"I Like Math...Unless I Don't Get It"

Alooooooooooha! :)

Hi everyone! I hope your week was wonderful! This week was a load of random in this tiny little town/city of Hollister. But as always, this week was totally great!

Sis. Young and I had a wonderful week meeting with all bunch of different people. On Thursday, the Lord seriously looked out for us! It was one of those days that should have been filmed or written down by some poet or something. We were able to meet a member of our ward that no one really knew about! She is 100 years old! She is just an amazing lady. She is just hilarious and was telling us all about her family. It was great. Then, we thought we were set to have appointment after appointment at the church. When slowly, everyone started letting us know that things weren't looking like they were going to work out to meet with us. So after a turn of events, we ended up at the church without our bikes. Haha! Oh missionary work! But we decided to try to just walk and visit a few people. 

We visited with one less-active member of our ward that we haven't been able to meet with since I've gotten to Hollister. It was amazing and she told us she was actually really glad we came and that she wants to meet with us again. It was amazing! Then, it gets even better. (Okay everyone, this story is going to get slightly confusing so I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense by then end) But to start, a member of our ward told us last week that he ran into a bus driver from his wife's work who was looking to leave his church and so our wonderful member missionary of a ward member told him if he's willing to investigate other churches, he wants him to try out ours at least. Well, as it would work out. Sis. Young and I were walking down the street and no one was out except for one man painting his fence. We told him, hello, and started talking with him and just happen to find out that he's a bus driver and was talking to some lady's husband at his work who was telling him about this church he should try out! If my story telling skills were as terrible as I thought they were...long story short, we met the man that our member had talked to! How crazy! In all of Hollister that man is the one painting his fence! And none of that would've happened if we hadn't had all of our appointments fall through. It was seriously a miracle!

Then to top that Thursday all off we had a wonderful lesson with our little investigator who got a really good grade on her math test. So we asked her if she like math and she thought about it for a while and then said, "I like math....unless I don't get it." Hahaha! That's hilarious.

In other news, we also got locked out of our apartment on Saturday. The other sisters accidentally took both sets of house keys with them. Haha. So, the elders tried to help us out after we all did service but luckily the sisters ended up coming back early. So there's one of us locked out... :)

Well, I hope you all have a great week! This next one is going to be amazing! My old investigator from the Mandarin Branch is getting baptized on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) 

Love,

Sis. Ellis-Lui-Kwan

Locked out : (

It Was a Pi Day Miracle!

Aloha,

I hope you all had a wonderful week and I hope every has a wonderful St. Patrick's Day. Sis. Young's not wearing green. Haha.

Well, this week was just down right amazing! It was like the best hits of Hollister. We saw all of my favorite people this week. It was just great. We met with a bunch of our less-active members and saw both of our adorable little investigators. Each and every one of them are making huge leaps and bounds in the gospel and I am just biking up Sunnyslope wondering why I'm blessed to be a part of it all. It's just great.

This past Sunday especially was so great! One of our less-active members who hasn't been to church in years just showed up! It was great. I thought I was going to cry. She came a little late and missed part of sacrament meeting but stayed for the rest of the three hours! My heart was so full and the wonderful little Hollister 2nd ward just wrapped their arms around her! It could've been a scene right out of The District. Ah. These wonderful saints! :) We had so many of those that we taught this past week come to church. Almost every person we taught. It was a miracle.

Other than that, I am doing great. Sis. Young is just amazing and I am so grateful for her. I've also discovered the missionary verison of Netflix. It's Conference Ensign. Haha. But really though, it's like when you watch an episode on Netflix and then it has that little auto-play thing. I'll read an article and then turn the page and then there's another talk to read and then before you know it I've read the entire Saturday Morning Session. It's a problem. Haha not really.

Well, I hope you all have  a wonderful week! I love you all!

Love,

Sis. Ellis

 

Sister Young & Sister Ellis

Just me...

