The one where I have a year left 😬

 Hello everyone! I know I am literally the worst at writing weekly emails. My mom loves to remind my each week. So I'm going to do better and write one now. I officially have less than a year left on my mission!! Which is insane to me. Time flies!!!

We are about halfway through this transfer. I got a new companion. Her name is Sister Meyring. She is from Eagle Mountain Utah. She is honestly my best friend. I love her!

Regarding the work, we are teaching 4 kids. They are the cutest little things ever. And our friend Marla was on date for baptism. But she didn't come to church this week so we had to take her off date. We will hopefully be putting her back on date this week. So that is really exciting!

The majority of our teaching pool lives in Douglass which is a city in our area that is far away and we don't have enough miles to drive there a lot. So our lessons are over the phone a lot. Which is nice but also I really like talking to people face to face. 

Also as I am writing this email. It is POORING RAIN! I love the storms here! A lot! Especially the lighting storms. They are soooo cool!! 

A few weeks ago Elder Gong came to our mission. We had a mission wide conference for the first time in 3 years! My mission president was really emotional about it because he has been here since before covid started. He leaves in July and President Barr is coming. 

Lunch for mission conference

Mission Conference sleepover with Junction sisters

Elder Gong talked about the Doctrine of Christ. It can be found in 2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 11 and 27. 2 Nephi 31 was the one that struck out to me the most. Because you hear the voice of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Which is rare to hear the Father's voice. So if he is speaking, you know it's important. Go back and read it this week. Because with that additional insight, it changed a lot for me. 

Baby cow in Kansas

District lunch

Exchanges with Sister Wall

Service Opportunity at Children's library

The one where I let my companion dye my hair!!!

 I am so sorry that I have been so terrible at weekly emails recently. I don't think I have written one all transfer. This has been a fast few weeks! Amazing things are happening in Kansas that I am excited to share!

President & Sister Ernst

We are going to the temple as a whole mission next month!!! President Ernst has had a prompting that we need to get missionaries in the temple more and I am so excited! I have been wanting to go to the temple! I am very excited that my prayer was answered and that we are going to the temple as a mission!

An apostle is coming to Kansas!!! We don't know which one yet. But we are having a mission conference in two weeks and an apostle is coming!! We could not be more excited as a mission for this! I was told that I would have at least one general authority come see us missionaries and I am so excited that the time has come!

Our friend Susan who is on date to be baptized on the 4th of March now has to move her baptism because she did not come to church yesterday. We are so sad but she is really busy. But we went over the BIQ's with her and she has a solid testimony and she knows that this church is true and she wants to join it. We just need a miracle to get her to church. 

Sister Thayne is my new companion if I haven't said anything about it before! She is from Murray Utah. She goes home at the end of this transfer so I'll be on companion number 8!! So weird. But I do love her and she is my best friend. 

Sisters Thayne & Ellis

We had a flood on our work these past couple of weeks. We dropped the majority of our friends in our teaching pool. I know that I am showing the Lord that I am ready for those who are ready to receive the gospel and make commitments and come to church. We are just working really hard till we find those people who are ready for us. I know they are out there. 

Hopefully all of you had fun watching the Superbowl this week!! Feel free to reach out to me. I love hearing from you! Love you

Sister Ellis

P.s. I need to take more pictures. The title for my email is a funny story. I just wanted to change up my hair color. So I let my companion dye it and it actually turned out pretty good!

Member made me a Ukulele

district lunch

The one where Sister Thayne got bit by a horse

 I am so sorry I haven't wrote a weekly in a long time. Things are crazy here in Kansas. But my Dad told me I need to be better at writing and he is correct. So much has happened here in Kansas! I'm excited to share!

I'm not sure if I already told you guys but we have a friend on date for Baptism! Her name is Susan and she is amazing! She has a strong testimony that this is the true church. We are excited for her to be baptised. Her date right now is March 5th but we are trying to move it up. 

I didn't get transferred! My first time I didn't get transferred!! My companion is Sister Thayne! She is my best friend and I love her so much and she is teaching me so much about how to work our area and find people. We found 2 people in 2 days and it's really exciting! 

Covid is really bad here. Church is getting canceled a little bit again and a lot of people are sick here. 

On Saturday, we went to Douglass and we volunteered at a horse rescue. Sister Thayne got bit by the foal named Finn. It was really funny. We had a lot of fun there and we love serving there!

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real. I have seen the lasting changes that it makes. It's amazing! Use the gift everyday! Christ suffered for our sins for a reason. That sacrifice is worth more than anything.

Sister Briggs--transferred to Topeka

Splits

Splits with STL in Derby

The one where old people played competitive pickleball

 Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Christmas on the mission was amazing! I was able to spend it with a member! We played games as a district for a couple of hours. And I was able to call my family! It was really special and it was one of my favorite Christmases!

This week was really busy! We did a lot of caroling to try and find new people to teach. Nothing really came of it. But we were able to talk to some amazing people. Kansas really does have amazing people and I'm grateful to be among them. I love learning from them daily. People are very religious here and they are good people. 

This week we were invited to play pickleball. A lot of old people showed up. And let me say, they are really competitive. I lost my first game and won my two other games I played. It was a really good way to talk to people. That's why we went. 

Happy new year! 

The one where I got really cold

 

Sydney Ellis	Mon, Dec 20, 2021, 10:41 AM
to me

Hello to all! I hope this week treated you all well. Christmas is almost upon us. I am really excited for it! I have no idea what Christmas on the mission is going to be like.  I will let you know next week in my email!

Also, it's REALLY REALLY cold in Kansas!!! We had really nice weather last week. But this week, the mission was under Tornado watch, 70 mph winds, and the temperature dropped! It was 16 degrees yesterday!

I am currently in a trio. But one of my companions leaves in just a couple of weeks because she is going home for school. So my other companion and I have been preparing to take over the area after she is gone. After each day, I feel more and more confident. And for those of you that know me, I seem really confident on the outside, but on the inside I don't feel that way. But each day, I can feel my confidence boosting. My prayers are being answered. I can also feel the prayers coming from back home. I thank you all and appreciate the love and support.

This week I will hit my 4 month mark. Time is FLYING! I don't know how to describe time on a mission. But it's crazy here.

Regarding the work, we found one new person this week. She was someone that we haven't been able to get in contact with. She was home when we knocked on her door. And she wants to learn more! We also got a referall from the Great Bend Sisters this week! So we might be able to find another person this week.

My DL and his companion had a baptism yesterday that I got to go to. She is probably one of the most elect people I have ever met. She dedicates her life to the gospel. She is amazing and will bless so many other lives in the church. It was an honor to be able to meet her yesterday. 

I wish all of you a merry Christmas! I want to invite all of you to watch the Christ Child video with your family. But instead of just watching it, I want you to watch it in the perspective of another character! Mary, Joseph, you could even do the donkey. But after you are done, record your thoughts. I promise that you will see something or feel something you haven't before. Feel free to email me back with your experiences!

I hope you all have a merry Christmas 

The one where I fulfilled my dream of being Amy from Heartland

 Hello everyone! 

I am so sorry I haven't written in a while. It's been a crazy couple of weeks! So I got transferred again!! I am back in the Derby Zone. And I'm still in a trio! My area is Park Hill. And my companions are Sister Marriott and Sister Briggs. But the trio will last for 3 weeks until Sister Marriott goes home. Then it will just be Sister Briggs and I. 

I said goodbye to Valley Center! It was really sad but I am excited for the change. I already love this area. The ward is amazing and the members are really kind and missionary minded. I'm excited to see what this transfer brings. 

Park Hill is a very big area! We have four cities we cover. DERBY, Douglass, Udall, and Mulvane. We volunteer at a gorse rescue in Douglass (the title of my email comes from that). 

This week I have been getting to know the area. Which is exciting! New things every day!

This week I have learned that the Bible is still really important. The Bible contains so many important aspects of the church! I'm so excited to study it next year for come follow me! 

The one where I was asked to do a DIY hip replacement

  I hope each and every one of you have had a good week! I miss all of you dearly!

This week was a great week! We did a lot of service for our ward. We helped a widow in our ward move some boxes of her husband's things and she was super grateful for our help. Then we went to a ward activity and took pictures of Graves. This activity is pretty common to do in Kansas when you need service hours. I didn't know it was a thing until last transfer. 

The people here are really great and really funny. We went to visit some of our friends that we have in Wichita. We got in contact with a friend who is a single mom that the missionaries haven't been able to get in contact with. She is the nicest person ever and she is looking for spiritual guidance in her life. We are hoping to start teaching her on a regular basis. She also gave us a TON of food from her freezer. We couldn't fit it all in our freezer so we gave some to the Elders.

The story behind the title of my email is really funny. We were in Wichita and we went to visit another one of our friends. He is an old guy who needs a hip replacement. He kept asking us if any of us knew how to replace a hip. I told him that I played a computer game in elementary school that did a simulation for a hip replacement. So now this guy thinks I'm qualified to do a hip replacement. The whole thing was really funny but my companions were totally freaked out. 

I want to share this testimony about Joseph Smith. I know that he knelt down in a Grove of trees and cried out to the Lord in mighty prayer. I know that God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ appeared to him. I know that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ.