reflecting) I have to read this whole book, to find out what the fruit is!
It was a funny, tender, beautiful moment. I am impressed by the strength of Andrés´ budding testimony. I have every confidence that he will arrive at that tree and taste its fruit. I´m joyfully anticipating his baptism on Saturday.
Well, I´m out of time to write. Thank you as always for your many emails, letters, and prayers. I´ll try again to send pictures next week. I love each of you! Have a successful, interesting week!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. César update: CÉSAR STOPPED DRINKING! And he went to church on Sunday! He is still smoking, but I haven´t bothered him about it because I figure he has to tackle one vice at a time. I am really hopeful that he can keep working through his problems, hopefully with the help of a church psychologist. His mother, Arminda, prays for him every day. I think that is really helping him.
I was excited to hear that Ruby was born! I loved the picture of her and Josh. He and Brenda must be so happy. I can´t wait to meet Ruby. I´m also slightly dismayed with you to hear about the ward boundary change, but I am sure it will be for the best in the long run. Do you think the Nielsens and the Carmans will still be in the ward with us?
Sister Pullan and I had a pretty great first week together. We´ve found out we have a lot in common: a love of hiking and cooking, really liking the Lord of the Rings movies, etc. I think I will have to share a Sister Pullan quote weekly, she is really funny. This week´s quote: "I wish the dogs here were intelligent so we could teach them the gospel. I would tell them, 'Don´t freak out! It´s okay! You´re going to be fine!'"
Speaking of quotes, I just got the letter mom sent with Elder Morse´s email about the top 10 reasons senior missionaries shouldn´t go trick or treating. I couldn´t stop laughing.
Highlights/News of the Week:
* I don´t know if I mentioned that this transfer our area was divided in two and the assistants to the president now share the area with us. They conveniently drew the area boundaries so that they have the Carlos Gardel Villa (aka government housing project) where ALL our investigators live. Elder Godfrey, one of the assistants, who is usually really sweet and spiritual, is not able to conceal a demonic gleam in his eyes whenever he mentions it. At any moment I expect him to break into a villainous cackle and squeal "La villa es mia!" while greedily rubbing his hands together. Well, to be fair, the villa is in the half of the area closest to the mission office where they spend most of their time, so it just makes more sense for them to have it, but it´s kind of a bummer for us. However, Elder Baudon (the other assistant, from Cordoba) and Elder Godfrey decided we could keep teaching our investigators in the villa until they got baptized. So for the last couple weeks we have been running back and forth between our half of the area and the villa. But the assistants told us to stop looking for new investigators in the villa, which made it really difficult to reach our goals for new investigators and lessons because we had to spend most of our time in the villa with the progressing investigators and didn´t have time to work in our half of the area. I got fed up with the situation and accidentally complained to my district leader, who held some sort of over-the-phone council with the zone leaders and the assistants, who decided for us that we have to give all our investigators to the assistants, except for Andrés, who is getting baptized this Saturday (WOOHOO!). Anyway, I´m relieved because now I can focus on finding new investigators in our half of the area, but sad because I won´t be able to keep visiting my convert César or his awesome family (the Monserrats) or teach Andrés the lessons of retention after his baptism. I can only imagine Elder Godfrey´s grin.
* Andrés becomes more amazing every day we visit him. Every time I ask him how the quitting-smoking process is going, he says, as if he doesn´t know why I bother to ask something so obvious over and over again, "I never smoked again!" He says he has cravings but that he can hold them off by eating caramels. A favorite moment with Andrés this week:
* Teaching about the importance of scripture study using the story of the iron rod in Lehi´s dream: Andrés has begun reading the Book of Mormon from 1 Nephi 1 and is determined to read the whole book. We brought him the extra large one with enormous print (he has vision problems) and he loves it! After we taught him about the iron rod and the tree of life, we had a conversation that went something like this (forgive my meager translation):
Andrés: Can I ask something?
Me: Of course
Andrés: What kind of tree is the tree of life?
