What a wonderful week Sister Crandall and I had! We started our week with a zone water balloon fight on Monday and that was a blast! The weather is finally warming up here so that's been nice. It was actually almost 90 degrees yesterday! Sister Crandall is dying, I am loving it. On Tuesday we had a lot of lessons that kept us busy, but one of my favorite moments was with a family in the ward who has a son on a mission right now. We were over there doing a Family Home Evening type message and just talking about missions and stuff when the 17-year old daughter asked Sister Crandall and I when we decided we wanted to go on our missions. We both go to talk about what got us out there and we asked Maddie if she'd ever considered going on a mission. She said she'd thought about it, but wasn't really sure so we invited her to come out with us to a lesson we were going to be having the next day with some young girls. She got super excited and we were super excited and so we got it all set up. So the next day we go out to teach these 2 sisters, they're 8 and 9, and Maddie came with us. It was such a fun lesson and Maddie had some awesome contributions and it was just fantastic. Maddie had a ton of fun and the girls we were teaching loved her.
We had several of our lessons cancel on us this week so that was a little frustrating, but we had an awesome specialized training with President and Sister Greer on Friday that just made the whole week wonderful. The training was for all the missionaries being trained right now and their trainers so there was around 24 of us and we talked about the Doctrine of Christ the whole 3 hours. The Doctrine of Christ is such a simple thing. It is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Our path back to our Father in Heaven is laid out right in front of us. We read 2 Nephi 31 together (I encourage everyone to go read that chapter as soon as you can) and Sister Greer just testified of how much she loves the Doctrine of Christ and how important it is. Elder Williams, one of the assistants, talked to us about building our foundation on Christ and specifically on the Doctrine of Christ. That foundation is what is going to get us through any of the storms that blow our way. Elder Fenn, the other assistant, talked about the principle of love and how important it is that we love everyone we meet and everyone we are with because we are all children of our Father in Heaven and we all matter in His eyes. We talked about charity and just truly allowing ourselves to love everyone and as we do that, we'll be able to share with them the things they may need to hear. We talked about how the Doctrine of Christ was given to us because Jesus Christ loved us enough to make it possible to return to live with our Father in Heaven again, what an amazing blessing that is.
Saturday I went over to Kennewick on an exchange with Sister McGhie and we worked in her area. It's hard to not know where anything is again, but we had a great day together and it was cool to meet people that I didn't know at all and already care about them. It reminded me of our training on Friday and just reaffirmed how important being a missionary is and what a blessing it is in my life. Sundays are always wonderful and yesterday was no exception. Sacrament meeting in both wards talked about Father's Day and what a blessing it is and how our Heavenly Father loves us just like our earthly father does, but on an even greater level. It made me very grateful to know that I can go to my Father in Heaven whenever I am troubled, sad, happy, or excited. No matter what it is, Heavenly Father cares and loves us each individually and perfectly. It was a wonderful way to end the week.
Congrats to the Hockenjos family on baby Brynlee!!! She is absolutely beautiful. And congrats to my dad for winning the rib throwndown at work! I knew your ribs could do it. I hope everyone has a wonderful week, thank you all for the prayers, thoughts, and love.
Sister Ellingson
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
June 11th
Hello to all!
What another amazing week we had. The week was a little rainier than is usual for the tri-cities in June, but I loved it. It's been staying pretty cool here. Our week started with an AWESOME lesson with Scott and Cathryn, we love teaching them so much. Cathryn has just been so solid lately and Scott has made such big strides. He told us about what he's been learning when they read the scriptures together and he makes really insightful comments in the lesson. It's just fantastic, our lessons with them always make us smile. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with them this week and talked a lot about what Jesus Christ means in our lives and Scott and Cathryn both talked about how much of a positive change they've seen in their lives as they build their faith in Christ. Another great lesson we had this week was with a less-active member that we recently found out lives in our ward. We decided that we wanted to study the Book of Mormon with her and her husband and so we started in the Introduction and just talked about how it came about and how important it is. It was a really good discussion to have with them and we can't wait to start reading together this week.
