Week 45: Essex Vermont

Hey my family, 

Mosiah 8:18

Oh where oh where is your son at? Oh where oh where is he at? Hmmmmm Should i wait to tell you and make you suffer or should i tell ya now? ok fine ill tell ya!

 

Well i did make it out of the North East Kingdom, but not by much. I am zone leader in Essex vermont. Its super cool here, if you remember clear back to the start of my mission i was on exchange here twice with the zone leaders back when lyndon was in the montpelier zone. So dad you were really close to correct im not in montpelier but i am the zone leader over the montpelier zone. The best part about this area so far... Guess who is my next door neighbors?? Elder and Sister Poll. Its so great being so close to them. Im already super good friends with them but now we will be even better friends! The ward here is amazing as well. I love it so much! Its made up of almost all college medical students, and they are all pretty much from out west. Its like serving in a married student ward, but there are a few who are not students. I havent met a whole lot of the members yet, but i have met some awesome ones. 

 

Two members of the bishoprick have family in preston. One of them is a fellows so we talked all about the fellows that we know! The Bennets just moved here a few weeks ago, sister bennet is related to the whites. Her mom is cindy whites cousin so thats pretty cool. Ha Sister Bennet face book stalked me the other day and found my blog and was trying to see if i had said anything about the ward, but i hadnt updated it since transfers. All in all though it is just a great ward. A member does our laundry for us. She is so nice. 

This area is great but it sure is going to be an adjustment. Its the first time im serving in an actual city. We have literally everything in our area. Any store you can think of we most likely have it, so that will be kinda sweet, will finally have something we can do on Pday. Oh i dont think i told you who my companion is. Elder Simkins. We know each other quite well from different meeting and stuff. He actually was Elder Hales trainer, so we have been swapping elder hales stories all week. This is Elder Simkins last transfer, and then he will be heading back to Enterprise Utah. 

So i thought i was busy as a district leader, ha i thought wrong i am 10X more busy now as a zone leader. It seems like all we do is solve problems with other missionaries. We have had issues already with a few elders in the zone who seem to think they dont need to listen to me cause they have been on their missions longer than i have, so i think i might have to be smackin down here soon. Wish me luck with that.  When you are a zone leader you have to balance the zone leader work and regular missionary work, and that has not been done very well in this area for a long time. They have been doing like 75% zone work and 15% mish work, that is gonna have to change cause we only have like 3 people in the teaching pool and all 3 of them will probably be out of the teaching pool by the end of this week. No worries though we will get things rolling here its just gonna take some time to get things re built. 

Winter is knocking at the door here in vermont. Its been no warmer than like 42 all week and today is 38, so its gonna be getting really cold here soon. So i was wondering if you could PLEASE send me my rabit fur hat with the ear flaps. I have no idea where it is but i would love ya to send it to me. 

 

i have a wicked nasty cold today. We taught sharing time in primary yesterday and a few kids were sick so i think i probably picked it up from them. No worries though sister Poll already has me all medicated up. Its gonna be like having a mom right across the hall from me. 

 

Well i think that is about all ive got hope you all have  a wonderful week this week. Love you guys

 

Elder Zilles 

Hold to the rod

 

PS my address is 169 west St. apt 1B Essex JCT  Vermont  05452

 

PPS i bought a brand new suite at salvation army for 8 dollars

week 44: Come what may and love it! Transfers!

Hello Family,

 

Ill give you the scripture of the week in just a second, cause i want to expound on it quite a bit this week. Transfer Information.... DUN DUN DUN! "ring ring ring" Me "Elder its president" Elder V "hurry throw it out the window so we dont have to get the transfer call"! Yeah that plan didnt work the call still came! Me "hello president this is elder zilles" Pres "hello elder zilles this is pres stoker" me "president the phone is dying we cant accept a transfer call" yeah that tactic didnt work either. President "Elder Zilles i am calling to inform you that you are being transferred and are being called as a ZONE LEADER. Elder Vanderholm will be staying in newport and will be made sr companion"!!!!

WOAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

 

We have to leave our apartment at 415 tomorrow morning to travel to get our new companions. It will be so great. I will really miss Elder Vanderholm, but there is a time for everything, and where ever i go is where i am meant to be. Elder Vanderholm is slightly freaking out about being sr comp, but i have no doubt he will just do amazing!

 

 

So since i am being transferred sister deters and myself were asked to speak in sacrament yesterday (she is leaving too). So i was up there and of course hadnt prepared anything cause they told us from the pulpit. I was thinking of a scripture i wanted to use but then opened my BofM and knew this was the scripture i was supposed to base my talk off of. Alma 56: 22-29. This is part of the story of the strippling warriors and i think you will really like the insight that i recieved while speaking yesterday! In verses 22-23 is talks about the nephites guarding the places that were the weakest! In 27 we read of the provisions the fathers of the stripplings brought to them. And in 29 we read " And the lamanites thus seeing our forces increase daily and provisions arrive for our support they began to be fearful and began to rally forth if it were possible to put an end to our recieving provisions"!

