Super Powers?

How's it going??

It's been a pretty good week as far as missionary work is concerned. One of the more interesting things that happened was meeting a 20 year old or so kid named Anthony. We went over to his house to teach his mom, Rita, but she told us she was busy but that we could talk to her son. Anthony is, for lack of a better word, strange. It started off really well as we talked to him. He seemed to really love God, and was nothing but positive about how he has been blessed by Him throughout his life. Then we dug a little deeper.... apparently Anthony receives revelation in the form of visions to do the Lords work. He has the gift to travel at super speed, and can, on occasion fly and has just about any other power you can think of. Oh yeah, and he can read minds and "go through peoples memories". He also goes through "trials and tribulations" in his room at night and has to fight off shadow monsters. And the icing on the cake is that he is a resurrected being who has been on the earth for thousands of years. We gave him a Book of Mormon and left. I don't think were ever going back.

Right after we left, however, we were able to meet David. David is a 14 year old boy who is looking for a church to attend and seems interested in ours. We talked with him and challenged him to read the Book of Mormon. He is a good kid and says he enjoys church because it keeps him on track and out of trouble. Hopefully we can get him to come to church.

By far the best thing that happened this week was our lesson with Marcella. We had her over at a members house (the Archibalds; former Bishop and his wife) for dinner and then taught her about the Restoration. The spirit was extremely strong, and she said that she believed everything and would read the Book of Mormon. She is really positive and receptive to everything we teach her, and is definitely prepared. I fasted specifically for her yesterday, and I feel very strongly that she will be baptized.

This past week my companion and I have felt that we need to improve on our diligence and we want to strive to be better missionaries in every thing that we do. It can be easy to lose your focus and hard to stay motivated all the time and so evaluating your performance is vital to your success. The other missionaries in our apartment were up really late last night, trying to figure out a way to be the best missionaries. It was interesting that we were all going through the same thing, so in the morning we had an apartmentship study and came up with a plan to do better. The work in our Zone has been really taking off lately, and we have gotten the shout-out the last few times. President Bahr said that our Zone was about to explode with success. We just set a record for most baptisms in a month as a zone for the mission. So we have been doing really well, but we have the desire to do better. The first thing our Zone Leaders said this morning as we planned together was that they had been pondering on how we could be the best missionaries in the world. We came up with a plan and a way to keep each other motivated and to magnify our calling to the greatest extent so that we can be the most effective missionaries possible. I love living with amazing missionaries, all of whom have great desires to serve the Lord and to progress his work. As we give ourselves to the Lord and as we put him as our main focus in life, he will give us what we need to be successful.

I love missionary work. It is exactly what Christ would do if he was on the earth. It is the lifeblood of our church, and it's central purpose. When the church was first organized, missionaries could stand out on the street and preach to anyone who would listen. In the 20th century, missionaries would tract for hours at a time looking for people who would come unto Christ. But now and into the future, missionary work hangs on the balance of what the members do. Member work is vital to missionary work today. It is not only suggested, but expected, that everyone do their part to spread the Gospel. Everyone knows at least one person who the Lord has specifically placed in their paths so that they can be exposed to His Gospel. At the day of our judgement the Lord will ask "If ye are my disciple, who have ye brought unto me?" Don't be one of the ones who has no answer. Forget about yourself or what others think of you. Have courage, for the Lord is on your side. Those who give all they have to help build the Lords Kingdom will be blessed beyond comprehension. Always remember your purpose in life....

Love, Elder Tilley

Baptism

Greetings!

This week has been very eventful. On Monday we had an appointment with a woman named Samira. Elder Larsen felt like we should get an Arabic Book of Morman for her even though She wasn't really interested. When we knocked on her door she didn't really want to see us, but her friend Jackie who was over at her house wanted to hear more about our church. We talked to her, and by the end of the lesson she even gave the closing prayer. She was so touched by our message that she broke down in tears as she prayed. She doesn't live in our area so we had to give her to some other Elders, but I hope everything works out for her. It's crazy how we were inspired to see a lady who wasn't interested in our message, all so that we could meet Jackie. If we went over there at any other time she probably wouldn't have been there. The Lord will take you on a wild path to meet people who are prepared.