We had a lot of really fun dinner appointments this week, but I just want to talk about one because it was so fun. We were eating with some members in one of our wards and they have 4 kids, 3 daughters and 1 son. Their oldest daughter is 9 and then the youngest is almost 2. Almost the whole dinner was spent talking about how the kids want to all serve missions and how cool being a missionary must be and how they can't wait for the chance to do it and where they want to serve their missions. It was ADORABLE. These kids just have so much love for the gospel and they just want to talk to all their friends about it! We gave them a challenge as a family to think of someone they could give a Book of Mormon to and the kids were so excited. They told us they would come tell us the story at church after they give it away, we can't wait to hear all about it. We had another really fun moment with some members when we stopped by to follow up with a challenge we'd left with another family a few weeks back. It was around 8 when we stopped by and when they came to answer the door they invited us right in and told us they were hoping we would stop by that night because they had a bunch of leftover steak from dinner they wanted to share with us. So we pretty much got a second dinner, complete with corn on the cob and homemade rolls. It was delicious. This family has a son on his mission in New Mexico right now and they LOVE missionaries. It is just incredible to see so much love for missionary work and to feel how strong the spirit is in their home. We got to talk about setting up a time to come and share a video with them about missionary work and it was just great.
We had another really cool moment that made me very grateful for the chance I have to be a missionary. We were at a lesson with our Ward Mission Leader when he shared a story about his cousin who served her mission in Sweden and he talked a little bit about his conversion story and the missionaries who patiently taught him. As he spoke he got very emotional as he described his gratitude for missionaries and the sacrifices they make to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was very touched by his testimony of missionary work and I am so thankful that the Lord has trusted me enough to come out here and teach His sons and daughters. We had a baptism on Saturday for a young man the elders have been teaching for 2 years and it was amazing to see how many people were there to support him at his baptism. It was a very special service. I am grateful for missionary work and I know the Lord's hand is ever present in it. I am grateful every day for the Lord's guidance in finding and teaching His children. I am grateful to be a missionary.
Sister Ellingson
PS- thanks to all those that have been sending letters, I appreciate them SO MUCH. I love them
PPS- This weekend made me thankful that the tri-cities is small because we ran into Sam and Chelsie! It was so fun to see them. The other picture is a really cool rainbow we saw after a big storm that rolled through.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
What another amazing week we had. The week was a little rainier than is usual for the tri-cities in June, but I loved it. It's been staying pretty cool here. Our week started with an AWESOME lesson with Scott and Cathryn, we love teaching them so much. Cathryn has just been so solid lately and Scott has made such big strides. He told us about what he's been learning when they read the scriptures together and he makes really insightful comments in the lesson. It's just fantastic, our lessons with them always make us smile. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with them this week and talked a lot about what Jesus Christ means in our lives and Scott and Cathryn both talked about how much of a positive change they've seen in their lives as they build their faith in Christ. Another great lesson we had this week was with a less-active member that we recently found out lives in our ward. We decided that we wanted to study the Book of Mormon with her and her husband and so we started in the Introduction and just talked about how it came about and how important it is. It was a really good discussion to have with them and we can't wait to start reading together this week.
We had a lot of really fun dinner appointments this week, but I just want to talk about one because it was so fun. We were eating with some members in one of our wards and they have 4 kids, 3 daughters and 1 son. Their oldest daughter is 9 and then the youngest is almost 2. Almost the whole dinner was spent talking about how the kids want to all serve missions and how cool being a missionary must be and how they can't wait for the chance to do it and where they want to serve their missions. It was ADORABLE. These kids just have so much love for the gospel and they just want to talk to all their friends about it! We gave them a challenge as a family to think of someone they could give a Book of Mormon to and the kids were so excited. They told us they would come tell us the story at church after they give it away, we can't wait to hear all about it. We had another really fun moment with some members when we stopped by to follow up with a challenge we'd left with another family a few weeks back. It was around 8 when we stopped by and when they came to answer the door they invited us right in and told us they were hoping we would stop by that night because they had a bunch of leftover steak from dinner they wanted to share with us. So we pretty much got a second dinner, complete with corn on the cob and homemade rolls. It was delicious. This family has a son on his mission in New Mexico right now and they LOVE missionaries. It is just incredible to see so much love for missionary work and to feel how strong the spirit is in their home. We got to talk about setting up a time to come and share a video with them about missionary work and it was just great.
