Dear Family,
I don't really know what to write because this week was almost the same as last. Because of more heavy rain, the Passaic River flooded again. Just a week after the first flooding. It wasn't quite as bad as the first flooding, but still worse than any flooding people have seen in years. Luckily the damage was already done by the first flooding and not many people had enough time to fix things up yet. All we have really done the past couple of weeks is service and it has been an incredible experience. We have received several referrals so far from people who are interested in learning more about our church, all thanks to our opportunity to do service for them. Yesterday our church service was the same as it was last week and we went out and did service again. Elder Olsen, who is our area seventy, was with us yesterday as we helped people on a specific street. We came across a
man named R. who has stage 4 cancer and we talked with him and helped him for quite some time. Elder Olsen gave him a blessing and he was very grateful for our help and is interested in learning more about us. It was a very special experience and I am excited to visit with him on a regular basis. One home that requested our help was still completely surrounded by flood water. We walked through water several feet high to get to them but it was so worth it to be able to help them. Here's part of our mission president's weekly letter:
It was great to see all of you yesterday (Saturday, 9/10/11) at the Paterson Chapel for our disaster recovery effort. Although there were lots of frustrations during the day, many lives were blessed by your efforts. On Labor Day (Monday, 9/5/11) the Newark zone was sent out to obtain “Assessment Forms” from families in need in the township of Little Falls. The editor of a local community on-line newspaper covering Essex County (“Baristanet”) was out covering another story when she saw “…a bunch of people in yellow shirts.” She drove over to them to find out what they were up to. Of course, it was a bunch of Mormons wearing Helping Hands shirts. She stopped and spoke to Elders Munk and Montierth. They explained to her who they were and what they were doing there. (She said they were “outstanding young men, polite, well-mannered, well-spoken, and obviously well- prepared”. Way to go Elder Munk and Elder Montierth!!). They gave her my name and number to call for additional information. She called me Wednesday night (9/7/11). We had a delightful visit for over an hour about the Church, our missionaries, our disaster clean-up efforts, and other topics. She published her article in her online newspaper on Friday (9/9/11). Her article, entitled “The Book of Mormon: Real Life in the Little Falls Flood Zone” (which included a picture of Elder Munk and Elder Montierth) is pasted in below.
“The Book of Mormon: Real Life in the Little Falls Flood Zone. In the Broadway hit “Book of Mormon,” Elder Price, waiting for his missionary assignment, really, really wants to be sent to Orlando. He gets assigned to AIDS-ravaged Uganda instead Maybe in the sequel, he’ll be sent to New Jersey.
Yesterday, a cluster of yellow-shirted Mormon missionaries, including Elder Devan Munk of Idaho and Daren Montierth of Arizona, were walking the streets of Little Falls on behalf of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Part of a group of 135 young Mormons stationed in New Jersey for a two-year service stint, Munk, Montierth and their fellow missionaries spent yesterday afternoon going door to door with a form designed to assess the damage of each individual home in the storm-ravaged town. That information was then given to a team of six disaster recovery experts sent from Salt Lake City, who will decide which households need most help. Then, this Saturday and Sunday, more than 2,000 New Jersey-area Mormons will join the young missionaries for a huge cleanup effort, armed with two tractor trailers of supplies and tools — also sent from Utah. They’ll remove fallen trees, rip up carpet and take down walls.
Jon M. Jeppson, president of the NJ/Morristown Mission, oversees the local contingent. While their ultimate goal is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, he says, they are a formidable army of Christian
do-gooders when a disaster strikes. “These young people are remarkable,” Jeppson told Baristanet. “They leave their families, friends, colleges, cars, pay their own way for a period of two years, and go wherever in the world they are called. They’re a significant force, who give their energy, effort and backs to provide good Christian service to people who have lost hope of being helped.” Jeppson said that the volunteers are explicitly forbidden to preach in the course of their flood recovery effort work, though they can answer questions if asked.According to Mormon doctrine, Jesus Christ himself decides where missionaries are sent, handing the orders to current church president Thomas S. Monson. Sometimes the assignments are puzzling. Munk was sent to Newark to work with a Spanish-speaking community, even though he had never spoken it before. “I learned,” he said.
Jeppson himself was planning to retire from his law practice in Salt Lake City next year before being unexpectedly assigned to oversee the NJ missionaries. Two months ago, he and his wife left their six children and 13 grandchildren, packed up their lives and moved to Morristown.”
