Alright, well this week has been pretty amazing. There is so much to talk about again so I will do the best I can. This week I have focused much more on relying on the spirit for the language....because the language is still very hard. But since I have been relying on the spirit I have noticed an immense change in my understanding of the language, I am understanding things people say that I haven't ever studied before (that is all the spirits help). The weather continues to be perfect here and the sun is really growing on me, there is just tad bit more here than there is back in Oregon ;). The area I live and serve in is called Irvine, it is one of the nicest cities around, everybody here is pretty affluent and some of the cars that drive by you only see in movies...they are very nice. Ok, well putting all of that aside, the missionary work has been amazing. We have two investigators we contacted last week, I think I talked about them in the last letter but their names are David and Jerry Ong. They are both very sincere and honest people, we had an appointment with Jerry and when we got there we saw his dad David was there as well! So we taught both of them and the spirit was so strong. We committed them to a baptismal date of AUG 14th and they accepted!! The lord has blessed me in so many ways just in the short time I have been out and I am truly humbled and amazed. We ran into a couple people where we contacted and the spirit was so strong and you could see that they recognized the importance of the message but they didn't accept, my companion would get kind of annoyed because they didn't set a return appointment and it wouldn't count in our numbers....I think that is one thing I have realized and believe myself is that it is not only about numbers. If I could just make someone smile or have a better day or know the love Jesus Christ has for them, and then I have done my job, I can't be anything but happy, because I helped bring happiness into someone else’s life. I have noticed down here in southern California there are a lot of churches that preach anti-Mormon, and this week alone I have been called numerous names and cuss words, been told that I am brainwashed, and told that I belong to a cult. I definitely have needed the lord’s comfort through that because it wasn't something I have quite yet experienced, it kind of shocked me. But I have learned that those people don't truly mean what they are saying because they have just lost sight of things. The scriptures have definitely given me lots of comfort because I read the stories of prophets of old that went through tough things and how they got through it, and it always turns back to faith in the Lord and keep your focus on what the Lord would have you do.
I talked to one of the presidency of the stake and he told me he knows the reason I was chosen to come here. I was confused so I asked him about it; this is what he told me. 'This Chinese branch is brand new; it started in November and hasn't been growing that much. The members were getting kind of down on the fact that they had no missionaries and it wasn't really growing like they thought it would. In January we thought and planned a Chinese New Year activity where we could invite as many people as possible to try and grow the branch. We had a fireside a week before that New Year’s party and I was speaking. While I was speaking I had the distinct impression to tell them that if they tried their hardest and got as many people to come to this Chinese new year’s event as possible, then their branch would start to grow, I was then prompted to say and by the end of the year you will have two Chinese speaking missionaries for your branch." He said that everyone didn't believe him because there was no way they were getting missionaries for their branch. Then he told me "Elder Ellis, you are who the spirit told me would come". I still don't really know what to think about all that but it was a story that I thought you would all like to hear, because the Lord truly works in amazing ways :) I am so grateful for this Gospel and for the love and strength the Lord continues to give me. I love you all and I am so happy I am on my mission serving these people and serving the Lord, there is no greater work I could be doing :), until next letter. Zaijian!
Elder Joshua Ellis
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
July 20, 2010
Nimen hao! (Hello everyone)!