We had another really cool moment that made me very grateful for the chance I have to be a missionary. We were at a lesson with our Ward Mission Leader when he shared a story about his cousin who served her mission in Sweden and he talked a little bit about his conversion story and the missionaries who patiently taught him. As he spoke he got very emotional as he described his gratitude for missionaries and the sacrifices they make to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I was very touched by his testimony of missionary work and I am so thankful that the Lord has trusted me enough to come out here and teach His sons and daughters. We had a baptism on Saturday for a young man the elders have been teaching for 2 years and it was amazing to see how many people were there to support him at his baptism. It was a very special service. I am grateful for missionary work and I know the Lord's hand is ever present in it. I am grateful every day for the Lord's guidance in finding and teaching His children. I am grateful to be a missionary.
Sister Ellingson
PS- thanks to all those that have been sending letters, I appreciate them SO MUCH. I love them
PPS- This weekend made me thankful that the tri-cities is small because we ran into Sam and Chelsie! It was so fun to see them. The other picture is a really cool rainbow we saw after a big storm that rolled through.
LOVE YOU ALL!!!
June 4th
Hello family and friends! Well I hope everyone else had as amazing a week as I had, I feel like I am floating on air! This week Sister Crandall and I got to have some amazing lessons and we see miracles happening here in West Richland. We had a great lesson with one of our investigators, Scott, and his wife Cathryn who is a member. We had another couple in the ward come over with us and it was so awesome to have them there. We were teaching about tithing and fasting and everyone had really great input and there was just a great spirit there. It was a really good way to start our week. Wednesday we went to teach a family that the missionaries have been working with for a long time. The dad, Don, hasn't been to church in like 40 years or something and his wife, Terri, and daughter Lindsey don't have much of a religious background. Lindsey has been going to Young Women's activities and absolutely LOVES it and Don and Terri love what a positive influence it is in her life. We talked with them about the importance of obedience and how important prayer and scripture study are. We shared a lot of really great experiences and Don and Terri asked some really great questions. We talked about faith and how it's ok that we don't know everything perfectly. We invited them to come to church and they agreed and came to church yesterday! It was amazing! We had a great meeting and I was so happy they were there.
We had several other awesome lessons this week, but we were a little frustrated by Saturday because we hadn't found any new investigators this week. Around 2 weeks ago we set a goal as a zone that each companionship would find 3 new investigators a week and so we've been praying really hard about it and been really trying to find and talk to as many people as we can. Our zone leaders asked us on Saturday night if we had faith sufficient to find the 3 people the Lord has prepared and Sister Crandall and I both agreed that we did and that the Lord is watching out for us. We only had one day left in the week to find those 3 investigators, but we decided to fast about it and just trust in the Lord. As we sat in Sacrament Meeting in our first ward I was handed a note about 30 minutes into the meeting. The note said there were 2 girls, ages 8 and 9, that came to church with their Grandma and that want to meet with the missionaries and get baptized. Their parents aren't currently coming to church, but the Grandma says she thinks their dad is working on it. It was so crazy. All of a sudden we had 2 investigators that just feel in our laps, LITERALLY. Sister Crandall and I just looked at each other in amazement. And THEN we were driving out to dinner and we decided to call some people we've been trying to meet with for ages and try to set an appointment up. They usually never answer the phone and we've been a little frustrated with them, but we called them anyway, he answered the phone and was like "sure! let's meet next week!" Totally crazy! So now we had 2 more new investigators! Sister Crandall and I just smiled for the rest of the night. It was amazing.
This week has truly shown me, yet again, how much the Lord cares about each and every one of us. He hears our prayers, He knows the intents of our heart, and He blesses us according to our faith. I know that as we ask the Lord sincerely and then ACT on our faith, that He will provide answers and comfort and guidance. I am so thankful to be a missionary, to have the opportunity to share this message with people. I love you all, every letter, prayer, or thought is so appreciated. Keep being amazing!
