Pictures...

Ross arrived in San Diego today! He left the MTC early early this morning to go to the airport. He was able to call our parents from the airport and had a brief conversation with them. My lucky husband Jake is up in Sherman doing business and meeting some clients so he was able to talk to Ross as well. JEALOUS! Ross told them he's doing really well and is enjoying his mission so far. He is a ball of emotions, from excited to nervous, happy to scared. But most of all he is ready to start this next part of his journey as he is serving his mission. Wednesday (tomorrow) is transfer day so Ross will be assigned to his area and we will know where he will be living for the next few weeks. Today and tonight he'll spend at the mission home. We are excited for him and proud of him for his hard work so far. Continue to keep him in your prayers and write him lots of letters!! Check back often for updates.

My parents got the following letter and pictures tonight from Ross's mission president...enjoy!

Greetings from the California San Diego Mission!

Your son, Elder Little has safely arrived in the mission field. I am delighted to have him serving with us among the wonderful people of Southern California. In addition to the tremendous weather and scenery, we have remarkable missionary opportunities.

Thank you for sending such a wonderful missionary to our mission. I am confident that with your prayers and his hard work that he will have a rich experience here in San Diego that will bless both him and those he teaches.

I have attached a couple of pictures that were taken this afternoon at the Mission Home.

God bless you for your sacrifice in sending us your son to labor among some of Heavenly Father's choicest spirits.

Lee Donaldson
President, California San Diego Mission

He hasn't changed much in the past 8 weeks thank goodness! Still the same old crooked Rossie smile! Love it...

Ross with the mission president and his wife, President and Sister Donaldson

President and Sister Donaldson with the group of missionaries that arrived with Ross today in San Diego.

Week 8 - March 24, 2010

Hola familia.

Primero, las respuetas para sus preguntas.

1. I am leaving the MTC at 5 am on tuesday and my flight leaves SLC at 8. Entonces, I'll call you sometime between those hours and talk for as long as i can. I met some other missionaries that are going with me and my district, they are way chill!

2. I feel excited/nervous to take the next step. Yesterday, i feel like the devotional was a tender mercy for me. The mtc choir sang "Be Still My Soul", and i lost it. I was crying like un chiquita. And the speaker, Elder lynn Robbins, wife spoke on leaving and fear. Elder Robbins talked about the importance of the spirit. And in our district devo review, the opening song was Abide With Me. When I prayed last night, i thanked the lord and told him i got the memo. Don't worry, its just like coming into the MTc. I'll hope off the plane and give my new companero a "Ross Little hug"

3.My favorite part of the MTC has been this week. This week is our "power week". We go around and teach as many people as we can. Mis maestros told us taht we had to teach people outside of our zone. This has helped immensely. It's just like the field. We have to contanct them and set up appts and teach. So far, i have 2 investigators with a baptismal date, 2 that accepted a baptismal committment and 2 that our one spiritual confirmation away from baptism. I freaking love missionary work. But, like i said, its not me, its the Spirit.

Well, The rest of this week ahs been great. I had some sturggles with elder bean, just because he leaves monday and is more stressed/scared than i am, but we are doing great now,. Everyone is nervous, but me and some other elders try to keep the mood chill in the room. Sunday was yet another great day, we had our district pres. come and talked with us, it was great. Sunday temple walk was awesome and me and elder bean contacnt 11 companionships and we are in the process of teaching them. Everything is great here. This week is just teaching teach teaching. And i love it. I sent dad a letter this week about the MPC so yall can expect one there.

I got to saw Elder CRAGUN (the elder you keep asking me about). I talked to him in spanish for a while and it was chill. He is doing great and told me to tell yall hi.

Well, thats it for now. I think i get to email on monday. Thats another p day for me. I'll talk to yall in 6 days!!!! Estoy muy muy animados para hablar con ustedes.

Elder little

Week 7 Email

Week 7 - March 17, 2010

hola familia

sorry for the no caps or anything...the keyboard i am using is terrible. pues....i guess i wil answer your questions first.

