Week 58 - *Cough* *influenza* but still a good week

January 12, 2015

Yeah, some nurse in my ward told me that I like had the Flu or something. Crazy thoughts I tell you. So yeah, I was sick a few days this week, figured I'd actually tell someone this time cause my wonderful momma got upset last time. haha I was just sick, no one cares about that boring stuff. I was out for Thursday and Friday sleeping at this cool members house while my companion went out teaching with another member. I'm feeling quite better now though, I took the advice and just slept instead of pushing through it, and I actually got better!! It was really weird. So I'm all good now, no worries. The Richmond ward took very good care of me. I'm gonna cry if I ever leave this place. And transfers are in like 1 week!!!! So we'll know next Monday what's happening. So Scary!! I've been here 6 months, not long at all, I better stay here. :D just kidding that's a long time.

   Haha awesome story with Barbara, the lady that got baptized the day after Christmas. She left right before the end of Sacrament meeting during Church to go take care of something. She tells us all about this later, but she goes to the church that she used to go to, and she stands up and says something like this: "God and a book have led me to another church, and that's where I belong" She said in front of all these people, practically testifying of the Mormon Church. HOW COOL IS THAT??? Dang cool, yeah, I know. :D She has such an awesome testimony, she's amazing. Her grandson's coming around, very rebellious 10 year old. Haha he's cool though.

Well, life is great!! Not too much to talk about with being down and out half the week, but things are going well!! I am just so happy all the time, so excited for everything. It's great. Haha I love you all!! Have a wonderful week! :D

-Elder Ellis

P.S. It gets -20 here all the time with windchill. Icy roads, we were slipping all over last night. WOOT! Fun times! REALLY cold sometimes, but it could be so much worse. :D

                                          Christmas present

Week 57 - Happy New Years!!!

Wow, isn't that exciting?? A New Year is here, to fill us up with cheer, to help us take down a deer. A New Year has come, to help us play the drums. An Old Year is

    Ok done with the poem. Too much. I was gonna write a beautiful poem for you all that was gonna get published and all that, but sorry. Can't handle it.

  Alright!!! So this week was pretty great, continuing to teach Barbara's grandson, and they brought the family that she babysits to church!!! That was a cool miracle, we were praying and fasting pretty hard for that one. Met a lot of new people, so hopefully a good amount of them will progress. Or at least a few of them haha. Bob and Barbara are both preparing to go to the temple at the end of the month!! So that's really cool and exciting. Transfers are in 2 weeks, right before that, so who knows if we'll both be here to see them go to the temple, we'll see. All the missionaries in our ward are doing well, we've got an Elder Blackhurst from Pleasant Grove, Utah, and an Elder Blackburn who is from Vernal Utah, who is his companion. We have a lot of fun with them.

    I dunno what else to say, can't think of OH WAIT New Years eve, we had to stay in our apartment 6pm-3pm, a total of 21 hours. President didn't want us going out there and getting shot by a drunk guy or something... smart man. We got to get a ton of cleaning done, which I'm sad to say, was much needed. I gained a testimony of keeping your living quarters clean and the difference it makes. Cause it made a huge difference! Holy cow, things got so much easier. Weird, I know. They tell us to clean things all the time and there's actually a really good reason behind it.. haha.

    Life is great! Keep smiling ya'll!! 2 more weeks until transfers. Scary. Love you all!! :D

-Love, Elder Ellis

Pics from Christmas Morning

                                                           Christmas Card to All

Week 56 - Merry New Year's, and to all a Cold Night!!

December 29, 2014

Wow, what a week. We had a wonderful Christmas here, got to spend it with some absolutely wonderful families, and were very blessed. We got to Skype our families too!!! That was really cool to see them. It was wonderful watching the other 3 missionaries in our ward have such a good time talking to their families as well. I may have accidentally said hi to all of their families by pushing my face in the screen... yep, they loved it. Haha it was a wonderful day. Something even better than Christmas for missionaries was Barbara's baptism!!!! It was very spiritual, and just like Bob's baptism there were a lot of members there. Bob was there too. :D haha Barbara was just glowing the entire time, and after her confirmation on Sunday, she was sitting a row in front of us with some members, and she looked so at peace and comfortable, it felt like she had a been a member for years. Haha it's just so wonderful to see the joy in people's faces as they come closer to Christ. There truly is nothing like it. And now her 10 year old grandson is committed to be baptized in a month! So much joy for that family, really happy for them.

        It is the end of the year, and so is this the last e-mail of the year 2014. It has been an absolutely wonderful year, undoubtedly and incomparably the best year of my life. The most I've ever grown, the most memorable experiences I've ever had, the most joy I've ever felt. I cannot adequately explain what this year has been for me. I'm so grateful God has been able to change me so much, and I'm so glad I have almost a whole year to keep on changing and growing. I give my thanks to all those who helped me get to this point, and to all those who support and give help to missionary work. As well as all the missionaries in the world right now! You all rock! :D

           Happy New Year everyone!!! Don't let this one go to waste. Remember the good times, and forget the bad, that's my new motto. Its pretty helpful. :D I love you all! Thanks again for all that you do!!

-Elder Cameron Ellis

P.S. life rocks! :D

                                                    Dillmans

Week 55 - MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

December 22, 2014

     MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!! Holy cow I can't believe its Christmas already. It came out of nowhere, I swear it was like Easter yesterday. Jk Thanksgiving was yesterday, Easter was last week. But really!! I'm not gonna have enough time to do all the Christmas letters I need to... Well, I just won't send any of them. No Christmas this year!!!! Ye-ah, that's better. :D Love you mom!!

     So other than Christmas being cancelled, there have been a few exciting things happening this week, the chief of which is Barbara's baptism!! She is so awesome, I have so much respect for her. She relapsed for a few days after conquering the hardest first 72 hours, which would crush almost anyone, then turned to God and committed to quit again, and has done amazing!! God's power is manifest in her life, and she knows it. It's a miracle! She is so amazing. We're gonna have to wait a few weeks for her 10 yr. grandson, Tommy, he's not quite ready yet. But God has told us to forward with Barbara's baptism, so that's what we're doing! She's so ready for it too, she has so much faith. Really excited for Friday! Its going to be great.

     The next on the imaginary agenda is the Christmas Conference!!! We had an all-day conference on Thursday up in (guess where) MUNCIE!!! Half the mission was there, and it was so fantastic. Very spiritual and uplifting, and our mission President pulled some strings and we got to watch 'Meet The Mormons'!!!! Absolutely wonderful movie, loved it so much. Amazing stories and life experiences. My favorite one was definitely the last one with the single mom whose son ends up going on a mission. That one really touched the depths of my soul. I hope they give us the movie as a teaching tool!!!! Everyone needs to see it, especially all those people out there with misconceptions about the LDS faith. It would help them all out a lot.

     Can't really OH WAIT We got to go to the Columbus Temple on Saturday with our recent convert Paul!!!! It was AWESOME!!! We got to help with the ordinances and everything, got to feel the spirit, and it was an amazing experience. SO COOL!!! It brought back a lot of good memories. Go to temple everyone!! Its so cool!! :D

     I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas!!!! Also, make sure you all keep the real meaning of Christmas in your hearts. Not just Christ's birth, but His entire life. He is the reason for all of this. Try to share the life of Christ with someone in the next 24 hours!! That's my challenge to everyone. Christmas is amazing!! I love you all, and wish you the best!! :D

-Elder Ellis

P.S. #sharethegift  There's a really cool share the gift video that the piano guys put together with David Archuleta. They showed it to us on Thursday. :D Check it out!!

That's our Christmas tree. :D and Barbara

Week 54 - Barbara> Word of Wisdom

December 15, 2014

     Haha if any of you didn't get the subject line, it's supposed to mean that Barbara is way stronger than her addictions. She quit smoking on Friday. BAM!!! Just quit. She's committed to living the Word of Wisdom, and the law of tithing, and everything else. She's preparing to be baptized on December 26th, and now there is nothing holding her back!!! She is absolutely amazing, we have seen so many miracles with her this week. I believe I already said this, but she finished the entire Book Of Mormon. She read the whole thing!!! That shows real intent and pure desire if I ever saw it. She joined us for dinner yesterday at bishops, and she had a wonderful experience. Her family is not supportive at all, but her attitude of a 54 yr old "I'll do what I want and shove it in your face" Is pretty awesome when its against the opposition of her family. It used to be aimed towards us. Haha so much love for her, she is doing amazing. Her grandson Tommy wants to get baptized as well, we just need his Dad's permission (Barbara's Son) for it to happen. :D Pray for them!!!

     Can't remember much of what else happened this week, the other companionship that got doubled into our ward this week has been doing really well. They've been working hard, and the members love them. It exactly what this ward need, these guys are dang awesome. And 1 of them has been out.... 7 days now. :D He's great, I'm really excited to be serving with them. 

     Bob got to be Santa Clause for the Christmas Party!!! Haha he's been a member for 1 week, and he had just such a good Santa appearance. We'll send pictures next week, we both forgot our cameras. I think Bob might have started dating one of the members... Haha we know she was pretty into him. It's so hilarious.

     Well, I think that's all for me!! Met a really cool less-active who invited us back to have his family feed us. I'll never argue with that. ;) Plus, they get extra chance to feel the spirit. Always a plus!! A different less-active brought his family to church for the first time in over a year!! It was really cool to see him there, and his son is adorable! Haha and they're coming back next week. Pretty much reactivated at this point. So happy for him! He wanted the spirit back pretty badly. He's such a great guy. 

     OKAY WOW, I totally forgot, so you know how I mentioned a Christmas party? YEAH!! Our ward had a Christmas party 2 days ago, and it was awesome!! So many non-members and investigators and less-actives came, it was really awesome. And Bob was Santa Clause, like I mentioned earlier :D. Pictures will come next week!! I Love you all! Have a wonderful Christmas season!!

