"Give Your Heart"

Dearest Family,


I am doing very well actually. I would say that I am doing better than I have in quite some time. We've had some very tough times here in Scotch Plains, but this last week was really good. Yesterday we found a potential family which was very exciting! Right now we don't have a lot of people to teach so hopefully it develops into something great. By the way transfers are tomorrow. My companion E. Rosas is being transferred and I'm staying.. again... I think I'm going to be here forever. There must be a reason for it, so hopefully I figure it out this transfer. I'm pretty excited to have a new companion. It's always crazy wondering who it's going to be. This Sunday we had a regional broadcast for stake conference and it was awesome! We got to hear from Russell M. Nelson and President Eyring who both gave awesome talks. Thats cool that Josh and Jackie moved to St. George. I'm sure they love it! What else is going on with the family.  Yeah I got Matthew's Graduation anouncement. It's crazy that it's already summer vacation. I hope you have a lot of fun things planned.


I'm really looking forward to this upcoming month in the mission. In our last Zone Leader Council, we decided that we needed to focus on becoming true Disciples of Jesus Christ. We're calling it "Give Your Heart" month. We will work out the details on Friday in our next council, but basically it will be a month of 100% concecration. It's going to be awesome! With the great effort we will put forth we will see amazing miracles. It's also going to be a sad month, because it is the last month President and Sister Bahr will be here. They are SO amazing and will be greatly missed, but change is part of life. Anyway got to go, because my companion needs to start packing. Love ya!


Love Elder Tilley


P.S. Missionaries never really know what's going on sooo.. I was wondering.... Did the world end?

I Try Hard Not to Take Anything for Granted

Dearest Family,


How are you? It's been so long... Not much has changed in the last 24 hours. Just doin the regular P-Day thang. It would be awesome to see Randy! I don't know if I would be able to unfortunately. I'll ask President if I can. It might be good if Randy calls the mission office to see if it's possible, but he shouldn't call my number. Hopefully it will be ok but I guess we'll see what happens. 

We're starting week 5 of this transfer and time continues to fly! I try my hardest to not take any of my mission for granted. I want to be able to look back and know that I worked to my fullest capacity at all times. It can be difficult to stay consistantly focused on my purpose, but the Lord helps me out a lot. I love ya lots and will have a lot more to say next week.

Love, Elder Tilley

I Couldn't Do it Without God's Help

Hello Family

Happy Mother's Day!!... in a week. I am SO excited to talk to all of you! I'm not sure when I'll be able to call yet, but it will probably be like Christmas. Hopefully I will be able to call you the night before and tell you when I'll call. We shall see. Sounds like you had a crazy/fun weekend. I didn't realize it was Christmas time already, but whatever. I know you love TSO (a little too much). Life is good out in Dirty Jerz. It's starting to get hot and it rains like every day. The summer will soon be here and then I get to enjoy the scorching heat. Yay. I'm going to send two memory cards and a couple of CD's full of pictures and videos, so get excited! I know it took forever and I feel terrible but I do what I can.

Things are not going too well as far as missionary work is concerned. Pretty much everyone we were teaching either moved, fell back into drugs or is avoiding us. When I say everyone I literally mean everyone except two people. It all happened in about a week so we're pretty much starting at ground zero. Oh well, we keep working.

B is having troubles with her family right now. They were fine with her meeting with us and even getting baptized, but Satan has worked really hard on them. She hasn't been confirmed yet, because her family hasn't let her go to church since she was baptized. Her mom told her that if she joins the church she has to leave and they won't pay for her college or anything anymore. She said they wouldn't have anything to do with her anymore and they will disown her. She has great faith and is willing to leave everything behind for the church, but that is kind of a last resort decision, so she's hoping everything will calm down and that her family will be reasonable.

"Everything that can go wrong will go wrong" should be the slogan in this area. Nothing surprises me anymore, and I automatically assume the worst. It REALLY stinks. It's nearly impossible to get referrals from members and they only get involved when asked. I have been here for quite some time and I feel as if I've tried everything I could and still nothing changes. The ward is still lacking excitement. and due to neglect by previous missionaries there hasn't been really anything recorded in the area book, so there is nothing to really work with. We need to find new investigators but all we can do is knock doors because that's the only option we have and are given. So we truck on doing the most unproductive thing you can do as a missionary.

Ward units not functioning properly is nothing new, but for as big as the ward is it should be run a lot better. It's hard to get along with my new companion, for some reason we just don't click. We are very different and because of the lack of success we are having right now, we have an even harder time getting along. Being here has been one of the greatest trials in my life. It's hard to have so many negative things going on and still stay positive. I know that I couldn't do it without God. When I get on my knees and talk to my Heavenly Father before I go to sleep, I feel his reasuring love. Very often that is the only good thing I experience all day. I find myself thinking often thinking of Moroni who watched a whole nation perish. He was constantly surrounded by terrible things and yet he always had his Father in Heaven. I hope you don't think I'm depressed or anything like that, because I'm not. I love life and I love being a missionary! Right now we're focusing on getting the ward excited. For whatever reason there are a lot of reserved people here. LAME. The root of the problem are the leaders in the ward. Just to give you a taste, our Elders Quorum President has us come home teaching with him every month and expects us to set up the apointments with the families he teaches. He literaly leans on us to do home teaching and he's the Elders Quorum President! One of the recent converts here is supposed to be home-taught by a member of the Bishopric but never has. This is not a recent convert who fell away and is avoiding the church. This is a recent convert who is more active than any of the members here. He wants to learn and continue to progress in the church SO badly, and hasn't ever been home taught. An active member of the Bishopric living beneath his Priesthood privelages. How sad. Anyway, I love you lots and can't wait to talk to you! Love you all!

Love Elder Tilley