It's amazing how fast life can change.

It's amazing how fast life can change. 

leaving emailing last week... epic nerf fight at the church...

getting transfer calls. i'm moving! 

packing all night. (i'm glad i did.)

turns out with mlc on tuesday, training meeting on wednesday (yep. i'm training again!) there was no more time to pack. transfers on thursday. 

my new companion is sister remington! she's from canada. (i've realized how very many "american" comments i've made in the last few days... oops.) she's awesome. makes me realize how very much less than her i knew coming into thailand. she's WAY gang. (that means "skilled" in thai) she's pretty gangsta too... i guess... ;) 

after transfers got over - life just explodes. WE'RE GOING TO CHIANG MAI!!! yeah. the land of the white people. i've actually seen more white people in the past 3 days than i probably have seen the rest of my mission... it's interesting. i also don't know how to invite them. it's weird.

so we got on a train. the kind that have beds hanging off the walls. that you sleep on! that was a fun experience. i'll have you know that EVERY day is an adventure. so we spent about an hour of that ride talking to the italian lady and her friend about the church. you really can teach any where you go! even if people are sleepy and want to go to bed... 

since then it's been a constant stream of new names, new faces, random people that i met once in kamphengphet... that are members now! that was a cool moment. i think i kind of scared her when i started talking in a strange, excited mixture of thai and english... excitedly saying something about you. me. remember? chowguay! (it's a dessert that she brought us.) sister mullen! it was nice. eventually she DID remember. so i didn't have to be too embarrassed... 

training is so fun. i love the faith that sister remington has. and she deals with ME. (another plus.) sometimes i feel like the trainer is being trained more than the traineeeeee.... 

i love this work! it's so good. 

i was reading this morning in 1 nephi. he tells his brothers to be "strong like unto moses". i thought it was weird. because then he talks about parting the red sea. i'm pretty sure that his muscles had nothing to do with parting the sea... (1 nephi 4:2) but then i read the footnote. and it talks about those who are able to endure trials. i liked that. 

sometimes we want to be strong but don't really know how. sometimes we want to endure but it seems to hard. sometimes... all we have left is simply to rely and god and know that he will take care of us. i know that is... probably the hardest part of life. to give up what WE want, and have faith in what HE has in store for us. but i promise you that it is ALWAYS better. i've never regretted a single day of my mission. i've had good ones and not-so-good ones. but i know that every day i try is a day that i succeed! 

it's amazing. i love it so much!!!! 

and i love christmas. in the form of a tiny tree from home... that represents so much more than a tree and a light ever could!

merry christmas every one!!! 

love you!

sister ellis

Benyamin and Herding Cats

no i didn't spell that wrong! the thing with thai... is that nothing really ever sounds the same. the mall "central" is said "centran" if you say it "central"... good luck having anyone understand. so. our 9 year old baptisms name is benyamin. he... is the cutest thing on the face of this planet. his grandma was baptized last week. and he had come to church thinking that he was getting baptized too! ummm.... you need to learn a little bit first! so... my companion and i sent him home with homework, and we met with him, taught him everything... and BAPTIZED! it was the cutest thing. we didn't know how much he would know before we taught him (even though we told his grandma to teach him out of the pamphlets...) the first thing he says when we pulled out the restoration pamphlet was JOSEPH SMITH! (actually sounds more like jo-sep sa-mit) it did require a little bit more explanation than just his name... but it was a good start! and he was really good. until about 25 minutes into the lesson... at which point his ability to focus... ran out. then it turned into - ok! now repeat after me ok? ok? ok... good times.

sunday was an even funnier event. since we have 3 meetings, sometimes it gets a little hard to manage... everything! but we try. the best part was trying to find little matthew. (ahem. i forgot to add... his REAL name is benyamin. his NICKNAME is matthew. capeesh?) a word on thai nicknames... they rarely make sense. hence the reason i email home and talk about "donut" and "dot com" no. their parents didn't choose those names. (most of the time...) back to matthew. at one point we were running around the church trying to find him... i finally ran into our district leader who said, "i just smoked him out of that room... he ran this way..." around the church a few more times before we saw the branch mission leader corralling him into the boys bathroom. this baptism... worse than trying to catch fish bare-handed or herding cats... but totally worth it! 

