New Companion!!

February 24, 2014

So last Tuesday was transfers, and I got Elder Price, from San Clemente California!! He's a pretty sweet guy, lots of energy and we're glad to have him in Muncie! He's been out 9 months and we're gonna tear it up! :D He's a great guy. Haha a little uptight, but if there's one thing I can do it's loosen people up. And maybe he needs to tighten me up, so it'll be good for both of us. :D Haha life's great, I love the Gospel so much. :D

    So John Zimmack like dropped off the face of the planet, ever since Elder Price got here he hasn't answered a single phone call, we didn't see him at church, so I hope he didn't get picked up by the Arabian mobs or something.... cause that would be pretty depressing. I miss him. Hopefully he knows Jesus loves him! :D Go save the world Zimmack!

    We got doubled in to 1st ward, so it was a pretty fun week getting everything organized and set up, but we have a sweet bishop and ward mission leader, so that makes it TONS easier. Nothing like having a willing ward behind you. We're still meeting with Mike because apparently he lives in 1st ward boundaries, so that's good because he's pretty solid. I know there's at least 1 other person God wants us to baptize this transfer, so we're gonna go out with faith and watch the spirit do some work! :D I love the spirit. I love a lot of things lately.... LIKE PANDAS!!!!! :D      

Haha I really hope I didn't forget to write some people back, but I probably did, so sorry... I need to get much better organized. But still keep sending letters, I love hearing from you guys!!! I just love all of you guys so much, you're all fantastic humans. :D Keep strong and live the faith!!! and love life!!! :D And if there's anything i can do for you, let me know!! I want to serve you!! Love you all!!!

-Elder Ellis

Transfers!!!!

February 17, 2014
Hello America!! And everywhere else!! This week is transfers!!!! :D My companion's 2 years are up, and he is SUPER excited to go home. His name is Elder Adam Michael Ewell, and he's from Murray Utah. He's been an absolutely fantastic companion and it'll be sad to see him go. Elder Talon Cullimore is another missionary in our apartment who's going home and he's from Spanish Fork, Utah. I'm going to miss both of them, we're totally going to party when I get back. But they'll probably be married by then, so I'll have to torment them ;D. Our killer zone is staying together for the most part, which surprised me and Elder Carter, but we're super happy about it. We're also switching wards, but it'll be easy since we live in the same apartment so we'll be able to correlate a lot. I'll be getting a new companion tomorrow, and I bet he'll be sweet!!!! So excited.

     Don't know if I told you all about John Zimmick, he's a guy we've been working with for awhile, and he's a really nice guy. He's kinda crazy, but his mental state has gotten a lot better since we've been meeting with him. LOL he's great though, he wants to get baptized, he's willing to keep all the commandments, all we need to do now is get him a testimony!! He's been to like a billion different churches, including the Muslims for 15 years, and so his perception of God needs some work, but we'll get him there. He'll probably get baptized by the end of this month or next month, depending on how much progress he makes.

      The Millers are feeding us dinner tomorrow, and hopefully they'll start reading on they're own this week. They're fine to get baptized, but they're commitment level could be a tad higher. They come to church and they love all of it, they just need to bring the spirit into their house a bit stronger before they'll be ready. But we'll get them there!!

      There's another lady, Lisa, who totally thinks she's not getting baptized, but the Spirit's telling me it's totally her time. At least some time this year is her time, but yeah. She's super nice and accommodating and loves meeting with us, she just doesn't know if God's real and loves coffee. But she is trying to quit smoking. SOOO many people here smoke, its like funny how not funny it is. But no, its not funny. 

       OH YEAH, we got the Bartleys to church on Sunday, and the entire ward was SO happy to see them! It was by far the best meeting I've been to on my mission. The two boys of 14 and 16 got ordained priest and teacher, and it the Spirit was so strong, I cried a little bit. But no one saw, so it's OK. They've been doing sooo good, you can feel a HUGE difference when you walk in their home compared to before. This is what missions are for, bringing families closer to God and each other through the gospel. SO HAPPY FOR THEM!!!! :D :D They're just so happy all the time now. WOOT!!!

