Elder Ellis' Roadtrip to Phoenix

My dad and I drove down to Phoenix for the weekend to attend my nephew's baptism. Of course we took Elder Ellis along for the ride.......

Hayden loves road trips

Hayden loves putting on lipstick

Hayden loves the Big Baby (Rylen)

Hayden loves sleep overs

Hayden loves Hello Kitty

Hayden loves baptisms with his Uncle Nate and cousin Ashton

Hayden loves hanging out with the Phoenix elders

Hayden loves going for a walk with cousin Addison

Hayden loves playing SWAT with cousin Ashton

Hayden loves watching football with Uncle Nate and cousin Carter

Hayden loves going to a tea party with cousin Kennedy

Hayden loves pretend tea and oranges

Meeting a Kansan and Eating Jellyfish

Hey Mom!

It's hard to believe we're already in September. My companion, Elder Meiners, hit his year mark this week, and in two more transfers I'll follow suit. It really doesn't feel like I've been at this for almost a year. I look at the four brand new missionaries in our zone and feel like It wasn't long ago that I was in their position! Well, it really wasn't that long ago, but in mission life, pushing 10 months is getting up there in age. I'm starting to feel pretty old in my mission! One of the new missionaries graduated high school three months ago. That's pretty weird for me since I'm used to being the youngest in my zone. I can't even begin to imagine what the next year is going to feel like.

We'll I had a really cool run in with a fellow Kansan! Elder Milne, Randall, Meiners and I were helping a man move into his new house. He met the Spanish missionaries down in San Rafael and they helped him pack up his truck and then sent him our way to assist with getting the truck unloaded and everything in his house. If my mission has taught me one thing, it's how to load and unload a moving truck! I'm being prepared for the rest of my life here. So I jumped in the truck and started handing the other Elders boxes to take inside and that became my job for the rest of move. It gave me an opportunity to talk to an old man by the name of Bob who was "supervising" the project. He's a really funny guy, and certainly not afraid to hand out praise, sometimes for silly things. I'd pick up a box and place it on the tail gate of the truck for the other Elders to come get and he would give me a hearty "Good job!" or "perfectly executed!" I never thought I could feel so good about myself for something like stacking boxes! Although after he said it continually for 45 mins, the compliments started losing their luster. But after talking to him for a little while I discovered he is from Kansas City, so we had a lot to talk about there! It was nice to reminisce about the Kansas barbecue and the thunder storms. Normally the only conversations about Kansas I have are about tornadoes, farms and how I'm not in Kansas anymore.... So this was definitely a nice change of pace! The other service project we did this week was helping a member get a ton of wood in a chipper and cutting down a lot of vines and unnecessary foliage hanging from a tree. I was on the "vine disposal team", and naturally we were equipped machetes. Nothing better than slicing through an inch thick vine with one swing. That's satisfying... Unfortunately, I went too hard and ended up stabbing my thigh on the end of a down swing. So I left that project with a war wound! It's not that bad, just a small cut but let it be known that blood was shed for the sake of service!

Sorry for not mentioning it in my last email, but keeping track of everything I want to send each week is really tough and sometimes I leave stuff out. Yes, Gianni, the beef jerky and salmon were really good! And of course the Martinellis paired with it made it the best food care package I've ever gotten. Nothing makes a missionary happier than sparkling apple cider and dehydrated beef!

Well a couple of things happened this week, probably one of the biggest things was the announcement from President Alba that the mission is taking a break from Facebook for a while to reevaluate and get reorganized. I'm fine with this; I find I don't really use it much anyways. Facebook can be really distracting while you're trying to work and for a lot of missionaries it's just an hour break to relax and watch videos of ice bucket challenges. So, for an undetermined amount of time the Santa Rosa mission is going to be off Facebook and Skype, which is kinda sad since that was one of the main things that set us apart from the other missions. We were the first IPad and Facebook mission, but after a while people start getting casual about using these tools so it'll be good for us to take a break. We also had interviews with President (that's when we took all the First Presidency pictures) and we had Zone Conference, which was like any normal Zone Conference but this time we watched a really powerful video about the Atonement, which I will send home on a flash drive. It isn't made by the church but it really explains what the atonement was like for Christ and for His Father in ways we all can understand. Sometimes the Atonement can be a hard concept for people to grasp. It explains what it must've been like for Heavenly Father to allow his Only Begotten Son to atone for the sins of mankind. John 3:16"¶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I recommend watching it. I think it's called, "For God so Loved the World" or something like that. Powerful video! I plan on showing it to our investigators. On top of it all, we have a temple trip coming up! We didn't have one last transfer, which is when we would normally have had one but the Oakland temple was closed so we put it off for this transfer. And that's coming up in a week. So a lot is going on right now.