now for the baptism. it was adorable. we had a few of the primary kids give talks and have a part in the program to help him feel like he had friends at church (did i really need to? we saw matthew and another boy walking down the hall arm in arm and looking oh so chummy, right before the other kid turned around and shoved matthew into a room. i guess that means their friends???) the primary kids also did a special musical number for the baptism. oh so cute. and then one of them refused to sing... but then turned around and started leading the singing with a dry erase marker... 

other things about sunday... 

the homeless guy.

apparently I (me... sister ellis...) was the one that invited him. i vaguely maybe slightly remember him... i was just "inviting everyone" like they told me to. i didn't ever expect him to actually come to church. but... he did. so that was interesting. the elders asked if we wanted to teach him. we thought it might be better if some elders took care of him. but since then, he's come to church every week! it's pretty cool. the elders even gave him some church clothes from the extra stuff they had at their apartment. now they have a big huge plan to help him find a job, get a place to live so that he can be baptized this month! 

(he does have a name. we just haven't been able to understand it when he's said it yet...) 

we went contacting with the elders the other day. while we were on the bus, it was fun to watch the elders as they "seat hopped". as one person would say no... they would move to the seat right in front of them and ask the next person. i wish i had got a video. 

not-so-fun things from this week. we had zone conference. (that actually... WAS fun.) the not-so-fun part was that i had to bear my testimony. "THE testimony". the one that means that you DIE (aka end your time as a missionary) before the next zone conference. that was... a sad feeling. 

but it was also pretty cool. i feel like often, missionaries don't want it to end. (i mean really - who does?) but i was a cool experience to have everyone get up and testify about the fact that our work doesn't end here! comments like "i promise i will serve jesus christ for the rest of my life" and "this isn't the end" were the theme of the testimonies that were shared. i loved it. it made everything so much more palatable. no one likes to see something this great come to an end, but the real fact of the matter is that it doesn't have to. it never has to. 

one last thought: matthew 25:34-46

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty,and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you,Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

president and sister senior gave us a challenge. to take ONE of these groups - the hungry, the thirsty, the sick... choose one. "even the least of them" and make it a part of your christmas this year. find some way to serve someone in these groups. in whatever way you feel like you can. 

so that is MY christmas challenge to YOU.

i love you! 

i love this season! 

i love this gospel!

i love everything! (except for pig intestines and coagualted blood...) 

have the best week ever!!!

sister ellis

Tales of little chickens

all of my time just seems like it is evaporating! it's like trying to grab jello. the more i try to catch it and hold it... it just still goos around and manages to get away from me! 

weird. 

some updates and thoughts on life:

at district meeting on tuesday, elder lingard talked to us about our "pattern of prayer". this is also the same district leader that calls us for follow up at nights and tells us about his attempt at "postitive thinking"... he said "it was the worst day of my life!" but that's a whole other story... ;) so. about the power of prayer. we talked about how we are doing in our ability to prayer. we read a quote from a general authority about his experience counselling those people who came to him with problems. he said that he would begin by asking them about their "pattern of prayer". most of the time they would respond... well... maybe. or kind of. and then say, "but about my problem." as they were seeking a solution. 

then it occurred to me. the brilliance of the leaders question. it should and always should go back to our prayers. if our prayers slack... the work, our happiness, our ability to do the things that god wants us to do... decreases. if we want to fix our problems.... PRAY! we can't wait for someone else to fix it for us. it totally depends on our relationship with god. and nothing else will be able to take the place of that. 

other things that we've been doing: took a loooooooooooong ride in a bus to go and find an investigator... finally taught her. (had a not-so-secret desire that she'd get baptized this sunday... but... but not yet.) hour there. hour back. she's so awesome... she just wants to wait until school is done. agh. i very must greatly terribly dislike school. i'm glad i never have to deal with it again... ;) 

a cool experience of this week was realizing how much a little time is worth. we called a recent convert and asked if we could meet with her. (since i've moved back i haven't had the opportunity to meet with her.) but we decided we were going to try and see ALL of the recent converts here. so we met with her after she got done with work. we didn't talk about too much. we read out of 2 nephi somewhere... i don't even remember. but she told me about her family. about her conversion. about her life. her son. then she went home. 

