A Mission Blanket and Reminiscing about Kansas

My friend Abbie sent me an amazing Christmas/birthday gift. What's better than having my
name tag on even when I sleep at night?!

Hello everyone!

So, to be completely frank, our week has vastly sucked. It's been full of drama that's not ours but the members made it ours. So Elder Yepez and I have been greatly frustrated all week and it just hasn't been overly pleasant for either of us. That being said, we had a pretty eventful week and had some highlights.

I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Kimball on Tuesday. It was really cool to be companions with him again and reminisce of our time in Fairfield together. He is the only companion that I've served around more than once, and this is the third zone we've been in together. It's almost exactly a year from the time we parted ways and I became companions with Elder Gasu. Ahh, nostalgia back to the Fairfield days...

Welcome back to another exciting Elder Ellis venting session!! My ward doesn't at all understand the point of missionaries and it's really frustrating for Elder Yepez and I. Missionaries are placed in a ward to assist in its missionary work, not do all the work for them. Our members frequently call on us to make sure other members are at certain activities, or to teach family home evenings for them...every single week. We are always the first to be called to give a blessing, which, don't get me wrong, we love to exercise our Priesthood, but they need to learn to call their home teachers before they call us. Not to mention we are, without fail, called upon to help with all the last second move-ins because they can't get anyone else to show up to help. These are just a few examples. Now we don't mind doing these things every now and then, but members have to remember where their jobs end and where ours begin. Our stewardship isn't making sure all the Relief Society knows about the Christ-like parenting class at the church - that's the Relief Society Presidency's job. And last minute move-ins shouldn't fall on our shoulders because the Elder's Quorum can't get themselves in gear. I think our members forget that we work and they think we just sit around all day with nothing to do and are free labor for whenever they have a job they would rather not do themselves. And one last thing, if you are having some issues and drama with other members in the ward, talk to your bishop. If Elder Yepez and I look like Dr. Phil to you, then we apologize for the misunderstanding. Well, that's all for this week on the Ellis rant show, folks! Thanks again for enduring with me another Elder Ellis venting session and hope to see you all next time!

The last couple of weeks I have been trying to whiten my teeth at night. I am using this stuff that you paint on and then shine a light on it which is suppose to activate the whitening gel. It's sooo hard to stay away from foods or drinks that could stain them. So this is what a diet feels like. I don't like it - diets aren't my thing. So if you happen to notice how wonderfully white my teeth are, feel free to give me a shout so I can know it's not a complete waste of my time!

It was my 18 month mark on Wednesday. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that I left to serve a mission exactly a year and a half ago. My sister mission is over! And the last 6 months are going to go by impossibly fast.

Our baptismal dates dropped us :(. I never even met two of them because they cancelled on us every single week we tried to see them!! But we have a guaranteed baptism on June 3rd with Bob L***** - he's the 85 year old man who dismissed my Mother's Day dinner message about the stripling warriors. Apparently he wasn't fully medicated that day. We went to teach him on Friday and he told us he wants to be baptized ASAP. It appears after 85 years of being the only non member in a vastly Mormon family, it finally occurred to him he wants the blessings of the temple, so that is his goal. Rhett, his grandson-in-law came and spoke to us on Saturday and gave us background info on him. He also mentioned that there were some less actives at the Mother's Day dinner when Bob interrupted my message and told us to go away. Rhett told us my dinner message, (the part I was able talk about that is,) apparently touched the hearts of the less-active family members at the dinner, so at least it helped someone - although it didn't do much for Bob. We have been able to teach him twice so far and he really seems to be the golden investigator his family keeps telling us he is, (when he's on his happy pills, that is.) We will need to teach him every day if he is going to make it to his date on the 3rd, but I think he can do it. He'll just have to quit his decaf coffee, but if he really wants to be sealed to his family for all eternity, then I'm sure he will realize it's well worth the sacrifice. It's amazing to see how the Lord opens doors when others close. Even though the Aponte's dropped us, the Lord has blessed us with a man he has been molding and preparing for 85 years! That's a long time for his family to wait, but their patience will finally pay off and I'm honored to be able to have a small part in this family being together for all time and eternity.