Alright, well i have so much to say, but luckily i have much more time out in the mission field and not just 30 minutes to read and type! Well, i guess to start off, my companion and I woke up at 4 in the morning on the 13th to get our things situated and ready. We loaded the bus and headed for the airport, i can say that it felt very weird being outside of the MTC and seeing cars and city haha. We got to the airport and both my bags made the weight check (phew). It was a relatively short flight but it was nice. We arrived at John Wayne airport and the weather was perfect! I have got to say that the weather here is pretty amazing...and it is like this all year round! Well anyway we met my mission president and his wife and two other missionaries. This is the crazy part...we were talking to our misson president and he told me and elder mensink (my MTC companion) that we were the pioneers of mandarin missionaries in this mission!!! We are the first mandarin missionaries called to this mission. It is a little intimidating, but i am still excited. We went to the mission presidents house and there we had interviews and then were paired up with our new companions. My companion' name is Elder Chang, he is from toronto, canada, and he is serving with me in the Yale branch (or the chinese branch). He was called spanish speaking for his mission and studied spanish for 9 weeks in the MTC but they switched him to mandarin speaking because he knows mandarin and cantonese. For about a year he has been teaching all the chinese investigators by himself because none of his companions spoke chinese. He is an awesome elder and we get along very well. Elder mensink got paired up with an english elder and they are both teaching and speaking and teaching in english, so as of right now it is only myself and elder chang teaching and finding chinese people. The first day Elder Chang took me to a door and said "you got this one", and a little asian girl answered the door....it was an experience let me tell you, she talked circles around me in chinese (she was from taiwan). We have been having so many amazing experiences already!! My chinese is improving...slowly but improving nonetheless. The second day i was here we were tracting and talking to people, we were about to go back to our car but i had a feeling we should talk to this one chinese man getting his mail. Turns out he was way excited to hear the message of this gospel and he came to church on sunday and we already taught him the first lesson! He is an amazing man, his name is David Ong. There is so much more that has happened that the lord has blessed me with but i think i can sum it up by saying just these past few days i have been here with my companion we have taught more, found more, and had more success than they have had in about a year. I am absolutely amazed at the lords love and how he will turly bless us if we are doing the right things and constantly trying to help other people. I can also say I am excited because I am already getting tan ;), and i have still have a long time here! Well anyway, i met the presdent of our chinese branch and he is such an amazing guy! He is so fun and probably has the most unique and coolest laugh i have ever heard. This sunday i had my first experience of being in a chinese ward, and i was surprised with how much i could pick out but my head was hurting afterward because it is still very hard for me. I think one thing i have focused on for my mission is that I want to give everyone an opportunity to hear the gospel, no matter who they are, what they say, or what they seem like. Even if they are rude or don't want it, I believe everyone at least needs a chance to hear this message, because I know how important it is to me and how much it will affect and bless everyones lives. Sorry for this letter being all over the place but I am summing up a billion things in one email. But one other thing, we have cars in this mission and particualrly for us chinese missionaries because we are allowed to travel anywhere in the mission boundaries to find chinese people. Within this past week i have already been to about every area of our mission boundaries! Well, I want everyone to know I love it hear and I am so excited to continue my missionary work for these people in this mission. I know this gospel is true with all my heart. I know Jesus Christ lives and Heavenly Father lives and they love everyone. I know that families can be together forever through this Gospel. I know we have a living prophet on this earth that gives us guidance and direction from the Lord. I love you all for the examples you have set to me! Until next letter, Zaijian!
