Week 40 - The One with the Lamanites

   This week Gladis got baptized! She is so amazing. She hasn't been able to be baptized for a Long time because she wasn't married but she got married, changed her life and now is an amazing example to her family and is helping her husband come back to church.

   Its so amazing to be here in Bolivia. Sorry everyone but i think i have the best mission. There is nothing better then starting my day of reading the Book of Mormon and then going out and fulfilling it! Every morning I read about the Lamanites and then I go out and teach them!

Everyday I read the prayers of the Prophets that one day their brethren will one day come back to the knowledge of the gospel and then I help answer a prayer of a Prophet!  I don't know what I did to be so incredibly lucky to be called to Bolivia to preach to the Lamanites but I'm so blessed. Alma 9.

   Its fun to have blonde hair here... kind of interesting. The other day a drunk came up to us and said that my hair scared him. haha. He said he had never seen anything like it in his life and sometimes he comes out of his room when we are teaching his sister and mom to look at it... and then he asked if he could have some. hahahaha. So I gave him a strand so he would leave us alone. 

Well that's all I have for you  guys today. Please oh please have Family Home Evening EVERY Monday.

Hermana Ellison

WEEK 39 - The One with my Goals

 The One With My Goals

  Lets start of with some good news today. The family that we eat lunch with has a daughter that is pregnant and she wanted to name her sons with an English name! So I've been helping her come up with them.

So what I did is I just told her everyone's names that I knew. So if your close to me and I wanted her to name her child after you I gave her your name. And.... drum roll please..... She will be naming one of her twin sons... AUSTIN! That's right congratulations Austin a little Bolivian child will soon enter this world and bear your name.

    In other news all the lights in the little town I'm in went out the other night during a lesson! That was fun! Afterwards we were walking to our other lesson and we were walking through the little main street and all the little stores had candles in the windows and all the little places to eat had candles on the tables and it was so cute!! I felt like I was in a dream or a old western movie!

I should was mission my horse and cowgirl boots.

    Today I received an email from my dear brother and he asked me a great question, "What are your goals?" And i realized i think i ask all of you what are your goals and I've never shared with you mine! So here are my goals for this transfer and as always for the rest of my life.

  1. Be pure in heart and teach with "Great Power"

Virtue is one of the most special attributes of Christ and as we strive to keep our thoughts and actions clean we get that much closer to the Lord. In Matthew 7 he promises that those that are pure and chaste will see the face of the Lord.

   2. Apply my heart to understanding.

The wife of Gordon B. Hinkley said, "First I obey, then I understand"

I want to strive everyday to be a little more obedient and while doing the things the Lord asks study the things the lord asks! so I can understand his will and apply my heart more to my actions.

  3. Work with those that are less active in the church.

We have a responsibility to carry the burdens of others and its important to search after those lost sheep and bring them back into his fold.

  These are just a few of my goals this transfer along with so many others! sometimes we may feel that the Lords standards are too high but as we pray with diligence and study his holy scriptures we learn that we are more capable than we think. The standard of the Lord does not change but he will give us as many times as it takes to reach it.

Thanks to the Atonement of Christ we can all be perfected one day and the wounds of sins, failure and injustices can be healed.

  "Wherefore, Continue in Patience until ye are prefect." D&C 67:13 And this perfection can only come from the infinite sacrifice of His perfect son.

Hermana Ellison

Birthday traditions; Egg and cake on the person's head...Fun!

Gifts from an investigator...  Oranges and a giant cana branch which you cut up and eat

Lights out during lesson

marketplace for flowers

market

The earth loves our footsteps and fears our hands.

market for fruit!

WEEK 38 - The One with the Shunning

This week I felt even more the effects of the atonement in my life. We had a few investigators this week want to drop out.. as they say.  They like the lessons but don't want to receive us anymore because they don't want to be baptized.  Another one of our investigators was sitting in the street with her friends and as she saw us walking, getting closer, she hid her face in her coat and as we walked by they all began to laugh. And then I couldn't imagine the way Christ felt as "we hid our faces from him".  Its interesting these little moments in the mission when we get the chance to get to know our Savior a little bit more. It's interesting to read the things in the Book of Mormon or in the Bible and then have them happen to you.... (obviously on a much smaller scale, I'll never ever go through whet Christ went through or what the apostles experienced), but I feel like I understand a little bit more. I love this work and I'm so grateful for the power of prayer.

So when the moment comes when we start to think; what are we doing wrong... we can turn to our lord in prayer and he can give us comfort and guidance. So when the time comes when I ask myself am I different?

Is it weird that I'm a missionary?  Is it strange that I am asking people to be baptized? Should I really be telling these people to go to church when they can sleep in? Should I tell them about repentance when their sin is so normal?  Do I encourage their thoughts that its okay to live this way? I can say No. The lord is the only way. He is the light and the life. We must repent! We have to. We must be baptized. We must come unto to Christ. We must follow the commandments.

We must be the children of the lord even when the world looks so inviting... The world won't win in the end. I'm grateful for this week and the love I have felt for repentance and the temple. I just want everyone to feel the joy of repentance and one day arrive at the temple. We need to make the right decisions. We need to have an eternal perspective. Will this decision help me return to the presence of the Lord?

 

Hermana Ellison

 

Another baptism

Beautiful Tarija, Bolivia

Beautiful Waterfall

Cold Rainy day

Happy Sweet 16 Rileigh

 

WEEK 37 - The One with No Blog

Elise had transfers last week, and although she or her companion didn't go anywhere, they did loose many missionaries in her area.  