 

(Aloha Gang! "Our" missionary has been out for nine months! Can you believe she's half-way done? We appreciate all the continued love and support!  Don't forget to keep writing! Missionaries love mail! Emails and letters mean so much to them. So do it today! Write Sis. Ellis and all your other awesome missionaries! Love you all, Anela)

Welcome Sis. Young! : )

Aloha! :)

This week we had transfers and the lovely, wonderful Sis. Fraser got transferred. We cried. Haha it was kind of really awkward. I'm going to miss her but it's okay because I got a wonderful new companion from Heber, Arizona. Her name is Sis. Young. (Sorry, I don't have a picture just yet!) But she is just great. She's been out 11 months and she is just an amazing missionary! I don't think she has a mean bone in her body. 

Our week has been great. We were able to get a ton of work done and teach a bunch of lessons. It was so much fun. And here's the greatest part... the little girl that we're teaching who we keep trying to get her to talk to her mother about getting baptized...well, she did! :) Not about getting baptized but about church!! YAY!! :) Oh I was so happy for her! We asked her how it went and she said her mom wasn't mad or anything. What a tender mercy! :) Then, that wonderful little girl prayed and thanked Heavenly Father at the end of the lesson for the missionaries who encourage her to talk to her mom. Ahh my heart.

Onto another stud of the week. This other little boy we've been teaching. He's almost 13. He's going to hopefully get baptized within the next month, we're still trying to work out a solid date for him but he's so hilarious. He said, "Girls are so weird all they want to do is shop." His brother told him, well what about the sister missionaries they do all kinds of stuff and he responded back and said, "Well, not them. They're beautiful!" Haha. Love it! So basically we, the sister missionaries, are in the same "beautiful" category as his sisters and his mom. Haha. Totally awesome!

Another wonderful thing that happened this week was while we were contacting! We were headed back to the car and we decided to contact this one last person. We handed him and mormon.org card and went on our way. Then we heard him say, "You know what..." And my whole body tensed. I was so nervous he was going to yell at us or something and thought, please no, this night can't end with that! Then he said, "Would you like some free ice cream samples?" WHY YES WE WOULD!! :) Haha! Only in Hollister does an ice cream man offer you free samples at the end of the night! It was awesome.

Well, this week was full of random things that just made everything about it entirely great. I can't wait to see what this next week holds! I hope you all have a great week as well. I love you all! 

Love,

Sis. Ellis-Lui-Kwan

Another Transfer

Aloha :)

This week has been as wonderful as ever. Sis. Fraser is leaving this Tuesday and I am so bummed out. I know it'll be alright. But I'm sad to see her leave. 

Another wonderfully busy week went by and we were able to see a bunch of people that neither of us had seen since we've gotten to Hollister. So the work definitely seems to be shifting here in Hollister. I'm so excited to see what this week will hold. 

Earlier this week, we went on exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders and they are both great sister missionaries. I can't wait to work with them even more!

Well, sorry this email is so short. I'll have to more to say next week and hopefully I'll get a picture with my new companion. I love you all!

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sis. Ellis-Lui-Kwan

 

 

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Aloha! :)

Hello all of you wonderful people. This week was another amazing one. Sis. Fraser....well. She just blows me away. Yet again. I didn't know they made missionaries that good. Haha. But really though. She's awesome.

We're nearing the end of yet another transfer, things are just flying by. We taught a whole bunch of different people from our set appointments every week to a few street lessons. It was great. We ended the week with President and Sister Watkins coming down to our building for a fireside. They talked to both Hollister wards and the Spanish branch about member missionary work. They were great. They had all the full-time missionaries go up to the front and had us stand in front of everyone and close our eyes. (There are 8 of us by the way. 2 English Elders. 2 Spanish Elders, 2 Spanish Sisters, and then me and Sis. Fraser.) President asked us two questions and we had to gesture with our hands our answer. He asked us to show how hard we thought the mission was and then how much fun, or how worth it the mission was. Needless to say, each one of us agreed that the worth of doing missionary work far outweighed the work we put into it. But everyone else in the audience had a good laugh. President also talked about how easy it is and as long as we are truly being a friend and disciple of Christ to everyone we meet we are being a member missionary. So so great!