On Tuesday I went on my first exchange with Elder Sandbakken. His companion Elder Wilbur, who was in the MTC with me went with Elder Larsen. It was fun to do something different and serve in a different area for a day. You learn a lot when you have a different companion. Wednesday we had basic training. It was extremely motivating and I learned a lot of things that will help me be a better missionary. Almost everything we learned about was something I needed to work on, so it should really help me. It was great to hear from the mission president and his wife again and have that renewed motivation to take on the world.

I had a really cool experience on Friday. It had been kind of a frustrating day trying to do a bunch of things to get ready for the baptism, so we hadn't really been able to talk to anyone. We went over to Sister Little's house and knocked on the door but she wasn't there. I then decided that I was going to talk to the next person I saw until we either were able to teach them or schedule a return appointment. As we walked back to our car, I didn't see anyone, until my companion had backed up and I opened the door to get in. As I was getting in, I saw this old man with a cane walking across the street, and I had an extreme prompting to go talk to him. I told Elder Larsen we needed to talk to him, so we went over and it turns out that he had a Book of Morman already, and that he had a neighbor who also had one and had spoken with missionaries before. We then taught both of them the Restoration and got return appointments. Theyr'e both kind of crazy so I don't know how sincere they are, or if we'll really get anywhere with them, but at the very least I showed the Lord that I was willing to follow his promptings through the spirit.

Finally Saturday came around, and it was time for the baptism. We had spent a lot of time and effort on it, so it was nice for it to finally happen. Elder Larsen Baptized her and I gave a talk on Baptism. It was an amazing experience, and I was glad to see Siste Little follow the example of Jesus Christ. On Sunday I comfirmed her with the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting and I was really nervous because it was the first blessing I had ever given anybody. Not to mention that it was a homecoming so there were 288 people there. Oh and the mission president and his wife were there. So yeah, basically the pressure was on.

The comfirmation, with the homecoming talk given by Quentin Grillone made for a super spiritual meeting. Quentin served in Chile and talked about the earthquake that happened while he was there, and the challenge of finding out his dad died while he was on his mission. He had pretty much the whole congregation in tears with his experience and powerful testimony. It was an amazing Sunday and hopefully will turn into an amazing week.

We just started teaching a lady named Marcella that I really think will be baptized. Other than that, most of our investigators are really stagnant. We haven't been able to teach the family we met a week and a half ago, but hopefully we will soon. Things are pretty up and down right now, so I'm really working on being more consistant. I know that if I just lose myself in the work and give myself completely to the lord and always work hard I will be happy. It can be hard to always be focused and doing that, but I try my best to forget about myself. My companion and I are getting along great like always and we learn a lot from each other. Keep us in your prayers.

Love, Elder Tilley

I got a Suprise in the Mail

I got a bonus letter this week!!! When I picked up the mail today there was an envelope from Ryan. Inside were two letters, one for David and one for myself! It totally made my day. I often wonder if missionaries realize how much their letters mean to their families.

In my letter to him I had mentioned that I was teaching my Relief Society lesson on the Blessing of Scripture, so he sent me a page and a half letter telling me what the scriptures mean to him, and how they have blessed his life. It truly brought a tear to my eye.

Here are a few things that he pointed out:

• Reading the scriptures invites the Spirit into our lives
• If we want our lives and our families to be guided by revelation then we MUST study the scriptures
• There is nothing in life that can't be answered by the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon
• There is no other book as uplifting and positively influential as the Book of Mormon
• The Scriptures are the word of God. They also testify of Jesus Christ and his teachings

Those are just a few of his many thoughts on the scriptures. I can't tell you how amazing it was to read his words. He is an amazing boy, and I couldn't be prouder! Every letter he sends inspires me to do better and for that I am thankful.

Too Much Food

Hello!

This week has gone by so fast! I could have sworn it was just yesterday that I was writing a letter. Things are going pretty well over here in Ledgewood. It's crazy how the roads are designed out here. The best description that I've heard for them is that someone took a bunch of spaghetti noodles and dropped them on a map, and that's where they built the roads. Yeah, It's that crazy.

We are having a baptism on Saturday for Sister Little so were super excited! She is a 59 year old woman who has Diabetes and some sort of brain injury. She is a really sweet lady, and is fun to teach because we have to re-explain things to her over and over again. She often calls me and my companion revrun, or father, or on one occasion master. She knows everything we have taught her, she just needs a review every once in a while (being every time we see her). Yesterday in church her blood sugar dropped really low, so we had to scramble and find her some snacks to eat. She was o.k., but it was a bit chaotic for a while.