Sister Ellingson
We had several other awesome lessons this week, but we were a little frustrated by Saturday because we hadn't found any new investigators this week. Around 2 weeks ago we set a goal as a zone that each companionship would find 3 new investigators a week and so we've been praying really hard about it and been really trying to find and talk to as many people as we can. Our zone leaders asked us on Saturday night if we had faith sufficient to find the 3 people the Lord has prepared and Sister Crandall and I both agreed that we did and that the Lord is watching out for us. We only had one day left in the week to find those 3 investigators, but we decided to fast about it and just trust in the Lord. As we sat in Sacrament Meeting in our first ward I was handed a note about 30 minutes into the meeting. The note said there were 2 girls, ages 8 and 9, that came to church with their Grandma and that want to meet with the missionaries and get baptized. Their parents aren't currently coming to church, but the Grandma says she thinks their dad is working on it. It was so crazy. All of a sudden we had 2 investigators that just feel in our laps, LITERALLY. Sister Crandall and I just looked at each other in amazement. And THEN we were driving out to dinner and we decided to call some people we've been trying to meet with for ages and try to set an appointment up. They usually never answer the phone and we've been a little frustrated with them, but we called them anyway, he answered the phone and was like "sure! let's meet next week!" Totally crazy! So now we had 2 more new investigators! Sister Crandall and I just smiled for the rest of the night. It was amazing.
This week has truly shown me, yet again, how much the Lord cares about each and every one of us. He hears our prayers, He knows the intents of our heart, and He blesses us according to our faith. I know that as we ask the Lord sincerely and then ACT on our faith, that He will provide answers and comfort and guidance. I am so thankful to be a missionary, to have the opportunity to share this message with people. I love you all, every letter, prayer, or thought is so appreciated. Keep being amazing!
Sister Ellingson
May 29th
Hello family! I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day, I know mine was pretty great. We had a barbecue with our whole zone and played soccer and did all kinds of other activities. It was so much fun. The barbecue may not have been as delicious as the barbecue I heard went down at the house, but I still had a lot of fun. It was no all-night smoked brisket and ribs, but the burgers were very tasty. I'm not jealous of your barbecue at all...
A few people have been asking about what my schedule is like and such so I'll just run through a brief overview. We get up usually between 6 and 6:30 and go work out for around 45 minutes or so. Since the weathers been so nice we've just been going running a lot outside. I'm loving it. Then we come back and get ready and have study time for pretty much the whole morning. It is so awesome to have so much time set aside to really get into the scriptures and Preach My Gospel and all the cool things we get to study. Then we go out and visit people, teach lessons, go tracting, etc. until dinner time. Then we eat and do the same thing until it's time to come home and plan and get ready for bed. Some days we have meetings with our district and another day we spend more time planning, but that's basically it. It is really great.
Well things in West Richland have been so great. We've been focusing a lot this week on just talking to as many people as we can and trying to find those people that are searching for something. We had a really cool experience while we were out tracting the other day. We knocked on a door and were talking to a lady that is a member of the big baptist church in town where she is very happy. We asked her if she knew of anyone that could benefit from the message we share about Jesus Christ and she mentioned a family that lived down another street that seemed like they could use a visit. We decided to go down the street she mentioned even though it wasn't on our original plan and we decided we would knock all the doors on the way to the house since it was a short street. We ended up running into a member who hasn't been able to come to church in a while because of his job, but his job just changed and now he should be able to come to church and his wife has been looking for a church to go to! It was so crazy. There wasn't anyone else home on the entire street (we don't even know if the house the other lady told us about has anyone living in it), but we know that the Lord guided us to that street and that family.
Another really special experience for us was when we went to go visit a member who wasn't active for a long time, but is now doing super awesome. We went over to go visit him and just see how he's been doing and Sister Crandall asked him about what it was that got him coming back to church again. He talked about how he was baptized a long time ago and just a short while after he got baptized he joined the military and went and served in Vietnam. He talked about how after the war it was really hard for him to go to church because he would just think of all the bad things that had happened and what he'd done wrong and he just couldn't bring himself to go anymore. He eventually just stopped going all together and went on living life. He then got really quiet and really emotional as he talked about how there were 2 sister missionaries who came to his door around 3 years ago. He invited them in and they talked to him about the Atonement and Jesus Christ understands what we have all gone through. It was amazing to see how much hope he got in that one visit from the sister missionaries and it testified to me that I am doing exactly what I need to be doing right now. It was a really cool experience. I am so grateful for the Atonement in my life, for the knowledge I have of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for me and I am so happy that I get to share that message for the next 18 months.
