Dear Friends and Family,
I do believe we are all caught up. :) If you know Ethan well, you know he doesn't love really long conversations or meetings that go too long. It seems like he had several of those this week. :)
Hello Everyone,
Monday was not p day because it's transfer week. In the morning we went and visited some RCs who are a couple that a friend of mine, Elder Jorgensen baptized. They were a referral from their daughter who was baptized in Japan and we went over there kind of unannounced, but they were already awake so it was okay. We went and talked to them for a long time. They just kept talking. It was a long appointment. After that we got a lot of bills paid because we had some bills that were due, got some mail sent in with some baptismal records that are important, and then we made our way over to a mall where we met with an RC and his friend who we're teaching. That was also very, very, very long but it was okay. After that we got home and did our personal study as well as ate some lunch. We did a bunch of inviting and talked to a bunch of people and taught our friend, Phonphang. Then we had dinner at a member's house that night to kind of close out the night. It was really fun except that our investigators, that we wanted to come, couldn't come to that dinner so it was really sad.
On Tuesday we met with an investigator first thing in the morning, had English planning and then we went and saw an RC. She's just bright and happy and good as ever. We also had our personal study and we district council meeting which was way, way long; way longer than it needed to be. We got some lunch which was pizza and that was way fun. After that we went finding, finished our studies and had English class. Pretty run of the mill Tuesday I guess.
Then we got transfer calls and surprise! Elder Ferrence and and I are staying another transfer together, which means this is the first transfer in 14 that I have not had a new companion (sometimes I've stayed with a companion but we've added a third). Crazy, huh?
Wednesday (p-day) we did not really do anything. Ran in the morning, went to the computer lab, got some way good burgers for lunch, came back, took a nap basically. That evening we invited a little bit and went and saw an RC who's just so awesome. After that we stopped in on an investigators house and invited around their neighborhood and that was fun. But not very many people were awake at that point though so it was kind of sad.
Thursday we started the new transfer. We started it off with a lot of stuff in our house going wrong. Wednesday night our air conditioner started leaking a lot. Thursday morning we had some dudes come over and fix that, which meant we had to sit there and watch them and we couldn't do anything else. We got some English stuff ready to go. And then we were doing weekly planning. We called an investigator and he was like, well can you meet us right now? We're like, all right, let's go meet you right now. So we went and met him and he is really good except he's pretty committed to being Buddhist, doesn't want to be baptized. We're working with him. After that we came home, did some studies and then we taught one of our daters. That took a long time cause this dude just talked for forever. Like forever. I feel like his house is the twilight zone because it's always so quiet and just, just takes forever in there. Then we went to the church and met with a few PIs, one who is leaving for Tennessee, so we can't teach him anymore, unfortunately. We had another guy at five o'clock that didn't show up, sadly. We had a big English inviting event where we went to a park, had some passion fruit for free and we just walked around and talked to a lot of people. We passed out a bunch of passion fruit and talked about English class. That was kind of fun. Then we raced off to an appointment with our family, talked with them just for a second, got a return appointment and left to go inviting.
Friday we started the day off at a college inviting kids at the college. Then we went to this LA's house and they weren't really convenient to talk to. We kind of stopped in for just a little bit and then we had to leave and we came home, called some people, did some planning. And then we went to visit an RC briefly, who also wasn't really convenient to talk to us at that point. So we went back to the house because we had some video call meetings that we had to be there for. We ended up being in the house for a really, really long time, just waiting for people to call us and then getting on the video conference calls. We did our personal study and then headed over to our hair cutter dude's place to remind him that we had English class starting Saturday morning cause he said he wanted to go. On the way there we were going through this little street and there's just a bunch of these little dogs just like there always are. In these little streets usually they chase you a little bit and then like, they get lazy and they don't want to chase you because you're on a bike. Anyways, usually those little dogs just don't bother you very much. But this time we're biking and Elder Ferrence was in front of me and they started going after him and I'm thinking, oh great, they're going to see me because I'm closer and because I'm behind him and they're gonna come after me. But they don't, they kind of just keep chasing Elder Ferrence. We get to the end of the sxy (street) and I didn't think anything had happened. But it turns out one of them bit him on his calf and pulled his chain off his bike. So we're at the end of the sxy after they kind of walked away, put the chain back on and left. We taught a dude at this mall and then we called Sister Hammond. And she was like, yeah, you got to go to the hospital right now. Even though he wasn't really bit, so to speak. He was wearing long socks and long pants. And so the dog bit him? Yes, but it never cut through. It never got through the pants, never got through the socks. It was like his tooth like scraped part of the skin off the back of his leg. Cause there was no marks in the pants. There was nothing there. And so I don't know, if it was me, I would have said just whatever, it's fine. But we went to the doctor and now he has to have five different rabies shots. So that'll be fun. And that was kind of the night; we came home and had dinner.
