Week 27: Prayers are Answered, missionary life is the bomb!

Hola mi familia,

Scripture of the week: 1 Timothy 4:19

Oh it is so great to hear from you guys. This week has probably felt like the longest week of my mission so far. Its strange because its not like i am unhappy or anything it just felt soooo long. My companion and i were talking the other night and i was like this is so weird i am more tired than i have ever been in my entire life im absolutley exhausted but yet i am so incredibly happy. Missionary life is the bomb. 

 Well im being my self and dragging this on before i tell you where i am baha. Are you sick of it yet? should i tell you now? ok fine here it goes. I can almost guarantee that none of you would have guessed it. WEll Elder Zilles is now serving in NEWPORT VERMONT. Yes as in the newport where i have been on exchange multiple times, yes the same newport that is one area away from lyndon. Can you believe it? i got transferred one area away from lyndon. And the even crazier part about this whole thing is the fact that i am the District leader over the district i have spent my whole mission in, that also means i get to go back to my home town of lyndon once a week for district meeting. And this week i am going on exchange in lyndon so its pretty much going to be just like i never left. Oh and my companion is Elder Uhl. Yup the same elder uhl that was elder walkers companion. Im not gonna lie when i first found out i was going to newport, i was quite upset. I was so looking forward to being able to see new parts of the mission and get to meet new missionaries and new people. But i decided "Elder Zilles you need to get over this and prepare to serve the people of newport to the best of your abilities". So i started praying that Heavenly father would help me to start to develop charity for these wonderful people. Well all i can say is prayers are answered.

 Yesterday i got called on to talk in sacrament out of the blue, and while i was up there looking into the eyes of the members of the newport branch i could really feel myself starting to love them. It will take time but i truly am already starting to love these people. Lots of change has recently happened here in newport, last week they got a new branch president. This week i got here, and our area also got split so now there is sisters as well. So essentially elder uhl and i are opening a new area, cause everywhere they used to work majority of the time is now in the sisters area. So needless to say, we knocked on more doors this week than i have in a long time.

 My new address is 71 eastern ave. #3 Newport Vermont 05855.

 

The Jablonski's and Zack

 

So i would love to tell you all about my new investigator pool, but i really dont know any of them yet, so that information will have to follow in coming weeks emails.

Yes i did get to go to that meeting last night. We watched it here at 6 so 4 your time. I am not going to lie it was the most spiritual meeting i have ever been too. the whole two hours i had spiritual goose bumps. It was so incredible. One of the coolest parts was they showed president stoker on the screen for about 5 seconds. I cant wait to meet him. He gets here the 27th thats this thursday, and i dont get to meet him till i think the 6th of july. But i am sure he will be great. They mentioned in that meeting that we as missionaries will soon be using facebook and other online things to teach the gospel, so that will be interesting to see how that all works.

It sounds like everything back home is going so well. I am sorry that thor is still causing issues. But i am so appreciative of you not giving up on him. I really cant wait to have my dogs again, they are some of the things i miss the most. Speaking of dogs, on my 2nd day here in newport elder uhl and i had a bit of a run in with two different PACKS of dogs. I say packs because they literally were packs. The first incident we walked up a long driveway to visit some less actives, when we got to the house 10 dogs came out. Not an exaggeration there literally were 10. They all came at us and were biting barking and nipping at us. I didnt know what to do so i just started kicking left and right, but they would not back off so we finally just took off running it was ridiculous, but now its just really fun to look back and laugh at. Second incident we were tracting and a pack of 4 dogs came at us, the owner called them back and didnt even appologize he just walked away.

 

The Gregory's Saying Goodbye

 

I thought you might like to know what i do as a district leader. So it seems like i am always on the phone. Before at night when we got home we would plan and then have till 1030 to do what ever, but not anymore. We get home and i have phone calls to make almost everynight. But its awesome i love it. I also am in charge of teaching the lesson every week at district meeting, and conducting exchanges, its going to be great. My district consists of Me and elder uhl, Sisters Deters and Dixon, in newport 2. Sisters Cowley and jackman in littleton, and Elder Chapman and elder guinn in lyndon. Sister Dixon and sister jackman are both new missionaries, so its fun to get to be part of there training.

well i think thats all i have for today sure do love you guys.

