!Estoy rey animada!

GUESS WHAT?! I´m starting a new transfer today in a new area with a new companion. And sabe que, I´m way excited! I am now in Villa Independencia with Hna. Nobles. I didn´t even see it coming. I thought I would stay in La Calera with Hna. Widmer for longer. I´m sad to leave La Calera. We had so many Amazing investigators and I loved the members but I´m excited to try something different and learn more. I kind of feel bad because I didn´t really anyone that I was leaving. If you didn´t already know, I´m not too good with goodbyes. I usually try to avoid them. But I think it´s going to be fine. Even after being their for three months, the members still couldn´t say my name. I was either la misionera, la misionera alta, o la misionera flaca. You gotta love it!

But ya, Villa Independencia is beautiful! It´s connected to the most tourist attraction point in Cordoba. So there are a lot of interesting people and todo. I have a feeling that I´m going to have a lot of fun with Hna. Nobles. She´s from Colorado and has about 15 months in the misión. En verdad, I was hoping for a latina companion to help me with my Castellano, but we´ve decided that we´re not going to use any english. I´m so excited for that because both of my other companions missed talking english but now I can really learn and practice my Castellano. I´m way stoked!

Other exciting news is that I´ve killed my first pair of shoes on the misión. La Calera completely wore out a pair of shoes that I got from the MTC. They had about a two inch heel all across the bottom and the rocks and hills of La Calera completely wore through the heel until I had a two inch hole in the bottom of my shoes. I´m pretty proud of it. The only bad thing is that now I have to break in a new pair of shoes. I tried wearing my Danskos for about three hours and I got some pretty Nasty blisters. So we´re just going to have to pray about that one…

But ya, I can´t really think of anything else to tell you. Pretty much, I´m just really excited to be in a new area and a new companion and I´m even more excited for General Conference next week! Just to have a central focus this week, on the importance of listening the words of a prophet, gives me just excitement. This is an oppotunity that only comes around twice a year and I´m so excited to share it with everyone. It´s going to be a great week, I can just feel it! It's also going to be a busy week, but as my dad always say, ¨No rest for the wicked!¨ J So just so all you know, estoy rey animada and i love you and miss you! ¡El Reino de Dios o Nada!

Les quiero,

Hna. Ellsworth

Parable of the Pie

So there once were two sister hermanas who decided to celebrate pi day! One of the hermanas had never even heard of pi day but the other hermana looked forward to this day every year. So they prepared to make the pies by buying all of the ingredients the day before and they were prepared to make them that Saturday night so that they could eat them the next day - march 14. One hermana made the chocolate pudding pie and the other made the apple pie.

Both were prepared and put in the fridge. It was decided by the hermana (the one that knew about pie day) that made the apple pie that they should wait the next day to bake it. For two reasons, there was not enough time before curfew and she feared the ants would get it. (For she had the sad experience with the Trix. (tear, tear)) But the other hermana thought she knew better and baked it after the other hermana went to sleep. She then left the apple pie out all night. The next morning the unknowing hermana went to bake the pie to find that it had already been baked and completely covered in ants. It broke her heart. She was very upset and she didn´t say anything to her companion because she was afraid she would just stir contention.

So the other companion that made the error found the pie when her companion was in the shower and just took off all the ants and froze them in the freezer. And then she made a whip cream and put it on top so that nobody would know. And then she fed it to her companion. Neither said anything about the ants and they enjoyed the pie all the same.

Moral of the Story - Take what you will but I´m just going to stick with - Communication will get your far in life...

(Yep! true story! I was the hermana that made the apple pie and my companion was the one that baked it and covered her mistake with whip cream. I just had to put on a smile while I ate the ant covered apple pie. Good thing I was a boy scout...)

Yo nunca he sido tan feliz!

So let´s just start out by saying that, ¨i´ve never been so happy!¨ i´ve adopted this saying and use it in daily conversation. You might even call it one of my many Nori-isms. I´m not really sure why it took me so long but I finally translated it in Castellano so I can use it among members and investigators. Because this last week I had many different experiences that was of pure happiness.

1. So last Monday we had our Hermanas Conferencia. I absolutely loved it! I got to meet all of the hermanas in the Argentina Cordoba misión and i also got to see my MTC companion and my trainer. They´re actually companions now and it was fun to catch up with them. They brought me a whole bag of chocolate and donuts which brought me a lot of joy. We also had a little confernce with Hna. Olsen, the misión president´s wife. It was great! We got split into groups and did little activities on how to be better missionaries. It was a lot of fun. There was an English group with all the new gringa hermanas but for some reason Hna. Olsen put me in a Spanish group. I´m glad she knows that I can hold my own. ;) But ya, it was one of the greatest p-day ´s i´ve had during the misión full of fun and… happiness!

