The Last Email!

(Anziano Wilkinson)

Well, the last week of my mission has come and went and now as I write this I'm completely packed and am only hours away from boarding a plane that will bring me back to America for the first time in almost two years. Honestly, it doesn't feel real. I don't think it's really hit me that soon I will no longer be preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ nor speaking Italian on a daily basis! I'm really going to miss all the friends I've made, speaking Italian, and helping people draw closer to Christ, but I'm also very excited to see all of my family and friends!

This week one of the people that the sister missionaries were teaching, Marvison, took the first step of discipleship by being baptized! I mention this because he asked me to preform the ordinance, which I was honored to do! He was nervous at first but I helped him through it and after all was said and done you could see in his countenance that he was so happy about it. After the actual baptism took place he and I walked back the the changing rooms to put on dry clothes and he couldn't help but keep saying to me "I'm renewed, I'm renewed!". Marvison's faith is truly so strong and I know that with the covenant of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, he will only continue to grow and mature in his faith in and understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are so many blessings the come from living the teachings of Christ and Marvison is only just beginning to learn that for himself!

I know that this is the work of the Lord. He wants so badly that his children return to live with him forever. I'm humbled and honored to have been a tool in his hands for these past two years to proclaim and teach the principles of his wonderful plan for us.  My testimony of the truth has been strengthen greatly by sharing what I know and believe and although it has not been easy to dedicate this much time, exercise so much patience, or overcome my own many weaknesses, it has been 100% worth it. I hope to never cease to be on the Lord's errand, even if I might not be able to have an experience quite like this one ever again!

See you all soon!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson

Last Mission Photo

(Elder Cummings)

A Testimony

(Elder Cummings)

Caroline was baptized this weekend! She overcame incredible opposition. Last week we were teaching her outside of her home and a man pulled his car over, came up to us, and started to preach against the Restoration of the gospel, against the Book of Mormon, and against the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was nothing that Elder Ellestad and I hadn't heard before. It was yet another fulfillment of the prophecy given to a 17 year old Joseph Smith that his name "should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people" (The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith). That day we had been teaching Caroline about opposition, actually using the account of Joseph's first vision. As soon as the man walked away, Caroline bore her testimony to us of Joseph Smith the prophet, of the Book of Mormon, and of the restored church. She then handed us the materials the man had given her to dispose of. The day of her baptism her immediate family disowned her, so she prayed, and came to church the next morning to receive the Holy Ghost. By a series of miracles, since being disowned she finished paying off her house, and was able to find more gainful employment that will allow her to better provide for her children, all while faithfully observing the Sabbath day.

"As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)

I know that God has an infinite capacity to bless all who will believe on his name.

It is my sincere testimony that God lives, "for he is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end" (Daniel 6:26). Christ is our Savior, who brought to pass "the resurrection of the dead, and the redemption of the people...through [His] power, and sufferings, and death...and his resurrection and ascension into heaven" (Mosiah 18:2). Christ lives.

I leave with this witness, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Elder A. Jared Cummings

I broke my foot and didn't know it

(Sister Ellsworth)

Hey yall!

Well this week was really fun! Haha. For the past few weeks my foot has been kind of sore and eventually my companion made me talk to the mission doctor and she sent me to get Xrays. Well apparently my foot was fractured.

How? I don't know! So know I'm using crutches for a few weeks or however long it takes to get better. Yes, I'm using good shoes. No, I didn't fall. Yes, i'm fine! That should cover all the questions haha!

This week I also got sick... My poor companion... She's had to take care of me this whole week. But I'm almost all better now. The ward here has been very helpful! I think once the word got out that a Sister couldn't walk all of a sudden EVERYONE was offering to give us rides and teach with us and have us over for dinner. This week was proof that member missionary work works so much better than what we missionaries can do! Of all the members that invited us over, three families introduced us to a friend or a family member who was not a member. Of those three references, all of them are now marked for baptism and are progressing fantastically!