Brother P*****, the less-active member who we helped with his phone, has a lot of struggles he is dealing with. He reminds me a lot of my brother, and a lot of myself. He reminds me of Stephen because he has Asperger's Syndrome. I never asked him if he does, but after living with it for my whole life, I've gotten pretty good at spotting it, (not to mention he has few books laying around his house about the "Atypical life of Asperger's Syndrome", so that made my deduction much easier to make.) He reminds me of myself because he is so incredibly hard on himself and is his own worst enemy. That's exactly how I use to be, and occasionally still am. I didn't realize how similar we were until the other night when we went to see him. While we were there he broke down in tears that I am sure have been building up for a while of frustration and self-loathing. He said many things to us, like how he shouldn't exist and how much of a waste of a person he was. That really tugged on my heartstrings because I use to think a lot like that. He also mentioned how he wished so hard that he was a better person like Elder Yepez and I. That made me feel even worse, because Elder Yepez and I haven't been the most patient when it came to dealing with Brother P*****, so we were rebuked pretty hard by the spirit right then and needed to repent later that night. I felt prompted to offer him a blessing of comfort. I remember telling him how much his Heavenly Father cherished him, and how important he is to Him. I want to share that same message with everyone who reads this week's letter. If you every start to feel worthless or like you have less value than you really do, remember that you are a child of supreme and eternal God. Which not only means you have eternal value, but you are the most important thing to a infinitely loving Heavenly Father who created all things. And this is being brought to you by someone who use to hate himself growing up, so I know what I am talking about. Never forget who you really are, and you will never see yourself less than what you really are; God's most precious creation.

Yesterday President and Sister Alba came to Lakeport to speak to the combined Kelseyville and Lakeport wards. They both spoke about missionary work, and how both the members and missionaries can see miracles if we work together to bring souls unto Christ. Despite the fact that a large, mobile, standing projection screen fell over, (and had it fallen in the opposite direction it would've landed on President Alba and Bishop Tipton,) it was an amazing meeting. President and Sister Alba are going home very soon and they don't have many meetings like this left! They go home on June 30th. It's going to be so weird having a new mission President, but I'm excited for the change and looking forward to what President Wright brings to our mission.

After church, Elder Yepez, a young man named Joey Sainsbury, and I went to visit some media referrals that we've gotten. Unfortunately both of the people we visited didn't even know they ordered missionaries to come and see them. The second place we went to we ended up talking with the father. We shot the breeze a little and when he found out I'm from Kansas City he told me he's from Prairie Village! He asked what high school I went to and after I told him Shawnee Mission South he told me he went to East. It was really cool to reminisce about Kansas with someone.

Well, that's my week in a nutshell. It was full of frustration but there were certainly some ups along with the downs. Overall it was pretty good. Hope everyone has a great week!!

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis

Grave Digging and the Geek Squad

Service project working on a members' bathroom.

All masked up and going in.

Apparently I have a way with felines.

Doing some service in the rain.

Peacocks just run around free here in Lake County.

Surf and turf dinner at the Alexanders

Ciao!

Hey everyone! I had a pretty fun week. I can't believe how quickly it's going by... Time is flying right before my eyes. Well let's get right into it!

On our P-day last Monday,  Elders Yepez, Hacking, Smittenaar, Merrell, Francom and I went to a member's house in my area and we played pool and Kan Jam. Kan Jam is this really fun frisbee game we play a lot. Basically it's just throwing a frisbee at plastic trash can looking-things and you get different amounts of points for how you hit the Kan with your frisbee. You just have to look it up, it's hard to explain, but it's super dupes fun!!

On Tuesday Elder Yepez and got some work in at Chris Alexander's. We spent a good 3 hours digging holes for his "garden" and it was pretty exhausting. At least I have a promising career as a grave digger ahead of me if I so choose to pursue such a path. Digging holes is the most tedious and mundane job to have. I don't mind doing it for service purposes, but I can't imagine making a career out of something so labor intensive. Get an education everyone! It's so important! I don't want to dig holes for a living!