       So yeah, life's beautiful, I love you all!!!! Tell me if you need anything! Don't know what I could actually do, but if there is anything let me know!!!! YOU ROCK!!!!! :D:D

-Elder Ellis 

P.S. By the way, life's beautiful, in case I didn't say that. :D

12th Week on Mission Completed Feb 5

February 10, 2014
     What's up everyone!!!! Another fantastic week in Muncie!!!!! Love it here so much, I could probably live here. Yorktown's got some pretty nice houses... So the Millers didn't come to church yesterday cause their dad was sick, which is pretty disappointing... And we had a bunch of other people say they'd show up, but didn't... it would probably help if they actually had cars, but whatever, we'll try again next week. There's this awesome guy Mike who is dating Sister Clark in our ward, and he's totally going to get baptized in March, God has prepared him for this time in his life, and its cool that we're here to watch the spirit do its work. There's another guy named John, and he might take awhile, but he loves to meet with us as much as possible, so I think we'll get him.

     So the weather here has been.... absolutely insane, its the 3rd highest recorded snowfall for Muncie, ever. Its usually from 0 to 15 degrees, but Saturday was 20 degrees, that was so nice. Lots of snow and coldness, and people still have to listen to us because we ride the bus so they can't get away. Take that Satan!!! You can't stop the Muncie 2nd Elders from talking to everyone in the city!!! Haha man I love life.

     Not much else to report, this girl named Melanie is getting baptized by the YSA Ball State sisters, and she asked me to baptize her, so that is actually really exciting... It'll be the first person I've ever done the baptism myself, other than baptisms for the dead. I love this place so much.... All the missionaries here are super sweet, I love every single one of them. WOOT GOSPEL POWER!!!!!!!!! 

     Well, let me know how you all are doing!!!!! I love you all, you're great fantastic people, and Jesus loves you too!!!!! WOOT GO PRAY AND TELL HIM YOU LOVE HIM!!! haha Have an utterly fantastic week everyone!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D

-Elder Ellis

p.s. Happiness is a great cure for exhaustion, if you have the energy, sometimes, but it's great. I might take a nap today. WOOT! :D

                                            Elder Ewell and Elder Ellis

Week 11 - What Up!

February 3, 2014
So I just wanted to say that I love you all, and I hope no one's getting tired of hearing that ;). Another amazing week, Lots of lesson taught, and many new investigators found. The Bartleys are making awesome progress, and the 2 Millers kids are on date for the 22nd, and they're totally going to get baptized. We just hopefully won't have to push it back another week. Amanda finally got confirmed yesterday, our recent convert Chris went and picked them up. He's such a fantastic guy. He'll make a great missionary! Bobby and Patty and their kids would be coming to church, but they don't have a car right now, and a family of 4 isn't the easiest to transport. But we're trying. 

   We met this sweet guy who just came up and talked to us in the bus station asking us if we were Mormons, and we got into a sweet discussion about God and the Book of Mormon, and we're meeting with him again tomorrow, pretty excited for this guy. He's from like Jamaica or something and he has sweet dreads. haha His name is Steven.

   We also met some really nice guy who invited us into his home, then went off about how he's pretty sure the second coming is going to happen this summer, and he thinks he's a prophet, and I don't think we'll ever see him again... But he's a really nice guy. Nothing like some of these people in the Bible Belt ;). Lots of Pentecostals around here.

    WOW we had a lot of snow, and we're just supposed to have more this week. :D Its crazy up here, its usually in the teens or less with the wind chill, but Friday and Saturday weren't too bad. All we have to do is dress warmly, and Jesus makes it warmer for us missionaries anyways, I haven't had any problems with being too cold. Preparation + Faith = Blessings!! Spiritual geometry, that's a book someone should write one day.

    Well life is amazing, thank you everyone who sends emails, I really appreciate it. I hope that you guys are uplifted by these ones, and if there is anything in particular you want to know, feel free to ask! The Lord is progressing his work, and we see it everywhere around here. The Lord does this work, and the Spirit is truly amazing. Gratitude is the gateway to all blessings!!! Said by Thomas S. Monson. So lets be grateful for all that we have, cause every single one of us has been given so much in life. If we have the Gospel, we have more blessings than we can count. And Earth is just beautiful. So are pandas, I'm going to raise one when I get back. Love you all!!!! 

Love

-Elder Ellis :D