Hello everybody!

Well let me start like this..... I am once again staying in Zwolle with Elder Kuttler. I am actually really excited because we are seeing so much success. I think we have found a few who are ready to be baptized, but I do not want to get my hopes up. I just love seeing people apply the gospel into their lives and see it change them. I love the gospel and am so excited to share it with everyone. This past week has been great. The weather is so beautiful and its been warm for like a week straight. Everything is green and alive and flowers everywhere. On Tuesday we were able to go to the Temple of the Lord. It was so nice to go there since I only can go twice a year. It was so much fun to see all the missionaries from all over, well from all over our mission. After the temple we had a picnic and then a zone conference. We then went to the famous Keukenhof where they have all the beautiful flowers and tulips. It was very fun. We have been teaching a lot of great lessons, and the spirit has been very strong. We have too many investigators to teach that we barely have time to find new investigators. Two of our investigators who we found at the open house are really progressing and are coming to church regularly. One of them made us Indonesian food and it was delicious. We had interviews with the president here in Zwolle and I ate a raw herring (fish) for the first time. It was actually pretty tasty. On Sunday we had five investigators in church. Zwolle is going through a Renaissance.   We hung out with the branch president's family and then had a Sweeet barbecue with family Knarren, a really cool family here in the branch. Today we found out that this transfer is really crazy, there will be a lot of changes in the mission. 

I love you all and miss you. Time is limited and I must go. Elder Ketter is awesome. 

Hallo

Well to first say that this was also a really good week and we really saw success. All week long we have been handing out Invitations for our open house. We looked all the members who are inactive in our area. So there is a guy who is so much like me, so his mother says and he himself. So I think that's cool, too bad we can't just hangout. We taught some really good lessons with the spirit. You know the week was good and all but the highlight was Saturday when we had the open house. Elder Crittenden and Elder Guanuna came down to help us, almost all the members were there. We were not sure as to how many people would come. When we officially started it people just started coming and Elder Kettler and Elder Crittenden started teaching about the Book of Mormon because they had a presentation set up while the other Elder and I stood around and answered questions and handed out materials. It was a beautiful day and we as Elders taught 30 lessons with member present and around 100 people came throughout the 5 hours that we had it for. It was so cool and fun. We got 7 new investigators from it and half of them are really positive. On Sunday two of the new investigators came to church and stayed for all three hours and really liked it and said that they felt something really good. Also on Sunday we were going from door to door in this richer neighborhood and talked to 20 who had no interest. We were about to leave when I saw one more house in the corner which was bigger than all the other houses, first thought was 'na they are to rich' but than I felt the spirit prompting me to go contact them and I had a feeling that they would listen and that they would want to know more. A women opened the door and says that she knows that we are Mormons because her husband was in salt lake city before. She than excepted to learn more about the book of Mormon. We will come back in two weeks to see what she thinks. I hope that she will know that it is a true book. Today is actually not a P-Day except for writing my e-mail, because we are going to the temple tomorrow and than keukenhof which is the place with all the tulips. Well that's about it and that I will probably leave Zwolle in a week and a half. I love you all.

 

Elder Ellis

Hey I'm Still Alive

Hello

 

