I Love My Family!

Dear Family,

I love you sooo much! I am grateful for family, specifically mine. How wonderful you all are! Family is the most important social unit in this life and in the eternities. We are so blessed to have temples, which allow families to be forever. Families are the best place for growth and learning to take place. This is why Satan works so hard to destroy them. I see the damage that has been done to members of fallen families, which too often is fatal. Loss of life, not physically but spiritually, becomes a great concern and likely a reality in these circumstances. Remember the importance of strengthening the family.

My companion is a very talented individual. He speaks Spanish, English and French fluently and before his mission was a professional painter. It's great to work with someone as intelligent as he is. His language skills have already come in handy in the short time we have been together. We started teaching a lady that speaks French named Claudine. She's from the Ivory Coast and speaks no English. I don't really contribute much, but Elder Rosas has done an amazing job teaching her by himself. After sharing with her the First Vision, she gasped and said "I felt the Holy Ghost! God is with us right now! I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet!" This was all in French of course, so I thought my companion offended her or she had a sudden migraine or something. God is good!

This Easter season was great and just what I needed. The Atonement is real. "And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men." (1 Nephi 19:9). Jesus Christ suffered for each and every one of us. I have felt the cleansing power of his atonement many times in my life. This is how I KNOW the Atonement is real. Jesus Christ has felt all of our pains, so he knows how to succor his people. The Atonement enables and empowers us and gives us the opportunity to become like God. Jesus Christ is the Way. I love him, so I will keep his commandments. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.

Love Elder Tilley

Sometimes you Have to Take a Step Back to Keep Moving Forward

Hey Family!

Sorry I wasn't able to write last week. With transfers, we (or rather my companion) spent all of P-Day packing. Elder Brickey (my comp) and Elder Elder, who lived in my apartment, were both transferred last week. My new companion is Elder Rosas. He's from Mexico.... he's actually a spanish missionary, but they switched him to the English program. It's all good though, he actually speaks perfect English. He even lived in Nashville for a while. He's WAY different than my last companion which has taken some adjusting, but he's a great missionary. He is always very obedient and wants to see success. TRUE success comes through obedience. He is willing to do whatever it takes, which is something I appreciate very much. I am excited to work with him and I know we will see many miracles together. Elder Vidmar is the other missionary who move into our apartment. He's pretty cool too.

Right now our area isn't doing too well. Our teaching pool just kind of collapsed all in this past week. Bad things have been happening left and right and I am reminded of how things were when I got here. I won't go into much detail, but basically everyone who was progressing chose to use their agency poorly and now we aren't left with much. Our investigator D is moving which doesn't help either. I'm used to these things happening all the time now, so I just kind of roll with the punches. We were teaching too many drug addicts, so I kind of foresaw this happening. Right now we need to find some people who are truly prepared to receive the Gospel. There are a lot of things that need to be changed and the transition may be a little rough, but sometimes you have to take a step back to keep moving forward. In the long-run things will be great here if the foundation is built correctly. Now that I'm in charge here in Scotch Plains I plan on changing a lot of things for the better.

I am so very grateful to be a missionary. It has opened my eyes and helped me to understand God's plan more than ever. I know my weaknesses, but I know I can be made strong if I am humble and seek divine help. It's so important that we strive to become like our Savior so that we may one day be perfect like Him. Putting off the natural man is not always easy and is a life-long endeavor. I know that the scriptures give us not only the desire, but the power to be righteous. The Holy Ghost has been such a wonderful gift in my life and I am trying my hardest to only do things that invite him. I LOVE missionary work!

Love Elder Tilley

"Forget Yourself and Go to Work"

Dear Family, I still have not gotten the other package yet. I should get it this Tuesday at transfer conference. Subway cards are great! We eat there at least once a week, and so far I haven't had to pay for any of the meals, so keep sending them! I really enjoy the new camera I bought and have been taking lots of pictures. I'll send some soon. Sounds like you met Sis Hernandez. She is a lady in our ward that we visit a lot, mostly because 4 of our investigators live right next to her and we teach them at her home. General Conference was great! I received a lot of personal revelation and had many questions which I had been pondering answered. I learned many great things and can't wait to read the talks in the Ensign. I was deeply touched by Richard G. Scott's talk, greatly enjoyed President Monson's talk in Priesthood, gained a lot of insight from Dallin H. Oaks talk and learned many things from all who spoke. Something really neat that I did this conference, was write down specific questions that I had. All of my questions were more than answered by either one of the speakers, or by the Holy Ghost. It was really neat. The last session I felt the spirit and God's love for me so strongly, that I could hardly even stand it. Conference always motivates me to be so much better. It's so important to find ways to nourish and strengthen ourselves spiritually. We need to seek out the spirit so we can be sanctified, and become like Christ. Then, when we are judged not just for what we have done, but for what we have become; all will be well with us. We have been called to repentance. We live in the last days where many are lost and blinded by the craftiness of men. As disciples of Jesus Christ, more is expected of us. One of the greatest things I have learned on my mission and from the last couple of conferences, is that we have to be better. There are too many people in this world who struggle. We CANNOT afford to be weak. Too many lives depend on our examples and on the work that we perform. Our mission president always says, "Forget yourself and go to work." We can't feel sorry for ourselves or mope around asking why our lives aren't better. We CANNOT afford to live like the rest of the world. We need to put off the natural man and become a saint through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. After all, we refer to ourselves as saints. We have to BE saints. I pray that all who watched conference are motivated to be better. I am so grateful for the brethren and their council. Love, Elder Tilley