 

Elder Q, and Elder Uhl...JK just some camels...haha

 

Elder Zilles

Plow to the end

Ps. Prayers are answered. Ive been praying about going to a chiropractor, and yesterday when i spoke in sacrament i shared about my back injury and how it helped me know my savior is there for me. After sacrament a lady came up to me and said here is my number my husband and i are chiropractors call any time for an appointment and we will fix you up free of charge, i almost started to cry i was so happy! prayers are answered!!!!

Week 26: Goodbye to Lyndonville

Hey everybody,

Scripture of the week: Romans 8:35, 38-39

First off happy fathers day one day late. It sounds like it was an incredible day. I cant wait to hear more about moms talk i bet it was incredible. Our sacrament meeting was very good. 6 youth spoke about fathers, and i just kept thinking my dad is so much better than any of these. But there are alot of good father figure examples here in the lyndon ward.

The district, last time together :)

Alright im gonna stop beating around the bush, there is an elephant in the room and im gonna shoot it now..... I am being transfered out of lyndon. My bags are all but packed, and im leaving tomorrow at seven in the morning.

 You are now asking where are you going? well thats the thing i do not yet know where i am going. So your info on that will have to come next week. Any letters anyone wants to mail to me this week you can mail to the mission office and they will forward it on to me. but some cool things with the transfer. Although i dont yet know my area, i was called to be a district leader. So wherever i go i will be getting some more responsibility which i am totally stoked for. I have truly learned the best way to grow is to be tested and tried. Elder Guinn will be staying here in lyndon and will be getting a new senior companion. This is a very bittersweet time for me. I am ready to move on, but i also love this ward so much. Telling people good bye yesterday was very hard. I havent told the Jablonskis good bye yet, we are going bowling with them today, so i will do it then. Oh a little side not on them they found out the other day that the new baby is going to be a girl, she is due november 10 so they are shooting for november 9 of course. Some of the hardest people to tell goodbye were sister ruel and sister cameron. Both of them started to cry when i said bye, it was really tough. Sister Cameron said "Elder i will always remember you as my grandson".

Sister Ruel's Mom, Sarah

I love this ward. Telling the gregorys good bye tonight as well, so that is another one that will not be easy. But i know that wherever i go that is where the lord has called me and that is where i am meant to be, im thinking maine on the beach would be pretty wicked awesome. but who knows, more details to come on that tomorrow. 

Bishop Tucker (he always wears a bow tie)

I am so relieved to hear so much good news about audra. I am not surprised to hear about her peeking into matts window, or running to mom like a dog. There is something special about that cow, there really is i will forever be grateful for heavenly fathers help with her and the incredible power of prayer. Thanks to you guys for all the extra work you have put in with her. 

Also am relieved to hear that jdog is ok. If that doesnt stop her from chasing cars i dont know what will, but thank goodness she is ok. Vanity looks awesome, as does the calf and zadee. Take some pics of my red angus calf and send them for next week. 

Oh speaking of dogs, this week we stopped at a house and a dog ran ouot, when i opened my door the thing jumped right into the car and crawled over me and elder g and then back out the other side it was funny. 

So as far as our investigators go, this weeks highlight is keith finally got into a rehab facility super cool, i cant wait for him to be able to start to progress. So i know it is not all about the numbers, but elder guinn and i have put up some incredible numbers the past 12 weeks. The church wide standard for the oval chart is 20 lessons per week, the past weeks we have been getting so close, we had 16 a few weeks, but this week, my last week in lyndon, elder guinn and i taught 20 lessons. Isnt that sooooooooo cool it was super exciting. 

Well i think that covers just about everything. Sorry i dont have anymore transfer info for you, but i promise next week ill give ya all the good deets on then new area and the district i get the privilege of overseeing. Remember this week you can mail letters to the mission office. sure love you guys.