but the cool part of this story - after just a 30 minute talk, i made a friend. i didn't know her before this week... but seeing her one saturday, and sunday... she walked up to me and gave me the biggest hug! and i knew in the moment what this work is about. it's about THAT woman. it's about every single one of us. coming to know that we are important. that someone cares. and that most importantly, GOD cares. he is aware of every single person on this earth. and he will help them to find happiness and joy and peace in this life - as long as they are looking for it. 

now on to thanksgiving. (now comes the story of the tiny chicken...)

thailand... doesn't have turkeys. and IF it does... they are WAYYYYY too expensive for a verrrrry poor missionaries. (it would take up a significant chunk of my monthly fund.) 

so we opted for chicken. (our real thanksgiving dinner was to be saturday.) but we still wanted to have our own thanksgiving on thursday. so we invited a few recent converts. a few less actives. and we had thanksgiving! those cute little elders... showed up with a chicken was was soooo small. so we ended up ordering kfc. (they deliver! thailand. so great.) so all...was well. we had a great experience teaching the thai people about our crazy american traditions of eating food until we are stuffed... i still don't know if they understand. 

saturday we had the CHRISTMAS PARTY! take 2 for me. i was here last year when they had this program here too. they don't mess around with this program. they plan this thing for MONTHS before. and it always turns out fabulous. i started crying during the first song... oops. it was just really sweet to feel the spirit of all of the people that came to remember and think about our savior, jesus christ. 

it's amazing. i'm so excited. i love christmas. but more than that - i love CHRIST! 

i hope you all keep that spirit with you during this season. 

he is the reason. he IS the season. 

i love you all! 

sister ellis

Missionary life is ALWAYS interesting

this week was interesting. i mean... missionary life is ALWAYS interesting. no matter where in the world you are. sometimes i feel as though thailand tends to throw a few more things in the mix than normal. 

like waking up at 4 this morning and running to the bathroom.

another case of food poisoning? that's more in one week than i've gotten in the whole rest of my mission. oof. 

tmi? possibly. 

remind me NOT to eat KFC at church on sunday. because... obviously... it was either that or the apple cake. sad day. they were both delicious though. 

on to better things!!!

good things: Kiaw got baptized!!! her name in thai means green. i'm not really sure what it is in lao. (she's our investigator from laos.) 

but the new miracle: she and her friend that we started teaching two weeks ago have hooked us up with 2 new investigators! seriously. it's a thing. referrals are a missionaries BEST FRIEND and a DREAM COME TRUE!!! and they are so much more of a sure-thing than talking to somebody off of the street. 

she is... the cutest thing on the planet. she called us on thursday telling us that she didn't know what she would say when she had to speak after she got baptized (aka bearing her testimony)... we just told her to speak from her heart. "but i can't think when i get excited!" she did amazingly. it was the cutest thing ever. and her friend was very impressed with baptism. we're going to teach her this week - we'll see what happens! 

we spent ANOTHER day inside... due to sickness. so... it was a rough week. lots of time inside... trying to go out and working... but you can only do so much when the companionship is not fully functioning. i can only drag my companion up so many mountains......... 

but she's amazing. i've been so impressed with her ability to speak thai. 

she's going to be wayyyyy better than me. and that's great. i don't even really need to teach her anything. 

you want to know what made my day? we had sandwiches at a farangs house. they made us toasted cheese and turkey sandwiches. i mean REAL CHEESE. they were... i went... heaven. that's all i got to say. 

so yeah. not much has changed... still a missionary. watched legacy for the first time in YEARS. 

so thankful for the countless prayers that you have all given on our behalf. we are definitely feeling it! we have been receiving SOOO many blessings. it's crazy. 

so thanks. 

i hope you all have a fantastic week! 

i had a thought the other day. was preparing to share a testimony in sacrament meeting, and i read 3 nephi 18:24. it talks about jesus christ being the light we hold up... and it made me think about the armor of god. the shield of faith. what does a shield do for us if we don't hold it out in front of us? we have to hold it up in order for it to do any good... 

and what is our faith? our faith in jesus christ. our savior and redeemer. we hold HIM before us. our belief in him should go before us to protect us and lead us throughout our lives. 

