My Mission So Far

Imma write about my mission so far because of popular demand.

 

My Mission has been great!

 

OK so now that you all know, haha jk, butseriously!

When I first got to Zwolle, my first city, I was having a hard time probably cause it was a huge change from my laid back MTC life to the lone and dreary world where people rejected me and my companion. It probably also did not help that I left the MTC feeling like I knew the language perfectly and then realizing on my first Sunday at church that I could not understand the members at all. I remember one guy asked if I needed translation, he asked in dutch, I could not understand him so he repeated slowly and I still could not understand him so he asked me in English and I replied oh its OK, I can almost understand everything, which was a lie.

After a while I got used to it and started having fun. There were always ups and downs but I ended up loving my time in Zwolle. While there we taught some really cool people one later got baptized.

I went to Assen and had a rough start finding people to teach. After a while that picked up too and Bernadette was baptized, I really love my time in Assen so much and I got to spend 7 months in that city. I was still a part of the same district with Zwolle so I ended up being in the same District for over a year, half of my mission. In the District are the Van Komens a senior couple who cared for me very well. I really love them and am so thankful to them. They helped me so much and we have a strong bond.

I also had the opportunity to train my son Elder McDaniel who is the man, I learned so much from him as I did from my other companions as well. I then had to leave all my friends and loved ones in Assen to move to Almere. This city is only about 40 years old and is build on the bottom of the sea, thanks to Dikes. It was really weird going there but it did not take long to love it there as well. I met awesome people and had a blast. It might have been the fact that half of the ward was obsessed with Austria being either of Austrian decent or having served a mission there. So I felt welcomed. Unfortunately I had to leave Almere after only 6 weeks but got to go to Rotterdam to be Zone Leader. That was an awesome change. I have wanted to serve in a big city so bad and now I am with a car which sometimes is a little crazy. I have had so much fun. I have learned so much. One of the biggest things I have learned is that the Lord really is involved in this work. You can work as hard as you want but if you don't draw near to the Lord and seek his council and guidance you will not be able to do the work. I would be lost if the spirit was not my constant companion. I have also learned that if you are obedient that the Lord will bless you. Even if the Mission President asked you to do something that you think is not gonna be that effective, if you do it and obey the Lord will bless you. I love my mission and sad of the thought of going home, luckily I still have like a year or something like that. I know that God loves us and that he sent his son Jesus Christ to redeem us from sin and death. I know that the Gospel was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God as is the Bible. I love the Lord and the Scriptures and I love the people whom I serve. I know these things not because of the proof or worldly evidence but because of the power of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit has testified to me, if any of you do not have this witness ask God for the truth with an open heart and real intent and I promise that he will let you know the truth of all things through the power of the Holy Ghost. I love you all. Thank you for all the support and the love that flows my way. It also flows back.

Much Everlasting Love

                                    Elder Ellis

Spring

Hello

 

It has been so nice except that one day the weather is super nice and the other day its super cold, so the change is sometimes not fun.

We had a nice Easter lunch on P-day with a member girl, the senior missionary couple came and also the Portuguese Elders. It was super fun and delicious.

She invited us for next p-day too to have some burgers. She is super nice.

We have two Chinese members who are here in the Netherlands studying and they are so cool and we meet with them once a week. One of them is going to Salzburg Austria on vacation next week. Cool.

So there is a family who we have dinner with every week and they are so much fun, Family Van Den Herik. They make really good food. Well all the members make really good food so that is good. I can´t complain.

We had a cool Zone Leader Council on Wednesday and my man Elder Davies and Elder Van De Graaff were there so it was a blast.

We had a funeral service of a brother from the ward. It was a very nice service and the talks that were given were very good and comforting. The Brother was such a cool guy and so funny, he always greeted everyone on Sunday so we will miss him. His name is Brother Lutgins.

Saturday was a crazy day, we had four appointments one after the other on the same street so in the time in between we just did some more contacting. It was a cool day.

On Sunday there was a marathon so the whole city was blocked off which made it very difficult to get to places. So that was fun especially in a car. Well That is about the week. I love you all.

Much Love Elder Ellis.

Happy Easter

Hey Happy Easter to everybody.

 

I am so grateful for the atonement and Jesus Christ being willing to make that sacrifice. We had a fantastic Sunday. Church was really good and we got to listen to some really good talks. The spirit was strong all day yesterday. Today we had lunch with a girl from our ward, the Portuguese Elders came and the senior couple Andersons. It was super fun and the food was good.

Oh before I forget, Esmeray was baptized on Saturday, she has been an investigator for a while but honestly now that she is baptized the time does not matter anymore. At her baptism a lot of people came that I knew from Zwolle and Assen. It was cool. At the Easter Concert yesterday I saw some members from Almere.

Elder Pelaquim is super cool he is one of the Portuguese Elders and working in the same city can be super fun at times.

So this past week was not the best in one certain aspect. More than half of our Investigators were impossible to get a hold of because there were phone problems in the whole country. It really stunk cause we lost contact with some people. I hope that we can get in contact with them this week. Well its been a great week. I love you all and I miss you very much.

I have to go, I´ll try saving more time on P-days to write better e-mails.

Much Love Elder Ellis

GC was awesome!

Hey Everybody

 

I am doing good! So no worries there and I for sure hope that everybody else is doing good too.

General Conference was awesome like always and so inspiring. I learned so much. One of our amazing investigators came and he really liked it and I just exploded of joy inside every time I saw him nod his head at something one of the speakers said.

My new comp Elder Da Cruz is awesome its hilarious cause he speaks like 5 languages and every time he talks to someone in French, Spanish, or Portuguese I just stand there and look around day dreaming about Golf, no jk I think of stuff like what I will say in a certain lesson or how I should just leave the conversation and talk to all the other souls around me. Yeah I really am a missionary now. Well most the people we run into (not with the car, I am talking about when we are walking and not literally running into them its just an expression OK) so one day we contact a guy and he just replied "Deutsch" I could not believe it I rejoiced inside that I would finally be able to use a language that my companion did not speak. I started talking to the guy in German when I realized that  have failed in keeping up my German, I am sure he got the gist of the message. Elder Da Cruz now for the first time knows what its like to not know whats going on. Well it has been a good week. The spirit is real and does guide us if we listen. General Conference is so cool and so important. We claim to have a prophet and apostles receiving divine revelation and they do, we must listen and follow their council. Think of the people who would do anything to listen to God's voice. We have so why not share it and feast upon the words of living day prophets.

I love you all and wish you the best Easter while our thoughts are centered around Christ and his atoning sacrifice.

Love Elder Ellis