Week 75: both sides of the veil

Dear Family,

Scripture of the week: 2 Kings 6:16-17

I know ive shared this one before, but this week i came across is again along with these two quotes and it gave me such great strength, so here ya go i hope it helps yall as much as it helped me.

"our father in heaven has set heavenly beings to watch over us and to guard us from the attacks of evil powers while we live on the earth. Angels attend us wherever our duty causes us to go. When trouble comes upon us and we thing we have been deserted let us think of the heavenly companions whom god has assigned us"

James E Talmage

"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, 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"

Elder Holland

Well that is great news about my gram. Ive never prayed so hard in my life as i have been praying this week. So it did my heart good to get on and read that she is home from the hospital. Here is a note for her GRANDMA DONT BE STUPID! LISTEN TO THE DRS TAKE TIME TO REST AND RECOVER! I LOVE YOU!

Well this week has been pretty good. Lots of rain here in our end, i keep praying for it to get sent back home where it is actually needed, so i hope you have been getting some rain. We are just still here working our butts off. Still trying to get adam off the cigs. Please add him to your prayers, as he really needs the extra help to stop. We have had to push his date to the end of june. No new updates on Johny boy. We found him via a mamber family, he was dating a member of the ward, they are not dating anymore, but he is still just so solid.

 We found a new family this week from armania,  They are super coool and i feel they might be that golden family that we have been looking for. They dont believe in god, but seriously want to. Its gonna be so great to get to work with them.

So this week is going to be crazy. We have some visitors coming to the mission. The head of the church Proselyting department is coming for a few days, and tomorrow is coming out with elder holley and i. Wednesday i am driving the mission van to essex to pick missionaries up for leadership training on thursday. Wednesday night we will have 10 elders at our place. Thursday the meeting and then drive back to vermont. Its gonna be sweet. Elder Wells got made assistant this week, so its super cool to have him right here with us now. I will be going back to essex with him this week. We need more missionaries like he and i in this mission, there are to many softy city boys, country boys are how things need to go.

Happy summer break! make the best of it. I sure do love you all so much

Love always

Hold to the rod

Elder Zilles

Week 74: Promise of a glorious Resurrection

Hello Family,

Scripture of the Week: Mosiah 2:41, Romans 8:28

I hope this email finds you all in high spirits and that something i say will bring peace and comfort to all of you! Honestly i dont know what to say. I am very grateful that you contaacted elder Poll. Im not sure why he didnt call me himself, but he had president call me instead, which was just fine. Im not going to lie though yesterday was one of the hardest days of my mission, as i couldnt do anything but think about gram. As soon as president called i started a fast, so it wasnt a full fast, but i figured that what ever i could do was better than nothing. I am very grateful to hear that the Drs have been able to pretty well figure out what is going on with gram. I hope that what ever route they take with her, it will just make her comfortable and she will be happy and at peace. It would be amazing to be with her on this earth for forever, but we will all leave this mortal behind someday. But we have the promise of a glorious ressurection. Y

esterday morning i woke up with  a scripture about the resurrection on my mind, it was before i even got the call. But i just want to share my testimony that i know that no matter what happens, if we all live how we are supposed to, we will be with gram for eternity. Families really are eternal. I am so grateful for this gospel. I have always been grateful that gram and gramps joined the church, but things like this make me even more glad that we are all sealed together in the temple of god. Any chance any of you get to go to the temple this week will be amazing and will bring you all great great peace. Just know that each of you are in my prayers constantly. i will send grandpa an email, so let him know that he needs to check it.

 

So i did not get a transfer call this week, so that means another 6 weeks in bedford with elder holley. Its truly a blessing, as we are really having things moving along very well rihgt now. So we have this friend named johny, he is 16 and is the most prepared person i have met on my entire mission, only problem is his dad is big in the catholic church and is some like minister of some kind, but johny wants to be a mormon. So thursday night i get a call from johny and he said "Elder Zilles i really dont want you to get transferred. If you dont get transferred will you baptize me" It was one of the sweetest moments of my mission. So i am so glad i am not getting transferred. I called him the morning after transfer calls to tell him the good news and he was like "God knew you still had work to do here". Missionary work is just awesome.

 

Well guys i love you all so much. Im gonna go write gram and gramps an email, so i am sorry this is a bit shorter. But just know that i love you all and that the gospel is true. Families are forever. Dont forget that!

Hold to the rod

Elder Zilles

Week 73: Post phone call

Hey Errybody,

Scripture of the week: Jacob 2:8

Well you guys are all just so amazing. It was fantastic to get to talk to you yesterday. That one hour always just goes by way to fast. The hour while Elder Holley was on with his family seemed to last forever, but when i was on with you guys it was the fastest hour of my life. It was so great to see all your bright smiles and hear your voices. I sure have been blessed with an amazing family, and just amazing support on the home front. Love you all so much.

