Week 58: Living Prophet on the Earth Today!

Hey my dear family,

Scripture of the week: D&C 18:10-16, Moroni 9:6

So i dont know why, but i woke up in a pretty poopy mood today. But when i got on my email that all changed very rapidly. I saw that i had an email from sister Gregory, so i opened it to read the happiest most wonderful thing i have ever read in my entire life. The Gregory family will be sealed in the temple for time and eternity on april 12! She said they invited you, so you probably already know all of this, but i just had to tell you because i am so ecstatic about it right now!

Its people like Brother Gregory who make this work worth it! I just think back to my first week in the mission, Bro Gregory was one of the first people i met in vermont. we were at the church shoveling snow and he came and introduced himself. Ah man i dont think i make any sense right now but i dont even care i am just so excited for the Gregs! Ah man i miss them it seems like forever since i have see them! I might have to convince them to come visit me here in Essex before i get shipped out of Vermont.

So not a whole lot happened here in Essex this week. I think the whole state of Vermont has just caught the "winter blues". the good news is we have been able to help our zone avoid them thus far. Can you believe January is pretty well over? 

I was on exchange in Burlington this week, now that is an interesting city! It is a walking area, so they either walk or take the bus. For the first time in my life i rode the bus, and im here to tell you that if you want to meet some of the Cream of the crop you should ride the bus! Ive never seen so many interesting people. We found an iphone on the sidewalk so we went and knocked on the house right next to it and it was a "pot house" When they opened the door, man the smell of that mary jane just filled the air. It stunk so bad! 

So you remember last transfer when Elder Davis and i did our first Zone training... well president liked it so much, that he is using the whole thing in zone conference in two weeks. So this morning he called and asked us if next week at leadership meeting if we would do a training about it to all of the zone leaders. Its gonna be a pretty special opportunity. 

Oh so this week, we were teaching this older man, he is legally blind and pretty much deaf. So we were teaching him about prophets, and by teaching him i mean yelling to him! Everything has to be said so stinkin loudly! But out of no where he turns to me and goes "so how do i know that YOU are a prophet?" It took a second for it to register what he had said but once i realized i was like "no no no, im not a prophet i was called by a prophet" then elder davis asked him what he would do if there were a living prophet on the earth and he said" I would get up and i would go out side and shout hallelujah and then i would follow him, i wouldnt even grab my coat"! Funny old man!

Well family i sure do love you! 

Hold to the Rod

Elder Toner 

Week 57: Armies of Heaven in Defense of Abraham's Seed

Hey fam,

Wow sounds like everything back home is really going well. So i am sorry but this email will probably be a bit short, im running a bit behind. 

To start off i want to share a quote with you from Elder Holland "in the gospel of jesus christ, you have help from both sides of the veil and you must never forget that. when disappointment and discouragement strike and they will you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven in defense of Abrahams seed". 

So i gave a sister in the ward a blessing yesterday and it got me thinking of that quote. she is going through some really tough physical times right now, and so it was just really neat to get to give her a blessing. 

Sounds like church was amazing yesterday in the linrose ward. It was fantastic here in the essex ward as well. Well at least parts of it were... Brian passed the sacrament for the first time! it was a really special experience to be blessed to watch it!

I am extremely happy to still be hanging out in vermont! i fear this will be the last transfer here though! I have said that before though, so we will just have to wait and see what happens! until then i will just be working my butt off here so that there are no regrets in my dear beloved vermont! 

Before i forget. how is everyone doing with the book of mormon challenge? I got a picture of ashty and it looks like she is doing well with it! so how are all of you doing with it? 

The work here is going well! things were kind of slow this week cause of the snow! But all in all it was really a good week. I cant really think of much else note worthy to say! 

Sure do love you guys though! 

Have a fantastic week! Dont ever let a day go by that you dont thank heavenly father for all he has given our family... we are so blessed! 

Hold to the rod

Elder Zilles

Week 56: Vermont for LIFE

Dear Family,

The church is true the book is blue!