Wednesday was completely ridiculous. Basically all we did all day was be the geek squad for elderly people struggling with technology. We helped a less active activate his credit card on his phone, we also helped him figure out how to find his contacts in the phone and showed him how to turn it on... we basically did the same for the other member we helped. We taught her how to make and call contacts in her phone... I'm sad to say being tech support was a majority of our day.

The Alexanders fed us on Friday and something really special happened while we were there. Ashley was sick and hadn't been feeling well at all lately, so Chris gave her a blessing. Not only was it the first blessing she has received from him in about 7 years of marriage, but it was the first blessing that Chris has ever given. Ever. It was a really special moment for the both of them, and for Elder Yepez and I also. There was definitely tears being shed in the room. I have such a testimony about the Priesthood and the miracles it can perform.

So I've got some bummer news. Two of three of the Aponte family members haven't been coming to church so they won't be able to be baptized as scheduled. Also, we called the Napa Zone Leaders and apparently my investigator, Daniel, didn't make his baptismal date. They had to reschedule for another date. I was kinda bummed to hear that but Daniel is still going strong and is still taking the lessons and hasn't lost his desire. So it's all good!!

We spent just about all of Saturday doing service. First we went to Sister Crites' house and dismantled her bathroom. I mean we literally destroyed or removed everything in there. Only the walls and the ceiling survived (I say that because the floor did not.) After putting in a few hours there we book it to Chris's house and start helping him erect his fence. Those couple of months I worked construction for Jeremy were really helpful. It's pretty nice to be given some tools and already be competent with them. My dad never taught me how to use tools while I was growing up so that time with Jeremy really comes in handy. At least now I know which end of a hammer hits the nail and which end stays in your hand. So like I was saying, we already had the fence posts cemented in from another day, and Elder Yepez had just finished measuring and skill sawing the support beams when it started to rain a little. It didn't bother me one bit... that is until it started to absolutely POUR, and then hail. That's when we decided to wrap it up. Then, of course, it stopped raining as soon as we dried off. So we went back out and finished the half of the fence we were working on. Not bad so far!

We had something really cool happen on Sunday. A youth choir came up from San Jose and alternated between singing and bearing testimonies. It was super powerful and they sang amazingly. They were like a mini MoTab. I had goose bumps the whole time. We were suppose to serve food before a dance they had on Saturday with the stake, but we didn't know they were still going to be half naked from the pool party they had hours prior - so we ex-nayed that idea. But they sang wonderfully! I was close to tears on "Bound for the Promise Land".

We had an awesome week; I can't believe the transfer is almost over. It continually perplexes me how fast time goes. Well, I hope everyone has an awesome week!

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis

Mother's Day and Embracing the Crazy

Mother's Day greeting from me and Elder Yepez

Skyping with the family - Gianni, Mom and Stephen.

Skyping with Mom for the last time

Zone Conference with President and Sis. Alba

Elder and Sis. Seeley will be returning home just before the Alba's go home. I'll miss them a lot.

Generation picture with Elders Hacking, Hansen and Orr. We all came out together.

Me and Elder Hansen

Elder Meiners, my old companion and new tech elder.

Hermanas Figeroua and Steiner

My two-week companion and now AP, Elder Morely.

The new Samoan on the block, Elder Tafua.

Driving Elder Yepez home from Zone Conference. If you look in the lower right hand corner there is a little black box
on the windshield that is called Tiwi. I don't like Tiwi.

Clearlake is prettier than I expected.

Clearlake

Happy Mother's Day!!

It's like my favorite day of the year now! I'm so grateful for my mom. There is no way I would be out here if it were not for her.

Alma 56:47-48
47 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.

Just like those faithful young men, I too, have been raised from an early age to love God. My mom raised me the best way she could and she did it by herself. And because of that, I'm on a mission serving the Lord. I am so blessed to have the mother I do. I'm not sure what I did to deserve the mom I have, but I am so grateful for my mother and all she has done for me. I LOVE MY MOMMA!!

On Tuesday we drove to Ukiah for zone conference. It was a pretty sad conference since it is President and Sister Alba's and the Seeley's last zone conference ever before they go home. I still can't believe their time is finally at hand. They have been here my entire mission, so it's going to be an adjustment having someone different in their stead. But if there is anything to learn from a mission, it's how to make adjustments. So I imagine I'll survive somehow.