I am sorry that I did not write yesterday, it was just hard after saving a baby from a burning house to get to a computer on time. No I am just kidding. So we went to the Library yesterday and they said that their computers did not work, they are also the only library in Zwolle that is open on Mondays that we know of. Yeah so I am writing today. I am sorry if any of you were worried but you don't ever need to worry because whatever happens happens and I'll be fine. So Last Monday night we had a good lesson with an investigator who supposedly did not like being taught (according to the teaching record) but we have been teaching her and she likes it and even wants to pray to see if what we say is true. Tuesday we just had the sweetest District meeting again and after, we went on exchanges. I went back to Zwolle with Elder Crittenden. We had a really good hour of finding going along some doors. We taught 3 lessons in one hour and we taught in perfect unity, the spirit was so strong and we just had fun. One of the guys we taught opened the door and started talking bad about us and that we are from Salt Lake, we however just asked him well what have you heard and turned it into a conversation, he ended up softening his heart and we had a good talk. He changed from being mad to happy and joking around with us, even if he did not want to accept our message now we sure made his day better. We went to an investigators house and listened to some of the rap that he makes, it was sweet ( yeah I know I sould not listen to music like that but it was for an investigator). We had a sweet lesson, well more of a what we all want to do in the future. It was just such a fun lesson. We than rushed to the next appointment to a sweet surfer guy. We ate dinner with him and talked about the book of Mormon. So Elder Crittenden got home a little late and around at 10 before we were about to go to bed someone rang on our door and I picked up the phone thingy and a voice said "Its Elder Kettler let me in" He than ran up and started telling us that Elder Crittendens Comp, a greany, ran away and that he has the phone. We like freaked out and went to call the Mission President but he than said  "No I am just kidding" What really happened was that Elder Kettler and Elder Guanuna left their phone at a members house and when they were on their way home they realized that Elder Crittenden who was with me had the keys to their apartment. So they could not call us so they just came to Zwolle. The other apartment is over an hour away in Heerenveen or something like that. So we were laughing about what happened and talked a little to loud that one of our neighbours came and complained. We had a sick sleepover. The next morning we just had a big study together. After X-changes Elder Kettler got sick and at the end of the week I got it too. We have been working on giving invitations out to inactive members for the open house for our new church building. It was a good rest of the week and yesterday was a really warm day. Well I miss you all love you all.

 

Love Elder Ellis

Noch eine Woche

Hello

 

Man it has been such wonderful weather and actually really warm, except for a couple of days when it rained. The district I am in is so cool. It may be small but it is awesome. We always have to take a train up to Groningen which is an hour away but when we get there the van Komens (the senior couple) always have a delicious lunch prepared or I help till it is prepared. We had a great lesson with two of our investigators and one of them is 15 and wants to be a rapper so I think that's awesome cause I see myself a few years ago. We had a sweet lesson with a guy who owns a skate shop and who has backpacked the world and I would love to do that also but instead I just backpack the Netherlands. It is always sad when you have to drop someone because they are not making progress or are no longer interested. We had a few this week. Just to be honest we have really cool investigators and I am so happy for them that they are excepting the message from Jesus Christ. One of our investigators came to 30 minutes of the Saturday general conference. General Conference was so cool and it was like the Superbowl of missionaries. There were so many cool things said and I felt the spirit strong and sitting in Apeldoorn with almost all the other missionaries from our zone and Elder Brown who was my MTC comp. It was fun. 

I have been asking myself "Do I support the Prophet and the Apostles and all the other general authorities? Then why don't I do all the things they say. It is revelation from God." I am now working on applying all the things they have counseled on in my life. It won't happen in a day but it is a process that will take this whole life time. We are not on this world to be good people but to become perfect like Jesus Christ. I know we cannot become perfect while on this earth but we can work and do to come closer. I like how in conference it was said that being a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not easy, that is because much is required of us. Well I am learning how to work harder on becoming more Christ like and am setting my faith on the foundation of Christ. As I was writing my email to the Mission president someone next to me was reading what I wrote on my screen and he saw"The Book of Mormon" so he asked about it and then like him and another guy where kind of talking bad about us and our faith around a lot of other people also being in the library but I just thought of the wonderful truths that I know of and I got a warm feeling inside and I felt sorrow for them, my comp and I tried to share the wonderful message with them but it did not work. I however did not feel ashamed. Why? Because I know what we were sharing with them was true. Its like in the dream of Lehi where the people who partook of the fruit looked around in shame but we have no need to be ashamed. I am happy to be on a mission and to have the gift of the constant companion that is only through the power of the Priesthood to be able to be given. I Love this work. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he has restored his church again through the prophet Joseph Smith, I know that this missionary work is the most important work besides temple work. We are all missionaries like it was said in the conference "something like this "Share the gospel and if use words". I will let people learn from the example I am in living the Gospel, I leave my testimony with all of you in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

Elder Ellis