The District

From a handwritten letter this week: "Of course  i don't know for sure, but I have that sick feeling that my time in vermont is coming to an end, i have come to the conclusion that IF i get transferred I will walk in to transfer meeting with a title of liberty that says "Vermont for Life", ah yes, Vermont the place where my testimony has become the real deal" 

Well Saturday night as Elder Davis and i sat at our desk awaiting a phone call (i was certain i would be leaving) we just sat and waited and then all of the sudden the phone rang, and immediately my heart went into pound mode. Elder Guthrie one of the assistants was on the other line and he informed us that neither of us would be leaving vermont. So no worries i get to stay in Zion, the land of joseph for at least 6 more weeks. But just because im not leaving does not mean this transfer will be short on change. When we were down at our meeting on tuesday we were informed that the montpelier zone would be getting split in half. our zone was the only zone that was not yet split in the mission, so yup that meant we traveled more than any other zone leaders. So yup there is now a montpelier west and a montpelier east zone. We are the zone leaders of the west zone, I was hoping we would get lyndon and newport in our zone, but it doesnt appear that is going to happen, but that could change, because we havent even officially been told who will be in our zone.

So you know how last week i told you how the lord will provide in his own way if we work really hard? Well he came through once again this week. Friday morning we got a text from some missionaries in The Boston mission with a referral for us. Her name is Alix and she is 21. They had set a date with her to be baptized, but then she moved here to essex. So by this time elder davis and i are ecstatic. We called her right away and set up an appointment with her for sunday night. So last night we went and taught her for the first time and set a baptismal date with her. Alix will be baptized on february 22. what a good start to a new transfer eh?

So once again i leave my testimony that the lord will provide for us.

Yesterday at church we had the blessing of conferring Brian a priest in the Aaronic priesthood. It was pretty much one of the coolest things ever. So cool to see the people we love progress in the gospel. Im glad you like the candle. not only is it pine... its VERMONT PINE. It is his hihgest selling scent, and it actually surprisingly doesnt give me a headache like most candles.

Speaking of Brian i earned a new nick name this week... It has been 40 the past few days so the ice on the driveways got a little bit soft. Brians drive way still had 3 inches of ice on it from the ice storm the other week. Well elder davis, elder poll, mike brisson, and myself went over and we decided we were gonna get his driveway clear down to the pavement. I went and i grabbed a sledge hammer and just went to work. We cleared the whole drive way in and hour. Brian and Mike now call me sledge. I also decided that will just be my new workout.

Maybe the coolest news i recieved this week is about Elder Vanderholm. He has been in newport almost 8 months now so he is being transferred but is going to be a district leader some where. I am so excited for him. He will do great work where ever he goes.

Also the bennetts are finally home so now we have people willing to come teach with us. I was so happy to see them at church yesterday.

So for the last two weeks i have not bought any food, cause i thought i was leaving so i wanted to save all of my money for my new area. So i have just been living off what was left in the apartment (not much). So im pretty excited to go buy real food today.

 Well i sure do love ya

Elder Zilles

Hold to the rod

"Imma vermonna"

Week 55: The Lord will always provide

Hey family,

Scripture of the week: 1 Peter 1:7

UGH The packers lost :( well like you said its ok cause i wouldnt have been able to watch them anyways. Next year is the one.

So you asked about the weather.. On wednesday and thursday the high was -9 and the low was -25 and with the windchill who knows what it was so yup its been wicked cold. but you will never believe what the temp is today.. Its 45 and raining outside as we speak, dang weather just cant make up its mind.

Well not a whole lot to report this week. We have spent a ton of time trying to find people to teach and just have not been able to find anyone, it was really getting frustrating, but we have pressed onward.  We have decided that we are going to spend as much time as possible doing regular missionary work... now that means we get alot less sleep some nights because we do our zone leader stuff after we come in for the night, but it will be totally worth it in the end.

My testimony was strengthened much this week. like i said i was getting a bit discouraged not finding people to teach but we pressed on, but i have learned that the lord will always provide for us when we work hard and do what he asks of us. When we got to church on sunday there was a family there that hasn't been there for a while, She is a member but he is not. 

Wow so much new stuff you reported this week, i cant believe all that is going on, sounds like everyone is doing well though. I cant believe dallas comes home this week. I dont even want to think about him coming home cause my time still is just going tooooooo fast. Some days i sit here and think oh ill be ok when the time is up, i will have done all i can do. and other days i get super anxious and sorta start to freak out about the thought of the real world and not walking around dressed like a super stylin business man. Such mixed emotions about it. one of our district leaders goes home this transfer, im really gonna miss him he is so fun to work with and really helps us alot. 

We are heading down to manchester in a few hours for meetings. The roads are supposed to be pretty nasty, cause of the rain and then its supposed to freeze so it should be quite the adventure.