So I have a sob story for you. It was my birthday the day of zone conference and no one remembered my birthday! At the end of each zone conference they call up people who are having birthdays coming up, get a picture of them all together, and give them birthday cards. Well they started calling people up who had birthdays from then till August and they totally forgot me. My birthday was that day! After they called everyone up, (minus me,) I started laughing and telling Elder Hansen they forgot me. President Alba standing nearby heard me and made the big announcement that it was my birthday and sent me up. Of course they didn't have a card for me but that's okay. President and Sister Alba forget my name a lot, so it's starting to become a joke with some of the other missionaries and me, so it didn't bother me that much. I just thought it was pretty ridiculous.

At least the Alexanders did something for me! They fed us that night and had a birthday cupcake for me. I love the Alexanders! They make me feel special.

At zone conference we also got these new devices that basically monitor every stupid thing we do with our car, called Tiwi. It knows if we speed, if we don't have seat belts on, if we accelerate/decelerate too quickly - just about everything. Plus we have to log into Tiwi just about every time we get into the car, and gets mad at us when we don't. And if we violate any of these things, it files a report to President Alba. So it goes without saying, being the designated driver just got a lot more stressful. It feels like there is a cop sitting in the backseat waiting for me to mess up. It goes without saying, I don't like Tiwi.

I am quite pleased to say that I am going to learn many life skills here in Lakeport. The Alexander family has a lot of projects happening around the house that we help out with a lot. Just the other day I worked with cement and placed fence posts in ground. So now I am an experienced cementist! We are also going to help them with other projects that involve roofing, flooring, plumbing, etc. So my time here should prove to be quite enlightening!

I have learned that the drug/trashy parts of my area are more northern in Lucern and Nice, (pronounced niece). We go there every Thursday so I'm sure if I'm going to get any crazy from this area, it's going to be from there. Lakeport is too normal for anything super weird to happen here, so if I want to embrace the crazy, I need to expand my horizons and look for it elsewhere.

Love you all and hope everyone has an awesome week!

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis

Lobster Dinner and Killing a Companion

Me and Elder Yepez

Hello!

So transfers have come and gone and now I am stationed in the scenic town of Lakeport! I really love it here. Lakeport is actually a really nice and beautiful area, and not beaten down by the cruelty of life like I had previously been informed. For starters, the roads here are paved, so that means I don't get to drive a truck like I was hoping, but the '15 Corolla is very nice so no complaints here. Also I haven't encountered a single drug dealer/addict which is slightly disappointing. If you want to find tons of tweakers you have to go to Clearlake. If you want to be in a town where it is commonplace to have no more than 8 teeth, then you go to Kelseyville. So Uncle Nate, it looks like I'm not going to get as many stories from here as we originally thought. But that's okay, I'll have to make do with normal and friendly people instead of people doped out of their minds. I was actually quite surprised with how welcoming and how humble the people are here. I was immensely taken aback when people here waved back at me and seemed genuinely happy to be alive. I don't mean to sound like I'm disparaging the rest of California, because there are great people all over Cali, which I have experienced first hand, but Lakeport is different. For obvious reasons, there is a different sense of community here and people seem far happier than what I've seen in Napa or Novato. Lakeport reminds me a lot of Kansas in that sense. People are just nice here. Wow, I took quite a roundabout and long way of getting to the point that people here are friendly, but there it is! It's great here!

So it turns out this is Elder Yepez's last transfer and I'm his last companion. When a missionary is leaving the mission, it is called, "killing your companion." So basically I'm going to kill Elder Yepez! We get along really well. His personality is just like that of my best friend at home, Assad.

Transfers were stellar, as usual. It's always a cause for celebration when one is reunited with his brothers of former areas! I learned something interesting from that transfer meeting. Apparently,(according to Elder Chan and Elder Meiners,) originally I was called to be transferred to Fort Bragg but was changed at the last minute and sent here. I haven't heard that happen very often but I was almost by the coast again, like when I was in Crescent City. That being said, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

After transfer meeting was over, Elder Akhmetov and I drove up here in a truck from Santa Rosa, which I enjoyed driving. Now if you look on the map you'll find the road that goes from Santa Rosa to Clearlake is ridiculously windy. There were some fools that were flying up that thing going 50-60 mph. I thought those guys were going to kill us a couple of times. I even got flipped off for what I assume was for driving too slow. Personally I didn't think I was driving too slow. I figured I was going the perfect speed to avoid dying in a fiery car crash. Elder Akhmetov and I did get lost on more than one occasion, but when the smell of weed permeated the air, we figured we were heading in the right direction.

Like I said earlier, I am loving it here so far. I've only met a handful of members but they are all pretty cool! My second dinner here we got fed lobster.... When Elder Yepez told me this blessed news, I just about started weeping. This was my first time having lobster my entire mission. God bless the Alexander's. Also, on Saturday we dined upon tri-tip. From these experiences, I believe it is safe to predict that my time spent here will be one filled with joy and great bounty.

So one of the set backs about serving here in the summer is that it gets super hot. I imagine it will be as bad if not worse than Fairfield, which was clear in the 90°'s most days. I remember a couple of times when it broke 100°. That was a splendid week... Hopefully it doesn't get too toasty here. But on the bright side, we have some baptisms coming up, 3 of which are a family so I'm stoked about that! Also we are teaching this couple named the Fullers and they have been so prepared for the gospel. They have quite a crazy story about how they came to start meeting with the missionaries. We taught them yesterday and they believe to have already received a witness that the Book of Mormon is true, and this is coming from people who use to be anti-Mormon. It's amazing to see how people have been prepared by the Lord to receive the restored gospel.

So tomorrow should interesting - we have Zone Conference. Eureka, Ukiah and Lake County will all be meeting at the Ukiah stake center. Tomorrow they are going to install these little devices into our cars that tell the mission office if and when we are speeding or just being stupid with our cars in general. So that'll be a little unnerving and stressful, but I'll persevere and probably improve my driving while I'm at it! I'll be in a meeting all day long so I don't have anything planned for my birthday other than that!

Well I hope everyone is having a superb week! Love you all and talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis

A Farewell to Napa and Embracing a New Adventure

A genuine Napa vineyard picture

In the vineyard with Elder Eccles

Our district: Elders Evans, Despain, Eccles, Francom, Lamunyon and Hermanas Gonzales and Kall

The Napa building, that allegedly fulfills prophecy - the steeple casts a shadow on
Governor Bogg's grave at a certain time of the day 

Bro. Perry

Bro. Pike, my ward mision leader

The Dreyer family

One of the many Ellis families here. Like I mentioned before, there are a lot of Ellis families here

Mitch Blaziek and Kip Woods. Mitch is less active and I have met with him every Wednesday
night at 7 pm for the past few months. He is such a good guy! As you can see by the tears in
his eyes, it was a pretty emotional goodbye.

The Moores

Sis. Harris, a less active member who was reactivated while I was here

Tess Brown and Rick Lawley - a part member family that feeds us steaks!

The Lord needs workers tending his vineyard! Matthew 20:1-16, D&C 21:9 and D&C 138:56

Napa vineyard

My beloved Daniel Herrera. He is the most golden investigator I've ever met!

The Bobzians

My faithful steed for the past 4 1/2 months

Happy Transfers everyone!

So I bet you are all dying to know where Elder Ellis, the Beloved, will be transferred to next! At least this is what I WOULD say if my mom didn't already know where I was going! You know, I'm under the impression that this is not the first time she knew where I was going before I could email home about it. Well I'll try to keep the excitement going for those of you who still DON'T know where I'm going. I'm being transferred to Lakeport! Lakeport is in the Clearlake zone, which is fairly notorious throughout the mission. Allow me to paint a picture for you all of what I soon will encounter. Lake County is built around Clearlake (which is a lake), and some of the surrounding cities are Kelseyville, Clearlake, (which is the city on the east side of the lake), and there is Lakeport, (the city where I will live on the west side of the lake.) So, I must dismiss some misconceptions some of you may have when you hear "Clearlake", because this is quite the misnomer: Clearlake is anything but clear. I have been informed that it is the most vile and disgusting lake one can come across on the west coast. If you look at it on google maps it is incredibly green, so that's an indication right there of the water quality. I have been warned more than once not to swim in the lake. Also might I add, that Lake County is also acknowledged for its copious amount of drugs, and the addicts who are using aforementioned drugs. I hear that even some active members grow weed there. It's just not a big deal to them as it is everywhere else. So this area will certainly be where my best mission stories come from. I have even been warned to never walk around barefoot because of the amount of syringes scattered about. I think that might be a little extreme but still noted.

So Lake County is definitely a pretty low income area. Most of the roads haven't even been paved. I hear from Elder Francom, who I live with now and who has already served there AND who is accompanying me and transferring there yet again, (he is displeased about this), that Lakeport is far nicer than the rest of Lake County. So at least most of my roads are paved. I also hear there is a lot of success here due to the humility that generally follows poverty. I'm excited to hear that the ward I'll be serving in may already have some baptism coming up!

Now I can finally tell you all something I'm positive none of you know - who my companion will be! Drumroll drumroll drumroll drumroll drumroll.... Elder Yepez! He is from somewhere in SoCal but I'm not sure where. But he definitely is Hispanic. Yaaaaay! Another diverse companion! I have never talked to him but I have heard of him before and hear he's a great guy. He has been out on his mission longer than I have. I actually might be his last companion if we stay together for 2 transfers, which is quite possible.

My zone is SUPER tiny. There's only 5 companionships in it. Every other zone I've been in have been double that. But there will be some familiar faces in it. My old companion, Elder Kimball, is in my Zone. So is Elder Merrell, (whom I love), Elder Hacking who came out the same time as I did, and of course Elder Francom who is transferring there with me. So basically I know half the zone already... Small zones tend to be a lot more unified and closer together than bigger zones. It was like that in Crescent City since the six of us were practically our own little zone up there. I'm really excited for this next transfer! I know all my crazy mission stories are going to be coming from this area so I'm pretty stoked about it. It's funny the looks people give me when I tell them where I'm going - it's like I just informed them I've contracted cancer. I'm more optimistic about my new area than they are. I'm going to miss all the wonderful Naponians I've met, but I'm looking forward to meeting many new people, even if they have less teeth than the average individual.

So I've had some pretty amazing lessons this week with our investigators with baptism dates. Daniel is so amazing - I just want to shed tears of fire. He calls and texts us daily and tells us how he loves us and we are his brothers regularly. He retains SO much from everything he reads! He came to church yesterday and told us how things just feel right when he's with us and how he's happier than he's ever been. It's amazing to see how someone like Daniel, who's informed us a little bit about what his life was like before and how it wasn't in harmony with God at all, can be so prepared and ready for the gospel. I'm so blessed to have had a hand in helping Daniel receive the gospel into his life. 

Well this transfer has had its ups and downs. Elder Eccles has definitely been the toughest companion I've had so far. There have been quite a few times when I felt like I was doing everything by myself, including the teaching, finding, planning, the whole nine yards. I definitely have developed more patience for those who may not be the easiest to get along with. It wasn't an easy transfer but I'm better for it. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be working on the Lord's hour. The blessings that come from service to the Lord are immeasurable! Love you all!

Our Mother's Day Skype is coming up soon! I'll see you then!

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis

Chemical Burns and Copious Books

I'm expanding my culinary prowess from cactus to artichoke. And they were delicious! It was
Elder Despain's first artichoke, so I'm glad I was able to provide a pleasant experience for him.

Hola hola hola.

So first I have to share a story. I must get it out of the way before getting on to the important content. This is the story of how Elder Ellis Naired his legs. And it worked well. Why did he do this you might ask? Well, Elder Ellis proposes a counteroffer and asks, "why not?" I was able to convince Elder Francom to do it as well. Peer pressure works great. Now I have scripture to defend my Nairing process. Many of you may be saying, "What? This is blasphemy! There is no scripture that talks about Nair!" This scripture is found in Alma 37:35, which reads: "O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God." I am learning wisdom and gaining experiences in my youth. For now I know that one shan't leave Nair upon one's leg exceeding 10 seconds, lest he receive a chemical burn. This is beneficial to know for the future. 