I love you all so much, thanks to all those who have sent letters and love so far. It truly is amazing how awesome letters are. Everyone stay safe, especially you, Kirsten Siebach, since apparently I can't leave without you going and breaking your ankle in a kickball game. That was a terrible idea. Keep being amazing!
Sister Ellingson
A few people have been asking about what my schedule is like and such so I'll just run through a brief overview. We get up usually between 6 and 6:30 and go work out for around 45 minutes or so. Since the weathers been so nice we've just been going running a lot outside. I'm loving it. Then we come back and get ready and have study time for pretty much the whole morning. It is so awesome to have so much time set aside to really get into the scriptures and Preach My Gospel and all the cool things we get to study. Then we go out and visit people, teach lessons, go tracting, etc. until dinner time. Then we eat and do the same thing until it's time to come home and plan and get ready for bed. Some days we have meetings with our district and another day we spend more time planning, but that's basically it. It is really great.
Well things in West Richland have been so great. We've been focusing a lot this week on just talking to as many people as we can and trying to find those people that are searching for something. We had a really cool experience while we were out tracting the other day. We knocked on a door and were talking to a lady that is a member of the big baptist church in town where she is very happy. We asked her if she knew of anyone that could benefit from the message we share about Jesus Christ and she mentioned a family that lived down another street that seemed like they could use a visit. We decided to go down the street she mentioned even though it wasn't on our original plan and we decided we would knock all the doors on the way to the house since it was a short street. We ended up running into a member who hasn't been able to come to church in a while because of his job, but his job just changed and now he should be able to come to church and his wife has been looking for a church to go to! It was so crazy. There wasn't anyone else home on the entire street (we don't even know if the house the other lady told us about has anyone living in it), but we know that the Lord guided us to that street and that family.
Another really special experience for us was when we went to go visit a member who wasn't active for a long time, but is now doing super awesome. We went over to go visit him and just see how he's been doing and Sister Crandall asked him about what it was that got him coming back to church again. He talked about how he was baptized a long time ago and just a short while after he got baptized he joined the military and went and served in Vietnam. He talked about how after the war it was really hard for him to go to church because he would just think of all the bad things that had happened and what he'd done wrong and he just couldn't bring himself to go anymore. He eventually just stopped going all together and went on living life. He then got really quiet and really emotional as he talked about how there were 2 sister missionaries who came to his door around 3 years ago. He invited them in and they talked to him about the Atonement and Jesus Christ understands what we have all gone through. It was amazing to see how much hope he got in that one visit from the sister missionaries and it testified to me that I am doing exactly what I need to be doing right now. It was a really cool experience. I am so grateful for the Atonement in my life, for the knowledge I have of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for me and I am so happy that I get to share that message for the next 18 months.
I love you all so much, thanks to all those who have sent letters and love so far. It truly is amazing how awesome letters are. Everyone stay safe, especially you, Kirsten Siebach, since apparently I can't leave without you going and breaking your ankle in a kickball game. That was a terrible idea. Keep being amazing!
Sister Ellingson
May 22nd
Hello All! I hope everyone is doing well out in the rest of the world because I am doing GREAT here in Washington! It has been a whirlwind of a week, but it's been amazing. So Tuesday we left for the airport at about 8am, had a short flight over and landed in Pasco at about 11am (Pacific Time). We headed over to the Mission Home and had lunch and an orientation day of sorts where we talked about logistical stuff, the mission, etc. After we spent some time talking about that and missions, there were a bunch of missionaries who came over and took us around the area for a short lesson and some tracting! It was crazy to just hop on out there, I loved it. We found out our assignments that night and I am serving in West Richland for my training! My companion is named Sister Crandall, she's from Chesterfield, ID and is fantastic. We are loving being together. Sister LaRue and I get to be in the same zone so I still get to see her on occasion, it's nice to see a familiar face.