Sorry, this is a short one. We went hiking today as a district to the Pinnacles. It was really fun. There were little caves and a lake. It was really pretty! I'll attach pictures next week! I hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you!

Love,

Sis. Ellis-Lui-Kwan

Another Wonderful Week! : )

Aloha! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful week. This week in Hollister was as wonderful and hilarious as ever. Sis. Fraser and I just about died laughing everywhere we went. On the plus side, of looking weird while we laugh on our bikes I think it's building up my core. Haha. Not really...but it makes me feel better to think that. 

Anyway, we got to do a bunch of service this week, which is just the best. I love that I am in a service mission. It's seriously so fun. We helped a family move into a new house across town and we got to paint her bathroom. Sis. Fraser and I felt quite proud of ourselves after we finished. It ended up being like a seafoam greenish color...not that that's really important. But it was really pretty. :)

We also were able to teach a bunch of different people that haven't been able to see recently because of everyone going on vacations and things. I feel like things are finally starting to relax for a little bit because everyone is getting back into their routines of school and work. 

Other than that, we had a really cute experience happen to us on Valentine's Day! One of our recent converts was talking at work to her co-workers about the church and about us and then we ran into one of her co-workers at Safeway while we were contacting. She was really nice to us and we gave her a mormon.org card and then we complimented her red gloves. They were really cute and it was kind of gloomy day outside. So, that was a couple of week ago. On Valentine's, we had a lesson with our recent convert and she pulls out this bag for us and says, it's from one of her co-workers. The woman we met outside of Safeway bought Sis. Fraser and I each our own pair of red leather gloves!! :) So nice. I don't have a picture of us yet. But I'll make sure to send them next week.

Well, I love you all. I hope you have a great week. I'm going to attach some pictures of our P-Day last week. We had a Nerf War in the gym with our District. It was pretty hilarious. Sis. Fraser and I got jerseys from the Thrift Store. Haha. It was awesome. Well, talk to you all next week! :)

Love,

Sis. Ellis-Lui-Kwan

Sister Fraser and I ready for Nerf War Games!

My District

Where is the time going?

Aloha :)

This week was wonderful! We taught some really great lessons and Sis. Fraser....well, she's just as amazing as ever. We also had the special opportunity to hear from Elder Quentin L. Cook on Saturday for a mission wide conference. It was so great. 

He talked to us about a bunch of different things including how he feels the Spirit when he assigns missionaries to their mission. But one of the things he talked about was the relationships we have with others. He mentioned four in particular that were directed to us as missionaries but I think it can apply to everyone. They were to love the people, love and respect our companions, love our mission president and his wife, and most importantly to love the Lord. He talked about how in every situation, in every relationship, we have to change our mindset. It needs to be one of love and humility, just like the Savior. That even though we may find it hard to love some people whether it be those in our community or those in our families, if we have a mindset to love, respect, appreciate, and learn from them we'll be able to see the blessings that can come from it. We will be able to feel the Spirit more abundantly in our lives and then be able to act on it more and more frequently do the things Heavenly Father would have us do. It just kind of turns into this wonderful cycle of continually becoming more like Christ, which is awesome because that's what we're all trying to do anyway. Funny how that works out isn't it?

It was great to be able to listen to him speak. The Spirit was just so strong when he testified it was almost tangible. It was so cool to be able to sit there and listen to him. Sis. Cook spoke as well and she is just adorable, she had us sing "Hark All Ye Nations". It was so cute. They also let us all come and shake their hands which was just awesome. So cool.

But other than that, I'm doing great. Things are wonderful. We have a new baptismal date coming up in March. A 13 year old boy. We're both so excited for him. Wonderful things are happening here in Hollister, it's just great.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sis. Ellis-Lui-Kwan