Alright, well i have so much to say, but luckily i have much more time out in the mission field and not just 30 minutes to read and type! Well, i guess to start off, my companion and I woke up at 4 in the morning on the 13th to get our things situated and ready. We loaded the bus and headed for the airport, i can say that it felt very weird being outside of the MTC and seeing cars and city haha. We got to the airport and both my bags made the weight check (phew). It was a relatively short flight but it was nice. We arrived at John Wayne airport and the weather was perfect! I have got to say that the weather here is pretty amazing...and it is like this all year round! Well anyway we met my mission president and his wife and two other missionaries. This is the crazy part...we were talking to our misson president and he told me and elder mensink (my MTC companion) that we were the pioneers of mandarin missionaries in this mission!!! We are the first mandarin missionaries called to this mission. It is a little intimidating, but i am still excited. We went to the mission presidents house and there we had interviews and then were paired up with our new companions. My companion' name is Elder Chang, he is from toronto, canada, and he is serving with me in the Yale branch (or the chinese branch). He was called spanish speaking for his mission and studied spanish for 9 weeks in the MTC but they switched him to mandarin speaking because he knows mandarin and cantonese. For about a year he has been teaching all the chinese investigators by himself because none of his companions spoke chinese. He is an awesome elder and we get along very well. Elder mensink got paired up with an english elder and they are both teaching and speaking and teaching in english, so as of right now it is only myself and elder chang teaching and finding chinese people. The first day Elder Chang took me to a door and said "you got this one", and a little asian girl answered the door....it was an experience let me tell you, she talked circles around me in chinese (she was from taiwan). We have been having so many amazing experiences already!! My chinese is improving...slowly but improving nonetheless. The second day i was here we were tracting and talking to people, we were about to go back to our car but i had a feeling we should talk to this one chinese man getting his mail. Turns out he was way excited to hear the message of this gospel and he came to church on sunday and we already taught him the first lesson! He is an amazing man, his name is David Ong. There is so much more that has happened that the lord has blessed me with but i think i can sum it up by saying just these past few days i have been here with my companion we have taught more, found more, and had more success than they have had in about a year. I am absolutely amazed at the lords love and how he will turly bless us if we are doing the right things and constantly trying to help other people. I can also say I am excited because I am already getting tan ;), and i have still have a long time here! Well anyway, i met the presdent of our chinese branch and he is such an amazing guy! He is so fun and probably has the most unique and coolest laugh i have ever heard. This sunday i had my first experience of being in a chinese ward, and i was surprised with how much i could pick out but my head was hurting afterward because it is still very hard for me. I think one thing i have focused on for my mission is that I want to give everyone an opportunity to hear the gospel, no matter who they are, what they say, or what they seem like. Even if they are rude or don't want it, I believe everyone at least needs a chance to hear this message, because I know how important it is to me and how much it will affect and bless everyones lives. Sorry for this letter being all over the place but I am summing up a billion things in one email. But one other thing, we have cars in this mission and particualrly for us chinese missionaries because we are allowed to travel anywhere in the mission boundaries to find chinese people. Within this past week i have already been to about every area of our mission boundaries! Well, I want everyone to know I love it hear and I am so excited to continue my missionary work for these people in this mission. I know this gospel is true with all my heart. I know Jesus Christ lives and Heavenly Father lives and they love everyone. I know that families can be together forever through this Gospel. I know we have a living prophet on this earth that gives us guidance and direction from the Lord. I love you all for the examples you have set to me! Until next letter, Zaijian!
Monday, July 19, 2010
July 12, 2010
Hey everyone!!!
Well this last week here at the MTC has flown by! I made a huge push on diligence this week and try my hardest to finish out strong. It has been a little hard to focus sometimes because the filed is almost there! But i have been able to mostly keep myself focused. This week I have focused a lot on praying, and thinking of how sincere my prayers really are. I realized that my parayers can definitely be more sincere, so i have been working on that. I am so anxious and excited to go to California, I can't wait to serve the people in that area. I talked to a senior missionary last night, she is japanese and is from irvine california, which is in my mission and is probably the place i will spend the most time because that is where most of the chinese people are. She told me and my companion that the population in the city of irvine is over 200,000 people! That shocked me given how irvine really isn't that big at all. Last night we had our departure devotional and they gave us all the goodbye talks and advice, at the end of the meeting Presdient smith (the MTC president) stood up and said "This is a little out of the ordinary, but i want you to know that tonight for the fireside that when an apostle walks into the room, we all stand" and then he sat down. So at the fireside we got good seats and were all excited only to see on the screen Jenny Oaks Baker, we had no idea who that was and were kind of dissapointed but later found out that is Elder Dallin H. Oaks' daughter. Dallin H. Oaks came :) :). It was an amazing fireside even though Elder oaks didn't even sit on the stand. SIster Baker is one of the most accomplished violinists in the united states and she played and it was beautiful. Other than all that, we had our final TA(Teaching Appointment) this past week. It went very well and the spirit was so strong, I know that with a surety of my heart that this Gospel is the only true gospel on this earth. The book of mormon is the word of god and joseph smith was a true prophet of god. He saw heavenly father and Jesus Christ and recieved the guidance to restore the true church back on the earth. It is true. Packing all my things has been a weird feeling. I remember the first couple of weeks i thought i was going to die in the MTC but now it has grown on me and i am going to miss it here. I have learned so much here in the short 12 weeks i have been here. I have learned so much more about the gospel and so much about myself. I am so grateful for all the blessings the lord has given me and continues to give me. I know anyone can know the truth of this gospel as long as they read the Book of Mormon and pray to god with a SINCERE heart, with real intent to ACT on the answer they receive, and reading the Book of Mormon will bless everyones life so much more than you can see or imagine. The lord is waiting to give people the answer, we all have to do our part and study and read and ponder and then he will tell us the truth of it all through the Holy Ghost. I love you all and thank you all for all the support you constantly give me. I will talk to all next time from California!