Saturday we got up and moving in the morning. We went inviting, trying to find this dude in the morning and never found him. And then we had some English planning time and then English class at 10 in the morning. We expected to have no one there. But about 15 minutes late, there comes this family and it's the barbershop dude. His name is Yai and it was kind of a little bit awkward because it was just the four missionaries teaching this English class that we're opening on the Saturday. We just opened it this day and they came. He came with his wife and his two little kids and we made the best of it. It was fun. After that we had lunch, set up a new Facebook group for English and got our studies in. We went and visited this investigator with her RC friend and that was good. We then had another hour long lesson with this dater of ours who loves to talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Then we did some finding and found this way cool dude we're going to go see on Tuesday. We had our correlation meaning that night. We had planned to go and see our family again, but Elder Ferrence and I got lost from each other and so that didn't happen.
Sunday suddenly kind of went as Sunday's kind of go where we kind of just run around on the fly and don't really write in our planners very much, which is a habit that we should probably stop. But anyways, we kind of planned out our day, got some ideas. Then we went to church at 9:00. We had three investigators show up and we had some other people that told us they would come later in the day, but then they never showed up, which was really unfortunate. After church we went and visited this RC, because he hasn't been to church and we were afraid that he is losing his conversion, but we went and saw him and he's just sick so we're all good. We came back, had some lunch, did our studies, got some more lunch with another branch. Then we went and visited the older sister of an RC of ours. As he (the RC) is introducing us, we're talking to her and then she leaves and he just goes, " khuṇ khid ẁā ṭhex s̄wy h̄ịm" which in English means do you think she's pretty? And the two of us kind of went, uh, that's not an answer we can give you a pal. And so anyways, he's funny. He's a good RC. After that we spent an hour and a half inviting in this mall, and I found this way, cool dude who's out of a job, been in Chiang Mai for about 10 days and he really wants to learn English and like, improve his life. We've got some good potential here! I'm really looking forward to that. We taught our family that we found and they're just doing great. We brought some members over and they did a fire job of just helping the wife feel fellowshipped and really happy. The husband and us, we're like best buds now, so it's way sick. That was kind of the night. We came home and that was it.
Spiritual thought of the week comes from a BYU talk we read this week, given by President Eyring and this talk is entitled, The Power of Deliverance. The comment that I love in his talk is at the very beginning.
"Today I wish to bear witness of God’s power of deliverance. At some point in our lives we will all need that power. Every person living is in the midst of a test. We have been granted by God the precious gift of life in a world created as a proving ground and a preparatory school. The tests we will face, their severity, their timing, and their duration will be unique for each of us. But two things will be the same for all of us. They are part of the design for mortal life.
First, the tests at times will stretch us enough for us to feel the need for help beyond our own. And, second, God in His kindness and wisdom has made the power of deliverance available to us."- Elder Eyring
We have trials for two reasons. One is to stretch us far enough that we have to reach out for help outside of ourselves. Second that we can gain experience and learn this in his life. And the reason I like that so much is because I just loved the first reason. I think the first reason is so important. It reminds me of all those scriptures in 1st and 2nd Nephi, when Nephi is quoting Isaiah and talking about how Christ is doing this so that we know that it was him that saved us. There was no one else that could help us. This is something I've learned on my mission. It's so important to recognize that without him we can't do the things we do and that's super obvious in the mission field. But I think if we can recognize it in everyday life as well, that without him there is nothing we can do. That would just give us so much better focus on everything. So the reason we have trials is so you remember that it's only through God that we can get through them and that's it.
Over and out. Hope everyone has a good week.