Now lets think about these verses and apply it to our lives. What do we need to do in our lives to keep satan away? We need to guard our weakest points. We know what our weaknesses are, but unfortunately so does the adversary! So first we need to guard our weakest points continually.
 

Second, like the nephites who recieved provisions, we need to recieve provisions as well! How do we do that? well its actually prettty easy. The primary answers! as we go to church, pray read the scriptures, those are the provisions we need to recieve strength against the adversary.

As we do these things, the adversary will become "fearful" just as the lamanites did. Now you may ask how these few small and simple things can help us withstand the "fiery darts of the adversary" well lets look at it this way.... How did the 2000 stripplings have any effect on the huge lamanite army? they were young small and inexperienced, they had never fought before. I am sure they at times felt insignificant. Just as at times we may find the simple primary answers insignificant. But just think about it, because if the 2000 the battles were totally rocked by the nephites!

It is my testimony that as we do the simple things in life, read our scriptures DAILY, pray at least twice a day(on our knees), and go to church to partake of the sacrament, we will be provided with the "provisions" that we need to make satan "fearful"!

I hope all that made sense, sometimes my thoughts sound better in my head than when i put them on paper!

 

 

So yup lots of changes are happening in the district this week. I am leaving, Sister Deters is leaving and Sister Vanderhoef is leaving littleton. Actually in our zone half the missionaries are leaving! Every companionship got a transfer call but one set of sisters. Pretty crazy stuff! i will really miss my lyndon district but am very excited for my next adventure.

 

Our song went very well in sacrament yesterday the spirit was very very strong.

 

I am so happy for josh and that is very cool about hannah! Gods army truly does keep growing! When i got to the mission we had about 115 missionaries, we now have over 200!

 

Well one last Funny story, we were sitting at a picnic table out side an apartment building talking with a less active. right next door is a bar so a pretty rough crowd hangs there. A man came up to us and said "my names kevin, im the drummer for the band nickleback, can i sign your bible?" it was funny. No it was not really the drummer for nickleback. The things drunk people do haha!

 

Im gonna end with a quote i rediscovered while studying pmg this morning.

 

"Those who have read the book of mormon, PRAYERFULLY, be they rich or poor, learned or unlearned, have grown under its power. Without reservation i promise you that if you will prayerfully read the book of mormon regardless of how many times you have previously read it there will come into your hearts the spirit of the lord. There will come strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to the commandments, and there will come a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God"

-President Hinckley-

 

Love you all so much let ya know next week where my new home is

Elder Zilles

 

Week 43: Come Follow Me

Hello Family, 

Hymn 116 verse 5.

 

Some weeks i dont even remember what happened during the week. this is one of those weeks. One day i do remember is sunday, i guess thats cause it was only yesterday. We had stake conference here in the Montpelier Vermont Stake, and it was magnificent. Two hour drive to get to the stake center but it was 100% worth it. Our stake presidency is awesome two of them are originally from idaho. President and sister Stoker spoke at conference as well, it was very good.

 I got to see many of my lyndon family so that was great. Sister Jablonski is going to have her baby in a week or two so that should be fun for them. Who knows where i will be by the time it is born. Maybe president will take pitty on me and have me work in the office for the winter... ha fat chance of that.  

The District and their "Titles of Liberty"

I was in lyndon for a day on exchange this week that was fun. Each time i go to lyndon i always feel that it is my mission home, but this time was different. I of course will always love lyndon, but newport has finally become my home. They say that once that happens you are going to get transferred. Almost 100% sure elder v or i will be leaving newport next week, so tune in next week for exciting transfer information. 

i really dont feel like much else happened this week. We helped the branch pres build a deck, helped some other members stake some fire wood and i almost lost my finger, but it is still attached. We have decided splitting and stacking wood is the main reason we were called to new england we are pretty beast mode when you give the two of us a splitting mall and a pile of wood. Its a great workout too so i love that. Our new healthy eating and exercising is really going well. Elder Vanderholm has lost 8 pounds and i have lost 5 pounds it feels really good to be gettting back into shape. I have much more energy thoughout the day thanks to it as well. 

Really not much else happened this week though. Sounds like all is well on the home front. Bum deal about chuckie blowing out his knee. Very cool west side is rocking it this season. How is stuff going with the basement? my dogs? and my cows? 

Love you guys. 

Hold to the rod

Elder QJ Zilles

Week 42: Spiritual High

FAMILIES ARE FOREVER,

scripture of the week: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

 

CONGRATULATIONS Elder Birky! That is so cool spanish speaking would be wonderful. There are times i really wish i had learned a language, but then i think about it and i have learned a new language... vermontish is about as foreign as it gets sometimes! That is a bit of a wait, hmmm so some advice i would give him.... As you all know i struggled with my long wait for well the whole 4 months of the wait, but i now know the lord knows exactly when we are supposed to enter our mission and our first area. The time till you leave will go really slow right up till your last few weeks and then you may find yourself wanting some of that time back. So make the best of it. If i were able to go back in time i would take my last 4 months and spend much more time with my family than i did. As great as girls are... family is really who we should be with before we leave to serve the lord they will truly be your greatest support when you are in the field. Also spend as much time as you possibly can studying the scriptures and preach my gospel especially PMG chapter 4. And most importantly do like was talked about alot in conference strengthen your testimony as much as you possibly can! You will be a fantastic missionary and it will be exciting to see the miracles the lord makes happen through you!