Elder Toner

This was sent to us from Sister Gregory tonight, with this caption
"Apple pie, and laughs as usual when we get together. Saying goodbye to our friend, Elder Zilles, who will always with Elder Mark Chen be part of our family...as they taught Dave the Gospel. We will miss him but are so happy for him to have an adventure in a new area. Memories and missionaries!  Happy that Elder Guinn will be staying and love that he laughs at all Dave's jokes!"

Week 25: one door knock at a time

Hey everybody,

Scripture of the week: D&C 62:3 

Well everyone its been a good week. Not too much really happened but it was just an overall good week. Ill start off with the highlight of the week. So you all remember David who was a new investigator a few weeks ago.. Well this week we were teaching him the gospel of Jesus Christ and i felt very strongly that i needed to invite him to be baptized. I questioned it at first because we hadn't even considered a date for him, but i don't like to ignore the prompting of the spirit so i did it. I invited him and he said yes. So David now has a baptismal date set for the end of july, (who knows where i will be by then). 

Yup this is the last week of the transfer, so by next monday i will know if i am staying in lyndon or if i am moving on to a new chapter of my journey. I have very mixed feelings about the possibilities that could happen. I absolutely love the lyndon ward, and whenever i leave them it will be very hard, but i am also excited to be able to go meet new people and see new places. But whatever happens i know it is what the Lord wants. However the whole ward is convinced i will be leaving, so we have a ton of meals lined up for this week cause everyone wants to be able to feed me one last time. It will be pretty funny if i dont get transfered and they all thought they had fed me the last supper and then down the road they would have to do it again. But six months is a long time to stay in one area. Oh well what ever happens is meant to be. 

Yesterday i had to learn to hold my tongue once again. We were out knocking a few doors and a guy came to the door and siad " im strictly roman catholic boys, go to rome and learn what real religion is" I replied with a " have you read the Book of Mormon, becasue if you 'you don't even know what we have to offer" He replied with some not very nice stuff, so i just bore my testimony of the truthfulness of the book of mormon and we went on our way. 

Sounds like life is going well back home. I am sorry to hear that Thor is not behaving very well, but i am so thankful to you for taking the time to work with him, and i know he appreciates it as well. Just remember Jos was not always the perfect angel that she is now, she took work too. Man i miss my girl. How is she doing? i always get thor updates but not enough jos updates. Jos is such a good dog i really miss having dogs to be outside with. It does not surprise me that thor is huge, i knew he was going to be huge when i brought him home. Oh and you cant expect him to be perfect, just think of his name sake, he was so misbehaved at first that his own father cast him out, but later on in the movie he comes around and turns into quite the stud. So just be patient with my Thor man. 

I got to stand in the circle yesterday for Zack cochran to be made an elder. He is Sister Jablonskis brother. We have decided he and i were separated at birth and were meant to be brothers. So i told him he is probably going to get his mission call to idaho. Its a bit scary how alike we are at times. 

Tina is still on for her bap date so thats good. Well i think thats about all ive got for yall today. We are having a district pday today, we are going on a hike so that should be fun. 

Love you guys. 

Spreading the restored gospel of peace one door knock at a time

Elder Quinton Joseph Zilles

Week 24: "cry unto him over the flocks of your fields"

Hey all,

Scripture of the week: Proverbs 6:20-22, and 1 Ne 15:24

 

Wow Cason Nash will possibly be serving in his own state on his mission that is crazy, but hey at least he will be in a different time zone than home. People don’t ever really think about how huge of a state Idaho is. I believe it’s probably one of the few states that you can drive in for 14 hours and still be in the same state, but yet switch time zone half way through your long bus ride journey. Hmmm I almost make it sound like I have made that trip on a bus before! Oh wait I have made that trip on a bus, FOUR times. I am sure Joslyn will be a fantastic missionary, dang lots of west side missionaries are going to Washington. That means the WS is well repped in Washington and California. I’m still the only one blessed enough to journey here to the east. Did I mention that the sister here in Lyndon waiting for her visa to Brazil is from Washington?