Me: (laughing) Well, it´s symbolic, but I think. . .probably a peach tree, because I like peaches.
Andrés: Could be. Or maybe a cherry tree. Yes, I think it is a cherry tree.
Me: (still laughing) Why not? A cherry tree.
Andrés: (seriously) Listen to me, sisters. I have to heed what you say, so you have to heed me too. We are going to become closer to God and we are going to find out what that fruit is. We will be there with God and we will see that tree. (reflecting) I have to read this whole book, to find out what the fruit is!
It was a funny, tender, beautiful moment. I am impressed by the strength of Andrés´ budding testimony. I have every confidence that he will arrive at that tree and taste its fruit. I´m joyfully anticipating his baptism on Saturday.
Well, I´m out of time to write. Thank you as always for your many emails, letters, and prayers. I´ll try again to send pictures next week. I love each of you! Have a successful, interesting week!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. César update: CÉSAR STOPPED DRINKING! And he went to church on Sunday! He is still smoking, but I haven´t bothered him about it because I figure he has to tackle one vice at a time. I am really hopeful that he can keep working through his problems, hopefully with the help of a church psychologist. His mother, Arminda, prays for him every day. I think that is really helping him.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Sister X is Actually Sister Pullan
Dear Dad,
The bus salesman are still hard at it here in Argentina. They do exactly what you described. I guess some things haven´t changed in the last 25 years. They sell stuff in the trains too. My announcement in the bus was thrilling, but not terribly effective in proselyting terms. I handed out the new mini pass a long cards about eternal families, but no one wanted an appointment. I want to try again this week though, if Sister X is up to it.
I´ll share more in the family email, but Sister X is actually Sister Hannah Pullan from Payson, Utah. She is the second oldest in a family of five kids-- three girls and two boys just like us. She studied art at BYU before her mission. She described her artwork as glorified paper snowflakes--- apparently she draws pictures and then cuts out the shapes. I wish she had a picture to show me. I haven´t yet asked her if we have any mutual acquaintances from BYU. She speaks very little Spanish, but she has that fresh out of the MTC spirit of wanting to work hard and share the gospel. We practiced contacting this morning-- she impressed me because she kept trying despite several rejections and struggling to speak. I noticed though that she seems to soften people´s hearts. When people realize she doesn´t speak Spanish well, they listen harder and are more polite. It´s kind of cool. I think we will work well together.
[Ellis said she would write more in another family letter, but we didn't get one!?]
Love,
Ellis
The bus salesman are still hard at it here in Argentina. They do exactly what you described. I guess some things haven´t changed in the last 25 years. They sell stuff in the trains too. My announcement in the bus was thrilling, but not terribly effective in proselyting terms. I handed out the new mini pass a long cards about eternal families, but no one wanted an appointment. I want to try again this week though, if Sister X is up to it.
I´ll share more in the family email, but Sister X is actually Sister Hannah Pullan from Payson, Utah. She is the second oldest in a family of five kids-- three girls and two boys just like us. She studied art at BYU before her mission. She described her artwork as glorified paper snowflakes--- apparently she draws pictures and then cuts out the shapes. I wish she had a picture to show me. I haven´t yet asked her if we have any mutual acquaintances from BYU. She speaks very little Spanish, but she has that fresh out of the MTC spirit of wanting to work hard and share the gospel. We practiced contacting this morning-- she impressed me because she kept trying despite several rejections and struggling to speak. I noticed though that she seems to soften people´s hearts. When people realize she doesn´t speak Spanish well, they listen harder and are more polite. It´s kind of cool. I think we will work well together.
[Ellis said she would write more in another family letter, but we didn't get one!?]
Love,
Ellis
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
"May I Have a Moment, Fellow Bus Travelers?"
Dear Mom and Dad and Siblings,
Here is the big news: Hermana X hasn´t arrived yet. All the new missionaries are stalled because of visa problems. There are supposedly arriving this Friday.