 

This week has been a great one and once again it has gone by sooo stinkin fast. Im to the point in my mission now that MOST days dont seem like weeks any more. The weeks seems like hours and the days seem like minutes. So that is something elder nash will have to look forward to. 

My interview with President Stoker was wonderful, i love that man. Being a District leader i am lucky and get to spend a little extra time with him i felt pretty spoiled. We had a great talk about the missionaries in my district and it was just all in all a wonderful opportunity. My part of the training that i got to do with the zone leaders went well. They asked me to pick my own topic to train on and i felt very impressed to teach about giving and recieving constructive feedback from mission leaders. It went really well i used the example in john 21 of the risen lord telling peter that he must never go fishing he is now and forever an apostle of the lord. Can you imagine receiving constructive feedback from the savior himself? that would be awesome as well is wicked over whelming. 

 

So before i start into conference i have one more miraculous miracle to share with you. As you know with the time difference here conference didnt start till 12 so we had a few hours to do some work before we headed to the church. We were walking to see a less active and saw a guy walking away from us and it looked like dana. So we half chased him half stalked him to his house. He was in much better form than when we had last seen him. He all by himself offered to say the prayer and in it thanked HF for sending us to him. Its a testimony to me that as we pray to know where the lord wants us he will direct us in that direction if we heed the promptings of his spirit. 

CONFERENCE WAS INCREDIBLE! I cant decide if its really the best one ive ever seen or if thats just because i am in the stage of my life that i am in right now. I have so many things that i liked about it so just prepare for a really long email, hopefully it doesnt bore you to death!

In President Monsons opening remarks saturday morning he said "Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together" i loved that because its so true. There can no longer be the missionaries over here and the members over there we must be united in the same great cause. I loved Elder Hales talk as well i found it very cool that he said they are not given topics. Favorite quotes from him... "What is said is not as important as what we hear and feel through the spirit". "The only safety we have as members of the church is to give heed to the prophets word". "We will not always be so that we are free from the persecutions the early saints faced". There were a few remarks that eluded to that. and last from his talk "Put on your shield of faith to thwart the fiery darts of the adversary"

There were many good things throughout conference said about the importance of making. keeping and renewing our sacred covenants. Carole Stephens said "when we worthily partake of the sacrament we dont only renew our baptismal covenants but all of the covenants we have made". I really enjoyed the talk given by Edward Dube of the seventy, favorite quote from his was "look ahead and believe". Elder Bednar gave a wonderful talk on tithing i feel it was written just for a certain person here in newport. He said "put your faith into practice roll up your sleaves and join this great cause". President Uchtdorf "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith". I loved Elder Christophersons on the role of women. There were several great things said about that. I am so grateful for the righteous women in my life. 

S. Gifford Nelson gave a great talk on missionary work so if you want to get pumped listen to it!!

There was also much said about "Inviting the atonement into our lives" "Lay down your weapons of rebellion and invite the atonement into our lives". The atonement is such an amazing incredible gift i would not be here without it. 

Elder Hollands was great as always. It made me think of many whom i love, Its hard stuff to deal with but with the atonement we can do hard things. He said "If the bitter cup does not pass, Drink it". And also "cherish every day you are given".

Elder Ballard gave a great missionary work talk in it were included many great promises i would like you to all listen to it again. "fear will be replaced as we kneel in prayer" 

Priesthood session was great so many good talks once again. Randy Funk of the seventy who was a mission president spoke about real growth in missionaries which really hit me hard and made me do a self evaluation. President Uchtdorf nailed it oout of the park with "you can do it now" and "our destiny is not determined by the number of times we fall but by the number of times we get back up". 

President monson gave a great talk that i know dad probably loved on hometeaching. 

My favorite talks on sunday were president eyrings and president monsons. 

A theme that really stood out to me is how me must put our love of god first in our lives that is so important. Our love for heavenly father is imperative in the crazy world we live in. To close conference President Monson said "Constantly nourish your testimony and it will protect you from the adversary". 

 

To watch, read or listen to conference click here:)

My testimony to end conference is that of many of the things we were told by our leaders. We must have a strong testimony to spiritually survive these times. I have so many weaknesses and imperfections i need to overcome, but with the power of the atonement all things can be overcome. Weak things can truly be made strong through the power and love of our savior. 

I love you so much family

Hold to the rod

"look ahead and believe" we have so much to live for and believe in!

Elder QJ Zilles