First week IN the books

Aloha Family and Friends,

Yes I'm alive and doing well. First week in the books...literally IN the books studying all day every day. As missionaries we hit the ground running, running hard I must add. 

Tuesday at lunchtime I'm sitting with my parents eating Korean BBQ. 24 hours later I'm saying bye to my parents curbside and 10 minutes later I'm sitting in class and our teacher starts speaking to us in...English. Haha yep good ole English (no crazy language studying for me haha) And 24 hours later I'm already teaching. Yep I wasnt lying when I said we are running hard over here! 

The MTC is exactly how many people have explained it to me: "It's like drinking water out of a firehose". Class, class, class. Basically class from 8am sometimes all the way to 9pm. It's crazy insane but crazy fun. Nothing bad about drinking from a firehose right? Water is good for you and you got to stay hydrated somehow hahaha

My companion and district are both and all so AMAZING. It has only been about 4 days and I feel like I've known them all for so much longer! Half of my district is going to New York New York North and the other half is going to Sydney Australia and we are all speaking English! My companion is Sister Lowe and she is from St. George, Utah and is coming to New York with me as well :) She is such a sweetheart and we teach, study, and work together so well already.

Heres a classic Sister Ellis moment for you:

First day of class introductions. On the board there are a list of questions to answer in our introductions and it reads something like "Name? Hometown? Hobbies? Favorite Cereal? Why?". Being the first, I stand up with confidence and introduce myself. When I get to the last two questions I proceeded to say something like this "I like any and all cereals! oh and why? ummm because cereal is great and I love eating and I love food!". I sat down and my teachers quickly told me that I was to answer WHY I WAS SERVING A MISSION and not WHY THAT WAS MY FAVORITE CEREAL ahahahahahah gosh. Great first impression I know I know. What can I say I just love to eat. 

NEWS FLASH!!!

1) Starting in July 2018, the New York New York North and New York New York South Missions will be combining to form the New York New York City Mission! So I will be covering my area (Manhattan, Bronx, Harlem) as well as Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island! I am SO stoked guys 

2) My best friend Hermana Patterson is here with me at the MTC! She is serving in the Nampa Idaho Mission, speaking Spanish and let me tell you her spanish is SO good already! We were random roommates who became best friends and turns out that out of all the residence halls she is literally in the room across from me. God is so real everyone!!!

Currently there is a strict no touching (hugs or handshakes) rule due to the massive flu outbreak but that definitely does not stop me. When I saw Hermana Patterson we literally hugged and screamed sooo much in the middle of the cafeteria! Oh you all dont even know how happy I was to see her and how happy I am every time I see her! She is going to be such a great missionary I know it already :-) 

In my last sacrament meeting before I checked into the MTC, President Dallin H. Oaks spoke and he said something along the lines that in the church when we receive callings we never move up nor down, we move forward or backward. This has really stuck with me these past couple of days as I have taken on this new calling as a missionary. There are times where I have felt so so NOT ready for this calling. I sometimes feel very inadequate. But I know that whomever the Lord calls he truly qualifies. As I pray to have the spirit with me and do my best to stay focused on my purpose, I find that the Lord helps me to say what needs to be said at that time. This is HIS work and HIS glory and He WILL help me to do the impossible. There is so much peace, joy, and love that comes from knowng this! I know that I am in the right place at the right time and although it may be hard sometimes, it is all for my experience and good. President Jeffery R. Holland has taught us to "come as we are but dont plan to stay as we are". I have seen the Lord working through me and beginning to shape me into a better person already and I am SO stoked to see what is in store for me these upcoming months as I get the opportunity to serve! 

Ok. Sorry this email was kind of long. I just had a lot to say! Heres my mailing address too but I'll only be here until Feb 19 so it'll be changing in a few weeks already!

Sister Hennessey Hiileionalani Ellis
FEB19  NY-NYCN
2005 N 900 E Unit 116
Provo UT 84602

Love you all so much and I am so thankful for all of your prayers, emails, and support as I take on this next journey in my life.

Love,

Sister Ellis 

For those of you who are not LDS members all of my language may seem a bit foreign so let me just give you a quick run down. 

Missionary: young men and young women who are called to be messengers from God and invite any and ALL to come unto Christ

Companion: as missionaries we work in twos (as instructed in the bible)

MTC: Missionary Training Center located in Provo, Utah. Missionaries assigned to all differents places in the world come to learn and prepare to be servants of the Lord

District: Group of Elders and Sisters that are placed together to learn for the next few weeks 

Zone: a few districts come together to create a zone 

If you guys have any other questions feel free to look them up at lds.org or mormon.org ! There are some great missionaries that you can connect with that will answer any and all questions :) 

Pictures!!!

Tender mercies (thanks mom and dad you guys are the bomb)

My awesome district

My companion Sister Lowe! The sweetest of hearts!

Roommates

Before I checked into the MTC I went to our dear President Thomas S. Monson's grave and I put My Yellow Ginger Lei on his grave in Salt Lake City, Utah. (shoutout to all of you who got my song reference)