Meanwhile, Hna Azcurra was transferred to Junin (in the middle of the country) and Hna Reales (from Cordoba) is my new companion for a week. Hna Reales will also be training and has been serving in Libertad. She has to leave her area for a week to work with me in Ramos. She´s been worried about her area and her investigators, so I feel bad. We did get to visit Libertad and work there for an afternoon though. Otherwise she is a great companion.
One of the highlights of this week was contacting a whole bus at once for the first time in my mission (with Hna Azcurra before transfers). I thought I would be terrified, but about 5 minutes before I did it I started feeling the Spirit really strongly and I was excited to invite everyone! I asked permission from the bus driver, then made an announcement to the whole busful of passengers. I talked about the Restoration, bore my testimony, and invited them to church. I loved being able to invite the whole bus at once! I felt a little bit like the prophet must feel when he has the opportunity to speak to the whole world at conference!
The rest of the week was a little more difficult. Daniel, my new miracle investigator who read half the Book of Mormon all by himself and wanted to get baptized, could not be found the whole week and didn´t come to church. I couldn´t find one of my other investigators with a baptism date, Rubén, either. And a recent convert has returned to an old addiction. WHY MUST THESE THINGS HAPPEN TO THE RECENT CONVERTS??? AAAAAAH!
Despite all that, I tried to work hard anyway and remind myself to have a good attitude. I know if I keep working hard to plan and reach the key indicators and if I love my investigators and the people I will be able to have success here this transfer. Another good point of the week was setting a new baptismal date with the mother of two recent converts. She promised to pray to know if she should get baptized. I´m going to help her recognize her answer this week.
I´m sorry I don´t have time to write more or answer your questions. Ask me again next week and I will answer. I love you all!
Love,
Ellis
Here is the big news: Hermana X hasn´t arrived yet. All the new missionaries are stalled because of visa problems. There are supposedly arriving this Friday.
Meanwhile, Hna Azcurra was transferred to Junin (in the middle of the country) and Hna Reales (from Cordoba) is my new companion for a week. Hna Reales will also be training and has been serving in Libertad. She has to leave her area for a week to work with me in Ramos. She´s been worried about her area and her investigators, so I feel bad. We did get to visit Libertad and work there for an afternoon though. Otherwise she is a great companion.
One of the highlights of this week was contacting a whole bus at once for the first time in my mission (with Hna Azcurra before transfers). I thought I would be terrified, but about 5 minutes before I did it I started feeling the Spirit really strongly and I was excited to invite everyone! I asked permission from the bus driver, then made an announcement to the whole busful of passengers. I talked about the Restoration, bore my testimony, and invited them to church. I loved being able to invite the whole bus at once! I felt a little bit like the prophet must feel when he has the opportunity to speak to the whole world at conference!
The rest of the week was a little more difficult. Daniel, my new miracle investigator who read half the Book of Mormon all by himself and wanted to get baptized, could not be found the whole week and didn´t come to church. I couldn´t find one of my other investigators with a baptism date, Rubén, either. And a recent convert has returned to an old addiction. WHY MUST THESE THINGS HAPPEN TO THE RECENT CONVERTS??? AAAAAAH!
Despite all that, I tried to work hard anyway and remind myself to have a good attitude. I know if I keep working hard to plan and reach the key indicators and if I love my investigators and the people I will be able to have success here this transfer. Another good point of the week was setting a new baptismal date with the mother of two recent converts. She promised to pray to know if she should get baptized. I´m going to help her recognize her answer this week.
I´m sorry I don´t have time to write more or answer your questions. Ask me again next week and I will answer. I love you all!
Love,
Ellis
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Looking Forward to Training Sister X
Dear Mom and Dad,
I really enjoyed your emails today. I liked the idea of being in the right place at the right time and it made me think of how important it is in the mission (and in life) to be punctual. I really, really, really have to work on that. I do feel good though about being in the mission at this time of my life, being in Ramos at this time in my mission, etc. I feel like I am in a position to create lots of positive changes in myself and in my area and help my companion in the last three months of my mission. I´m gearing up to train Sister X in just a few short days. Dad, thanks for your talk outline. It was actually really good. I liked the diagram. I feel like this transfer has taught me a lot about not letting the box in your diagram limit my choices. I´ve been doing pretty well about expanding the box or dealing constructively with the limits I face.
