Happy Pioneer Weekend

(Sister Ellsworth)

I honestly can't remember much of what happened this week. It seems like it lasted like 2 days!!

I do have a few stories though... So in Portuguese there are two words I get mixed up all the time. The first is "melhor" and the second is "mulher". This becomes a bit of a problem when teaching a male investigator about becoming better through the Atonement. So melhor means better and mulher means woman. I was trying to ask our investigator if get would like to become better, but instead I switched the words on accident and asked him if he would like to become a woman.

WHOOPS!! We had a good laugh about it and now it's the joke of the district :) I'll never switch them again!!

Thanks to those who sent me packages and letters! I had my first Dr. Pepper in four weeks and it was probably the best thing ever, second to the dog I saw last week. We also got our travel plans and I got my visa so I'm for sure heading out to Portugal at 9 am on August 2nd! I'm nervous and so excited! We only have one layover in Amsterdam (how cool is that?).

There is a question I have been pondering this week that was asked by a Sister in my district during Sunday School. She asked, "How would your life change if every choice you made was motivated by love?" Would your life change? Would the lives of those around you be better? How could you change your motivations to be stemmed from love?

Sorry for the short email, but hopefully you all know I still love you. Thank you for your thoughts and support.

Tudo Bem!

Studious Week

Goofy district

Much Love,

Sister Ellsworth

The Church is Still True!

(Sister Ellsworth)

Quierdo meu amigos,

Holy moly! What a week! Technically 5 days I guess.. This week has been a very humbling experience to say the least. I walked into the MTC, they put a badge on me, and then starting going off in Portuguese. I caught on pretty quickly because of my spanish, but the poor Elder next to me was struggling. We are in classrooms for about 9 hours a day with breaks in between to eat and to exercise. We spend about three hours doing personal study, three hours with your companion, and three studying the language. It's quite the brain teaser!

I have a great companion. Her name is Sister Johnson and she's going to Mozambique speaking Portuguese. In my zone there are 10 Sisters and 1 Elder going to Lisbon! Pretty awesome :) We're already quite close and good friends. The Spirit is so strong here and everywhere you look there are soldiers of the Army of God walking two by two down the corridors.

On our third day they had us teaching investigators in Portuguese, to which I was quite freaked out. We ended up teaching this man for 35 minutes in very poor and broken Portuguese. Even though I couldn't understand very much of what he said or what I said, the Spirit was so strong in that room. It was wonderful!

The food has been interesting. The cafeteria has been closed all week due to the new mission president training seminar so breakfast is eggs, bagels, cereal, fruit, or a doughnut every morning. Lunch is always some sort of sandwich which are actually pretty good. Dinner has been catered from subway, chick-fil-a, taco bell, papa johns, etc. This morning we finally got our cafeteria back and it was good! BTW do not send me any candy XD My whole apartment has been sent 20 lbs of candy and junk! Blegh!

​Second Day!

​All of our language books. They said it would be about 8 lbs of books.  MORE LIKE 20!! We have english and portuguese in EVERYTHING. ​In class with (L->R) Sister Gubler, Elder Van Wagnen, Elder Pehrson, Sister Johnson, and ME! We have 10 people per class. All of us are going to Portugal or Africa!

Sister Johnson and I after teaching our first lesson in PORTUGUESE! ​

My message for all of you is Mosiah 5:5!  "Am I willing... to enter into a covenant with my God and do his will all my days(?)" I say HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!

Never limit yourself based on what you think your capcitiy is. The Lord can increase your capacity to do anything (even teach a lesson by yourself in Portuguese after three days) and he will!

Need to find evidence of God? 2 Nephi 29:8, John 20:31, and Moroni 10:4.

The Church is still true!

Tudo Bem! (All is well)

Amo-te,

Sister Ellsworth

PS If you are reading this on my blog and you want an email please send your email to me! I only have a few :)

Out of the MTC

I am out of the MTC and it feels great.  The food was questionable about 90% of the time and two months in the same place starts to make you go crazy!  I had a good experience though.  Met some really great people and had some stellar teachers.  The next 22 months will be in hot, humid Malaysia!  Cant wait to tell you how it is.