 

So I have to confess something that eEder Guinn and I did this week. So because we have chosen to car fast once a week, we ended up with about 100 extra miles the last day of May, so we decided we would head out to a little town in our area called barnet. I have never been there because we never have miles to get there. So the other day we saddled up the Subaru and headed to barnet Vermont, it’s on the very far edge of our area. When we got there the first thing I saw was a silo, and of course when I saw that my mind automatically started thinking "DAIRY. DAIRY DAIRY".

 

I looked over at elder Guinn and just grinned and hit the gas. We drove to the dairy, and of course it was an organic jersey dairy, no one was home on the place so I took the liberty of well of being me and showed myself around for a few seconds. They were actually pretty good cows. From that dairy I could see a few more dairies so we did what any normal missionary would do.... Oh wait sorry not what any normal missionary would do, but what any normal... well I would do, we drove to each of those dairies and they all smelt sooooo good. No dairies in Vermont do not smell any different than back home, they just smell really good to elder zilles after being away from the dairy smell for almost 6 months. Sadly none of them were interested in learning about our little blue books with gold writing on the front cover (the book of Mormon) I’m sure you probably understood that but I’m in a good mood today so I am being a smarty.

 

The rest of this week was pretty good as well. Last night we got a wicked bad storm, the wind was so crazy and the rain was wicked bad. We walked out of our apartment to head to concord right as it started, I had a feeling we should wait it out in the car for a while till it calmed down so we did. I was so glad I listened to the prompting. When we pulled out of the driveway the road was literally a river, and tree limbs were all over everything. Power lines were knocked down and man it was wicked bad. We still went teaching though. We stopped at a less active family and they let us eat with them we had roast and potatoes and carrots it was super good it was even better because it was all by candle light. I’ve never had roast by candle light before, it might become a new trend. After that we had an awesome lesson with Tina at the bishop’s house. I really like bishop tucker I will be sad when he is no longer the bishop I am working with (could happen in two weeks when transfer calls come, but we won’t talk too much about that just yet).

 

Earlier in the week as you know we had interviews with president. They were of course spiritual intensity to the maximum. We got to talk about lots of great stuff, and of course I cried when I gave him a hug goodbye. But the neatest part was I got to role play with him in a teaching situation. I got to pick who he was so I had him be  one of the less actives that  I have really grown to love. I "taught" him the first vision. I have never before felt the spirit so strong as I did in that few minutes, I literally felt the room light up. When I was done, president with tears in his eyes said, "Elder before you leave Lyndon, whether it’s in 2 weeks or 8 weeks, you will share what you just shared with me with that brother.  So I think that is one of my purposes of still being here in Lyndon.

 

We had an incredible lesson with buck this week, we taught him the atonement and the spirit world. It was the hardest lesson I have ever taught and elder Guinn was totally spaced out. He said he just didn’t know what to say. It was hard because it really felt like we were giving him a death preparation pep talk. But it went really well I am just so glad for the spirit in times like that. We gave him a blessing and he told us he felt at peace after all that.

 

Sounds like it’s been an awesome first week of summer for yall back home. Dad that mortyXaftershock looks like an awesome cow. I’m so glad all of the cows are doing well. Audra is truly proving to be a miracle, and yes she may be the most prayed over cow ever, and I don’t know of anywhere it says we can’t give animals blessings, especially when they are special cows like my girl audra. In Alma 34:24 it says "cry unto him over the flocks of your fields". I hope my two dogs and horse are doing well, I can’t wait to go on a horse ride with Lou when I get home.

Sure love you guys. Adios.

 

Elder Zilles

 

"Spreading the restored gospel of peace one door knock at a time, and leaving it all on the field"

 

 

 

I forgot to mention in my email that it hit 90 this week and the humidity was terrible. Gotta love it I think the tie magnifies the heat by 200. and the lord sent me to New England to gain a greater respect and love for cold weather