Elder Ellsworth
I do believe we are all caught up. :) If you know Ethan well, you know he doesn't love really long conversations or meetings that go too long. It seems like he had several of those this week. :)
Hello Everyone,
Monday was not p day because it's transfer week. In the morning we went and visited some RCs who are a couple that a friend of mine, Elder Jorgensen baptized. They were a referral from their daughter who was baptized in Japan and we went over there kind of unannounced, but they were already awake so it was okay. We went and talked to them for a long time. They just kept talking. It was a long appointment. After that we got a lot of bills paid because we had some bills that were due, got some mail sent in with some baptismal records that are important, and then we made our way over to a mall where we met with an RC and his friend who we're teaching. That was also very, very, very long but it was okay. After that we got home and did our personal study as well as ate some lunch. We did a bunch of inviting and talked to a bunch of people and taught our friend, Phonphang. Then we had dinner at a member's house that night to kind of close out the night. It was really fun except that our investigators, that we wanted to come, couldn't come to that dinner so it was really sad.
On Tuesday we met with an investigator first thing in the morning, had English planning and then we went and saw an RC. She's just bright and happy and good as ever. We also had our personal study and we district council meeting which was way, way long; way longer than it needed to be. We got some lunch which was pizza and that was way fun. After that we went finding, finished our studies and had English class. Pretty run of the mill Tuesday I guess.
Then we got transfer calls and surprise! Elder Ferrence and and I are staying another transfer together, which means this is the first transfer in 14 that I have not had a new companion (sometimes I've stayed with a companion but we've added a third). Crazy, huh?
Wednesday (p-day) we did not really do anything. Ran in the morning, went to the computer lab, got some way good burgers for lunch, came back, took a nap basically. That evening we invited a little bit and went and saw an RC who's just so awesome. After that we stopped in on an investigators house and invited around their neighborhood and that was fun. But not very many people were awake at that point though so it was kind of sad.
Thursday we started the new transfer. We started it off with a lot of stuff in our house going wrong. Wednesday night our air conditioner started leaking a lot. Thursday morning we had some dudes come over and fix that, which meant we had to sit there and watch them and we couldn't do anything else. We got some English stuff ready to go. And then we were doing weekly planning. We called an investigator and he was like, well can you meet us right now? We're like, all right, let's go meet you right now. So we went and met him and he is really good except he's pretty committed to being Buddhist, doesn't want to be baptized. We're working with him. After that we came home, did some studies and then we taught one of our daters. That took a long time cause this dude just talked for forever. Like forever. I feel like his house is the twilight zone because it's always so quiet and just, just takes forever in there. Then we went to the church and met with a few PIs, one who is leaving for Tennessee, so we can't teach him anymore, unfortunately. We had another guy at five o'clock that didn't show up, sadly. We had a big English inviting event where we went to a park, had some passion fruit for free and we just walked around and talked to a lot of people. We passed out a bunch of passion fruit and talked about English class. That was kind of fun. Then we raced off to an appointment with our family, talked with them just for a second, got a return appointment and left to go inviting.
Friday we started the day off at a college inviting kids at the college. Then we went to this LA's house and they weren't really convenient to talk to. We kind of stopped in for just a little bit and then we had to leave and we came home, called some people, did some planning. And then we went to visit an RC briefly, who also wasn't really convenient to talk to us at that point. So we went back to the house because we had some video call meetings that we had to be there for. We ended up being in the house for a really, really long time, just waiting for people to call us and then getting on the video conference calls. We did our personal study and then headed over to our hair cutter dude's place to remind him that we had English class starting Saturday morning cause he said he wanted to go. On the way there we were going through this little street and there's just a bunch of these little dogs just like there always are. In these little streets usually they chase you a little bit and then like, they get lazy and they don't want to chase you because you're on a bike. Anyways, usually those little dogs just don't bother you very much. But this time we're biking and Elder Ferrence was in front of me and they started going after him and I'm thinking, oh great, they're going to see me because I'm closer and because I'm behind him and they're gonna come after me. But they don't, they kind of just keep chasing Elder Ferrence. We get to the end of the sxy (street) and I didn't think anything had happened. But it turns out one of them bit him on his calf and pulled his chain off his bike. So we're at the end of the sxy after they kind of walked away, put the chain back on and left. We taught a dude at this mall and then we called Sister Hammond. And she was like, yeah, you got to go to the hospital right now. Even though he wasn't really bit, so to speak. He was wearing long socks and long pants. And so the dog bit him? Yes, but it never cut through. It never got through the pants, never got through the socks. It was like his tooth like scraped part of the skin off the back of his leg. Cause there was no marks in the pants. There was nothing there. And so I don't know, if it was me, I would have said just whatever, it's fine. But we went to the doctor and now he has to have five different rabies shots. So that'll be fun. And that was kind of the night; we came home and had dinner.
