Thanksgiving

Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow (I think), this email is dedicated to thank all my wonderful family members individually. Thank you for all your support, prayers, emails, and love. I really am so blessed to have such a great family! Scroll down to find your name. And just like Patriarchal Blessings, you shouldn´t compare lengths of others or content of others lists with your own. ;) They are all personalized.

What is everyone doing for Thanksgiving? Is everyone getting together? Are you doing tournaments?

This week was great. I don´t really have much time to write more because these gratitude lists took up almost two hours! But, I played for Stake Conference this weekend. Everyone is praying I won´t be transferred for a long time! One man said I had to serve the whole mission here and then get married and live here after the mission! Hahaha! How sweet. It´s nice to feel loved. The playing went well and I´m grateful I can basically manage playing any hymn in the hymnbook even without ever seeing some of these Brazilian ones. I know I will be here at least til the transfer after Christmas because the conductor of the stake choir asked Pres. Milder! Well, that´s it for now. I love you all very much! (More than any words can describe).

Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Sister Ellis III

Grandma Turtle—I am grateful for your emails every week that bring a smile to my lips as I read your descriptions of everything happening there. I can actually picture myself there in Ontario with you!
I am grateful for your support and encouragement.
I am grateful for all the fun memories we have together (visits, birthdays, tea parties, etc).
I am grateful we got to see each other again before I came on the mission. We still have many more birthdays to celebrate together after, ok?
I am grateful you raised my mom with good principles.
I am grateful you are my grandma!

Mom—I am grateful for your love that hás blessed my life all these twenty-one years.
I am grateful for your fun-loving laugh that makes me happy every time I hear it.
I am grateful for your sense of humor and all the fun we have shared.
I am grateful for your considerate and generous nature. You are always willing to put your needs behind the needs of others. What an example of service!
I am grateful for your understanding nature and that I can always open up to you.
I am grateful for your friendship. I am grateful for the wisdom you share with me in times of plenty and famine. 
I am grateful for your patience and perseverance in making me practice piano over the years.
I am grateful for your support and encouragement in all I do (no matter what the odds).
I am grateful for your testimony and how it strengthens my own.
I am grateful you taught me to live the gospel from infancy—to pay tithing, study scriptures, pray, keep the Sabbath Day holy, etc.
I am grateful you are my mother!

Dad—I am grateful for your loving wisdom that has guided me throughout my life.
I am grateful for your love of life and for teaching me to love it too.
I am grateful for your love of the gospel and teaching me to live it.
I am grateful for your trust and teaching me how to be independent.
I am grateful for your help with my affairs while I´m serving the Lord.
I am grateful you taught me how to work.
I am grateful for your patience when I keep making mistakes.
I am grateful for the insights and scriptures you share every letter.
I am grateful you taught me to live the gospel from infancy—to pay tithing, study scriptures, pray, keep the Sabbath Day holy, etc.
I am grateful for the love and respect you show for Mom and how you always taught us to do the same.
I am grateful you are my father!
(Just so you know, I got your mission pouch letter written on Nov 7th on Nov 21st. Thanks for the letters!)

Joy—I am grateful for your sisterly advice that blesses my life.
I am grateful for your fun-loving nature.
I am grateful for your beautiful family and the happiness they give me.
I am grateful for your generosity in letting me stay with you for Thaksgiving last year.
I am grateful for your great sense of humor!
I am grateful for your thoughtfulness in writing me and sending goodies to brighten up my day! (I think it takes roughly 2 weeks—maybe more b/c my birthday package arrived the week after my birthday. Just so you know for future reference…;)).
I am grateful to be sister to she-who-creates-such-great-indian-names. 
I am grateful for your creativity in raising such stalwart young men. (It is giving me great ideas for my future family).
I am grateful for your never-ending patience in raising such wonderful future missionaries and Priesthood holders! You are doing such a great work!
I am grateful for your courage to try new things (learning to play the organ) in order to serve the Lord.
I am grateful you are my sister!

Darrell—I am grateful for your fun sense of humor that keeps me laughing.
I am grateful for your love for my sister. I am grateful you waited so patiently for her to realize you were the one for her! Our family wouldn´t be the same without you!
I am grateful for the dad you are to my nephews.
I am grateful for your patience and generosity towards me.
I am grateful that you help me develop patience with all your teasing! 
I am grateful you are my brother-in-law!