Elder Joshua Ellis
Well this last week here at the MTC has flown by! I made a huge push on diligence this week and try my hardest to finish out strong. It has been a little hard to focus sometimes because the filed is almost there! But i have been able to mostly keep myself focused. This week I have focused a lot on praying, and thinking of how sincere my prayers really are. I realized that my parayers can definitely be more sincere, so i have been working on that. I am so anxious and excited to go to California, I can't wait to serve the people in that area. I talked to a senior missionary last night, she is japanese and is from irvine california, which is in my mission and is probably the place i will spend the most time because that is where most of the chinese people are. She told me and my companion that the population in the city of irvine is over 200,000 people! That shocked me given how irvine really isn't that big at all. Last night we had our departure devotional and they gave us all the goodbye talks and advice, at the end of the meeting Presdient smith (the MTC president) stood up and said "This is a little out of the ordinary, but i want you to know that tonight for the fireside that when an apostle walks into the room, we all stand" and then he sat down. So at the fireside we got good seats and were all excited only to see on the screen Jenny Oaks Baker, we had no idea who that was and were kind of dissapointed but later found out that is Elder Dallin H. Oaks' daughter. Dallin H. Oaks came :) :). It was an amazing fireside even though Elder oaks didn't even sit on the stand. SIster Baker is one of the most accomplished violinists in the united states and she played and it was beautiful. Other than all that, we had our final TA(Teaching Appointment) this past week. It went very well and the spirit was so strong, I know that with a surety of my heart that this Gospel is the only true gospel on this earth. The book of mormon is the word of god and joseph smith was a true prophet of god. He saw heavenly father and Jesus Christ and recieved the guidance to restore the true church back on the earth. It is true. Packing all my things has been a weird feeling. I remember the first couple of weeks i thought i was going to die in the MTC but now it has grown on me and i am going to miss it here. I have learned so much here in the short 12 weeks i have been here. I have learned so much more about the gospel and so much about myself. I am so grateful for all the blessings the lord has given me and continues to give me. I know anyone can know the truth of this gospel as long as they read the Book of Mormon and pray to god with a SINCERE heart, with real intent to ACT on the answer they receive, and reading the Book of Mormon will bless everyones life so much more than you can see or imagine. The lord is waiting to give people the answer, we all have to do our part and study and read and ponder and then he will tell us the truth of it all through the Holy Ghost. I love you all and thank you all for all the support you constantly give me. I will talk to all next time from California!
Elder Joshua Ellis
Monday, July 5, 2010
July 5, 2010
Hey everyone!