I'm starting to get to know people we're teaching and people in the wards, but it is definitely a process. There are just so many people. It has been pretty amazing to see the response though, everyone has been so welcoming and so friendly to me. We had a training meeting on Thursday, but other than that it's been a lot of missionary work out here. We've had a few lessons, stopped by some houses, did a little tracting. It's been a good taste of mission life. Sister Crandall is so good about keeping us busy and knowing who we should stop in the visit and what people need, she's teaching me so much. The members here take really good care of us, we've always got delicious dinners lined up and everyone loves talking to us. We spent a few hours on Saturday doing service and we got to help some members lay some sod in their yard. It felt good to do a little manual labor again, I enjoyed it.
Cool experience, we decided to read the Book of Mormon with some of our investigators this week and it was such an awesome experience. You learn so much when you can read and talk about things and it really helped me learn some new things. We read Mosiah 18, everyone should go read it right now. It's such an amazing chapter. Not too much else to write today, I'm still trying to take everything and it's a little overwhelming at times, but I'm trusting that the Lord will lead and guide me. This weeks Relief Society lesson on prayer was a great reminder of how much I love prayer and how grateful I am that I can communicate with Heavenly Father so regularly. I love y'all, I love this mission, I love this work.
Sister Ellingson
ps- shout outs to Mac and Alex for the awesome dear elders my last day at the MTC! And shout outs to Ruth and Sister Mortenson for my first letters in the field.
pps- everyone here has gardens. It's amazing.
I'm starting to get to know people we're teaching and people in the wards, but it is definitely a process. There are just so many people. It has been pretty amazing to see the response though, everyone has been so welcoming and so friendly to me. We had a training meeting on Thursday, but other than that it's been a lot of missionary work out here. We've had a few lessons, stopped by some houses, did a little tracting. It's been a good taste of mission life. Sister Crandall is so good about keeping us busy and knowing who we should stop in the visit and what people need, she's teaching me so much. The members here take really good care of us, we've always got delicious dinners lined up and everyone loves talking to us. We spent a few hours on Saturday doing service and we got to help some members lay some sod in their yard. It felt good to do a little manual labor again, I enjoyed it.
Cool experience, we decided to read the Book of Mormon with some of our investigators this week and it was such an awesome experience. You learn so much when you can read and talk about things and it really helped me learn some new things. We read Mosiah 18, everyone should go read it right now. It's such an amazing chapter. Not too much else to write today, I'm still trying to take everything and it's a little overwhelming at times, but I'm trusting that the Lord will lead and guide me. This weeks Relief Society lesson on prayer was a great reminder of how much I love prayer and how grateful I am that I can communicate with Heavenly Father so regularly. I love y'all, I love this mission, I love this work.
Sister Ellingson
ps- shout outs to Mac and Alex for the awesome dear elders my last day at the MTC! And shout outs to Ruth and Sister Mortenson for my first letters in the field.
pps- everyone here has gardens. It's amazing.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
May 14th
Welp, it´s officially my last day in the MTC!!! O my goodness I am so pumped. Sister LaRue and I took Sister Bonner to the travel office at 3am this morning and saying goodbye was hard, but were all just pretty excited. I got to say bye to Elder Rodee too, we both agreed a handshake really just doesn´t cut it on goodbye sometimes. I got a picture with him that I´m sending you guys this week. Sister LaRue and I are definitely at the so excited we could die state. This week there were some freak out moments where we felt unprepared, but now we´re feeling awesome. Today will mostly be spent doing laundry, writing, packing, and cleaning. You know how much I love packing notworthit. (ps the hashtag button on this keyboard doesn´t work! Tragedy!)
Dad- I am so sad to hear that the cars are officially gone. We had such memories working on those together, I will always cherish them. I´m sorry that our plaque made your super cool coldplay tickets anti-climactic. I am very jealous you guys are going to the show. Celebrate in my honor since it´s near my birthday! Also, I´m sorry I haven´t gotten my Mother´s day card to you yet, it is on the way this week. It was a pretty great week here though, lots of learning and goodbyes, totally crazy that we are finally at the end of our time here. I have such a hard time with goodbyes, but we´re all just so excited. So we leave the MTC at 8am tomorrow and so I should be calling around 10:30 Texas time! I am son excited to talk to you guys. I will probably be calling Mom´s phone so just be aware.