Well Sunday was a good day because we had an investigator come to church! We haven't even met with her yet but she had a friend bring her. She and her son are looking for change in a big way. So I can't wait to meet them both and start teaching them!

Sorry that this email is really late! I just had a super crazy P-Day that involved the beach, rock climbing, taking a bite out of a jelly fish, (fun fact: jelly fish that wash up on the beach are not for eating, they taste like pure, concentrated salt. Awful!) and urban exploring in some bunkers! I took so many pictures so I'll send those next week.

I love my mission, I love my friends, I love my family, and I love my Heavenly Father! Till next week!

Love,  Elder Hayden Ellis

A Fiji Mermaid and Cannolis

A paper mache Fiji mermaid.

Elder Milne and Elder Ellis with the Fiji mermaid.

Alessandro and Elder Ellis

Aunt Mary and Elder Ellis with homemade cannolis

Elder Ellis getting some hammock time while Uncle Davide cooks pizza

Hey Mom!

First of all congratulations to my Uncle Nate for his promotion! I don't know what all those fancy chef words mean, but it all sounds pretty prestigious! I'm happy for you, Uncle Nate, you deserve it! And mom, I was dying from that Chopped episode you told me about! So funny!

Elder M***** isn't the easiest guy to live with but he's a lot better than people led me to believe. I seem to be the only one that actually gets along with him, but I'm really making a concentrated effort to see the best in people and not let little stuff bother me. So I'm not sure if I'm getting really good at that or if he's just easier to live with than I anticipated, but either way it seems to be working! I went on exchanges with Elder Kimball this week, (I can't remember if I mentioned that he transferred to my zone, but if not, then I'm letting you all know now!) and that was really cool. We had a chance to talk a lot about Fairfield and what happened after he left. Good news that he revealed to me: my investigator, E***** is still well on her way to get baptized this month! I'm so excited! I hope President will allow me to attend her baptism. There's a rule that you can go to out-of-zone baptisms if they are less than 30 mins away, and from here to Fairfield is like 50 mins... so I doubt he will, but maybe if i ask nice enough...

So one of the pictures you sent really confused me, since I looked at the pictures before reading the email. I was wondering why some toddler was holding a picture of me, then it clicked that it was little Ale! Holy Moses, he got big!! And he's already walking around?! I was so bummed out to find out I missed his first steps! Of course while serving a mission for 2 years I was well aware that he was likely to figure out how legs worked, but I was really banking on the possibility that he didn't feel like he had anywhere to be in a hurry and not learn how to walk till he's 3 years old. That was a bit of a stretch. Davide, the backyard looks amazing. I can't wait to try out that pizza oven! And I miss Mary's cannoli's! Those are SO GOOD. I remember making those my personal reward when I got Ale to be happy and fall asleep!

My mission is trying something new that I am very excited for! It's call JustServe.org and its going to be a way for the mission to find more service opportunities for us missionaries! Hopefully we'll find some big projects - like the tri-zone one in Vallejo that I was in where we helped CDA give free dental care to people. That was the coolest service project I've ever been a part of, so hopefully we can find more like that. What's interesting about it is that during the projects that we'll be assisting with, we aren't allowed to proselyte; its strictly service. So I'm really psyched for that to start up; service is one of my favorite things about missionary work. I personally think it's the best way to get people to open their hearts to you and to the Gospel.