Kit—I am grateful for your love of music that has blessed my life.
I am grateful for all your help in counseling me with my dramatic social life (before the mission, of course).
I am grateful for your help in listening to me sing so I can improve.
I am grateful for your selfless nature in caring for everyone around you.
I am grateful for your friendship.
I am grateful for the mother you´re being to your girls. You are such an example to me!
I am grateful for the CDs and case you gave me for my mission.
I am grateful for all the fun times we had hanging out while I was at BYU.
I am grateful we got to sing together in my ward (even though we didn´t use the ´Sound of Music´motif. ).
I am grateful you are my sister!

Kevin—I am grateful for your fun sense of humor.
I am grateful for your voice that helps invite the Spirit.
I am grateful for your love for my sister.
I am grateful for your patience with her. ;)
I am grateful for the time we had to spend together when I was at BYU (remember sledding with Ryn?!)
I am grateful you are my brother-in-law!

Matt—I am grateful for your funny jokes and songs that always crack me up!
I am grateful fro your strong testimony that has taught me so much.
I am grateful for your good work ethic and how that has helped me, learning from your example.
I am grateful for your beautiful family and the dad you are.
I am grateful for your kindness in always letting me stay with you while passing through Dallas.
I am grateful for your kindness in playing those speed card games with me (even though it was late and I was just too fast for my old brother! ;)). (just kidding)
I am grateful for your emails and advice from your mission experiences.
I am grateful you are my brother!

Natalie—I am grateful for your beautiful and contagious laugh.
I am grateful for your fun-loving nature in playing and laughing with me.
I am grateful for your consideration in always treating me like a grown-up.
I am grateful for the mother you are to my nephews.
I am grateful for your support to my brother and that you fell I love with him.
I am grateful for your friendship. (Remember when we ate mint-chocolate chip ice cream out of the carton in your closet that summer you were home from college?)
I am grateful for your understanding nature—always empathizing with me and helping me see both sides of the coin.
I am grateful for all our talks—sharing ideas, thoughts, testimonies, experiences, etc.
I am grateful you are my sister-in-law!

Mark—I am grateful for your great sense of humor—always helping me laugh even if I was crying before!
I am grateful for your loving care as my older brother--always being concerned for my safety when driving, etc.
I am grateful for all the good memories we have together (from pictures with suction-cup goggles to shuffleboard on the cruise and money pictures in Iowa).
I am grateful for your creativity in helping Spencer and I have good childhood memories with the whole ´Master´ thing—better to be brainwashed into being your servant than fight, right? 
I am grateful for your hospitality in letting us stay with yáll after selling books.
I am grateful you are my brother!

Aup—I am grateful for your thoughtfulness in helping with my blog.
I am grateful for your kindness in letting us stay with you after selling books (always cooking gourmet meals, etc).
I am grateful for your love and support for my brother.
I am grateful he found such a loving, kind, patient, beautiful woman to be his eternal companion!
I am grateful you´re helping ´civilize´ Mark through Pride and Prejudice, etc. 
I am grateful you are starting your family! Be careful and send me pictures when you finally start to get a belly!
I am grateful for your help with my blog. I´m excited to see it in a year and a half.
I am grateful you are my sister-in-law!

John—I am grateful for your concern for me as your little sister.
I am grateful you always put up with me when I passed through Houston.
I am grateful for the dad you are to my nieces and nephew—raising them with gospel principles and correct morals.
I am grateful you always make time to play games with me.
I am grateful for your example of patience and longsuffering.
I am grateful you are my brother!
(Don´t forget to work hard, but play hard too!) ;)

Laura—I am grateful for your loving kindness towards everyone.
I am grateful for your hospitality every time I come to Houston.
I am grateful for your example of Christ-like love to all.
I am grateful for your constant support and encouragement you give to John.
I am grateful for your patience and care you are giving to the house in Houston—even when it is ridiculously big and old. (Remember the experience of the water falling through the ceiling in the living room?!!)
I am grateful for the sweet mother you are to my nieces and nephew.
I am grateful for the missionary you are continuing to be with Celeste.
I am grateful for your ability to see the best in others.
I am grateful that you inspire me to be better than I am.
I am grateful for your patience in hearing me blab all my stories, concerns, etc. to you.
I am grateful you are my sister-in-law!

Rob—I am grateful for your friendship and encouragement.
I am grateful to be the sister of the Great DalMuti.
I am grateful for every laugh we share.
I am grateful for your example of unwavering faith and exact obedience.
I am grateful for the rose colored glasses you wear—always seeing me as the person I can become rather than the person I am.
I am grateful you are working so hard at Harvard. You always have set an example of academic excellence for me.
I am grateful for the memories we made living in Brazil together.
I am grateful for all your help and advice while selling books. I really wouldn´t have made it through 3 summers without you!
I am grateful you always looked out for me (whether it was driving long distances late at night, or offering your help in chaperoning my dates). 
I am grateful you are my brother!

Christa—I am grateful for all the fun times we have shared (selling books, family vacations, BYU game nights at your place, etc.).
I am grateful for all your advice.
I am grateful for your excitement in everything you do!
I am grateful for your support and love for Rob.
I am grateful you and Rob were there for me during my freshman year at BYU.
I am grateful for the fun we have whenever we are together.
I am grateful you are my sister-in-law!

Spencer—I am grateful for your love and support.
I am grateful we got to be ´roommates´ selling books this summer.
I am grateful for your patience with me (even when it´s difficult)! 
I am grateful for your example of unwavering faith.
I am grateful for your example of humility.
I am grateful we are both serving missions at the same time!
I am grateful for our friendship and talks about ´love life´ etc.
I am grateful you are my brother!

Emily—I am grateful for your cute sense of humor that always keeps me laughing!
I am grateful we got to be roommates on the cruise.
I am grateful for your testimony that strengthens mine.
I am grateful for the woman you are becoming.
I am grateful for your kindness in always sharing with me when I come to visit.
I am grateful you are taking such good care of Mom and Dad.
I am grateful for your help with my email while I´m on my mission.
I am grateful for the cute drawing you sent me and for the letters you have sent.
I am grateful you are my sister!

Becky—I am grateful for your friendship and support.
I am grateful for the fun we had these last 2 years watching chick flicks, talking about boys, decorating your house, cheering for Mick, etc.
I am grateful for your kindness in always inviting me to family activities, dinners, etc.
I am grateful for your example of unwavering faith and optimism.
I am grateful for your sweet smile and fun-loving personality.
I am grateful you were always willing to play a game with me even when no one else wanted to! 
I am grateful for the wonderful example you are to me of a supportive wife and mother.
I am grateful for all your packages you send that brighten up my mission even more!
I am grateful you are my aunt!

Kelly—I am grateful for your words of wisdom you are always willing to give. 
I am grateful for your ability to help me laugh at every situation.
I am grateful for all the rides you gave me at BYU.
I am grateful for your careful watch over me while I was away from Mom and Dad! ;)
I am grateful for all the invites to family functions with Tribe #5.
I am grateful for your example of service.
I am grateful for the support you are to Aunt Becky.
I am grateful you are my uncle!

Clay—I am grateful for your patience with my loud laugh, talkative nature, and all the questions I ask! (even during a movie!)
I am grateful for all the cousin bonding time we had just the 2 of us partying it up while Kelly and Becky were gone! 
I am grateful for your sincerity and openness with me (when I nag you enough). ;)
I am grateful for your advice with all my boy issues over the last 2 years.
I am grateful for your desire to seek and obey the will of the Lord.
I am grateful you sent me an email during my mission (since it´s true I never wrote one to you). You are truly magnanimous!
I am grateful for your example of working and studying hard. Keep it up!
I am grateful you are my cousin! I don´t know how I got so lucky!

OI!

