2/27/17

This week was really good! It doesn't feel like we did a lot but, I think we did.  Honestly, I can’t really remember.

We had 2 baptisms and 2 conformations on the same day.  It was something really special. It even rained!  It was super cool!  It would have been cooler if it had rained during the actual ordnance, but you know, not my will :).

There’s news for transfers. I’m staying in Kasoa 2^nd, but I will be getting a new companion. His name is Elder Lundquist.  He’s from Kaysville, Utah and we were in the MTC together so we should have a lot of fun.  Don’t worry mom, we will continue to work hard. :) . I love working, especially here.  There are so many serious people here that accept the gospel. We are working with a lot of families as well and that would be so cool if they accept the message altogether.  But, even if only one does I will be overjoyed

In my study this week I read Alma 18 3-4 and it reminded me of Mosiah 17 11-12.  It stresses the importance of friends or people we are around.  They will change the outcome of everything. Could you imagine if instead, verse 12 said and the priests did fear also and king Noah fearing the judgments of god repented of his wrong doings and his priests also? The whole story of him would change because his friends.  We can just imagine. Sometimes we might think were the good friends but let’s make sure we always choose the right.

I hope you all have a good week and I’m doing fine and loving the work and trying to be better always.

 Elder Lundquist is the one on my right the blonde one. (I also have gained a lot of weight since that picture.)

​SLICED BREAD! This is something rich.  Just to show how Africa is I took a picture of sliced bread.

This was Georgina and Ama (the 2 girls next to my companion)

We went to the temple last week :) Super fun to wear a long sleeve shirt again

If you share anything I say with the youth of the ward, have it be this:  You never know how important this gospel is to you until you are shoved out of your comfort zone.  Please know when you have a good foundation; you can fall back on it.  Just try to understand how important this is to you. THE ONLY CONSTANT you can keep in your life and you have to decide to keep it. . You really don’t know what will be taken away from you.  For me, I expected America, always, and then that was taken away and now I know.   This is really the most important thing. To quote Ghanaian "I beg" hold fast to it and live what you know, no matter the obstacle in the way.  It’s so much what your heavenly father wants for you.  Even a random 18 year old boy in Africa can feel it (how much he loves you).

Love,

Elder Ellsworth

2/20/17

This week was good.   I don’t remember too much but I do have some funny stories. Not crazy stories just funny. Nothing bad happens here because the people remember God too much for any catastrophe to happen. You’ll see cars speeding down the street and right behind them is another car, like 4 inches away and the front car brakes super hard and the car behind doesn't even get a scratch because of how fast his brakes worked.   It’s scary, but nothing bad happens.  My first companion said it best ”The things here are literally held together by the hand of God”.  

So this week we were able to go to the temple.  It looks exactly like Redlands so that made me homesick some. :)  Such a great thing to get to do.  I went with Elder Staples from my MTC group and 4 other missionaries, including my companion. I bought a mini children songbook and every song in there just gets to me.  Those songs are really how I learned all I know about the church.

So, the funny stories:  There are two. So we teach A LOT of children ( I’m pretty sure that’s just me, but we have about 6 Investigators under 13 that we are teaching and progressing.  They should be baptized on the 12th of March). anyway 4 of them are brothers and we were teaching them on Saturday and they were not listening.  (they are 9-13 year olds)  My companion was fed up and he stops the lesson, looks at them, points to the first one and said “you're not being serious!”  Then to the next one “you're not being serious!” and the next one “you're not being serious!” and to the last one “you're not being serious and if you’re not serious when we come we won’t baptize you this month or not even the next one or not even next year!  At that point they were quiet for about 3 seconds and one of the boys (who is 10--his name is Abubeckka) raises his hand and in the most sincere way he asks”next year, Sunday??” At that point my companion and I just lost it.  We just start laughing so hard and that’s how that lesson ended. 

The next funny thing was an investigator came to church on Sunday.  His name is Ebo and he said he could find the chapel.  So he went and asked some people on the street for the church of Jesus Christ and they directed him to the wrong church!  He stayed there for 2 hours before he thought “where is my white person friend” and realized it was the wrong church.  Then he came to our church for the investigators class and Priesthood. We’re just glad he found his way.