I am so gald grandma let everyone give her a blessing. The power of the priesthood is an amazing thing. And it is so cool to think that i have a whole family full of men who are worthy to exercise that priesthood when the time comes that they need to use it. We all must always stay worthy and be ready to use it whenever we are called upon.

Before i forget, i need to thank Grandma Zilles for the package she sent me a few weeks ago. Grandma thank you so much. I love the tie.

So you ask about the weather here, it is warm. Looks like today will sit in the 70s or so. Really am loving the fact that the snow is gone, but not so excited for the humidity when it gets here, but cant complain, cause the snow is gone.

Im trying to think of what else happened this week that we didnt talk about yesterday....

Well zone meeting went super great. we did a sweet training on planning for and working towards and then expecting miracles, it was a really fun training to give. Mission leadership meeting was super great. Always love that meeting.  It keeps us entertained. But i also always love how spiritual they are.

Baby Rev is a cute little guy. should be fun meeting all of the new little babies when i get home.

Well poop im out of time. The office staff needs the computers. So sorry this is a short one this week. Thanks for the great talk yesterday. I sure do love you guys.

Hold to the rod
Elder Zilles

Week 72: You can't walk away not knowing that it is true...

Hey Family,

Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 33: 10-11

You can’t read the Book of Mormon with real intent and walk away not knowing it is true.

Oh what a fantastic week. We have been so richly blessed in this area this transfer. The shotgun down time is officially over and this area is officially a rockin area. We found 5 new investigators this week, and have appointments set up to meet with 5 more this week, by the end of the week we should have close to 20 people that heavenly father has allowed us to work with. I just love this gospel so much.

So before I forget, 530 my time 330 your time sounds great. We don’t have church till 1 so don’t get out till 4, so 530 is perfect for me.. Dang I just love you guys so much. Ah can’t wait to talk to you,  crazy to think this is the last phone call, and the next time we talk will be at the airport when I can give yall a big huge hug.

So this week was just great in so many ways. I did pass my kidney stone, not something I wish to ever do again, funny story though... apparently spinach, kale strawberries, etc, can cause kidney stones. Well for the past 8 months I have been putting all of those things in my morning protein shakes. And protein powder can maybe cause them to, so no more shakes for me for a while I guess. Glad I passed it though. 

I had another one of those defend the prophet Joseph moments this week. It’s been a while since I’ve had one, so I was quite happy to have it this week. We saw this guy so we stopped to talk to him, turns out he was atheist and was just a real jerk. The whole time he just bagged on my beliefs and on the prophet until I finally had heard enough. So I said something along the lines of... "I don’t appreciate how you are making fun of my beliefs" he replied with "ill do it till the day I die" I then said "give me and my companion 30 minutes and I promise you we will change your thoughts about the prophet of god, and about the nature of god, and his plan for us" he declined, but I was able to walk away knowing that I had said what I needed to say.  I love moments like that, cause they allow me to see how much this gospel really means to me.

If I do train again before I go home, I would have to step down as a zone leader. Who knows if it will happen. Wouldn’t mind stepping down for a while to take a few breaths, but whatever the lord wants I will do.

I decided this week, and even told president this.. I would be totally fine with shot gunning areas the rest of my mission. It is crazy to say that, but I have decided that I love it. It reminds me how truly dependent I am on Heavenly Father. I love the growth I am able to have at times of struggle on my mission.

I sure do love you guys. Talk to ya Sunday.

Hold to the Rod

Elder Toner

Week 71: Fearlessly Bold

Hey Family,

Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 11:4

Well what an event packed week. Ill start off with the best part.... I just barely got back from Boston, yup got to go to the temple today. 16 months is way too long to go without going to that wonderful place, i sure am glad the policy was changed so we can go once in a while now. It was just really a special experience. I have been so blessed in my life its crazy all Father has blessed me with, this gospel is just amazing. 

Sorry to hear it was so cold down at all utah, that doesnt surprise me though, you can just never count on good weather for that show. Bummer that the cows didnt exactly win it all, but i am sure it was still a good time. That Harmony cow of Nates is a good one ive always really enjoyed seeing her at shows, except when she is beating my cows, but better Nate win than some other poop head ha. 