So being the new year and all president asked us to set some physical fitness goals, some spiritual goals and some emotional goals. As i was setting my goals, i realized that the times when my back hurts the least is when i am in the best shape (sr year of football no pain at all). So my goal is to get back into that shape. Itlll be tough to do while out here, but it can be done.

We had an awesome testimony meeting yesterday. I have the sick ffeeling i am leaving in a week so i bore my testimony and almost cried when i brought up leaving here. Its so crazy how fast these people become your family if you will let them. Wherever i go thats where the lord wants me. More details to follow in a week.

all the cows look good. We have been so blessed with heifer calves since i left holy goodness. I may stay out here forever just so we keep getting heifer calves i love it.

well i cant think of anything else to tell ya. I sure do love ya. Have a great week you are always in my prayers

Hold to the rod

Elder Zilles 

Week 54: Happy New Year!

Hello Family,

Scripture of the week: James 1:2-3, 12, 17

Man it seems like i just talked to you on the phone the other day... oh wait maybe thats because i did. Wasnt that wonderful? Holy poop though i just still cant wrap my mind around how grown up lou is. She is going to be such a beautiful girl. My remarks about sitting on the porch with a gun were not at all a joke. I too thought of lots i still wanted to tell you but thats ok. if i tell you everything now what will we talk about when i get home?

Sounds like all went well for the holidays on the home front. So neat that you get to spend so much time with ashty. Sad sis had to leave early, but she will be blessed for being so responsible. i was sitting at the polls last night for missionary coordination meeting when i got sister bennetts text. That is so cool you got to meet them. Arent they so wonderful? They are literally the back bone of member missionary work in the Essex ward.

Speaking of the Essex ward... Brian was confirmed yesterday as the newest member of the Essex ward. He is such a good guy.

So ya know how i call brother seay grandpa seay? well he has just started calling me grandson, its pretty awesome. We had dinner with them last night. Not to boast but i feel pretty special because they didnt use to have the missionaries over very often at all.

Email is a bit later this week cause we just had a huge nerf gun war with the ward mission leader and his family. It was super fun. I forgot to bring my camera to get any pictures though. I also realized the other day that i went all the way through christmas with out taking a single picture. Oh well.

So the amount of support I’ve gotten from people on the home front this season is incredible. I will not have time to write thank you notes, heck I didn’t even have time to make Christmas cards. So I thought I would just thank everyone on here and if they read my email then they will know they are thanked!

Grandma and Grandpa Zilles and Gma and Gpa Barringer!

 Ben and Dawna Turnbow, Carl and Saundra Clark, Marv and Joann Sparrow, Jon and Kathy Creager, Ariel and Lynette Nash, Carl and Joyce Bingham, Calvin and Julie Nash, Fred and Ruth Bingham, Kent and June Aston, Sol Neilsen, Linrose bishopric, Ward and Nancy Nielsen, Kim Coats, D.A Nash, Bart and Peggy Ashby, Jay and Kenna Hurren, Wynn and Bonnie Nielsen, Terry and Paulette Parks.

Thanks to everyone for the love and support. You have no idea the effect that good support growing up and while out here makes. Thanks so much for all the love and prayers. Love you all. 

So you saw the picture of Elder Quinn and i. Well heres a little more about him. He is 6'8" From california, and has a spot on the byu football team waiting for him when he gets home. Such an awesome kid. We tried to convince president that he had made a mistake and he was supposed to be my companion. But of course we were just kidding and president knows what he is doing. There is something i am sure im supposed to learn from this current companionship. As cute as elder quinn is i guarantee he wont be the cutest one when i get home, you punks!

 

Elder Quinn, and Quinton

That is so wonderful the pack got er done once again. Its all rogers he is the key. Also so great usu got the win and buy lost. elder quinn was a bit upset about that one.

So a few weeks ago down at leadership training i gave elder quinn a haircut, and everyone said it looked really good. So now everyone in the mission wants an elder zilles haircut. I may need to start charging money. I am cutting three elders hair tonight.

Saturday we went to Molly Brook Farm. Nothing too special there, but it was just good to be in a barn again. I loved the barn set up though. the best animal i saw was a september calf. youll never guess who her sire was... Premier. Youll have to tell wynn that he makes good ones even in the sticks of Vermont. The owner thought it was pretty cool he was bred pretty much in our back yard.

Tell dusty he better be careful. Glad he had a good report though. i knew there was a reason they dont let missionaries have guns.

Well i think thats all ive got today.

Love you guys

Hold to the rod

Elder Toner