so. the spiritual side of this letter: hold christ before you. let him guide you and protect you. 

love you all!

sister e

Epic fail on emailing for last week

ok. so an epic fail on emailing for last week... (i did email mom and tell her i was alive...) as for the rest of you. i'm alive. i know you missed me. 

so the story of sister ellis... where do i begin? this is like catching up on a journal when you haven't written for 3 days. is it really worth it to catch up? maybe yes... maybe no. 

so. i guess i should explain a little bit of what has happened in my old... or new? area. i got a new comp ps. just in case i forgot that.... her name is sister zoller! she's from wisconsin. loves sports. (i dragged her up a mountain last monday. it was fun. i don't know if she considers climbing mountains a sport or not...) we get along WAY too well and talk way too late into the night. (with the lights OFF of course...) but everyone who knows me KNOWS i don't like going to sleep before midnight. meh. i try my best.  

the first thing on my list of "to dos" this last week was "CLEAN THE DRAIN." i know this might not seem like a big deal... but i did not appreciate the fact that NO DRAIN in our house would work. so.... sister ellis might have gone a little crazy on the drains in our house this last week. suffice it to say... showering sounds different now that the water actually goes DOWN the drain and doesn't get stuck in the shower... music to my ears. 

sundays are always full of miracles. both of the last two sundays have been FULL of miracles! 

we got to church LAST week... and didn't have any real daters. we needed two. so... after our first meeting... (i'm back to 9 hours of church a day!) we decided we'd show god a little faith and go contacting. we literally just walked to the bus stop and back. because we only had like 20 minutes... but... nothing. ok. we did what we could! we went back to church... no investigators in meeting #2. woof. all that's left is to pray. so we prayed. did all we could for our RCs in the meetings... finally, we're running around trying to make sure the the elders investigator gets to the right class, and a member from the international branch (from cambodia) walks up with two girls and says, "i brought you some investigators!" we were floored. taught them. they wanted to get baptized! bam. does god answer prayers or what? we went home... feeling very tired. but SO GOOD!!!

monday. went to a monkey temple. had a monkey sit on my head... hopefully lice isn't a thing...

and then... the rest of the week disappeared! i really don't know where it went. hopefully... it went into being a productive missionary... i guess i'll reread my journal and figure that out later.

yesterday was good too. a little bit less stress because we had daters that we were about 99.9% positive would come to church. (as a missionary you learn that even the ones that confirm a bazillion times and that want to get baptized even have a way of NOT finding their way to church... hence the .1%) 

but they all came. happy sister ellis. 

and so did the REST of the investigators... we didn't even know we had! so we ended the day having 11 investigators come to church. i just think we inherited a lot of them from... everywhere. we'll see how they turn out this week. 

other cool story of the week. AWESOME. are you ready for it? 

we get a call on tuesday morning from a member talking about a girl that she'd talked to on facebook that wanted a book of mormon. gave us her number. sweet. then we get a call from the elders saying that they had someone for us to teach.... cuz they forgot to get a guy to help them teach. so turns out... she's the same person. a girl that found the church again... after about 5 years of not seeing the missionaries. her parents learned for a while... then the flood happened... and she just found the church again! and she's getting baptized on the 30th. :))))))

random things from this week:

made enemies with bus 356. but we made up on friday. it is actually a really convenient bus that always goes where we need it to... we just can't be in a hurry or it won't stop to pick us up...

i wrote a poem. 

don't laugh. 

2ish weeks ago in MLC we read about nehemiah rebuilding the wall of jerusalem. 

i don't know why it ended up as a poem... but it did. 

(read until about chapter 6...) 

i'm also very nervous about sharing my "poetry" with people. lots of self-esteem problems with that one... hopefully it doesn't sound too corny!!!!

