Happy Day!

The anticipation was building. The suspense was painful. Whispering could be hard throughout the entire gym. Bets were being taken to wager which apostle was coming. I placed my bet of a candy bar on Elder Andersen due to my sources. Ever eye was watching the "chosen door" that would soon be opened for an apostle of God. Bro. Angus (a very ominous looking man) kept walking through that "chosen door" just to torture us. While waiting, guesses had been eliminated to two choices. Elder Oaks or Elder Andersen? The suspense was killing me. But then, as we were singing the last verse of "O Thou Rock of Our Redeemer," Elder Oaks in all his apostle/supreme court judge majesty walked through the doors. Apparently my sources were faulty, but it was worth losing a candy bar. My favorite part was when every Elder and Sister in the room stood a little taller and sang a little louder for an apostle of the Lord. It was truly power or shall I say... AMAZING!

Elder Oaks and his wife spoke to us. Sis. Oaks was so cute, I love her sense of humor. Speaking of humor, did you know that Elder Oaks is a shoulder laugher. I never knew. And he also quoted "Wicked" in his talk. Oh the irony! Anyways, I loved Elder Oaks' talk. I have never taken so many notes in all my life. I just want to tell you my favorite part because there's so much more to report of the week. My favorite part was the three different challenges we would face as missionaries and in life in general. Face the challenge to change, to achieve, and to become. To become a missionary, I need to have a "mighty change of heart" and be converted. Elder Oaks had trouble describing it but he said "To become a missionary is to get something to happen within." I may not know exactly what that means, but it gives me something to think about and work on.

Two days later, the anticipation and suspense was back. Well maybe not so much suspense. It had already been confirmed that Elder Holland and his wife was coming for Thanksgiving. I feel so blessed to have heard from two apostles in less than three days. I love it! Elder Holland's devotional was a question and answer forum that was very enlightening. But I'll just share my favorite part again. He describes that all of us missionaries are diamonds that need refinement and pressure. Life is hard but we need it to be, so we can become disciples of God. He shared a poem that basically said, we needed to push to the edge. Even if we are afraid to fall, we need to continue to push to the edge. And then when we get there, the Lord will push us and then we can fly. I'm not sure if I explained that clearly enough, but let me just say that it was great. I also loved it when Elder Holland testified. His testimony is so strong and I always love hearing it.

Anyways, that was pretty much the highlight of my Thanksgiving. We also did humanitarian service and I studied Spanish for a few hours. Oh and there was the whole Thanksgiving dinner part, but it just wasn't the same without family. But it was still good. I was grateful to be in the MTC for Thanksgiving.

Well, that's basically it. I'm still just working on the Spanish and Preach My Gospel. We lost a few Elders in our district this week. Not lost, they just headed out to the MTC in the Dominican Republican. They have a few more weeks there and then they'll be in Puerto Rico. Now there's just seven of us left and we're all heading to Cordoba Argentina on January 4th or 5th (i forget which one.) I can't wait! But I know that I have tons more to learn before then.

I love you and miss you and hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving!

Hna. Ellsworth