1. we haven't gotten our travel plans yet, they are supposed to come tmw, but we asked the travel office and they said that we are leaving on the 30th. so a week longer, but thats ok..the extra time here wont hurt me.

2. they're 2 elders and 2 sisters that are going to san diego also. the elders are 2 of my really good friends, but not so much the hermanas. there are 2 others hermanas that are going to the oakland temple visitor center and im way good friends with them, but they are here an extra week because of visitor center training.

3. i get a lot of mail. probably 2nd or 3rd most in the district. my favorite package came today, i got yalls tape. i was rewinding it and i got sad because at first i didnt recognize dad's voice hahaha. i also got the "green" package last week, which was way cool. you have passed adam for the most letters hahah felicitaciones

entonces, i will start with my email. last wednesday was good, went to the temple and did iniatories sp? and that was way good and i had a great feeling afterwards. that night, me and another elder in my district taught our teacher as an investigator on his mission and we did a great job. thrusday and friday were jsut regualr days, nothing big happened. saturday was the best (insert 12 exclamation points). me and elder bean taught the first lesson in the trc in spanish. the scenarioi was that we contacted an aethiest and had to teach her the first lesson. we (me, elder bean, and the spirit) did great. we taught her how nuestro padre celestial nos ama mucho y nos quiere ser feliz. by the end of the lesson, we committed her to to read the bible and the book of mormon, specifically the sermon on the mount and 3 nefi cap. 14-17 or so. it was great. sunday was the usual great day. i love sundays, they are definitely my favorite day here at the ccm. monday was great as well. we have meetings called lgm where we learn about different aspects of missionary work. this week we learned about using the book of mormon. we had a scenario where a man did everything in his branch. he was the clerk, blessed and passed la santa cena and spoke every sunday. he came to the missionaries and told them he couldnt do it anymore because his family wont come anymore and they dont think the church is true. we (the missionaries) as to help him by just using the book of mormon. i was chosen to stand up in front of the meeting (probably about 100 missionaries) and teach this man. i used ether 12:6 to talk about trials of faith and then asked him if the he trusted god and he said he did, and i read with him mosiah 4:9 and told him we cant comprehend god's mind and everything will work out. the teacher siad it was great and he almost cried during my testimony. it was great. before i went up there, i wasnt sure if i was going to be abkle to do this and i thought my knowledge of the bom was sketchy. but agter i sat down, i heard a clear voice in my head and this is what he told me. "be confident in your knowledge of the book of mormon. you can teach anyone, english or spanish. open your mouth, and i will speak through you. i will help you." i started crying almost, because i was enveloped by the spirit. one of the best experiences of my life. last night, it happened again. elder quentin l. cook came and spoke and i received more revelation. i had the overwhelming feeling that i was in the right place at the right time. and thats excatly what elder cook said later in his talk. well i have to run and finsih my laundry, but i will write a letter with more. i sure do love yall and i will get to talk to you in 13 days (insert exclamation marks here) loveyal alot o les amo mucho mucho mucho.

hasta el treinta de marzo

elder pequeno

Week 6 Email

Week 6 - March 10, 2010

Hola Familia.

