Week 87: Leave it all on the field

Hey ya'll

Scripture of the week: 2 Nephi 5:27

So it sounds like it was a great week. Before i forget i am going to put the article that i wrote this week for the mission news letter on here so you guys can read it. Each month a news letter goes out with messages from us president and the office staff, and it was my turn to write the message this month. so here it is.

Dear Elders and Sisters,

                “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7) These often used words of Paul the Apostle have great meaning to me and to all of us, as each day we are one day closer to the end of our missions. The time we have been given to serve in this capacity is short, and it goes by far too quickly.

                In High School I loved to play football. Most of my time was consumed with something related to the “grid-iron” and “pig-skin”. Oh how I loved those Friday night lights. I have many fond memories of those days and some that are not so fond. One of those not so fond memories comes from the final game of my senior year. We were playing in the semi-final game of the state championships against a team that we were picked to annihilate, and that is exactly what we did NOT do. Why did we not win? That is a question that has entered my mind many times, and I have finally come up with the answer… We did not win because we got comfortable with where we were at and we did not as Paul says “finish our course”. We did not give it all we had till the final whistle blew and because of that we received the reward we deserved.

                Missions are much like athletic events. We must go hard and leave it all on the field. When we do that our Heavenly Father has great rewards in store for us. “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also who love his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8)

                Missions prepare us for the rest of life.  So as you give all you have to give, you will be better prepared to give all you have in life and endure to the end. Which will qualify you to receive that great eternal reward promised us by our Father in Heaven.

                Elders and Sisters, I pray that we can all give all that we have to give each day to invite our brothers and sister here in New-England to come unto Christ and feel the joy this gospel brings. Just remember you “can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth” you (Philippians 4:13). I testify that Jesus is the Christ, this is his church and he will lead you to the prepared. Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw and we are serving on sacred soil. Give it all you got.

Love ya’ll

Alright now back to things on the home front. Thank you so much for the fair pictures. I always love getting those. I was joking with Elder Walker this week that most missionaries miss home around the holidays, but i miss home the most around fair season. So i was happy to hear that you all had a good time and all went well. Next year i will be home and things can be back to how they should be. Ah man cant wait for that. Fair season is my favorite, nothing against the holidays, but you understand. That is so cool that lou was number 51. Lucky number always stays in the family.

 I will always be grateful for the friendships built from all those years at shows. 

Im sure Ky did a great job speaking. I would bet he was just a great hard working missionary. But he is from Weston Idaho so we wouldnt expect anything less from him. Itll be great to see all the guys when we are all home from our missions and see how much we have all changed. Speaking of looking older, i look way older than when i left. I was looking through a file i found here in the office with the pictures of me and president and sister wilkey when i first came out and man oh man i have gotten old. Hopefully in a good way though. 

So this week was not too super eventful we just helped out alot here in the office, the office staff has kind of been under the weather so we tried to do as much for them as we could. Which took us to maine to gut out an apartment that we shut down so that was a great time. That is really about all that happened though, it was a bit slower of a week. Which is good cause the rest of the transfer will not be slow at all. This one will be busier than last one. We are scheduled to work in 15 different areas. Starting tomorrow in vermont. We will work in St. albans, lamoille, essex, middlebury, and they finish the week in Montpelier. Should be an eventful one. then the next few weeks we will be in maine. Before we know it we will be prepping for Elder Wilson of the 70 who is coming the end of september for zone conferences. Im pretty excited for that. 

Well family that is about all that i have for ya this week. Hopefully next week ill be able to have some more exciting details for ya. Now dont you guys get too trunky for me. I still have work to do here. Ill be home soon enough so just dont worry too much about it. 

Thank you for all you do for me and for the great examples that you all are. It was soo good to see a picture of grandma, grandma and grandpa. Love them all so much, give them a big ol hug for me. Dont forget with the new school year starting that the most important relationship to have is with our heavenly father. Read your scriptures and pray each day and you all will be just fine this year. Sure do love you guys. 

Hold to the rod. I mean it.

Elder Zilles