Our ward is amazing, and I appreciate and love it more and more as each day goes by. They take great care of us, and we never go unfed. Sometimes its actually too much. Last night, Elder Larson and I ate at the Pettits, and we had burritos (seconds and thirds) and a huge bowl of ice-cream and brownies after. I thought I was going to die. Then we got a call from the Bishops wife saying they made chilli for us. Elder Larson LOVES chilli, so we went over there and ate again. Then they also served us a large bowl of ice-cream. I can't remember ever eating so much food! For a second I really thought I was going to die.

This week we taught a really cool family for the first time. Right away we talked about baptism, and they said that if they found our message to be true then they would be baptized. This is amazing to hear from investigators, because most of the time they get stuck on the whole baptism thing. They know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, and that the church is true, but they always talk about how they are already baptized and how they don't think they need to be re-baptized. Constantly we are explaining the importance of being baptized by proper priesthood authority, but people just don't seem to understand. I would say that of all the principles we teach, that is the most frustrating of all. People just don't understand. So anyway it was great to hear that from them.

Last week Elder Larsen and I focused on how to begin teaching. Learning how to get to know your investigators and having them open up is crucial to our process in helping them receive the restored gospel. Our goal is to have them do most of the talking. It's important that we present questions and commitments in a way that will get them to act. The more involved they are, the better the chances the lesson will go well. This week we also talked to a man whose mother just passed away. He has had an extremely difficult life and told us that if there was a God then he was a cruel God, and that he didn't want anything to do with him. We tried to explain to him how the Lord gives us trials and challenges in life so that we may learn, grow and reach our full potential. He agreed that trials can make us stronger, but he couldn't get over the fact that people had to suffer as much as they did, and believed we should only have to suffer a little bit. We talked to him about how the more we are challenged, the better we can become. It's like a marathon runner who makes great time. It's great that they did well, but they aren't just satisfied with that. They train even harder to do better next time. I challenged him to pray and to talk to the Lord about his trials and to ask if he was there. He told us that we couldn't tell him there was a God because there is no proof, and so I told him he couldn't tell me there wasn't a God until he prayed about it. So he said he would try it out and call us back in a few days. We'll see what happens. I could spend all day talking about each of our investigators but then nothing would get done. Peace out.