Saturday we got up and moving in the morning. We went inviting, trying to find this dude in the morning and never found him. And then we had some English planning time and then English class at 10 in the morning. We expected to have no one there. But about 15 minutes late, there comes this family and it's the barbershop dude. His name is Yai and it was kind of a little bit awkward because it was just the four missionaries teaching this English class that we're opening on the Saturday. We just opened it this day and they came. He came with his wife and his two little kids and we made the best of it. It was fun. After that we had lunch, set up a new Facebook group for English and got our studies in. We went and visited this investigator with her RC friend and that was good. We then had another hour long lesson with this dater of ours who loves to talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. Then we did some finding and found this way cool dude we're going to go see on Tuesday. We had our correlation meaning that night. We had planned to go and see our family again, but Elder Ferrence and I got lost from each other and so that didn't happen.
Sunday suddenly kind of went as Sunday's kind of go where we kind of just run around on the fly and don't really write in our planners very much, which is a habit that we should probably stop. But anyways, we kind of planned out our day, got some ideas. Then we went to church at 9:00. We had three investigators show up and we had some other people that told us they would come later in the day, but then they never showed up, which was really unfortunate. After church we went and visited this RC, because he hasn't been to church and we were afraid that he is losing his conversion, but we went and saw him and he's just sick so we're all good. We came back, had some lunch, did our studies, got some more lunch with another branch. Then we went and visited the older sister of an RC of ours. As he (the RC) is introducing us, we're talking to her and then she leaves and he just goes, " khuṇ khid ẁā ṭhex s̄wy h̄ịm" which in English means do you think she's pretty? And the two of us kind of went, uh, that's not an answer we can give you a pal. And so anyways, he's funny. He's a good RC. After that we spent an hour and a half inviting in this mall, and I found this way, cool dude who's out of a job, been in Chiang Mai for about 10 days and he really wants to learn English and like, improve his life. We've got some good potential here! I'm really looking forward to that. We taught our family that we found and they're just doing great. We brought some members over and they did a fire job of just helping the wife feel fellowshipped and really happy. The husband and us, we're like best buds now, so it's way sick. That was kind of the night. We came home and that was it.
Spiritual thought of the week comes from a BYU talk we read this week, given by President Eyring and this talk is entitled, The Power of Deliverance. The comment that I love in his talk is at the very beginning.
"Today I wish to bear witness of God’s power of deliverance. At some point in our lives we will all need that power. Every person living is in the midst of a test. We have been granted by God the precious gift of life in a world created as a proving ground and a preparatory school. The tests we will face, their severity, their timing, and their duration will be unique for each of us. But two things will be the same for all of us. They are part of the design for mortal life.
First, the tests at times will stretch us enough for us to feel the need for help beyond our own. And, second, God in His kindness and wisdom has made the power of deliverance available to us."- Elder Eyring
We have trials for two reasons. One is to stretch us far enough that we have to reach out for help outside of ourselves. Second that we can gain experience and learn this in his life. And the reason I like that so much is because I just loved the first reason. I think the first reason is so important. It reminds me of all those scriptures in 1st and 2nd Nephi, when Nephi is quoting Isaiah and talking about how Christ is doing this so that we know that it was him that saved us. There was no one else that could help us. This is something I've learned on my mission. It's so important to recognize that without him we can't do the things we do and that's super obvious in the mission field. But I think if we can recognize it in everyday life as well, that without him there is nothing we can do. That would just give us so much better focus on everything. So the reason we have trials is so you remember that it's only through God that we can get through them and that's it.
Over and out. Hope everyone has a good week.
Elder Ellsworth
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