All seems fine with her when we emailed back and forth on Monday.  She always has very short answers and doesn't have much time.  She was very happy to hear that I got called to be a Seminary teacher.  She was also elated that I went out with our Missionaries to go visit some people.  

She always writes her blog at the end of her session, but this time it never came.

We are almost at the half way point and I know that many have reached out to her in the past, but she truly Loves to hear from people back home.  If you have enjoyed what she has shared so far, please send her a quick email right now.  She will love to hear from family and friends.  If you want to write her a letter, that would be great too.

www.elise.ellison@myldsmail.net

Week 36 - The One with Gratitude

   Big shout out to Rileigh, happy birthday! and father, happy fathers day!
I've grown a strong love and appreciation for the priesthood this week. We need to study and understand the priesthood. And that includes you woman. We may not have it but, we use it everyday. We cannot do anything in the church without it and we must understand it. We need to teach the men that its important to have it. I can't believe how many tears I've seen from fathers abandoning there families. I know that everything takes two and that no one person is ever to blame, but men you are failing your Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for the wonderful priesthood holders of this church and the example they set and the work they do. As Men of the church, keep going, keep being an example of the believers and your everyday life. Take care of your families, give thanks to the lord and be like Nephi of old, Moroni, Mormon and Ether. Be loving, kind, humble, strong and take care the priesthood responsibility you hold.

  Maria Elena is doing great, now a member for a week. She is happy amazing and a light unto her family and little by little we are teaching her family too. Sandra and her Sister Elizabeth from my last area are doing great, Elizabeth was baptized two weeks ago!!! What a blessing, I cried when I heard that; and their brother Aliceds will be baptized and receive the priesthood soon as well. What a great family.

  So this week... I love to study gratitude. I truly do and i study it often because I want to master it. Gratitude really is the key to life. The blessings from gratitude are huge. Its everything. Doctrine and Covenents says that the person who has gratitude, shall be made glorious and shall receive the things of the earth even a hundred fold!!! Can you believe that? Gratitude is the key to life! We receive when we give. We are met by how we measure. " A grateful heart is the father of all virtues." Have a grateful mindset, be grateful in all things.Happy times and the hard ones.

   It won't be easy. Every time I study gratitude my pensuinista makes cow stomach for lunch, and how I hate cow stomach!!! The lord is funny like that, isn't he! He loves us. We have to keep being grateful. Cow stomach and all.

   Hermana Ellison

Maria after baptism

service project

getting ready for bed

ride to service project

Happy Birthday Rileigh

Maria's family

Maria

trash from service project

We love each other

look what i found

WEEK 35 - The One with the Miracles

  More commandments brings blessings! and our area this week is an example of that.  wow we had incredible miracles this week! I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES. Miracles are all around us, they are so real. People keep believing! believe in something new everyday.
   Maria Elena was baptized and that was an incredible miracle, it was so beautiful. She truly has changed, its incredible to see some not only be baptized but truly have a change of heart, a change of being, actually use repentance and be different. That's baptism, its faith, repentance and baptism.

She used to live in Cochabamba in a cute little house with a garden and a her family. She was telling us yesterday about how she used to cut her roses and how everything was so peaceful and one day her husband just left her, didn't say a word, just left. Years have passed and she now lives in Tarija in a small room... Her kids don't understand and blame her for everything that happened. She has no idea where her husband is and doesn't speak to him, she works everyday all day to provide for her kids, who don't support her decision to be baptized and yet she finds peace... She has found happiness and little by little her family is changing. She has a new happiness, an eternal happiness. 

    We changed the way we plan and miracles. We focused more on point 4, how to help people get to church and our numbers sky rocketed! we went from 2 to 7 people in the church just from one week of planning daily everyday! We planned and worked with the members to get them to church. The members are incredible here, they did it all. We planned with 4 members to bring the investigators of the lord and they did it! How valiant, I have a true testimony of hermandoro de oro. It really works, they brought them to church, sat with them, helped them and it was amazing.
   We focus on asking and praying for referrals and well i don't even know what to do with all the referrals we have, our agendas are so full and the work is abundant.  The harder i work the more i feel that the angels are round about me, walking before me, and protecting me in this divine work.

   Trials help us and sometimes the Lord needs to cut us down. I love the words of Peter in 1 Peter 4:12-14, 16 He says why do we complain about our trails, as if its weird that we have difficulties! As if its weird that we have to suffer. Well the Savior suffered, he suffered for us. So rejoice that you have a part of his suffering. Rejoice and be like Him. I love my Savior and i love all of you.

   Hermana Ellison 

WEEK 34 - The One with the Photos

    I love you all! Keep going. Keep changing! repentance means change! We are not meant to do the same thing everyday!!! Do one thing ever day that scares you. Replace fear with faith, right mom :) We have to be a little different everyday. We have to teach lessons different, don't have routine, if you have a routine you aren't using the spirit. Try a different food, walk a different path, help a new person. Be a little better, a little stronger, and a little nicer.
   I pray everyday that the lord will help`me be the type of missionary I want to be, the type of missionary He wants me to be and I know He is helping me do that. I will do everything for him, please use me for all I am able to do for this mission and this work. I have such a strong testimony of prayer that sometimes I get scared to ask the lord to make me the missionary I want to be because I know he'll do it and I know it will be hard but I love the Lord and I know it will be worth it. I want to go home and have to sleep for a week because I worked so hard. (And when I say home I mean heaven) because it doesn't end after the mission right!
Hermana Ellison

here are some photos 

Homeless puppy...but they are all homeless

man walking the streets with a Fresh Bull Head

Faithful member

beautiful vineyard

she loves the rock walls

again with the walls

beautiful area