So we had a really cool Sacrament meeting yesterday that I really enjoyed. It was like testimony meeting but the difference was we had one speaker who talked briefly on hymns and how they are prayers from the righteous to our Heavenly Father. Then the ward members were invited to come up, share their favorite hymn and then we sang a verse of their choice together. It was a really great idea and tons of people went up one after another to have us sing their favorite hymn. I wanted to go up but so many people were sharing theirs, that there was literally no time for us missionaries! So I'd like to take the opportunity to share mine now. My favorite hymn is probably number 259, "Hope of Israel". The reason I love this hymn so much is because it reminds me of the importance of missionary work, whether by full-time missionaries or member missionaries, is especially in these latter-days. The work of Salvation is hastening (D&C 88:73) and is being preached to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people (D&C 42:58). We all need to get involved in this wonderful work! Something I'd like to invite everyone to do is to share their favorite hymns and why they like them! Whether you want to tell someone in the family or share it on Facebook, I know hymns are a great way to invite the spirit and that Heavenly Father hears every one of them you sing.

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis

An Earthquake and the Stripling Warriors

Elder Ellis' picture with his cousins in Borneo. It looks like he had a great time!

Happy Birthday, Stephen!


Happy Birthday, my brother! I miss and love you and hope you have an awesome day!

So I've had a pretty good week, but it's not much different than the previous weeks. Novato is pretty tough and hardly anyone wants to listen to us. Marin County is just a very wealthy area, and people here are pretty well off for the most part, so they don't think they need to listen to a pair of charming and handsome gentlemen talking about Jesus. So contacting and tracting is really hard here, and Elder Meiners and I have had very little success, but Saturday night we had a little bit more luck! We were walking around an apartment complex and didn't talk to anyone for a good 20 mins. People either weren't out or were ignoring us, so we decided to head back to the car and go home since it was close to 9 pm and clearly nothing was happening that night. As we got close to where we parked some women started shouting "Elders!" at us from down the street and ran up to meet us. She said she knew missionaries when she saw them and was eager to hear if we had a special word from the Lord for her. So we taught her about Prophets and how we have a living one today and she graciously accepted the message. She told us she loves to study different religious literature and she was going to go home and study the Book of Mormon she has on her bedside table. We asked her if we could come by and teach her more sometime but she gave us the vague and almost nefarious answer of: "Oh, we'll see each other again..." While Elder Meiners and I were giving each other a "what the heck does that mean...?" sideways glance, she turned around and sprinted away with her friend that was just hanging out in the background. So that last part was a little strange, but it was much needed and definitely one of our better contacts we've had in Novato.

Well I stand corrected from my previous email, Elder M***** is quite delightful and really funny. He has brought this insane new energy to the apartment that makes everything so much more interesting and fun. I'm not sure why people were so bummed to hear he was coming because I'm having a blast. He's just a really goofy guy, and I'm a pretty goofy guy myself, so we are enjoying each others' company.

Well last night we had a stake meet-and-greet, which is the first Sunday of each transfer. All of the missionaries in the San Rafael Stake get together in Petaluma with a member of the Stake Presidency and do some sort of activity to get to know everyone in the two San Rafael zones. What we did yesterday was pretty much a testimony meeting but if we wanted to we could stand up and share why we decided to serve a mission. I decided to stand and share some reasons I decided to serve a mission. I like to think of myself as a modern-day stripling warrior. Alma 56: 47-48 "Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it." My mom was the reason I came on a mission, because she raised me to love God, and to have faith in him. I owe everything I am now to my mom and I'm so grateful for her example to me. I also shared the time when I was 7 and I said I didn't want to pull a prank on my mom because I wanted to do what the Lord wanted me to do. That's an experience I know my mom holds close to her heart because that's the first time she realized I had a testimony. So I think that's probably the moment that set me on the path to serve a mission.