Love, Elder Tilley

Elder Tilley Arrives in New Jersey

Whats Up?!
I'm finally in the mission field!!! So, for those of you who don't know, our flight out to New Jersey was set for 10:00 Tuesday morning. However, while we were in class on Monday a voice came on over the intercom asking us to go down to the travel office, and that we needed to leave at 4:00 pm that very day. Seeing as it was like 3:20 we thought there was some kind of mix up, especially since we knew our tickets were for the next day. So we go down there and apparently our travel agent booked our flight for the wrong day, and our mission president needed us a day earlier. So by the time we figured all of this out, it was about 3:30. We thought there was no way we would be ready in time because we were expecting to pack that night and so we still had a lot to do. Somehow we were able to run back to our residence hall, pack everything we had, and change into suits in a half hour. It was SO CRAZY! All I had time to do was stuff everything into my suitcase, trusting that I got everything, and then book it to the bus. I don't think I've ever sweated as hard as I did in that half hour in my entire life.
So instead of flying on a direct flight to New Jersey, staying the night in the mission home getting to know our mission president and his wife, and having a day full of orientation the next day; we got to fly from SLC to Denver and have a layover until midnight, fly from there to New Jersey and arrive at 5:00 in the morning, drive to the mission home only to rush through the crucial points of the orientation, find out who our trainer was and attend transfer conference (I'm pretty sure that's what it's called), and then go out to work right away. All of this was done on about an hour of sleep on the airplane. All the other missionaries were saying how they felt bad about how we didn't get to enjoy the first day experience. I also wasn't able to say goodbye to anyone that I had become friends with at the MTC or get their mission addresses, which really stinks. I laugh every now and then when I think of our zone leaders trying to figure out where we went and why all of our rooms were cleaned out. Hopefully someone let them know what happened. Overall it was kind of a bummer, but what can you do? From the small amount of time we got to spend with our mission president and his wife, the Bahrs, they seem really awesome. Apparently the mission was completely turned around (for the good) when they came in. Oh and my trainer is Elder Larsen. This is only his 4th transfer, so he is pretty young to be a trainer, but he is a great missionary. The first day we got here, every missionary I met told me how lucky I was to have him, and that he was already one of the best.
We are serving in Ledgewood East, which goes from Denville to Hopatcong and Chester to Rockaway. We live in Dover. Hopefully that is enough information for you to figure out where I am in New Jersey. We live with Elder Taylor and Elder Litzienberg who are our zoneleaders. There are also two other elders, Elder Walsch and Elder Fielding, who live in our apartment complex. It can be kind of crazy living with zoneleaders and a prodigy missionary, but I am surrounded by excellent missionaries and great examples. This is something I am very thankful for and it makes it much easier to learn and to grow.
Our ward, the Ledgewood ward, is one of the biggest and best wards in the mission as well (We get fed more than anyone, which is AWESOME). My trainer is constantly pointing out how lucky I am to start out my mission in such a great situation. A great ward and area, with really cool elders to live with.
Overall life is good. I have a long way to go before I can say I am a great missionary, but I am constantly learning. I know that there is nothing more important than missionary work and that these two years will be a special time in my life. Sometimes it can be hard to deal with rejection, but it's always worth it when you find that one person who is prepared to recieve our message. In the end all one can do is extend the invitation for people to come unto Christ. The rest is up to them. It breaks my heart when you can tell that someone has felt the spirit, manifesting that what we say is true, and yet they still reject it. I only find comfort in the thought that even if they don't accept it now, they most likely will later, even if it's not in this life. You're always successful when you're planting those seeds.
One thing that I have had to get used to, is that it is usually only the meek and the humble who will listen to our message. Other than one family, I don't think we have a single investigator right now who doesn't have some brain injury or major stroke or some other major handicap. It can be frustrating teaching these people because it is hard to communicate with them or get through to them. Because of this I have found the beauty in teaching simply. It's something that we are really trying to focus on in our mission. Using short power statements full of the spirit is something I have really tried to work on.
New Jersey is pretty crazy and there are a lot of strange people, but each soul is as important as any other to the Lord. Anyway I love hearing from people, SO SEND LETTERS!


Love, Elder Tilley

The Phone Call

By 4:00 I had given up any hope of receiving a phone call from Ryan. Either he didn't have time to call or he didn't want to. I spent the day by the phone, jumping with excitement each time it rang. A few times Matthew wrestled it out of my hands in order to be the one to answer it. But, by 4:00 I decided he wasn't calling. They would never send Missionaries out that late, it was a six hour flight from SLC to NJ. The phone rang at 4:30 and the caller ID read BYU, I got excited but my hopes were quickly dashed when I realized it was probably my dad calling from work. I picked up they receiver and heard "Hey Mom!" I was so excited. He quickly told me that they had to leave in 30 minutes and he would call from the Denver Airport later that night. More waiting.

He finally called at 11:30. He explained that they were scheduled to leave on Tuesday. On Monday they were sitting in class and at 3:15 someone came over the loudspeaker asking the missionaries for the Morristownn Mission to report to the office. The teacher asked if they had time to sing a song and say a prayer and she said "I don't know, you have to leave at 4". Apparently, the booking agent had made a mistake and put them on flights on Tuesday but the Mission President wanted them there on Monday. They changed the flights, gave them 30 minutes to pack and they were on their way.

He also told us that his time in the MTC may go down as the worst timing to be in the MTC. The Temple was closed for most of it, they didn't get to hear from a General Authority because they all take they month of July off, the gym was closed for reconstruction, so no basketball, and the AC went out in the resident hall and the mess hall. Despite all that, he had an amazing time in the MTC.

He was traveling with a total of 13 Elders, 10 English speaking, 2 Spanish speaking and 1 Portuguese speaking, all heading to Morristown, New Jersey. It was so good to hear his voice. I am amazed at how much he has learned and how much he has matured in three short weeks. He gained a testimony of the importance of Missionary work while in the MTC and was very excited to get out in the field and teach.

He also told us that he looks forward to letters, so feel free to drop him a line! I know he would appreciate it. If nothing else, keep him in your prayers, I know he feels them.