Alright well this week has been a very interesting and difficult week for me. It started out great and I was learning a ton and on Wednesday I didn't feel so well, but i didn't want anything getting in the way of my study so i pushed it off. But i started to feel worse so i decided to go to the health clinic. While i was there they told me i had no fever therefore i am fine....(we've heard that one before right mom and dad?). Well the next day i felt even worse so i went back only to find out i had a temperature of 102. Massive headaches, chills, and nauseous. Well they swabbed my throat, drew my blood and gave me a shot to ease the nauseousness....but i ended up throwing up in the room right after they gave me the shot. The were going to put me in the sick bay but had no more room so they sent me back to my dorm. I slept for two days throwing up and still high fever so I asked for a priesthood blessing and a day later it was all gone! I am feeling much better now though :). Besides all that my the rest of my week went much better. This week during our TA (Teaching Appointment) we were teaching a Chinese teacher the 1st lesson in Chinese, we were told to teach them as they are so we didn't need to act like they were an investigator. My companion and I couldn't think of what we should focus on for her so i said a prayer and after i did i had a feeling we should talk about how much influence she has on missionaries and that through her teaching those missionaries she helps so many more people than she can even realize. After we taught her she started to cry and said we exactly the thing she had been focusing on all week on and she said she had been praying for help and we were her answer. I continue to be amazed at how beautiful and special the Holy Ghost is. Also this week a member of my district already left for his mission in new york so i have become the new district leader for this last week! Only a week of it but it is fun nonetheless. I am happy to be healthy again and back on my feet so that i can get back into it all and continue to serve the lord and my fellowmen :)! I love you all! I received my flight plans this week!! I leave next Tuesday for CALIFORNIA!!!!
Dad- Thank you so much for the Spongebob flip flops (even though they fit my right toe :) I absolutely love the towel as well! I love you and all the camping times we had together, even if i had to wake you up in the wee hours ;)
Mom - Thank you so much for the package and the dictionaries!!!!!!!! Yes i got to watch the fireworks that night! It was pretty fun! I love you.
Hailee - I haven't heard from you in a while? How are you? I bet you are still doing awesome
Aaron - I am almost there!!!! Into the mission field!!!
Alright well this week has been a very interesting and difficult week for me. It started out great and I was learning a ton and on Wednesday I didn't feel so well, but i didn't want anything getting in the way of my study so i pushed it off. But i started to feel worse so i decided to go to the health clinic. While i was there they told me i had no fever therefore i am fine....(we've heard that one before right mom and dad?). Well the next day i felt even worse so i went back only to find out i had a temperature of 102. Massive headaches, chills, and nauseous. Well they swabbed my throat, drew my blood and gave me a shot to ease the nauseousness....but i ended up throwing up in the room right after they gave me the shot. The were going to put me in the sick bay but had no more room so they sent me back to my dorm. I slept for two days throwing up and still high fever so I asked for a priesthood blessing and a day later it was all gone! I am feeling much better now though :). Besides all that my the rest of my week went much better. This week during our TA (Teaching Appointment) we were teaching a Chinese teacher the 1st lesson in Chinese, we were told to teach them as they are so we didn't need to act like they were an investigator. My companion and I couldn't think of what we should focus on for her so i said a prayer and after i did i had a feeling we should talk about how much influence she has on missionaries and that through her teaching those missionaries she helps so many more people than she can even realize. After we taught her she started to cry and said we exactly the thing she had been focusing on all week on and she said she had been praying for help and we were her answer. I continue to be amazed at how beautiful and special the Holy Ghost is. Also this week a member of my district already left for his mission in new york so i have become the new district leader for this last week! Only a week of it but it is fun nonetheless. I am happy to be healthy again and back on my feet so that i can get back into it all and continue to serve the lord and my fellowmen :)! I love you all! I received my flight plans this week!! I leave next Tuesday for CALIFORNIA!!!!
Dad- Thank you so much for the Spongebob flip flops (even though they fit my right toe :) I absolutely love the towel as well! I love you and all the camping times we had together, even if i had to wake you up in the wee hours ;)
Mom - Thank you so much for the package and the dictionaries!!!!!!!! Yes i got to watch the fireworks that night! It was pretty fun! I love you.
Hailee - I haven't heard from you in a while? How are you? I bet you are still doing awesome
Aaron - I am almost there!!!! Into the mission field!!!
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