Hello family--
So...I don´t really know where to start. There is so much to tell!! My birthday was very fun. Thank you for all your emails, well wishes, packages, etc. I have such a loving family! I really don´t know how I got so blessed.
My District Leader and his companion made me cake and the other district leader (who has meetings the same time in the same chapel) made me pasteis. It was very nice. That was the PDay we played soccer and volleyball with the elders. :)
I woke up on my birthday and Sister Bulhões gave me a letter she wrote and earrings. Then we went to visit an investigator to finish teaching the 2nd lesson. He ended up telling us he was gay! Hahaha! I will never forget this birthday, that´s for sure! After that slight damper, we went home and I made pancakes. Then I opened my presents from Mom, Dad, Spencer, and Em. We enjoyed pancakes with peanut butter and nutella (it just doesn´t get any better). I made my twinkie cake following the instructions Becky gave! :) Our lunch appointment sang to me and had made flan (not knowing it was my birthday). That night, we taught some of our sweet recent converts and then they threw a party for me. It was so sweet. They don´t really have that much money--not even enough to get the bus from work everyday. Yet, they still bought two cakes and two refrigerantes for my birthday. They are so sweet. I´m excited for Mom and Dad to meet them at the end of my mission. Then we went to teach a menos ativo family. They threw another party for me. She wasn´t ready when we arrived and so she locked us out until she lit some matches and stuck them in the cake! Hahaha! They made this really good lanche with chicken and then we ate chocolate cake (after watching Together Forever and teaching about eternal families of course--we are setting goals with them to go to the temple). It was a wonderful day! I felt very loved! :)
In other news--I don´t know if I ever told you all, but in my group that arrived at the CTM together, there was an elder with the first name Dax. Here that, John and Laura?
Also, I don´t know if I mentioned it, but I walk around with my umbrella every day here! Hahaha!!! Not because it´s raining, but because the sun here is so hot, I can feel it giving me cancer! My companion has started following my example too. I still wear sunscreen too. Pretty intense, huh? I always thought it was romantic watching those old movies with the ladies with parasoles and now on my mission I walk around with one! How funny is that?
Sunday we had a huge miracle!! There was no water in the chapel. The ward mission leader informed us of that fact 1 hour before our baptism! So, we started filling up buckets of water with the filtered water drinking fountain. We took a break to take the Sacrament and then went at it again! When the drinking fountains ran out, we started carrying the buckets to and from a neighboring restaurant. It was quite the work out. Yet, the font was still not filling up quickly. Then, the released and newly called YM President both came running to help! They were answers to our prayers! They called the YM to help too. They grabbed trash cans and were using everything to fill the font in time. It truly was a miracle. The funny part of it all was that they had asked me before the meeting to lead the music. Then, they called my name in the meeting and I wasn´t there (because I was filling up the font). The best part of all was that President Milder (my mission president) was there! Hahaha! At least I was doing the Lord´s work.
Life is good. I´m learning a lot. Yesterday was our zone conference. I was humbled a lot. This morning I was humbled even more. What a blessing I´m here serving a mission. I think my future husband and children will be very grateful I served. I read in Hel 10 about Nephi. He was such a great example! I really need to start focusing my thoughts more on the work. I don´t want to miss any bit of revelation from the Lord that I could receive while meditating. There were other things too that I was humbled with, but I don´t want to go about airing my dirty laundry in front of all you. I´ll just suffice it to say I´m repenting and changing my heart for the better. I am doing my best to serve the Lord with my all. Thank you for your support and prayers. I am working hard to make you all proud. :)
Joy--Thanks for the package. I loved the little bag of makeup. That is so fun you are the ward organist! I LOVE ORGAN!! It is way better than piano. My advice is to not think of it like the piano. It is completely different. You don´t have the pedal to connect things, you have to do the fingering in such a way that there are no breaks. I would call Sister Flake if I were you. It is too hard for me to try to teach you to play organ via email. But, she helped me get started and I think she could help you too. Good luck! Let me know how it goes! I know you will do awesome!
Love, Sister Ellis III
P.S. Emily--could you pass along the message to Jenny Mobley that the address I left on facebook is my address and it is reliable? Thanks!

Nov 12

HELLO!!!
How is everything with yáll? Everything´s great here. We finally did something fun today on pday. We played soccer and volleyball with the elders. It was fun—I actually made a goal left footed! As we were finishing playing, it started raining cats and dogs! The streets were rivers!! It was insane! But I love it when it rains here because then it´s not so hot for at least a couple hours.

Sunday, I played in Sacrament meeting. Normally the lady uses the recordings on the electronic piano but these songs weren´t recorded. I had never seen most of them before, but it went surprisingly well. Thank heavens! The funny part was that the sacrament hymn was to the tune of Drink to me only….with thine eyes… Sound familiar, Klein Choir alumni?!! I wanted to crack up laughing! If only Prad were here…(smile).

We taught a family way out in the boondogs this week. We have to take 2 buses to get there and it is in the middle of the mato. None of the houses have numbers. It´s pretty funny. The family loaded us down with fruit and fruit pulp to make juice with. It was great!!! We took a bunch of mangos too and made mousse de mango. Mmm…muito gostoso! One of the fruits is called jaca and it is a huge green spiny oval. It looks like something out of star wars. I didn´t really like it, but it was a fun experience taking pictures and dissecting it. Brazil has so many fruits it´s incredible! Not even my Brazilian companion knows them all!

Mom—Thanks for the recipies. I´m excited to make pancakes for my companion! Thanks also for the packages! My companion and I loved the popcorn and she wanted the recipe of that too. My companion´s name is Sister Bulhões.

Em—I loved your drawing of the little Japonese Indian saying Happy Thanksgiving!! HAHAH! It was so cute!! Thanks

Clay—It´s like you´re back from the dead!! Thanks so much for writing me, cuz! I love you so much! Have you been having fun in Hawaii? Let me know when you hear from BYU business, k? I´ll celebrate down here while you´re celebrating up there.

Aup—I remembered the password to the blog. _____. At least I think it is…Thanks for doing all that.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ethan and Grandma Turtle and Suzanna!! I love you all so much! Did Ethan have a party? Grandma—I can´t believe you´re 92! That´s so awesome!! Remember when we had a joint birthday party a couple years ago in Cali? That was fun. We have so many fun memories! Thank you for all your continuous emails and support. I couldn´t have asked for a more loving Grandma! Tell all the California clan hi from me and pass along my email to Billy, would you (if you get a chance)? I´d love to hear from him. Thanks!