I CAN NOT COME DOWN.

a servant of god called to rebuild a wall,

   to restore faith and hope to a nation quite small.

his enemies mocked him, and doubted his quest

   they told him, "you cannot build this great wall - try your best!" 

at midnight he walked 'round the city and knew

   god would be with them, thought their numbers be few

he called them together, he called them by name

   he told them their mission, the cost and the gain

they all started building, they needed each ONE

   to build what was broken, to restore what was undone

it wasn't easy - building their wall

   the enemy threatened to make their work fall

each man was important, wife, daughter, and son

   each had a part in the great work to be done

while they were working, they were always aware

   of great foes approaching, and their motives to scare

they kept building, despite all - and the wall grew in height

   their foes started fearing in their growing might

they filled in the breaches, the holes in the wall

   with rocks from all over, some great and some small

the wall as it grew, became quite a sight

   but they did not stop - no - they worked day and night

with brick in one hand, and a spear in the other

   they were willing to die so this work they could further

foes tried to distract them... to lure them from their task

   but they were no fools, and would not do what they asked

their foes tried to call - and said, "meet us out here!" 

   but they were too busy rebuilding to hear

they said "i cannot come down! i am doing great work!

   why should the work cease? what for should i shirk?"

they knew god was with them, behind and before

   for how could mankind stop what god meant to restore?

sometimes in our lives, we all will be called

   to rebuild what was broken, to strengthen what falled

a city without walls doesn't have much to claim

   a great wall 'round a city gives much to it's fame

the walls in our lives we must effectively build

   for the enemy's quick, and the devil is skilled

he'll creep through cracks we may leave in our wall

   he'll search for our weakness, he wants us to fall

in our quest to build up the great walls in our lives

   we must listen to those who god's grand will derives

a skilled builder will know you can't lay stones on another

   and have that wall stand - no - you must have some mortar

the first law of heaven says we must obey

   when we hear a command, we won't pause for delay

our love of our god makes us want to him follow

   over river or mountain, in valley or hollow

"i'll go where you want me to go," i once said

   and in jesus christ's footprints i've faithfully tread

jesus christ is our master, he'll tell us the way

   to strengthen and bless our lives, if we will but obey

like builders of old, we have a great work at hand

   while the enemy is approaching, we must take a stand

be faithful and fearless, and tho' fears may abound

   we will repeatedly cry, "yea, i cannot come down!" 

i love this work. i love you all.

have an awesome week!!! :)

sister e

I feel like such a lame-o!

the story of the week. got up at 6. to go to a monkey city. got back at 7 for fhe. no time for email. i'm depressed. i love you all soooooooooooooooooooooo much! 

i feel like such a lame-o. i need to repent. 

:) 

i love you so much!!!!

jess

The Craziness!!!

Nov 1, 2014 The Craziness!!!  you know how sometimes i have nothing to write? it's because missionary work itself doesn't change... you still go out, like a superhero, and try to save people's lives. (just their spiritual ones most of the time...)  but some weeks... life DOES change.  like getting a text late tuesday night telling you that you are moving. (we already knew it was happening. don't know how... but we totally did.)  so we spent the next days packing... getting ready... then when we showed up at the church to meet with our RCs... a shower started! literally... i did rain. but i got so many random gifts from people. i... felt so loved i could hardly stand it! it was the sweetest thing.  it wasn't easy to say goodbye. it never is. i think i startled a few of our investigators when i told them goodbye over the phone. one of them even called back later to apologize because "he didn't know what to say the first time." personally, i just wanted to be a magician and pull a magic act... but sister brown wouldn't let me. i'm glad i didn't just disappear though. i love them ALL so much. and it was really good to know that they love me too.  they then kept changing what time we needed to show up at transfers. we heard 7:30... then 8. 9. back to 8:30... transfers didn't even start until 11. is it just an opportunity to catch up or what? we also think that there were changes still happening up until the time transfers started. (BABABABO in thai means crazy. it was crazzzzzzy.)  lots of the girls from my mtc district are training. everyone moved.  and i came back to my greenie area.  now THAT was weird. i saw DON MEAUNG come up on the screen... and i didn't know what to think. maybe it was a mistake? nope. i don't believe in mistakes here. but i did have the chance to talk to president. to clarify.  besides. who doesn't like american-style dinners?  their de besssst. (so. just so you know. my first area WAS pakkret. but since then they have combined my area with the other neighboring area. so all of the missionaries work in ALL of the wards. oh. yeah. that too. they are wards now. not branches!!!! so the cool thing is that now i can say that i've served in ALL of those three wards legitimately. not that i just know them all...) it was really fun going back. we ARE whitewashing in... but it didn't feel like it. there are about 40 new RCs that WE are looking after that weren't here a year ago.. but it still feels largely the same. ah! i'm so excited.  so this last week was a lot of getting settled. my new companions name is sister zoller. she's from wisconsin. speaks thai like a boss (and she just barely graduated greeniehood...) i feel super duper blessed.  random things that happened. we get a call from the relief society president that we are going to go visit a cambodian member (this is with the ENGLISH branch) and they need an interpreter. ended up that they brought someone else that could speak thai too... so i ended up just being there to hold her hand and to deliver the "fluffy messages". it was good.  then on sunday they decided that they are going to start having a sunday school for the cambodian members. THE COOLEST THING EVER! a cambodian couple that was coming when i was here a year ago STILL COMES!!! they haven't been able to get baptized because they don't have papers. but they still come. that.... was cool. i can't even describe it. i had no idea what or how we'd teach the class.... turns out that we'd teach in thai, and one of the cambodians speaks thai really well. so i taught in thai. he translated into khmae. and then the other couple read from their scriptures in vietnamese.  strangest lesson ever.  but the spirit was there ridiculously strong.  he said that he prays every day that god will open the path so that he can get baptized. and i know he will. it just reminded me of king limhi's people who also had to wait to get baptized. personally... i don't think that is my favorite story... since i just want EVERYONE to get baptized NOW! but.... some people DO have to wait. and he will. that is what made me so happy. it showed me that this work is TRUE! and when people find it... they never let it go!!! one cool thought from a baptism yesterday. the bishop was talking and said that Jesus Christ is in the NAME of the church... but more than that... he is in EVERY ASPECT of this church.  i love this gospel. and jesus christ is it's leader and he is everywhere in it.  i love you! sister ellis Its always hard to say goodbye!! Sister Zoller---My new companion in Pakkret