So as you all know, I was in an earthquake!! Just randomly at 3 in the morning Elders Milne, Randall and I (Elder Meiners slept right through it,) wake up to fairly violent shaking. It only lasted a couple of seconds after we woke up but it was still pretty crazy. It was a 6.1 in American Canyon, but it was probably only a 3 or 4 where we were so it wasn't that bad. After it stopped we all went back to sleep pretty quickly. Although there was no damage that I know of in Novato, I hear there was pretty bad damage in Napa. We haven't heard anything yet about a disaster relief effort but we still don't know much about the situation.

Well here's my unfortunate news for the day: so Elder Meiners and I are driving home earlier today to drop our laundry off and I had my hand sticking out the window. I suddenly felt something small hit my hand then it just started hurting so bad - like something small had stabbed me in the hand. I looked at my hand and there was a bee stinger in my hand!! What!?! How does that happen?! How does a bee fly stinger first into my hand while I'm driving 35 mile an hour!? It was the weirdest thing! I haven't been stung by a bee in a long time and I forgot how much it hurt! So that's my unfortunate moment of the day.

I have no idea where Borneo is, but from the looks of it, I feel the only way I'm going to be able to go there again is if I'm still in a picture frame.

Well, its hard to believe I'm coming up on my year mark. It doesn't feel like things are going by so quick but time is flying. I'm so grateful for my mission and all that it has done for me and how much I've grown and learned on it. I know how much a mission blesses someone's life and how much it benefits someone to go on a mission and I'm grateful for my mom for helping me get to this point.

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis

Frozen and Transfers

Me and Elder .Randall at Headlands Beach

Happy Monday!


So transfers are happening as we speak! The results are as follow: I'm staying in Novato. Well of course I am, I would be pretty surprised if I was getting transferred out so soon. Elder Meiners is also staying, so no change in our companionship. Elder Sacco is transferring out and we are getting a new missionary in our apartment. His name is Elder M*****, and not many positive things are said about him. Only one person in this zone is happy that he is coming so everyone is pretty bummed right now, especially Elder Randall. So this will be another transfer I might have to practice exercising patience and tolerance. It will be an interesting next couple of transfers.

So we managed to teach a lot this week. We had at least one lesson a day, which for this area is pretty good. Things with our investigator, L*****, are going so well! One of our members, Sister Clark, is very good friends with her and is so helpful with fellowshipping her and making her feel welcome. We also have a lot of lessons at her house and she is very good at explaining things to her and having them make sense. So she is a valued member in our ward! Fun fact: Brother Clark is a visual effects supervisor. He works on a lot of movies, one of which is Ted, and works quite closely with Seth McFarland. He does the Teddy bear, and he is responsible for everything about Ted except for the voice. So that's pretty cool. There are so many movie makers here in Novato is ridiculous. But I digress. The work here is going really well right now. We are getting referrals and our investigators are progressing really well right now. So I'm pretty hopeful to have a baptism soon!

Well, I'm sorry, but not much happened this week so I'm not sure what else to write. Learning the piano is going better than I thought it would. I'm learning how to play "Let It Go" from Frozen, so that will make me popular with 8 year old girls. Other than that, it was a slow week. I know that things will pick up next week, and I'll have a lot more to write about.

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis

Nicholas Cage and Fishing in Tiburon

Hey Mom!

So something really cool happened last Monday. My celebrity encounters continue! So we went to Stinson Beach after we sent emails and the beach was stellar! We had such a good time. We played Ultimate Frisbee, football, and soccer, and I got some great pictures, (which I'll send eventually...) Then the Sisters finally got there and they were all excited and told us they just met Nicolas Cage. Of course we didn't believe them until they showed us pictures they took with him and pointed him out on the beach. So Elders Choffin, Merrel, Hansen, Meiners, Sacco and I did the only rational thing and sprinted down the beach like madmen to where he was. Of course we slowed down when we got close to him and acted casual. When we got to the finely dressed man that was pointed out to us, we were wondering how to approach him. Then Elder Meiners just went up to him and asked him how he was doing and shook his hand. And sure enough, it was Nicolas Cage! So my companion took the initiative to solve the problem of how to break the ice. We all shook his hand and talked for a little while. We asked him why he was at the beach (turns out he's in town filming a movie here, which we were told a week prior when we tried to get to on the beach and were stopped by a police officer because a movie was being filmed so the beach was closed,) and how things were going. We didn't talk for long since he didn't want too much attention drawn to him, which was weird that no one knew it was him considering how much he stood out for a guy on the beach. He told us that he liked us Mormons and then departed. I wanted to get a picture with him but I didn't have my camera at the time and I didn't want to go get it and come back since he was with his family and I didn't want to bother him. But I do have a couple of pictures that Elder Choffin took, and one that Elder Jeske got with him after we saw him, so that will be my proof of the encounter. So needless to say, Cali is the place to be if you want to meet famous individuals.