This week was good.  My thought for the week is about faith.  It requires action.  We might think we have faith, but unless we take the action, it’s not faith--it’s just a belief. 

We enjoyed 2 baptisms yesterday.  I was able to help in both. One of the friend is named is Frank and he had a stroke and can’t bend his knee.  We originally planned for him to be sitting in the water but the water level was too high so I had to be a second hand in the water to make sure it was safe.  It was really cool.  The second friend is Princilla (yes with an n).  She is 16 and basically already a member.  She is super solid and just awesome and she was able to enter the waters of baptism yesterday and I was the one to baptize her.  It was a really awesome day.  The best part was I got to wear a long sleeve shirt and it wasn't too hot :)

You're famous in Ghana Tyler! I was so happy when I saw this I literally ran to my camera.

I’m gaining weight and should probably get longer shorts :) But! It’s my first catch! My starter in the Kanto region is a Machop!
​

Love you all.  Have a good week and read The Book of Mormon.
-- 

-Elder Ellsworth

2/13/17

I’m pretty sure I have short term memory loss.   I can’t remember anything! All I can say about this week is I’m gaining weight, so that's sad.  I’m working out more and gaining more weight, but it’s alright because it is tasty food.

We had a good week.  We planned to teach a lot more than we ended up doing, so we need to repent and try again this week.

We planned to have a baptism this week for our friend Frank, but he recently had a stroke and he can’t walk more than a few steps.  This week he took too much African medication and it didn't help him and he ended up falling 3 times.  He didn't feel strong enough to come to church this week so he couldn't be baptized, but next week he will be Baptized with hopefully 3 other friends (if we work as effectively as we plan to).

This week was good.  All I can say is I know Christ is our Savior and He loves us and he knows what we’re going through.  As we follow him and know him we will want to, not only be like him, but do as he commands.  This is to come unto Him.  He promises forgiveness of sins as we come to know Him.  We show we know him thorough our works and we will be saved through grace.. So live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Alright, I love you all and miss you much but I got to stay out here because I want to serve the Lord

Love ya!

Elder Ellsworth

-- 

2/6/2017

So this week we had a very effective week. I’ve been working on my Christ like attribute of Patience and with that, I’ve been doing pretty bad. It’s just that we are riding our bikes really slowly. Like slow enough to where it would be faster for our bikes to ride us :). I’d like to move faster, but it makes for good stories I guess.

We have member in the ward that is not that wealthy. She has a scholarship to a very prestigious school in Ghana (only wealthy people go there) and she has some problems with trying to fit in. It’s sad, but that’s the way Ghana is at this point. If you’re rich you make others who aren’t rich feel bad. Anyway, she eats lunch in the cafeteria and she doesn’t have the money to pay for all the food everyone else gets. She said she doesn’t have enough money to buy the chicken, so she buys an egg instead---because it’s a full chicken anyway! :)

We have had a really good week. We’re hoping to help 12 investigators make the covenant of baptism within this month and the next. Hopeful we can resolve all their problems and get them ready. They all know it’s true and want to commit, but there are stumbling blocks in the way for all. It’s okay. We will be good and they who want to will step over their stumbling blocks. My job in my calling is to help them feel the Holy Ghost.

Now I’ll be short so I can send you three weeks of pictures :)

Elder Beall, my trainer had his one year and a really ripped shirt.

I thought this was really cool. They have really old sewing machines so I thought mom would like it

I drove Banku. It's food and it's in the pot. It actually tastes pretty good (back when i had hair) also, I'm tan

Welcome to Kasoa

Welcome to Kasoa lol This thing was huge. I had to buy a new tube and the punctured one was brand new 

This is my new best friend here. It washes my clothes

I like the clouds
 

This is my apartment or my get away. It's very weird and hard to adjust. There is no one around and i'm from crowded California lol. But it's super nice for when I work out in the morning 

My area

My Hair is shorter than dads I told him a 4 and he used a 2 lol

Elder Dini is the one on the right and is my companion. Elder Beck is now one of my good friends and is on the left.

I somehow made dole whip! I put sugar in pineapple juice I squeezed and froze it. I like pineapple

I needed a net to sleep in. Don't worry i take my malaria pills so I'm safe

Costco*