We met one woman from Angola this week named Joana. She lives with a member and told us that she's always been curious about the Book of Mormon. Turns out she had read half of it before we taught her the first lesson! As we shared the First Vision with her she started to cry, holding her Book of Mormon close to her. She told us that she knew it was true. As we were leaving she gave each of us one of those big grandma hugs and said, "I've been waiting to meet you two for the last 50 years."

We met another kid named Isaundro, who is from Guinea. He is 22 years old and moved here by himself to try to escape his situation in Africa. We were walking in the road when we found him. I saw some other missionaries from another church on the other side of the road start to walk towards him and I told Sister Noguiera that we couldn't let them contact him first. So we ran (or rather Sister Noguiera ran and I hobbled) to contact him. Turns out he was thinking about where he could find answers to all his questions about life and asked God to help him. So Heavenly Father sent the Sisters! Isaundro came to church and is already best friends with three other boys who came from Africa and are recent converts as well.

It's been a really crazy week... But I think I would choose to be a gimp for the rest of my mission if it meant that we could find people like Joana and Isaundro every week. BEING A MISSIONARY IS SO MUCH FUN!! It sucks sometimes but in the end, I love it!!

Com muito amor, paz, saude, alegria, e saudades,

Sister Ellsworth

Whitewash with a Native, Getting Lost, Woohoo

(Sister Ellsworth)

Wow! This week was AWESOME! Probably one of the craziest weeks I've had on my mission. First off, I'm whitewashing an area with Sister Nogueira who is from San Paulo, Brasil in Póvoa. (poh-voh-ah) It's a big city on the outskirts of Lisbon. It has a ton of hills and our area covers a lot of the suburbs of lisbon. Our members are AWESOME! It's just a party all the time.

Our first day trying to get to our new area was definitely an adventure. We were in 7 Rios (a really big train station / metro) and I found the map that would drop us in Póvoa. We grabbed all of our bags and dragged them to the other side of the train station until our train arrived. We threw our bags on  and as I was watching the stops and reading the map that's inside the train I noticed that Póvoa wasn't one of the stops. A little anxious, we got off at the next stop, dragged our bags to the opposite line, and got on the next train. Looking at the map of stops, it had Póvoa! But then I realized the train was going in the wrong direction.....

At the next stop we got off AGAIN and asked a worker which train went to Póvoa and he pointed to Line 3. We had already tried line 1 and line 2. So we got on line 3 and headed on out way. Looking at the stops again, it said that were were headed to the Algarve which was not even close to Póvoa! Got of, switched trains, and asked yet another employee. He said that it was number 1, which was the first train that we tried. I wanted to smack my head on the wall.

Finally we found the right train and arrived in our area. We found a taxi and gave him the address to our house and he said "Oh no, I know the missionaries! I know where you live!" We were like sweet, let's go! We loaded up our suitcases and he dropped us off in front of this apartment and drove off. We tried to open the door but none of our keys worked, Turns out the taxi driver took us to the Elders' house and not our house.

We called him again and made him take us to OUR house and finally found our new home sweet home. Then we spent the next 5 hours cleaning the dirtiest house I have ever seen in my life.

Lot's of other things happened too but I'm short on time. I took pictures this week but I left my SD card reader at home... Sorry.

Love all of you guys!

The Happiest Sister Ever,

Sister Ellsworth

The Field is White/One by One

(Elder Cummings)

As Elder Ellestad and I have been hard at work this week, I have been reflecting on a passage from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 9 verses 35-38:

35 And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;

38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

I came across these verses as I was reading the New Testament in Hmong and they have stuck with me. Christ, seeing the needs of those around him, was inspired and motivated to expand the ministry. In the next chapter he instructs and empowers the Twelve Apostles. As I have reflected on that sequence of events, I am touched by the imagery of "the harvest." There is are plenteous multitudes of people who seek the healing and peace that can come only through the grace and mercy of Christ. The laborers go to the people and in the name of Christ teaching, preaching, and healing. Christ could have spoken louder to reach more people. He could have healed masses of people is distant parts of the globe without ever leaving Jerusalem, but "when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them," and so he initiated a system that allowed the real needs of the flock to be met while maintaining the individuality of the sheep. Christ's desire is for his servants to minister to others the way he did "one by one" (3 Nephi 11:15).  Christ doesn't just want to heal us. He wants to heal us "one by one."