So transfers are in a week! Crazy! This is the fastest transfer ever - I feel like i just got here... We are all pretty sure that Elder Meiners is transferring to Santa Rosa to be a Tech Elder so I'm expecting a new companion soon. I can't believe how fast things are going by -  I'm closing in on my 9th month. Well, it was a really good week and we managed to get in contact with a lot of our investigators and potentials that we haven't seen in a while and have quite a few appointments set up for next week, so things look like they might pick up in this area. We also got to help one of our investigators clean out her garage, which was mildly difficult since she has a slight tendency to hoard. It was slightly challenging since there was so much stuff and she didn't want to throw anything away. We basically just rearranged her garage so it's more organized. Glad we were able to help her, but I think for a couple of days after the endeavor I had fleas, because she told us her dog had some flea problems and my legs were pretty itchy for a while!

We just got done fishing at Tiburon with one of our members, Brother Dixon. So although we didn't catch anything, we had a lot of fun and I got some really great pictures. Hopefully we're better at being fishers of men than we are at regular fishing.(Speaking of Tiburon, we just read on Facebook that Robin Williams died!! What?! Man so much is happening in the world its crazy!)

Well, that's it for me this week, since I still have some things I need to finish for this P Day. Till next week!

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis

Developing Talents and Papa Returning Home

Doing some manly gardening for Mama

Waiting for Elder Whittingslow

The bridge to the lighthouse

The lighthouse

I don't always look so indifferent - they keep snapping pictures when I'm not expecting it.

There are some really cool bunkers from the World Wars in this area.

Hi Mom!

Well the bad thing about being in a Facebook mission is that there really aren't any surprises for those back home... So yes! Elder Whittingslow is back in the mission! My Papa came back home! Crazy part is that he is in my District now! He took Elder Slaughter's place who was emergency transferred a couple of weeks ago. So Elder Whittingslow and I are going to see a lot of each other now! We have a lot of catching up to do. It's strange since I have been out longer than my trainer now, only by a week or so but I'm still older than my daddy! Now we are going to go home at the same time, which is really weird to think about... but it's also pretty cool!

So I have taken it upon myself to develop some new talents while I'm on my mission. I've been thinking about it lately and I realized I don't have a particular set of skills or special talents, so I'm going to work on that while I'm on my mission! I have decided to undertake the process of learning how to play the piano! I'm working on learning how to read sheet music right now. I figured since I'm not musically inclined, that's something I can work on! Any sort of tips or advice are more than welcome. Also I'm learning a little bit of ASL (American Sign Language) from Elder Hansen. So I have all sorts of projects I'm working on out here!

Well Elders Randall, Sacco, Meiners and I went and helped our investigator, L*******, out with her house. Some tree roots found there way into her plumbing and her house flooded. Worse part of it all is she may or may not have a slight hoarding problem.....so there were many things that got damaged by the water. We went over to try to help her salvage what survived and clean up around her house. She was very grateful for the much needed assistance and as a result, she was at church yesterday, and I don't think she has made it to church before then. See what a little bit of reaching out can do for people? Mom, I really enjoyed the story of the Elders helping their investigator move and then her decision to be baptized as a result of it. Some people just need someone to reach out to them and know they care. Service for others really goes a long way - that's why I love service so much.

Well I have to wrap it up since the other Elders are waiting on me. We are going to the beach again and this time the whole zone is going to be there instead of just three of us. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis