WEEK 33

Monday September 20, 2021

Good Morning everyone!

By the way, thank you all for your emails! I am so busy on P-Days that I do not get to respond to them all sometimes. But I want you all to know it means the world to me to have your support! 

I had a FANTASTIC week this week!! We saw a couple miracles, had a really cool Zone Conference, worked really hard, and got transfer calls. Let me tell you about all that happened!

Well I will share transfer calls first. Elder Clouse and I have another 6 weeks together here in Bay City! I am excited to stay, and I would love to stay even longer after that if I could! This has been one of the best places ever to serve. I love the Bay city Ward, and there are some great things happening here in Bay City. 

We were like POSITIVE that Elder Reynolds and Candland were going to both get transferred out. But, Elder Candland is leaving and going up North to a place called Petoskey and Elder Reynolds is getting a missionary who only has 6 weeks left on their mission. To be honest, Elder Clouse and I were a little less than thrilled about the transfer call news. But, I know it was what the Lord wants and I am going to try my best to get the new guy excited about the work. I want him to finish his mission strong.

Elder Clouse and I had a multi-zone conference this week up in Grayling (two hours north). It was so fun to see all my friends at Zone Conference! A few of them, it was probably the last time before they go home. I got to see Elder Chytrus and Elder Kofford!!! It was a lot of fun. We went for a hike with President Heap and he gave us some good council. It was refreshing to go hiking and see a hill! There are almost no hills in the southern part of Michigan, and I climbed my first one in like 8 months! Haha

At the Zone Conference, I got lots of pictures and I got to talk to President Heap about a guy I am teaching named Patrick. I will get to him later, but it really helped and we had some REALLY cool things happen with Patrick this week!!!

I will just share two stories, and then close. This week, Elder Clouse and I went back to Sister Ramos' house (a woman who, if you remember, had a really cool experience recently). She has changed already! It is so cool. She and Robert are all in on this thing and Clouse and I are so excited to teach them!

Okay, now to the big miracle. Elder Clouse and I had a lesson with our friend Patrick on Friday. At Zone Conference, when I was talking with President Heap, he gave me some good advice. He said that we need to help Patrick take the leap, and that he is ready. So, come Friday Elder Clouse and I both felt like we should share Ether 12:6 with him, which basically says "you won't receive a witness until after the trial of your faith". We went into the lesson, and it was so powerful. I shared the scripture with Patrick and told him "Patrick, I know you're ready for baptism man". Patrick has been waiting for a witness like it says you can receive in the Book of Mormon. That, and worry about leaving his church he has been a part of for 30 years are the only things holding him back. We asked him "will you take a leap of faith and be baptized?" He thought about it for like 20 seconds and was like "how about this next Saturday?" We were shocked. Usually, you plan baptisms a few weeks out because there is a lot to plan and help them with before they get baptized. But, we know Patrick can do it. So, he is getting baptized this Saturday! In less than a week... holy cow writing this is getting me stressed out haha Elder Clouse and I are going to be working double time this week getting him ready. We are meeting with him almost everyday in preparation for the big day.

With that miracle, I want to close with my thoughts on the power of prayer. I want you all to know that my perception of faith has changed dramatically on my mission. I used to know that faith is believing in things you can't see. But, I know now that faith is much, much deeper. Faith is a principle of power. I have great faith in my Savior and I know through him anything can happen. I have faith that Patrick, against all odds, can be baptized this Saturday. I want to challenge each of you to read Ether chapter 12 in the Book of Mormon and think about faith in a new light. Faith is much different than you would think, and as you increase faith you will see miracles occur in your life. 

I love each of you, and am grateful for you all. I had many more cool things happen but I just want to talk about the highlights. Have a great week!

Elder Elliott