So…I am kinda embarrassed because I don´t have any pictures of my family. (It wasn´t on the list of things to bring!) Everyone always asks and I have to hang my head. Could someone snail mail me some pictures—the one from California with the blue shirts and maybe some when I had long hair? Everyone keeps nagging me about it. I would be very appreciative.

Becky—Thanks for the package! You are so sweet! My companion and I are going to gain so much weight this week!!! I´ll follow the instructions for my cake and take a picture for you. How are you feeling? What´s the latest from the doctors? Tell Mick I love him! Let me know when he gets his mission call!!!

If anyone is feeling a desire to send me peanut butter, that would be very welcome. My supply is running low and I can´t buy it here. Peanut butter is to me like nutella is to Emily. Hahaha!

Does anyone know how to get me Abby´s mailing address? I´m not allowed to email her, but she emailed me and I´d like to keep up the correspondence.

Last night I started to get really sick. My throat was really swollen and my nose was running like crazy. It hurt to talk. Finally, I took medicine when I got home, but in the night I started to get a fever. I was really weak and dizzy when I woke up this morning. I said a prayer that I could have the strength to get better. I don´t have time to get sick. There are so many elect people waiting to hear this message! I got a blessing from my district leader (after sleeping a couple more hours). I´m feeling a little better now—better enough to play soccer and volleyball at least! (And teach of course) Heavenly Father is so sweet to me. I know He is aware of each of us in our own lives. He hears and answers prayers—even those of a little missionary in the middle of nowhere south America! What a blessing!!

Love, Sister Ellis III

P.S. We finally got a hold of a cd player to borrow from the ward. It was so fun listening to the cds you made, Kit. Thanks!

Nov 5

Report for this week:
So things are going better. My companion and I are having a lot of fun! Thank you for all your advice. I really do need to tough up and be submissive. God is giving me this time to use to learn patience and humility. What a blessing! I really do have so much to improve. I never knew how severely lacking I was in relation to Christ-like attributes til I came on a mission! What a blessing!
We are being blessed greatly. We had a miracle baptism this week. We visited a recent convert and ended up teaching the first lesson to her sister too. We never even knew about this sister til we went there. She was baptized this Sunday! It was so amazing to see how the Lord had been preparing her way before we got there. She stopped drinking 4 months ago and so was perfectly ready to accept everything! It was awesome! Now we are teaching her friend who came to her baptism. She lives ridiculously far away in the wilderness, but it´s worth it! We are going to set her baptism tomorrow and hopefully baptize her this Sunday! This truly is the Lord´s work. I´m so grateful to be a part of it! I love working with families and helping them find eternal happiness through the gospel. There are a lot of members in our ward that are the only ones in their family. So, we have the great privilege to start working with them and try to baptize them! This is what the Lord wants---eternal families!
I got my haircut today. It´s so nice to not have hair on my neck! My hair had grown out a lot in 2 months! I totally thought of Nat—once you go short, you´ll never go back! Haha! I´m still planning on growing it out once I get home to have long hair for my wedding though.
So…Mom and Dad and Em are going to pick me up, right? And can Dad me-desobrigar? Because, I´m planning on staying with yáll in Sao Paulo before going back to the States so it´ll be a while before I would see the stake pres. Is that allowed, Dad?
When I get home, I´m going to need some tooth work again. It is so frustrating to always have graying, uneven teeth. Oh well, at least I don´t have to look at myself during the day, right? Just pray for the poor people of Brazil—they´re the ones that have to see my nasty gray teeth! One of the elders at the CTM asked if my front teeth were fake because they were gray! Aww.
So, that´s pretty cool Spencer gets to have devotionals with apostles. Apparently Elder Scott did a devotional at the CTM too, but I was already in the field.
Another thing that´s kinda sad here is that the ward is not very united. Most of the members don´t like the bishop and harbor bad feelings against him. It´s so sad! It breaks my heart to see these things happening in the church! We´re doing our best to fortify the members and unify them. We got the list from the secretary—there are 600+ members with 450 less active! Wooeee! We have our work cut out for us! We are going to put together a noite familiar calendar today for each neighborhood. That way the members aren´t traveling long distances to be together during the week.
For Mick—I´m going to vote BRAZIL!!!!
Thank you so much for all your emails etc. I love you all very much! I was cracking up laughing reading some of yall[s advice!! Thanks
Love, Rae
Sister Ellis III
P.S. What does CM stand for in Spencer´s emails?