Estoy muy animado porque esta semana es mi seis semana. Entonces, tengo 3 semanas en la CCM. Translation: I'm very excited because this is week 6 which means i have 3 more weeks in the MTC. We are here for 9 weeks. Well, lets see. Last wednesday was another great day at the Temple. We did another session and the feeling was strong once again. I prayed that i would feel comforted about my responsibilities as zone leader and i was. Thursday and friday were just regualr days. Saturday was our first lesson in spanish. We were supposed to teach Lesson 1, but we decided to get to know our investigator. The scenario was that she had met with the missionaries before, but stopped meeting with them because she was "busy" but she still went to church. Also, she signed up to have lunch with the missionaries, but they were transferred out and we were transferred in. So we "went to lunch" and asked her if we could come by later and talk to her more about the church. So we did. We started asking her questions, all of this is in spanish, and i asked her why she stopped meeting with the missionaries (sometimes you just have to be blunt). She said that she loved meeting with them, but her boyfriend was always busy and didn't want to have anythign to do with the missionaries. So i asked her how she felt about what the missionaries were teaching her, and she said that she felt great and she wanted to be baptized, but her boyfriend and her lived together and he didnt want to get married. Entonces, we taught her about having faith and about how important it is to follow the example of Jesucristo and be baptized. I asked her if she had talked with her boyfriend about her feelings and she said he just didnt really care and like things the way they were. They had been together for 5 years. I bore my testimony of tyhe importances of families and baptism to her and she said that she was feeling great about it. We committed her to baptism and we committed her to read matt 5 and 3 Nefi cap 11 ver 31-the end of the chapter w/ her boyfirend. She said that she would, and i told her that if she would pray and ask El Senor to be with her when she talked to her bf, her boyfriend would realize how important this is to her and would change. She asked us to come back and visit with her and her boyfriend on sunday hahaha Man i wish this was real. Well, thats all for saturday. Sunday was great as usual. Monday, i started feeling sick in the morning and was way sick by the end of the night, i didnt even want to talk at all. I took some medicine monday night and ive been feeling great since. I just had some sinus headaches and a little migraine. But everything is great now. How is everything at home? I hope it is great. I got my jacket! Thanks! i will send the receipt home in my letter today. The spanish is going ok. You know me, i always feel like what i know isnt enough but i guess that keeps me going. Ummm....im glad that yall enjoyed the tape, ill try to make another one soon. It just depends on how much time i have at night. Puessss, I guess that is all for now. I need some more gel and shampoo if you want to send me that, but thats really the only specifics. I've been loving getting packages everyday...I LOVE MAIL!! hahaha Well i guess thats it. I love you and tell everyone that i love them too. Oh and yeah i do get to call you at the airport, so i will get to talk to yall in like 3 weeks!! get excited! Love yall!

Elder Pequeno

Week 5

Week 5 Email...Wednesday, March 3, 2010


Well....this week has been a whirl wind. I guess ill start with last wednesday. We had a great day at the temple. I went with a question and came out with an answer, it was great! Thursday and Friday were regualr and Saturday was great as well! Our zone leaders were released because one of them told an hermana of the feelings he had for her, esta no bien. So we got new zone leaders, they are really cool guys. One of them voiced to me that he felt really inadequate and wasn't sure how he was going to be balance the workload of a zone leader with learning spanish and the lessons. He is at the same week as me, in fact he is in my district. Pues, if you havent figured it out yet, ive been called to be the Zone leader for my zone! Me and Elder Bean were called on Sunday so this is my 4th day as a zone leader and so far so good. Its crazy being called a zone leader with 2 districts ahead of me, but our BRanch president, said that i was a unanimous desicion from the Lord. So i guess im qualified. It has been a crazy week, trying to figure out what all my responsibilites are, but im getting the hang of it. I can't remember if I told you, but i watched Pres. Hinkcley's last talk this past week, and wow...it was great. I also watched Joesph B. Worthlins last talk as well, "Come what may, and love it" (GREAT Talk). It sounds like everything is going great at home. I'm glad Hillary is feeling better and I pray for the babies every night. Dad, im glad you had a good , but busy, sunday, i love sundays in la CCM. Its the most spiritual part of the week. yesterday, i sang in the MTC choir for the devotional. We sang an arrangement of "Come thou Fount" it was called "blessings" it went great. Bishop Richard G. Edgely spoke on going to work. The spirit taught me that, "if you touch one life, you will touch the lives of many" My spanish is coming along slowly but surely. Its frustrating sometimes but im working. We have a new distrcit coming in this week and i get to orientate them, so that will be fun. I'm good, just pushing through "walls" everyday and fighting the exhaustion, but i can tell everyday that im blessed. I can tell if i work hard during the day if i fall asleep quickly at night, so thats waht i shoot for. Oh, some one picked up my columbia jacket at Gym, so im without a jacket. Will you next day my A&M jacket, its kind of cold in UTah!!! Gracias. Well thats all the time i have, the computers are messing up! o, mail me the ultrasound pics, i cant open pics here! Gracias!!

