Pardon the English & Grammar.....it's totally fading now!

Dear Friends and Family,

Well I guess you've all heard by now that I've been transferred. I'm back into Escalante Zone! It's still a Cebuano speaking area and I'd be willing to bet that besides Elder Gibbons, or both of us, we've been the longest missionaries in this mission to be speaking Cebuano.

Elder Cudac and I at Canla-on Chapel

Canla-on has the best rice on the island

Brother Harolds and his wife

Transfer day....I loved San Carlos & my companion!

  I came back and saw some members in Mabini Branch that were at the Escalante Chapel for a meeting and they said I'm practically amazing at the language now. Honestly, I'm super glad that I'm back into a Cebuano Zone. I knew I was going to transfer last week, I just didn't know where and I"m super glad that it's not across the island and it's only here in Escalante. I do have some friends that are in this zone, Elder Shaffer is here, Elder Rakuro, Elder Gibbons and some others. Escalante Branch is split into two area because there's a sister companionship here as well. Sister Ralph (From Tacloban) and Sister Turtal, whose first area was my first area in Victorias 2nd Ward. Super funny! They're a cool and fun companionship and we both had baptisms this past week. 

We've been visiting a lot of members and diong area stuff the past few days so I don't really know what to say. I'm still new to the area. Elder Lenoy, my new companion is a native Cebuano speaker and doesn't speak English so I've only been speaking Cebuano the past 5 days. I miss Elder Barangay a lot, he was a great companion and probably my favorite one so far. Him and I got really close. He actually called me and said he missed me, haha, silly kid. Escalante Branch was his last area and he baptized a lot of people here and also left us with a big mess of not updating records so we have no clue who's been taught what and there is still one he baptized that's not yet confirmed! The members are great here and I've eaten a lot. I'm going to die if I don't work out, so that's my goal while I'm here is to be diligent in working out because if I don't... I'm doomed. 

Three-some with Elder Cudac and Elder Barangay before transfers.

Christmas with Elder Barangay......I'm going to miss him!

We made our own baptismal pants

Served our Filipino companions an American Christmas breakfast

The Cebuano here I've realized that I didn't realize before is funny. They try to make their own kinda dialect and change the "L"'s to "W"'s. It's super funny because it sounds completely stupid, but everyone does it, so I guess that's the thing to do here. So now I'll have to change my L's to W's. I'm not going to, because then I'll be speaking really Cebuano wrong. I guess there's a reason I'm still in Cebuano, hopefully I'll use it later in my life because that would be awesome because this language is so sick!

Jessica Liavore's baptism

So we had a baptism on Saturday if you didn't see on facebook. Her name is Jessica Liavore. She's 29 years old and is a former investigator of some sisters that use to be here over 2 years ago I think maybe or just over a year. She's been taught by many different religions and has never really felt that any of them are true until our missionaries came along. I guess this was finally her time for baptism. She way great and gave a great testimony at church yesterday actually on how she's super happy that she became a member and that she wants to continue and learn more about the church. It was super great! I'm super excited to continue to work in her area and we'll probably have her come with us to teaching appointments in her area too so that we can baptize more of them there. Her whole area will become members soon! ha! We have tons of investigators near here house, but none have really been committed yet, nor come to church. So it's going to be a little rough, but it's going to be great. I'm super excited to serve in this branch and to be apart of it. My apartment is nice, just about the same as the one in San Carlos. 

I miss San Carlos so much. I had a few members text me and just say thanks for everything and the branch president, Dellomes, he's a good guy. I'll miss him too. The Leduna family freaked out and were super angry. I was texting them the rest of that night because they were just so sad that I was transferring. I went to their house though, even it's super far away just to say goodbye so that I could say goodbye. They cried. I was super sad to leave them... I just got so close with them. They're super awesome. We need to go back and visit them when you come here! Okay? 

 Ladiwan Family...such a great family

Saying good-bye to the Leduna family.  I'm going to miss them.  Love this family!

Well, I'm not sure what else to say about my new area. It's Escalante so there's not too much to do here so we've got to make stuff up. Today we're going to play volleyball in Buenavista, which is another area in the zone. I'm not sure who's all coming right now, but that's what we're doing today.

I love you all. Thanks for the email on Christmas and New Years and I hope that everyone is doing great back home. I know the church is true and that the Lord has a plan for all of us in these days and that as long as we do our part, he'll keep up His end of the deal. I love being a missionary. I love it. I love helping people and meeting new people and talking with them and just being with them! It's so fun! I miss y'all so much back home. It's weird that I come home this year, don't worry, I'm not trunky at all! Just weird to think about. Thanks for everything! Have a great week! 

Love, 

Elder Ellis