2.Yesterday we had Pi day! If you don´t know about this holiday, I ´m crying for you a little bit because of all the past years that you missed. Basically, you take the mathematical number pi – 3.14 and turn it into a date, which is March 14. Which means that every March 14, you can eat as much pie as you want. It´s possibly my favorite holiday of the year. I tried to explain this holiday to several people here but there are a few problems. The mathematical number pi is said like pea which just makes the little kids giggle. And the other thing is that the dates are switched here, so they write 14/3 not 3/14. But it´s all good. My companion and I both made a pie. Hers was a chocolate pudding pie and I made apple pie. It was happiness in pie form.

3.But the happiest moment I had this last week was on Sunday. We passed by a lot of houses before and everybody was waiting to go to Church with us. That never happens! Usually we have about two or three but yesterday we had fifteen people, three different familias, and a dog. (The dog was an accident, it slipped in with all the people and was in the Sacrament meeting room. That was a fun experience getting him out!) But ya, it was a miracle for me. We had Sacrament meeting and the song was ¨Now Let Us Rejoice.¨ I seriously was close to tears with the happiness I was feeling. It reminded me of something said in a blessing that I would experience joy beyond understanding. I felt like that was somewhat fulfilled yesterday.

But I´m just grateful for the happiness that the Gospel brings to my life and the lives of others. And I just want you all to know that I ´ve never been so happy! El Reino de Dios o Nada!

Les amo,
Hna. Ellsworth

Que raro!

So I realize that I didn´t write last week and my mother was probably freaking out but I have a very legitimate excuse – Futbol. Yep, I didn´t have time for email because I was too busy playing futbol with the district. Sorry about that, but check it! I love futbol aka soccer! I have to apologize to Stacy for all the times that I made fun of soccer because now I pretty much love it!

It was my first time ever playing with Latinos and I made two goals. And of the goals was against a Latino. And just so you can have an image of the skills of this Elder, you need to go watch ¨She´s the Man¨ and watch how they do a little flip to put the ball in play. It´s pretty cool! I´m going to learn how to do it… maybe. Just so you know, I´m converted to it. You should all start watching South American futbol and tell me which team is really good and which one to cheer for. I need to buy a jersey but I don´t know which team to support. And since I´m not allowed to watch sports… there´s your assignment.

Anyways, did you know that in Spanish they do not have a word for ¨awkward.¨ I´ve looked in about three different Spanish-English dictionaries, and asked several bilingual people and they have nothing. I find this very interesting because I feel like everyday is filled with awkward moments. The closest thing they have is ¨Qué raro.¨ I never made the connection before but I almost feel like my entire mission is one big ¨raro¨moment. But i´ll let you be the judge. I dedicate this blog entry to !Qué raro!

1. One of the most raro things is when we go door to door, clap our hands, and then ask if we can sing a song to them. I try to put myself in their shoes and think, ¨Would I let two strangers into my house to sing a song?¨ The answer is a probable no which is why I´m always grateful for the people that do let us in. But not everyone lets us in. We get ignored, doors slammed in our faces, or even a dog went after us once. But last week we had the goal to find families and we only had fifteen minutes left and one family to go. We tried a couple of doors and no luck. So finally I chose a house and my companion said that we were just going to start singnig when they opened the door. I was so scared! But we did it and a man opened the door. At first his face was full of confusion and irritation. And then his wife came to the door as well. I´m sure their thoughts were ¨Que raro!¨ But then their faces changed and by the end of the song,they said they were leaving but asked when we could come back. They asked us! I love when awkward moments turn good. And on the same line of door contacts…

2. So imagine with me if you will… a stranger gringa that can hardly speak Castellano comes up to in the street and talks about an important message and then asks for your address and phone number so she can share more. A little bit raro, no? I can´t even count how many times they couldn´t understand me. It´s always a little raro but it´s still amazing how many are interested in knowing more. The most awkward street contact happened last week. I was talking to a señora and then I notice my companion that started doing a little dance. After the contact I asked if she needed to use the bathroom. Well, it just so happens she did but the problem was that there are no public bathrooms in La Calera, and we were far from our pension and from any members´ house. I can´t really tell you the end of this story but let´s just say it was very raro…
3. And Saturday we taught a señor and in the first few minutes we found out that he was a missionary for the catholic church. I thought it was a little bit raro for us missionaries to be teaching another missionary of another church. But we taught him about the Restoration and by the end of the lesson we committed him to baptism. It was the most amazing lesson that I´ve ever been and I could feel the Spirit so strong.

So this is what I´ve learned. It comes from the Oregon roadtrip for Sherry and the beast, I mean Jeff. ;) My sisters and I made up a catch phrase ¨It´s only awkward if you make it awkward!¨ (don´t ask!) And i´ve decided that it applies here. It´s only awkward if I make it awkward. I have the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I want to share it with everyone. What´s so raro about that? I´m grateful for this experience and I wouldn't trade my numerous raro moments for anything. Well, I hope all is well and just know that you are loved!

Les amo,
Hna. Ellsworth

Picture from the field

This is pretty much the coolest picture I've taken thus far. As you can see, it is me, my MTC companion Hna. Dickey, and a statue of a guy drinking Mate (which by the way is not against the WofW). Que capo, eh?! Hope you enjoy!