Apparently the mission has a rating system on drivers. There are A, B, and C drivers. "A" drivers are missionaries that they feel most comfortable driving and want to be behind the wheel more for optimum safety for the missionaries. I've just received confirmation that I am an "A" driver. Finally, after years of being terrified of driving, I'm finally a confident "A" driver!

I went on exchanges with Elder Lamunyon in his area. He had quite a few service appointments lined up that day, one of which was this ridiculous task he volunteered us for. Elder Lamunyon agreed to help a women get rid of her copious amounts of literature. And by copious amounts of literature I mean this women had nearly 150, Holy Bible-sized books. Now I'm always down to help people with just about anything they need that's within my ability, but what are we suppose to do with 150 books!? So, we got to her house and we loaded the trunk and back seat of our little Toyota Corolla with what seemed like 2 metric tons of books. There was so much additional weight in the back of our car that every time we drove over any uneven surface, the bottom of our car would scrap along the road. We drove to the Napa library and were able to donate all the books and have a wonderful conversation with a women who told us all about how her son joined the church and went on a mission to Italy. It all worked out!

I went on our Wednesday night spits with a reactivated member, Marshall, to go see a less active man, Mitch. Mitch is going through some tough times, especially with the divorce he's going through and the custody battle he's in. While we were talking to him he was saying how his ex took his kid even though he has custody. He also elected to lower the amount of how much she needed to pay him for child support from $750 to $250 and Mitch said that no women would do that in the same situation. I was just sitting there thinking, "*Scoff* you obviously have not met my mother!" Hearing about all that just reminded me once more how grateful I am for my circumstances. I never realized like I do now how blessed I am until I embarked on a mission and witnessed less fortunate circumstances than mine.

We have 4 investigators with baptismal dates now! Wooooo! Not sure how all of that transpired but we have big things coming up in this area in the months to come. Unfortunately, I probably won't be here for any of them because all of them happen in the next couple of months and I expect to be transferred at the end of this month. One of these investigators, Daniel Herrera, came to church yesterday. It's sad to say that I've only had two investigators come to church the entire time I've been in Napa. I've been able to help reactivate a few less active members, but our investigator church attendance is nearly nonexistent. So it was quite refreshing when Daniel came to church yesterday! He really enjoyed it and so many members came up and made him feel welcome, which Napa 1st Ward is very good about doing. Daniel has a baptismal date for May 16th, and I firmly believe he can make it. We also set a baptismal date with Abubakarr Kamara, the young man from Sierra Leone. His is set for May 30th. So, I probably won't be able to have any baptism while I'm here, but I'm grateful I was able to leave this area better than when I found it. Transfers are next week. We find out Friday where I'll go next so we will see what happens! Next email will contain my new laboring location! 

Wow a Weber grill.... Don't know what that means but it seemed to impress the Elders around me, so good on ya! Mom, Sister Yeakey, who should've sent you a picture of my companion and I, said you looked super young when I showed her a picture of you. She thought you looked 30 years old. There's your uplift for the day! I'm glad to hear that Stephen wasn't overly traumatized by the movie when the mom was obliterated by a milk truck. Also, it's refreshing to hear that a friend of yours finds me exceedingly attractive. This will certainly aid me in the future.

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis

A Famous Grave and the Chopped Kitchen

Elder Eccles and I went to the Tulocay Cemetery and found Lilburn Boggs' grave - he was
the former Missouri governor who issued an extermination order for the Mormons. 

I was given a cactus by an investigator and I decided to accept the challenge presented to me.

I took the cactus and made it delicious!

My culinary prowess is ever increasing. If I ever get stuck in the dessert with a cactus, some
chickens and a tomato, I can rustle up a pretty decent meal. Be proud of me!

Fast Sunday really takes a toll on the psyche of young missionaries.

No cognitive functioning present.

Hey Mom!

Great googily moogily! You just dropped a lot of info on me! Where to start...? Congratulations to Mariah Wimmer for her mission cal! Welcome to the Cali-Club! #Calilyfe. Also to Riley Stephenson for his mission call. My co-worker before my mission went to Mozambique and he loved it there. Congrats to Jace for the engagement! So much is going on! That's fantastic to hear about Stephen being able to go to BYU. And even more exciting news how Grandpa is now in Primary! That is just too cute!

