I hope this email finds you all healthy and well.
This past week was not as successful as week one. To start things off it was very very cold, and it snowed for at least an hour every day. But as bad as i hate the cold and the snow i have found it doesnt affect me when i am out doing the lords work. there is something about wearing christs name on your chest that makes you somewhat invincible. But the great news is that this week will be even colder, yay. the highest its supposed to get is 13 degrees, and its gonna be in the minus most days, but we shall press on.
I got dads email that sis mailed me, so that was nice to get that it was a nice pick me up for the week. Mom im glad you enjoy my emails so much, but im sorry to say that i dont think they count as scripture. So you best step it up! HAHA.
So Elder Chen is from Vegas. He has one brother, who didnt go on a mission, and his parents got divorced when he was really young, both his parents are now remaried. His mom is white and his dad is from i think korea. They have always been very strong members. His dad is one of the best doctors in vegas, he won some big award about being the top doctor in nevada or something like that so its pretty cool. His mom teaches middle schoo spanish, or maybe its highschool i cant remember and im to lazy to ask him.
I really dont like how slow snail mail is around these parts, it bugs me quite bad, but o well i guess i will just have to learn to live with it.
So Hershal, He played pro football for a season, he played for the steelers and actually started two games at defensive tackle. I really dont know why he loves us so much, but we sure dont complain.
This week was super frustrating as far as investigators go. Keith is MIA. he wont answer our calls he wont answer the door, and he didnt ever show up to church or scripture study, so that has been pretty hard on me. But i guess its just one of those things you gotta live with.
People around here dont like to set up appointments they just want us to stop by, but the problem with that is half the time they arent home. So alan was not home when we stopped by, but we have an appointment with him for tonight we plan to invite him to be baptized.
We found two new investigators this week, so that was pretty neat. The first was dean. He is interesting, he says god is a star, and when you die the ground opens up and swollows you. We invited him to read the into to the B.O.M but he said reading scares him, cause when you read you come closer to the ground and that brings you closer to death. So we will have to see what we decide to do with him.
The second one is our miracle for the week. Her name is Cheryl. on thursday night it was very very cold, but we felt that we should get out of the car and start knocking some doors in a town called danville. we knocked about 10 doors with very little luck, but decided to knock one last one. This was her house, she opened the door and was very friendly but expressed she already was strong in the methodist faith. We told her that we just want to help her come closer to christ. she agreed that she would like that, so we taught her a door step lesson and set a return appointment for thursday morning.
We didnt get to teach logan this week, cause it snowed heavy on wednesday and the D's were snowed into their house, they live high on a mountain top. They are a very awesome family. Sister D is very motherly, so that is nice. She is originally from england, but they moved here from australia.
Tonight the Jablonskis are taking us out to dinner and are hopefully bringing their friend jenny who will hopefully be a new investigator after tonight.
Most the people here are very very poor, so it seems like more of a foreign country than i ever thought it would. Our area is very very large, we dont have enough miles to cover it. But we were just given exciting news that we are getting a set of sister missionaries in our area, so we will cover the vermont side of it, and they will live and cover the new hampshire part of it. the only bad part of that is, we might have to give up our car, so then we dont know what we would do cause there is no way this area could be a biking area, its way to spread out.
Our training in Manchester is a one time thing. Well it used to be a two time thing but, with all of the new missionaries coming in it is only going to be a one time thing. What they do is have all the new missionaries that are on first transfer and second transfer come in and they do a special training. But next transfer, we have 25 new missionaries coming in. that is the biggest group ever to come in. the biggest till then has been like 13. Six of those will be sisters, the Joseph smith memorial is getting sister missionaries for the first time ever.
On thursday we had another training, but that was just our Zone, so that took place over in montpelier, which is about an hour away. So it was super fun to get to spend two whole days with president this past week. i really do love that man. he is incredible. In his email he sent me today he said this.... Well, what I said in that first interview were truths! I feel blessed the Lord sent you this way elder. I envision a VERY bright future in this mission for you.....just wish I was here to enjoy the whole ride with you. But, I'll enjoy what I have!
Enjoyed your LTP very much. Insightful, inspiring, honest. Thoughts and distractions of home are real, but they will diminish in their effect on you as you focus on your purpose. You're getting there already, but you have to......we need you to grow up quickly so you can help others. That is something you are destined to do.
Love you elder. A lot!
I thought that was very nice of him, and also very inspiring to my ears. In the first interview he told me he needed me to grow up very fast so i could train as soon as possible with all the new missionaries coming in. So that is something that really keeps me pressing on and working my hardest. At times i get super tired sometimes i get homesick and grumpy, but through prayer i have found that the lord will always make it possible for me to press on.
Dad that is super awesome about elder bodily and elder roberts, you should feel very proud. i have a very hard time comparing the bishop here to you, he just doesnt measure up, and sometimes i just get super frustrated and want to tell him to take a trip to linrose to take bishop lessons. You are such an inspiration to me on what it is like t truly magnify a calling, i hope that someday i can learn to be half as good of servant of the lord as you have become. I love you so much dad and thank you for the example you have always set for me. Thankyou for every little thing you have always done for me.
Mom i am super sorry about the water freezing up and all that nasty stuff. But thank you so much for taking such good care of everything for me back home. sounds like the sharp clan is doing pretty well. i hope they are able to make the transition to a new home and school and life alright, i know the lord will bless them.
Sorry to hear about the tree in the front yard, but just be glad it wasnt my dogs or cynthia that he backed over ha.
So i cant tell you all the towns in our area, because i just dont know half of them. But the Bag Balm plant is on the same block that our house/apartment is on, one of these days ill take a picture by it and send it home. I get pretty claustrophobic here because of all the trees, i really miss the wide openness of my home out west.
I am starting to pick up on some of the weird terms they use out here. The most common one i hear is "we're all set" which is what they usually say to us as they shut the door in our face. Another one they often say is "geezum" which just means like goodness or something. I have found myself saying geezum alot. And Elder Chen always says yall for some reason, so i have started saying that too. The ward always tells me that i have an accent, so thats cool i guess. I just tell them that they have an accent ha. I am teaching the gospel principles class next week so that should be an adventure.
Well i hope i was able to cover everything, but im sure i missed some stuff. o well.
My scripture for the week is D&C 62:3. its very powerful.
I love you all and look forward to hearing the news about anything that happens back home. Thanks for your prayers, i really do feel the blessings from them. Thank you for all of your examples. Stay out of trouble.
Love always, Elder Quinton J. Zilles
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