So on saturday morning i woke with crippling pain on my right side, and i just could not figure out what the heck it was... so i called the mission dr and he said to go the emergency room. well as you know i hate hospitals, needles and all of that good stuff so i was not looking forward to it. But it turns out i have a kidney stone. That was on saturday and today is tuesday and as of right now i still have not "passed" it. I dont know if it is possible for kidney stones to just dissolve, but that is what i am hoping has happened to me cause i really just dont want to have to deal with it any more. I still need to go get that root canal done, but all this stuff just takes up too much of my mission time. ugh guess ill do what ever i need to do to be healthy. 

This week we found a family to teach, they are super cool family and im really excited to get to work with them more. With the 4 of them in our teaching pool we now have 9 people in our teaching pool. so i know its not all about the numbers, but still its pretty awesome to look at the change that has taken place in this area in the last transfer and a half. from 0 investigators to 9, heavenly father has richly blessed us for sure. 

I was on exchange with the assistants this week and was told that i am known in the mission for being fearlessly bold. Pretty good compliment in my opinion. 

This week will go plenty quick as tuesday is already pretty well over, wednesday and thursday will be on exchanges, and then the weekend will be here once again. Next week we have our leadership meeting once again the month of april has really just gone by super fast. Who knows what next transfer will bring, but i am going to recommend myself to go some where and train a new missionary. That doesn't mean that it will happen, but i'm going to do it anyway. I would really like to train one more time before i go home, its been over a year and i would love to be able to see how different i will do things than i did them with elder guinn over a year ago. Also as much as i love being a zone leader, i think i am about ready to go back to being a normal missionary and get out of the drama. Pretty tired of dealing with the drama that this calling brings. But come what may and love it. 

Well my dear family i sure do love you. Hope you have a fantastic week. Stay strong, rely on Our Father, and remember that someone in new hampshire really loves you all a whole stinkin ton

Hold to the rod

love you 

Elder Toner

Week 70: Giving up Sweets!

Hey Every body,

Scripture of the week: hymn 29 " a poor wayfaring man of grief" verse 7

Well isn’t Easter just such an amazing time of year. It’s so cool to just sit back and ponder on what it really means in our lives. I think Easter has become one of my new favorite times to partake of the sacrament just thinking of all of the symbolism is just amazing.

So this week was really just great. Things here in Bedford are really starting to get moving along. We had 2 new investigators this week, and we have potential to get a bunch more this week once we actually get to teach them.

We had an awesome lesson with one of our investigators. We committed him to quit smoking and he accepted. We had planned to go in and just say alright  you need to stop smoking but the spirit prompted me otherwise so I asked a question I said " if there were one thing you wanted to get out of your life what would it be?" he replied "my smoking" it was super awesome he then ripped up his smokes and through them away. We decided that if he was giving up something that the two of us should give something up as well. So we decided that we are going to give up sweets for the rest of our mission. It’s so important for our investigators to feel our support as they make these big changes in their lives.

I’m so glad you have all gotten to see the Because of Him video (Click Link to watch) . It is so amazing. We have shared it with everyone we possibly could. Probably have told at least 100 people about it. Such a powerful message comes from watching it.

Thanks so much for my Easter package. My favorite part is the poster soon as I opened it I hung it on the wall above my bed, elder Holley thinks it’s pretty weird, but he will just have to get over it. I’m super excited to hear how all Utah goes. Sounds like Norma and cola have some pretty hot potential this year. Man I sure do love showing cows. It’s such a weird obsession we have but I love it so much.

We are trying to go to the temple next week so if all goes as planned I won’t be emailing until Tuesday so don’t freak out if I don’t get on Monday. I really can’t wait to go to the temple.

Had dinner with Wards sister this week she is such a sweetie. She took us to this really great place called T bones had some wicked good fish. Had Easter dinner with the Collette family, that was a good time, but I couldn’t help but thinking wow this is the last one of these in the mission field.. That is a weird thought, but it is also a very cool thought. I do however really want some of mom’s potato salad!!!!!

Sounds like the truck project is going really well can’t wait to ride in that sweet old thing. What’s the verdict on little red? Does she still live or has she finally bit the dust?? I always laugh when I think about that old truck I took that thing everywhere.

Well about out of time but I wanna tell you a funny story first. So before I tell you I have to mention that we live right in the heart of the ghetto so sometimes it’s a bit wild... the other night we are walking home from a members house with a glass pan of roast in my arms and this homeless guy sees us and comes right at us I was like whoa bro back up off me he kept getting in our faces, he was wicked drunk and was going  off about how Christ isn’t real I was getting really fed up and he was still up in elder holly’s face so I thought to myself alright if I goes at him more ill just break this pan over his head.... well as awesome as it would have been to do that.... I didn’t have to waste our roast and the drunk guy didn’t get knocked out. It was a good time though.

Sure do love you guys

The church is true and the savior lives never forget that

Hold to the rod

Elder Zilles