This transfer is ending a few days early, on Thursday, so I´m about 72 hours away from meeting my hijita, the long awaited "Sister X", as I think of her. I´ve been praying for her almost every night since I found out I was going to train. I hope I can do a really good job of helping her. President Carter definitely knew what he was doing when he put me and Hna Azcurra together this transfer though. She has taught me so much about being friendly and expressive to the investigators and about planning well and working productively. I was in a productiveness rut when I got here, but she helped me pull out of it. I´ve also learned a lot this transfer about being patient and not being moody or irritable. It´s been humbling to see how impatient and irritable and moody I really am, but I´ve really been able to improve this transfer. I arrived in Ramos in a very moody state and Hna Azcurra has a strong personality that sometimes rubbed me the wrong way, but I prayed a lot and tried to serve Hna Azcurra and pray for her and feel confident so I could pull out of my moodiness. It worked! Heavenly Father helped me heal some of my moodiness and I´m learning to keep the rest of it under control and be merciful instead of impatient. I really learned to love Hna Azcurra and we learned to work well together and be unified. I feel like all of this is preparing me to be an excellent trainer for Hna X.
Eek! I´m almost out of time as always. Big news of the week:
* We achieved all 5 of the key indicators our mission is focusing on! It was our goal to be able to achieve all five this week and we did it! We had 8 investigators in sacrament meeting and we have 5 investigators with baptism goal dates! I´m really excited for this month because all 5 investigators actually really want to get baptized. They have challenges, but I think that they can all make it! They are:
* Carlos, my homeless investigator. We are going to ask him this week where he sleeps and talk to the ward council to see how they can help. I´m going to teach him to read too. And help him quit smoking.
* Rubén, a really fantastic 17 year old kid who this week recieved an answer and told us he knows the church is true! We just have to convince his mom that he doesn´t need to get baptized in the Catholic church first. Err. . .
* Andrés (55ish) is the most prepared of my investigators. He is so humble and his heart is so ready to receive the gospel! He says he knows the church is true! He has to quit smoking though.
* Braian (14), the nephew of the young men´s president. Just when I thought he wasn´t really interested we had a really spiritual lesson with him and when I asked him if he wanted to follow Christ he said yes, so he can start a new life and move forward! He is going to get baptized in 2 weeks!
* Daniel (23), is our miracle of the week. We found him on Thursday and he listened to us explain briefly the Restoration. He said it was a sign that we had found him and told us he thinks the 2nd coming will happen in Argentina. I thought that was kind of weird, but we ran into him again later that week and he said he wanted us to pick him up for church-- excellent! When we went on Sunday to pick him up he had a Book of Mormon that a non member friend had given him and he had already read until Mosiah! He said this is the perfect church and that the Book of Mormon says all the things he already thought but hadn´t found in any other churches. He asked all by himself how he can get baptized! I´m really excited for him! I´m sure that when he learns more doctrine his wacky ideas (which I think are just because he is really intelligent but not very prudent) will fade away. And he miraculously already gave up drugs and drinking weeks before he met us. So the only thing he has to give up is smoking, which he says won´t be a problem now that he has his baptism to motivate him.
Anyway, I´m really excited about all 5 of my investigators. I think Gaston was the beginning of a new phase in my mission. Before, most of my progressing investigators were women. Now all my progressing investigators are men with smoking addictions (except for Rubén, who fortunately doesn´t smoke). Gaston update: Hna Navarro wrote to me and told me that Gastón doesn´t answer her phone calls and that he is back together with his old girlfriend, who was against him going to church. He still hasn´t been confirmed. I feel heartbroken, in a missionary sense, because he was one of my best investigators ever. I keep praying for him that he will read the Book of Mormon and pray and that those things will bring him out of the rut he is in and back to church so he can be confirmed and be a real member.
