Fourth of July at Point Loma Navy Base

Yo. Whats up. ha ha last week was pretty alright. Except like ten of our appointments fell through :( we have a baptism this coming sunday though.. its a black girl named alise. Pray for her! Yeah I didn't know i could send the pictures through the internet either but I guess i can? Elder anda showed me how :) I tried to send you a video too but it wouldn't work. Its on my camera though so you'll see it when i send my memory card home. My ankle isn't getting better but it isn't getting worse! it doesn't bug me that much.. it just looks like i have a fleakin kankle. ha ha! Answers....:)Last P-day we didn't really do anything fun... we had a lot of stuff to buy and clean. So.. it was kind of boring ha ha. and today we don't really have anything fun planned either. Just basketball! But next week we're taking a boat ride around the bay for only 8 dollars so That'll be pretty fun!We do get to know the other missionaries in our Zone. cause we have zone meetings and stuff. Now, a zone is made up of a few different districts. and a district is made up of 6-12 missionaries so yeah. In my district there are 7 missionaries.. you'll see pictures of them when i send them home. Theres 3 samoans, me, elder anda, and a couple white boys from riverton! For the money, when we first got here they gave us a credit card and it has 122 dollars each month. Thats more than plenty for me.. I had like 50 left over! and they also give us a gas card too... thank heavens. Cause we fill it up like every 3 days!Yeah i have enough shirts and everything thanks! I'm gonna buy a san diego shirt sometime! if i ever run out or anything ill let you know :)The language is tough.. all the words sound the same haha. but, yeah im working on it! I pretty much just try to memorize different sayings and stuff.

Um... 4th of July was pretty bomb here.. we woke up early and trashed the samoan elders' car because it was elder tavete's birthday. and then we had a pizza party for him at a members house and played ping-pong for like 2 hours. And then we went to this carnival at point loma (a navy base) and watched the fireworks! It was fun i got a lot of pictures of everything. The fireworks were so beautiful because it was over the water and you could see the reflection and everything! oh goodness.

But, like i said it was a pretty unproductive week with investigators... but the Mijarez fam came to church again. 2 weeks in a row! This next week should be pretty busy with investigators though. I'll let you know. Well, I do a lot of reading here on my mission so I have some scriptures for ya'll to read. you can do it during family home evening or on your free time! These are some of my favorites... Joshua 1:9, Jacob 6:12, 2 timothy 1:7, D&C 19:38, John 14:27,28, Proverbs 3:5,6, D&C 8:10, Ether 12 (all of it. especially verse 27) D&C 24:8, and.. D&C 42:46 (good one for our grandmas) :) keep updating me on everything at home please! I hope i didn't leave anything out. When are the hunts? Keep up the good work! remember to pray every night and morning! :) Love you guys have a wonderful week!!!Love, Elder Ipsen

Elder Anda and Elder Ipsen

San Diego Temple

Hummmm I wonder who is doing better Cory or Mom

Monday June 15 Cory's 1st E-mail from San Diego

ok so... my P-days are monday if you didn't already know! But ill try and answer all of your questions! But first off I'm glad you got that card! I couldn't remember when fathers day was so I just sent it early :) ok so here goes.... I did like flying.. it was only like a hour and a half flight though.. and the plane was small! but it was fun i liked it. Um.. my companion is Elder Anda from the phillipines.. he's funny. He speaks fluent tagalog, and yeah we get along, he's been a good trainer for me. No, I do not have a new mailing address.. it is still just the 7404 armstrong one... every monday we go pick our mail up from that place. We live in an apartment... it's pretty nice.. just a little dirty ha ha. There was a HUGE daddy long leg spider in my shower today! And I will send you home my memory card from my camera so you go pring the pictures. The bedding that you sent me was plenty! thanks for the lemon heads too :) I eat just like any other normal human does. ha ha jk. WE buy our food from the grocery and usually have breakfast and lunch in our apartment. And then we have dinner appointments each night. And we are driving.. I am driving actually. Elder Anda doesn't have a drivers license so I have to drive everywhere... california drivers are crazy! I almost got in a wreck my first day driving lol. but i didnt thank goodness. No, I didn't have to put my bike together.. there was a man there that put together all of our bikes.. that was nice. And no, the hair cut sucked! they cut the sides way too short... I don't want a missionary haircut! lol, i havent seen the San Diego temple yet but we are going for a session this wednesday. And after that we go every six weeks! On our P-day, which is today, we do our laundry, email, write letters, and do anything else that we need to get done.. and we can play sports with the other missionaries! then at 6 we start proselyting again. On sundays we go to church and after that we just have a normal day of working. But at church I think they like to pick on the new missionaries.. I had to say the closing prayer in sacrament meeting AND teach Elder's quorumn! It all went really good though. I've liked everyone we've taught! And i am happy and ok! So.. let me tell you a little bit about my mission... I'm serving in National City. In the Bonita 1st ward. It is the most diverse place you'll ever see haha. I didn't see a white person when we were tracting for a couple days. In our church there are samoans, filipinos, african americans, mexicans, and a couple whites! It's cool though to learn more about all these people. The samoans are my favorite they are so so funny. Some other news.. a large part of my area speaks tagalog/filipino. So.. they're having me learn it! It's a really confusing language. we've taught a couple of tagalog speaking investigators and i am just SO lost. but i'm kind of getting the hang of it. kumusta=how are you. ano ang pangalan= whats your name. taga saan ka= where are you from. I'll get the hang of it lol. bababa ba. That is a sentence in tagalog haha. That means to go downstairs. or something like that. Haha but I am having fun and liking it! we have a baptism scheduled for this saturday and ill tell you how that goes. We have a couple new investigators to teach this week, and they seem promising :) But yeah I'm learning more and more each day about the gospel. But keep the questions coming if you have more! I love you all and keep up the good work! How is everything going at home? Anything new? CTR love you!!

Pres. Donaldson E-mail

Greetings from the California San Diego Mission!

Your son, Elder Ipsen 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

Cory is on his Way to San Diego !

Cory called this morning at 7:17 a.m. ! We got to talk to him for 25 minutes !
He said the MTC was good but he is glad to be done ! He is excited for San Diego !
He said the airport was full of missionaries leaving! He still has his sense of humor ! Yeah ! He called his companion sort of weird, then said oops, we aren't even suppose to say slang words. He said he tried hard for two days on that one . lol
It was so sweet to hear his voice!!! I told him I listen to his voice on the messages at home,
he said.......weird...... :- I think he is doing better than us !
I Love You my Cory !!!!

Sweet Surprise ! Cory Called Home Today

Yesterday June 4, we got an e-mail :) Cory's companion has the swine flu and is in quarentine. Cory and his whole district are on Medicine. He was postponed to leave for San Diego till June 16.

This morning Friday June 5 at 8:49 a.m. Cory was allowed to call home for 3 1/2 Minutes and tell us that he will be leaving for San Diego after all, this coming Tuesday June 9 at 8:30 a.m. He will also be able to call from the airport !!

It was so wonderful to hear his voice !! He is excited that he can leave as scheduled !