And We're Off!

Dear Family,

Kamusta pamilya ko? Tani Maayo gid. I'm good over here. Well, I fly out today! I'm super excited. This week has been great. A lot of boosters that are getting me ready to go to the field. Sam Nickell sent me a package. Courtney's family sent me a bunch of food! That was great... and cookies. Oh cookies. Okay, so I wonder if you guys actually think about this, but a lot of missionaries gain weight here at the MTC because we eat and sit, study, sit, sleep, repeat, with an 50 min of gym a day. So at the end of TWO MONTHS... I've only gained......... 2 pounds. Most elders gain like 10-15, there's one in our zone who gained 30. So I'm rather proud. I worked super hard at gym so that I wouldn't gain weight. haha. I spent a lot of last night packing and I get all day today too to write and pack and make sure everything is good to go. I hope that all is well with y'all. The Lord will take care of me, so don't stress out too much.

Angel Moroni

Practicing getting water from the rain gutter

Elder Ellis, Brother Stokes, and Evans

Elder Ellis & Evans--temple day

Elder Evans (his visa didn't come through yet, so he has to stay a little extra time at the MTC.

Elder Carlson from Logan

I'm going to miss my companion a lot. Elder Evans and I have become super great friends and I can't wait to go back to school and be friends with him again. Nothing that big really happened this week. We had an all day workshop called "In Field Orientation" and that was just... super fun. Not really, but I understand what they were trying to say. It's just sort of like things we already learned and a recap of the MTC experience. I'm super excited to get to my island though.
I leave the MTC at 4:30. I'm not sure exactly what happens. Oh... I almost forgot to tell you. So you know how my district is half IlloIllo and half Bacolod. All the same language just an island apart. Well, only the Bacolod Elders got their Visa's. So happy! So my companion isn't leaving today and neither is half my district. I'm traveling with a bunch of Elders and a few sisters going to Tacloban and Manila and Quezon city though. And some Japanese Elders and Sisters too, so there's going to be quite a few of us on this plane. I'm super excited. I'm actually excited to talk to y'all. So I'll do my best to call. I bought a calling card here for $5 that I should be able to call international with, so I'm going to try and use that if I can to save you some money rather than call collect. Hong Kong is going to be interesting.

Elder Johnson (Holladay, UT) and Elder Ellis

Elders Ellis, Mariano (Cebu), and Evans

Guapo

So I hope that all is well back home. I don't have much to write and I want to be able to say things to you tonight. So I'll hopefully be able to call in SLC and LAX. The international terminal in LAX is nuts, so I hope that all is okay. Some elders here got like pay as you go phones sent to them and they're just going to ditch them once they get to Manila. So I might be able to use one of the Elders and just use my calling card on it because I know to call from a payphone with it has an initial charge that's pretty high. All will be well though. I'm not worried and neither should you be.
What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving? Anything fun? HEY isn't there a basketball game tomorrow? Tell the guys I said good luck! Nate sent me a letter and it was really good to hear from him. I also got all your letters that said not to read them until I was on the plane, so I shall do that. I'm not sure what they say, maybe if I did I'd have more to write.
I love you guys. Thanks for everything you did for me here at the MTC. I'm going to miss you so much. I already do miss you. But I'm needed in the Philippines! So I'm so excited! I love you all and I know y'all will take care. Be good. and Mom, don't worry about me :) I'm going to okay! :)

Love,
Elder Ellis

MTC District with Brother Stokes from Stafford, VA

Ugly tie day!