Individual identity matters to Him.

Perhaps this is one reason why missionaries are sent out by the tens of thousands, and the numbers brought into the blessings of the gospel by each individual missionary measure far fewer than the tens of thousands brought by the ancient apostles; by the modern day apostles as the restoration was first proclaimed; and by the Nephite missionaries, Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni.  There is always a time in every dispensation that God gathers in bulk by the hands of a few hard-working souls. It is supposed to be that way. Until Christ empowered and sent out others that is the way he himself carried out the ministry.  But seeing the multitudes, and being moved with compassion, the Lord of the harvest has sent forth laborers in numbers to harvest "one by one."

We experienced part of that "one by one" ministry this week.

Her name is Lala Vang. She is actually a former investigator of mine, but she was not the emphasis of teaching when we would visit her family, her mom was. That was way back with Elder Ostler. Mom was under a dark cloud as the calendar approached the year anniversary of her sons suicide. She had dropped us because her less-active daughter wouldn't sustain her church attendance, and she elected to go to a closer church that was more convenient for travel. She, Zoua, had a tender place in my heart. When I got back in the area I attempted to re-establish contact unsuccessfully. She had passed away shortly after dropping us and the family moved. I had no idea until the current residents filled us in. By miracle we contacted two of her daughters last night who gave us the family's current address. Lala let us in and told us more details of her mother's death a year ago April, another suicide. Lala was seeking for answers that only the gospel could bring. We brought the Spirit with a powerful and unified teaching of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. She was moved, committed to baptism, and we have a return appointment Tuesday night. Without having previously met the family, I do not think we could have taught to her needs to precisely. God brought me back to Pioneer Park West for many reasons. Lala is one of them.

I know that God lives. He has a plan for each of us and he will guide us home one-by-one, and "[we] shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day" if we will allow ourselves to be in his hands "by obedience to the laws and ordinances of [his] gospel" (Alma 26:6, Articles of Faith 1:3).

Transfers, War on the Elders

(Sister Ellsworth)

Hey! This week was fun! We had a lot of little miracles. Unfortunately I hurt my leg somehow and had some difficulties walking for a larger part of the week. We hosted President and Sister Tavares here at the end of the week. They told us about transfers Saturday morning and said that I was going to Evora (or in other words, land of the college kids) and that Sister Carr would stay here. Then on Sunday President called us again and was basically like "Just kidding, I moved everything at the last minute. Good luck." So we're like 90% sure that I'm going to Povoa to serve with Sister Nogueira, who is an awesome native from Brasil, and Sister Carr is staying here to train. She's so excited and I am too!

Also Sunday night Sister Carr and I were walking home and I heard this whoosh behind me and a splash. The Elders jumped out from behind a fence and hollered at us with water balloons in each hand! They chased us all the way to our house where we got cornered at our stupid front door that is literally impossible to open sometimes. The Elders had squirt guns and a sack full of water balloons and the only thing I could was try to dodge them and protect Sister Carr as she tried to open the ancient door (which usually only opens easily on the full moon or if you do a rain dance). Sister Carr managed to open the door and we ran inside and the Elders ran home laughing their heads off.

It's war. Have you already heard of the wars and rumors of wars? It has begun. We're in the chapel right now waiting for the elders to come by to pick up lunch... What better way to get Elders to show up than to offer them free food? Well we have a huge bucket of water balloons and two water guns. Story to be continued but the spirit of prophesy in me is telling me that there will be casualties on the opposing side.

:)

Sorry for the short email but love you still!

Tchau!

Sister Ellsworth