So, some spiritual things from this week. We had a devotional on Tuesday and D. Todd Christofferson came with his wife! It was SO AWESOME. Like amazing. Sister Christofferson talked a lot about charity and love, it was beautiful. Elder Christofferson talked with us about the Doctrine of Christ and how it is a manifestation of divine love. We spent a lot of time in the scriptures (2 Nephi 31:5-21, 3 Nephi 11:31-41, and 3 Nephi 27:13-20). We broke down the role of the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ, and Heavenly Father in the Doctrine of Christ, it was so so cool. The last thing he talked about was how the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have called missionaries to help in spreading the gospel message and that we share their commission. How cool is that?! He talked about how we stand shoulder to shoulder together as companions under Christ. It was powerful.
Well I´m out of time, I love you all so much and I am SO EXCITED to talk to you tomorrow. I love my mission so much and it´s only been 3 weeks, the next 17 months are going to be amazing.
Sister Ellingson
ps- shout outs to Tara Anderson, Aunt Suzanne and Meggie for letters this week!
pps- shout out to Brian Walton who I saw like 12 times this week since he works at the MTC! Crazy, it was fun to see him.
LOVE Y´ALL SO MUCH!
May 7th
Hello Family! Can you already believe I'm halfway through my time here at the MTC? Time is totally weird here, the first few days seemed like eternities, the last week flew by, but it still feels like I've been here a month. I can't imagine how it would be having to be here for 3 months. This last week was full of really good learning experiences and awesome spiritual moments. Yesterday we had Mission Conference and got to hear from the whole MTC presidency and a few others. President Brown did his whole talk on having faith in Jesus Christ and it was seriously INCREDIBLE. I wrote like 3 pages of notes. Then we had a devotional by Mark Lusvardi who is the Director of Public Programs for the missionary department in Salt Lake. He talked about developing and having Divine Love and it was also mind-blowing. I'll send you more details on those in a letter since email time is so much shorter than letter time.
So we got out travel plans this week! Sister LaRue and I are leaving at 11am on Tuesday the 15th and we'll get to Washington at 12:30 Pacific time. We're flying with 5 elders, but we don't know who they are. Sister Bonner is the only sister in her travel group to Canada, but she is flying with 18 elders!!! Totally crazy. She has to be at the travel office at 3am #almostnotworthit... haha, she flies from SLC to DFW to Toronto. Long day of travel for her. I do not envy it. I'll talk my 2 1/2 hour flight with no connections.
We spent a lot of time this week talking about how we're meant to teach people and not just lessons and how we need to work on listening as well as teaching. It really is crazy how much we start to care about the people we teach here and how much we want them to accept our message. Many times this week there has been talk about how we have been called to specific places for a specific reason and for specific people. Brother Lusvardi talked about that in his message to us and how as we just go out and love those we serve that that love will resonate with them and they'll be able to feel the spirit of why we're there. It really made me grateful to be a missionary because that's what I want to do. I want to meet those people that are waiting for that message and I want to share it will them. Wow, just so amazing.
I love y'all SO SO much and thank you again for all the letters, emails and love. Sad news Mom, since I'll be in the MTC on Mother's day I won't be able to call because there are like 2500 missionaries and 4 phones. BUT we're hopefully going to be able to call at the airport. I'll keep you posted on that next week.
Love, Sister Ellingson
PS- I'm so happy to hear that the trip to Canada went so well and that you got to see so many people! I bet that was so much fun for you guys. I'm also really happy to hear that Mac got that NAIT interview and I'm keeping him in prayers until he finds out the results.
PPS- I got your package of cookies and treats! It seriously made me so happy. There's an elder from BC in a district we see all the time and he was very jealous of my candy. Like I mentioned in my letter though, Sister LaRue and I and one of our elders decided to give up treats and see who can go the longest so I had to eat my cookies and candy fast. We've been going for like 4 days now and I have not eaten any treats. We'll see how long my self-control lasts.
PPPS- shout out to Monica Jackson, Alex Pehrson and Meggie Cheney for the awesome Dear Elder Letters this week! They totally made my day! I'm working on replies later this afternoon :D OH! Also, shout out to Rayo Budge for randomly walking to the temple at the same time I was there! So glad I got to see you.
PPPPS- I forgot to give you guys my scripture for my plaque! If you could use Alma 26:12 that would be awesome :]
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