This week. was fantastic!!!

Oct 26, 2014

this week. was fantastic!!!

a little bit of a strange one. lots of random things happened... like mission tour... lots of random things that we spent a lot of time NOT in our area. (we left about noon on wednesday, got back at exactly 10:30, left at 6 AM on thursday and didn't get back home until around 6 that night. wow.) 

it was a really great meeting. we spent a lot of time talking about the sacrament. and it reminded me of how important it is. not only to remember how important it is as a member that goes to church every week... but.... that sometimes it is hard to remember that when teaching ABOUT the sacrament. it's easy to teach it as a list of things that we to do before they get baptized. but we (especially ME) needs to remember that we are teaching them HOW to worship. we are teaching them what they should expect from church. not just a list of things 'to do'. 

"oh remember, remember!" 

i've been thinking a lot about remembering lately. about how remembering is how we are able to repent. to stay free from sin. it is what alma repeatedly says in his teachings - that he REMEMBERED what the angel said to him. REMEMBER. 

so i'm working on it. remembering. it's hard. 

(says me... the person that has no more brain... my planner has turned into my brain for the last year...) 

i learned something. i want everyone to try it.

it's called "the bus test"

it goes like this: if you can love EVERYONE on a stinky, smelly bus the way that the savior loves them... then you know that you have charity. 

i tried it. it's a pretty hard test. and i had to be brutally honest with myself. cuz honestly... i DON'T always love them all like that. to throw another scripture into support: jesus christ said that we must love people like WE LOVE OURSELVES. and apparently i love myself a lot. 

the rest of the week was good.

:) 

TONY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!

he was... a black horse? if you can call it that... 

he called us this week, telling us that he was back in town and wanted to get baptized. apparently he thought that he just needed to come to church once... but... we knew that WE needed to know how much he believed/remembered/knew. we reviewed... everything. and he remembered it. we just always end up going back to the commandments. in telling him how important it is to keep the commandments... not half heartedly. we need to be avid? extreme? zealous? in keeping the commandments. (sorry if i come back home a zealot family....) he's a flight attendant, so he spends a lot of time in the air, away from home, etc etc etc... but he promised that he would find churches wherever he is. and the cool thing is... he didn't promise us. he knows that this is more than just a commitment to a couple of sister missionaries. it goes way deeper than that. 

i love this work! i love this gospel!!!

and i love YOU.

keep it up.

sister e

Organize my thoughts on a Sticky Note!