One more experience: After finding out about Gastón, I was thinking about all my converts and about the recent converts here in general and how so many of mine and so many of them are inactive or have other problems. And I felt really sad that my mission hadn´t produced very many people who were really firm, active members in the church. Why is retention so hard? But I prayed about it and felt that each of the people I had taught was incredibly important to Heavenly Father and that he was really grateful to me for having helped them. In my heart I know my efforts haven´t been wasted, even though right now it seems like the results aren´t what I hoped for. Heavenly Father has not forgotten about my converts or ceased to love them or bless them because some of them are inactive or less active. I have to hope that with time all of them will return and experience the full blessings of the gospel.
Though, I just have to say that Olga looks like a ray of sunshine. I got a letter from her thanking me for teaching her the gospel, and Hna Navarro told me that in her prayers Olga always promises that she will be true to the church forever! I hope she can go to the temple next year! I can´t wait for you to meet her. Go Olga! One more thing-- Hna Navarro´s visa came! She is going to Venezuela this week I think. Which means President Carter´s prayers that she would stay went unanswered. Seriously. My hija is so fantastic that the mission president prayed that her visa would never come so she would stay in the mission. I will miss her, like I already do, but I´m happy for her that she gets to serve the people she was called to serve.
Ok, I´m really out of time. I love you and I miss you loads. Please pray for me and my converts and for Sister X! Thank you for your emails and prayers and support!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. Christmas package ideas: (really) small toys or candy that I can hand out to the kids of my investigators. Spending-money for souvenirs would be great. I don´t really need anything else, especially because I´m coming home one month later. But if you can send something for sister X and hot chocolate and energy bars, that would be great. And letters from all of you of course.
I really enjoyed your emails today. I liked the idea of being in the right place at the right time and it made me think of how important it is in the mission (and in life) to be punctual. I really, really, really have to work on that. I do feel good though about being in the mission at this time of my life, being in Ramos at this time in my mission, etc. I feel like I am in a position to create lots of positive changes in myself and in my area and help my companion in the last three months of my mission. I´m gearing up to train Sister X in just a few short days. Dad, thanks for your talk outline. It was actually really good. I liked the diagram. I feel like this transfer has taught me a lot about not letting the box in your diagram limit my choices. I´ve been doing pretty well about expanding the box or dealing constructively with the limits I face.
This transfer is ending a few days early, on Thursday, so I´m about 72 hours away from meeting my hijita, the long awaited "Sister X", as I think of her. I´ve been praying for her almost every night since I found out I was going to train. I hope I can do a really good job of helping her. President Carter definitely knew what he was doing when he put me and Hna Azcurra together this transfer though. She has taught me so much about being friendly and expressive to the investigators and about planning well and working productively. I was in a productiveness rut when I got here, but she helped me pull out of it. I´ve also learned a lot this transfer about being patient and not being moody or irritable. It´s been humbling to see how impatient and irritable and moody I really am, but I´ve really been able to improve this transfer. I arrived in Ramos in a very moody state and Hna Azcurra has a strong personality that sometimes rubbed me the wrong way, but I prayed a lot and tried to serve Hna Azcurra and pray for her and feel confident so I could pull out of my moodiness. It worked! Heavenly Father helped me heal some of my moodiness and I´m learning to keep the rest of it under control and be merciful instead of impatient. I really learned to love Hna Azcurra and we learned to work well together and be unified. I feel like all of this is preparing me to be an excellent trainer for Hna X.
Eek! I´m almost out of time as always. Big news of the week:
* We achieved all 5 of the key indicators our mission is focusing on! It was our goal to be able to achieve all five this week and we did it! We had 8 investigators in sacrament meeting and we have 5 investigators with baptism goal dates! I´m really excited for this month because all 5 investigators actually really want to get baptized. They have challenges, but I think that they can all make it! They are:
* Carlos, my homeless investigator. We are going to ask him this week where he sleeps and talk to the ward council to see how they can help. I´m going to teach him to read too. And help him quit smoking.