Elder pequeno

Beginning of Week 4 Email

Here is Ross's email from the beginning of week 4 in the MTC.... February 24, 2010


Hola familia.

Well, its my 4th week here in the MTC, and im starting to get restless/nervous/anxious. Not this satuday, but the saturday after that, i will be teaching my first lesson in spanish, entonces, im getting a little nervous. My spanish is still not that good, but the more i work on it the better it gets. Well, this week (since last wednesday) has been tough, but better than last week. On wednesday, like i said, we fasted for Elder HAUCK (:)) and went to the temple. While i was at the temple, i started praying in spanish in the celestial room, and words started coming to me that i barely remember studying, it was crazy. I just wish that i could teach my investigators in the celestial room. hahaha On thursday, it was a pretty chill day, nothing really big, just studied and prepared to teach an investigator on saturday. Friday was the same thing. Saturday morning, i got my haircut and they actually did a good job, not as good as misty but its ok. I prepapred/prayed all saturday morning that i would have confidence while i taught and that i would remember all the spanish i studied. We had to pick them up from their house and follow up on a commitment we left them and then take them to the bus and ride with them to church and drop them off at their house again. The we came back one day (10 minutes) later and taught them lesson 2: the plan of salvation. Me and Elder Bean decided to teach differently and not split up the lesson in our lesson plan but just to teach with the flow. And let me tell you, that was spirit prompting us to do that. The lesson went GREAT! we taught a girl from BYU and the spirit was so strong. At the end, Elder Bean told her that our Heavenly Father does not want us to settle for one of the lower kingdoms, he wants us in the celestial kingdom. I was prompted to start talking about baptism. I said, "Jenessa, my companion is right. God wants us to be able to live in his presence. The only way we can do that is if we accept his gospel and take part in the oridinances in his gospel. One of those ordinances is Baptism. Jenessa, we have a baptismal date set for 2 weeks from today, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by the proper authority on that day?" she looked at me, and with tears in her eyes said, "well its a big step, but, yeah. I feel the need to be baptized." I almost hugged her! hahaha My first baptismal commitment, i know that its no big deal, but it felt good. Sunday was great! We had a great lesson in priesthood, and Janice Kapp Perry taught the hermanas in relief society. We had a great sacrament meeting, me and Elder Thomas from my district sang, and then I saw Tyler on our Temple walk again. He is back to leaving in 2 weeks for the GUatemala MTC. Then monday, i was humbled. I got my first taste of rejection. Our teacher told us to teach him and gave us 10 minutes to prepare. Everything was going good, i was feeling the spirit and asked him to read/pray about the L de M and he said no thanks and said he wasnt interested. Talk about rough. I felt like i had failed the investigator and the Lord. Then while i was writing in my journal, i remembered the quote from the Joesph Smith Moive: "Sometimes the Lord brings us low, in order to buiild us up". So, im getting built up again. hahaha everything is great now. Its snowed for the 5th day straight today. I bought a tape recorder in the book store, so you will be getting a tape, along with a memory card in the mail in about a week haha be excited. I heard a bout HIllary! Why do my sisters have kids as soon as i left! What the heck!!! I got her letter about having the swine flu so she is definately in my prayers. O yeah, back to spiritual things. I gave one hermana in my district a sickness blessing. She got better soon after and it made me so thankful that i have the priesthood so i can bless the lives of others. I gaave another blessing to the same hermana from a couple weeks ago for the same reasons. She told me she loved my blessings and she could feel the power that i had. I told her its not me, its her Padre Celestial. Well, i hope everything is good there! ummmmm, any kind of food would be good to send, just not candy im burned out on candy. hahaha Tell everyone i love them and im doing great, except the snow. All i want is some Big ole TEXAS sunshine ahahahah. Love yall

Elder pequeno

p.s. i got your m&ms, im not eating them, im using them as decoration haha.