So some rather unfortunate news here. Elder Eccles and I went to another appointment for his toe problems in Vallejo, which all went well and he was given some simple instructions and we were out of there within 30 minutes. Perfect right? Well after we got home we had to make a call so I told Elder Eccles to grab the phone so we could set up an appointment. After extensively checking his pockets, his bag, and the entire interior of the car, we came to the conclusion that we left the phone in Vallejo. Which we did. Luckily the doctor we went to see was a member of the church and promptly got our phone to the Vallejo missionaries in the area and they were able to get the phone back to us. But we left it there last Tuesday so we had to go an entire week without our phone... How incredibly unfortunate our circumstances were, but all is well now, ANNNNND Elder Eccles toesies are doing well!

I know what you are all have been thinking to yourselves over the four months that I've been here: "Elder Ellis has been in Napa California, the wine capital of the world, and still has yet to present us with a humorous story about wine-related shenanigans." Well, I'm here to tell you today, wait no longer! A few nights ago after we retired to our place of residence, our roommates and zone leaders came home with a bottle of wine. After intensive questioning, we were informed that their investigator, who has little understanding of Mormon standards, insisted on gifting them this alcoholic beverage. So we had a bottle of wine... We decided to open it and pour it out, making it a picturesque moment. Unfortunately, we had no corkscrew, (I mean it makes sense, why would missionaries feel compelled to carry a cork screw around?) So, determined Elder Francom decided to take a knife to that bad boy and try to get it out that way. No success. He then had me try to remove the aforementioned cork in a similar manner. The unfortunate result was wine exploding all over our kitchen, our lovely white shirts, and, of course, my face. It's fortuitous that I properly moisturize my lips with Burt's Bees Chapstick because if I had dry lips that night and had licked my lips, then I would've broken the Word of Wisdom. Finally, there is my Napa wine story about how four missionaries were covered in red wine. And now Stephen can finally say, with no reservation, that his brother is in "wine country".

We had an awesome lesson with two less-active men named Mitch and Wade, and then right afterward with another less-active named Marty. Our Ward Mission Leader came out with us on splits and he really clicked with the two of them. We talked to them about how important Sabbath day attendance is. Mitch started telling us, like he does every time, how he likes to go fishing on the Sabbath, and how he feels so much closer to God there. Something popped in my head when he said that and I immediately replied: "Mitch, there's nothing wrong with fishing. In fact, God approves of fishing so much that He gave you six days to do it. But He wants your attendance and devotion on Sunday." It got me thinking how we have so much time to do all the things we want and need to do throughout the week. But on Sunday God wants our time. This is what God asks of us. And it's not that steep of a commitment he wants from us, if I say so myself.

I was SOOO exhausted on Sunday. Fasting kills when you need all the energy you can get! I don't think I've ever been less focused on anything in my life. But it was a successful week. We invited Abu, (the Sierra Leone kid who moved here roughly two months ago,) to be baptized and he said yes - so we possibly have a baptism coming up in this area. We've also been getting a ton of referrals, probably more than I've ever gotten in my mission as a whole. So there will be plenty to do here for many transfers to come!

I went golfing again today at the Silverado Golf course and I am getting pretty darn good! We always go to the driving range because we just like hitting balls as far as we can. At first I wasn't doing any better than the other two times I've gone, so I looked over to see how the country club members (who knew what they were doing) were doing it. I saw one man swing back and hit the ball in one quick and fluid motion. So I decided to try it just like that and my technique improved drastically! I started hitting almost 7 out of 10 balls at least 150 yards. So I'm quite proud of myself now! Pictures to come.

I talked to President Alba during interviews about when I go home and he told me to talk to President Wright about it in July. So, I still have no idea when I come home but I'm pretty sure I'll return the same time as scheduled. And I would like to come back to California as soon as possible when my mission is over, so if we could make that happen then that would be ideal.

Love you all! Have a super stellar week!

Love, Elder Hayden Ellis