* Rubén, a really fantastic 17 year old kid who this week recieved an answer and told us he knows the church is true! We just have to convince his mom that he doesn´t need to get baptized in the Catholic church first. Err. . .
* Andrés (55ish) is the most prepared of my investigators. He is so humble and his heart is so ready to receive the gospel! He says he knows the church is true! He has to quit smoking though.
* Braian (14), the nephew of the young men´s president. Just when I thought he wasn´t really interested we had a really spiritual lesson with him and when I asked him if he wanted to follow Christ he said yes, so he can start a new life and move forward! He is going to get baptized in 2 weeks!
* Daniel (23), is our miracle of the week. We found him on Thursday and he listened to us explain briefly the Restoration. He said it was a sign that we had found him and told us he thinks the 2nd coming will happen in Argentina. I thought that was kind of weird, but we ran into him again later that week and he said he wanted us to pick him up for church-- excellent! When we went on Sunday to pick him up he had a Book of Mormon that a non member friend had given him and he had already read until Mosiah! He said this is the perfect church and that the Book of Mormon says all the things he already thought but hadn´t found in any other churches. He asked all by himself how he can get baptized! I´m really excited for him! I´m sure that when he learns more doctrine his wacky ideas (which I think are just because he is really intelligent but not very prudent) will fade away. And he miraculously already gave up drugs and drinking weeks before he met us. So the only thing he has to give up is smoking, which he says won´t be a problem now that he has his baptism to motivate him.
Anyway, I´m really excited about all 5 of my investigators. I think Gaston was the beginning of a new phase in my mission. Before, most of my progressing investigators were women. Now all my progressing investigators are men with smoking addictions (except for Rubén, who fortunately doesn´t smoke). Gaston update: Hna Navarro wrote to me and told me that Gastón doesn´t answer her phone calls and that he is back together with his old girlfriend, who was against him going to church. He still hasn´t been confirmed. I feel heartbroken, in a missionary sense, because he was one of my best investigators ever. I keep praying for him that he will read the Book of Mormon and pray and that those things will bring him out of the rut he is in and back to church so he can be confirmed and be a real member.
One more experience: After finding out about Gastón, I was thinking about all my converts and about the recent converts here in general and how so many of mine and so many of them are inactive or have other problems. And I felt really sad that my mission hadn´t produced very many people who were really firm, active members in the church. Why is retention so hard? But I prayed about it and felt that each of the people I had taught was incredibly important to Heavenly Father and that he was really grateful to me for having helped them. In my heart I know my efforts haven´t been wasted, even though right now it seems like the results aren´t what I hoped for. Heavenly Father has not forgotten about my converts or ceased to love them or bless them because some of them are inactive or less active. I have to hope that with time all of them will return and experience the full blessings of the gospel.
Though, I just have to say that Olga looks like a ray of sunshine. I got a letter from her thanking me for teaching her the gospel, and Hna Navarro told me that in her prayers Olga always promises that she will be true to the church forever! I hope she can go to the temple next year! I can´t wait for you to meet her. Go Olga! One more thing-- Hna Navarro´s visa came! She is going to Venezuela this week I think. Which means President Carter´s prayers that she would stay went unanswered. Seriously. My hija is so fantastic that the mission president prayed that her visa would never come so she would stay in the mission. I will miss her, like I already do, but I´m happy for her that she gets to serve the people she was called to serve.
Ok, I´m really out of time. I love you and I miss you loads. Please pray for me and my converts and for Sister X! Thank you for your emails and prayers and support!
Love,
Ellis
P.S. Christmas package ideas: (really) small toys or candy that I can hand out to the kids of my investigators. Spending-money for souvenirs would be great. I don´t really need anything else, especially because I´m coming home one month later. But if you can send something for sister X and hot chocolate and energy bars, that would be great. And letters from all of you of course.
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