Oct 19, 2014

This week. i had to write it all down on a sticky note to help me to organize my thoughts. they were.... all OVER the place. and anyone that knows me... knows how i LOVE my stickies!

some days... i feel like a headless chicken. but for whatever reason... this headless chicken seems to "bump" into a lot of good things. so i've pretty much decided that it has nothing to do with poultry or food production... but a lot more to do with the spirit. 

the cool thing about serving the lord is when you are TRYING to do what god wants... he makes his will simply happen. no matter how much you seem to be bumbling around. 

for example. sometimes my companion and i get a little antsy and want to try new things. he. he. he. so we decided we were going to go try a huge market that is open on weekends. (we think the temptation of going to invite on sundays might be a little too... well... we decided saturday was a better option.) so we go... with the intent to eat lunch. we get there.... and no lunch. or very little as far as edible food options. BUT! we ran into a recent convert while we were there. see? god knows what he is doing. ALL THE TIME. so even when little sister missionaries have a desire to go and see a shopping place... he still makes it worth while. 

it's just funny to me, the things that end up happening in lessons. 

like teaching someone how to pray... and them asking if they can pray for a husband. hmmmmm. 

you can? but.... we couldn't guarantee and answer. it was pretty funny. 

we also got a cd from an investigator. it has 396 songs on it. a pretty hysterical cover... and we can't listen to it. thanks though.

the hardest part of missionary work is stepping back. and letting people make their own choices. but sometimes i feel like it is when we step back, and give people a little space... that god finally has enough room to give us someone else who is ready to learn. it's so weird. sometimes me (as a missionary) tends to cling to what i have. like i won't get anyone else if this person doesn't get baptized!!! but when we finally decided to let our investigator take his time... according to how he felt... we had a random person show up at church! (she showed up a few weeks ago with her dad... neither of them were members... but they were awesome!) she showed back up. and wants to be baptized. WHAT? sometimes i just have to pick my jaw up off of the floor. 

and the second miracle of the day was when a random contact from the bus stop ACTUALLY came to church. AND asked me what it was he had to do to change religions. more sweeping my jaw off the floor. 

that usually happens when god's plan supercedes mine. 

i love this work! it is the coolest! (to use a less than articulate phrase...) 

i love the fact that church in thai has actually become enjoyable... and not just an extended version of my language study. that was probably one of the lightbulb moments for me. was sitting in a gospel doctrine class... and realizing that i UNDERSTOOD what was going on. *fist pump!* 

i loved the lesson from yesterday... we talked about love. 

and i realized how much more love i feel now. unconditional love... that i know isn't innately present within me. it isn't just a natural thing for me to feel. there is a lot of love that is coming from heaven. to help me to know how god feels about his children. 

we read the commandment: to love others like we love ourselves. 

now THAT is something. 

i love myself a lot. i didn't realize it... until i heard that. i do! i think we all do. but how often do i love others as much as i love me? not very often. 

anyway.... i'm working on it. 

love is MORE than a feeling. 

love has a lot more to do with how we act than simply how we feel. if we don't do anything to show our love... it doesn't really have any meaning. 

a really cool thing this week was that mark and boss got confirmed! they both showed up a little late to the meeting... so in all, we had 3 confirmations... that happened at 3 different points in the meeting. ha. 

it was cool to see the change. i don't know if i felt it at 8 years old. it was just natural. but to watch the holy ghost come into the life of someone who hasn't had it before... was an amazing transformation to see. they were definitely the happiest people in the whole church building. 

gosh. i love them!

that is all that i have for today. 

except i wish i could just pour all of the miracles and feelings into this email. 

then everyone would understand. 

but... like moroni... you have to deal with the awkwardness of my hands in typing. (since i only get to practice my typing once a week.) 

hopefully there is something worthwhile in here.

i love you all.

i pray for you. and god is looking out for you.

you just need to ask him for a miracle. and he WILL give it to you! (we prayed for a songtaw today. and we got it 60 seconds later.) 

god is real. he loves us. 

sister ellis

ps. 

we found a new investigator. i don't know if he's interested in the church or my blood.... (if you download this... it is SUPPOSED to be upside down)