-Love, Elder Ellis

P.S. Life rocks!!!! :D just thought I'd let you all know.

Week 53 - Bob's Baptism!!! + Transfers

December 8, 2014
     Soooo guess what! Bob got baptized!! Here's a picture. Heck yeah! It was an amazing service and he had huge support from the ward, everyone loves Bob. He Absolutely loved it, he had one of the best weekends of his life. And he looked so good for his confirmation! Here's another picture. Haha Love that man so much. And he loves Jesus so much. :D

     That was one of the best baptism's of my mission, Bob worked so hard to bring himself closer to Christ, and he had to go through so much. He's going to be able to help a lot of people because of how much he went through. He also paid his tithing first thing after church yesterday, which I've never seen a new convert do. He's a kingdom builder as they call 'em. And it had nothing to do with me and my companion!! Haha God just made everything fall into place for him, it was all in God's hands. Wonderful week.     

      

     Oh yeah, so transfers are tomorrow, and we just got the call this morning.... Me and my companion are staying!!!!! FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!! :D So happy about that, I thought for sure I'd be leaving. I told everyone I'd be gone, and it worked! A missionary did that awhile ago and he stayed too, so I thought I'd try it out. Yippee!! Haha so happy about being able to spend Christmas in Richmond, this ward is like a family to me, it really is. So many wonderful people here. God wants me to do something here, and I'm gonna do it, whatever it turns out to be. Life rocks.

    

  So no worries about Christmas, I'll be staying at my current address, 117 1/2 N. 11th, Richmond Indiana 47374. Its so exciting!!!!!!! Christmas in Richmond, I'll never get over it. It's been my dream ever since I got transferred here. 

   I wish this thing would let me send more pictures, it only allows 2 at a time. OH WAIT, another really cool story, Barbara came to Bob's baptism, which was super spiritual, and she had a really good experience. She opened up and told her things she's never let out before, and the next day she solidly agreed to be baptized on December 26th. We've asked her almost every lesson, and she's finally agreed to a date. She wouldn't do that unless she meant it, unlike a lot of people we teach here in the Midwest. She also has a 10 yr. old grandson who wants to get baptized as well, and the only thing we have to do for him is get his dad's permission, so pray for his heart to be softened! It'll be good for their whole family. :D

    So yep! Life's great, super excited for this transfer. Its gonna be a good one! I love you all, and God bless you. Have a good week!! :D 

.

Love,

Elder Ellis

My companion Elder Bayly got to baptize Bob! And I got to confirm him. It was a pretty special experience. This is another picture. Man, what a great companion. And he's done training now!! He's excited to drive....his bike hehehehe :D

Week 52 - Thanksgiving + Bob + Pit bull + Life Rocks

December 1, 2014
This week has been absolutely amazing!! Holy cow, it's been awesome. So many miracles and wonderful experiences, I hope I can remember them all. 

   Well, first things first!! That wonderful man in that picture below is getting baptized on Friday!!! His name is Robert Forman (otherwise known as Bob) and he is just such a miracle!!! He has worked so hard and fought for this chance to make a covenant with our Father in Heaven, I have so much respect for him. We found him my 2nd day in Richmond, have been teaching him ever since then, and it's amazing to see him overcoming so much in his life. Former alcoholic, devout catholic, and a few other things, he has felt the spirit and come to know these things are true for himself. Its so awesome looking back to when he barely wanted to read the Book of Mormon or come to church and he sure didn't want to get baptized... But through God's grace he has come so far. He's made intense changes in his life in the past month, and it has been so hard. We had a miracle of a lesson with him last Friday, we studied and studied, but we had no idea how we were going to help him live the word of wisdom that day, and help him do these things he wants to. Previously he's had intense aversion to quitting coffee, and it came around to him doing it but taking a long time for it. We have it at a member's home, mother's a member her whole life, father's a convert with an awesome testimony. I don't remember most of it. But it was so spiritual! It comes to his baptism in a week, and he was just like 'Yep, its time' which just stunned me. I was frozen, I was so surprised that he just went cold turkey how he said he would never do. Elder Bayly was holding back his excitement, trying not to jump up and scream and run and tackle-hug him (as he tells me later.. I added the tackle-hug). It was amazing. Very spiritual. He's been living the Word of Wisdom since then, and it's a miracle. We gave him a blessing after, and it was very spiritually exhausting. Elder Bayly and I both felt that his father (who passed away a year ago) was present for part of the blessing, and it was just an amazing experience. It's been an amazing weekend.

          Thanksgiving dinner was great. It's paled in comparison to Bob.... I don't have much more time, but a pit bull tried to attack me the first time on Wednesday!!! It was crazy, but I got away clean, and it just left Elder Bayly alone. He got in a defensive stance and just scared it off.

     I love you all! The prayers make a difference, thank you so much, all of you. Have a wonderful week!! :D

-Love, Elder Ellis