Great publicity! Yesterday there were photographers from FEMA who had I'll be in some article somewhere. Who knows? I've heard a rumor that we'll be having another church service full of literal service again. They've already cancelled our Leadership Training that was supposed to be for three days this week, because we are needed for more service. Fun stuff! Life's good, The Gospel is true.
Love,
Elder Tilley
Monday, September 12, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Mormon Helping Hands
Dear family,
How's life? I don't know how much you've heard about the flooding out here, but it's really bad. Actually I guess I should say it was pretty bad, because now we're dealing with the aftermath. We've spent pretty much every day this past week doing service and helping those affected by the floods. On Saturday, Sunday and Monday we had a large group of "Mormon Helping Hands" organized to help with relief. The coolest day was definitely Sunday. All of the wards in the Stake met for just 30 minutes of Sacrament and then went out to do service. It was kind of strange seeing everyone in their work clothes during Sacrament Meeting, but it was such a cool experience. The spirit of service was incredible in that room and throughout the day. It was an awesome sight to see everyone gathered together in their yellow shirts ready to serve. In the area we served in it was impossible to go anywhere without seeing members of our church helping out. There were over 700 volunteers! We were the only one's helping out and I know that it was great exposure for the church. At first people were reluctant to allow us to help, but as the day went on more and more people accepted us in. The damage was devestating and many people lost everything thing they had. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. So many lives were touched by our service and were filled with gratitude.
There are people here who flew out from Salt Lake City to help organize the relief efforts. There will be organized service for probably the next 3 weeks or so. President Obama even came to visit Paterson, Wayne and Lincoln Park which were all hit very badly. Our area has the most damage done to it, so we've been doing service non-stop, even when it isn't organized. It has been quite an experience. A lady told us that during the flooding someone came by in a boat and when she asked if she and her children could catch a ride to safety, the man in the boat tried to charge her 20 dollars per person. It's a sad world that we live in. It's weird to go into people's homes and just throw everything away and tear everything down. I always thought that flooding was on the lamer side compared to other disasters... not true at all. It's been a huge eye opener to me and I'm pretty sure I'll NEVER live next to a river.
With all the craziness this week we haven't been able to see very many people and teach. We stayed in four different places so I'm SICK OF PACKING AND MOVING! It was really hard to stay organized and plan effectively. We pretty much stopped scheduling apointments because they kept springing random service on us and we had to keep cancelling everything. We haven't really been in touch with anyone we're teaching and I'm scared that we're losing people. This week we're going to have to work extra hard to make sure we get in contact with everyone. I've been here for three weeks but we've basically only had church once so it's hard to get to know everyone. It seems like the service takes away from the work, but as I've thought about it, I've been reminded of the early saints in Utah who were building the Salt Lake temple. Brigham Young asked that they stop work on the construction of the temple and instead focus on finishing the transcontinental railroad. It must have seemed as if that took away from the great work they were doing, but in the end that railroad allowed them to finnish the temple much faster than they would have been able to without it. I know that the flooding that has happened has humbled many people, and the service we have rendered is softening their hearts even more. One lady took a picture of the back of my companion's shirt so she could forever remember who helped her during this great trial.
Things have been great for us in our trio. Last night we were planning and the last of the 13 steps to planning is companionship inventory. This step is usually only done during weekly planning but if needed it can also be brought up in nightly planning. For those of you who don't know comp inventory is the time to discuss strengths of the companionship and individuals, things that might be holding the companionship from working in unity or being obedient, to resolve conflicts, to set goals... stuff like that. Anyway, last night I brought it up more as a joke and asked if there was anything we needed to talk about. It surprised me when Elder Tippetts said he did have something to say. He then expressed, so sincerely, his desire to be the best missionary possible and then pleaded with me to show/teach him what he needed to do to make that happen. We then had I guess what you would call a heart to heart moment. I feel very humbled. He had made a comment earlier that day that I needed to stop focusing on improving myself and start helping him to improve. I love young missionaries and it's an incredible opportunity to work with two of them. In all of the confusion this past week I think I've forgotten the importance of why I'm here. I'm here with these two missionaries for a reason, and that reason is to train them how to be successful missionaries. This week I'm going to forget myself and focus only on helping my companions, my district, and my investigators. I'm responsible for them and they deserve all of my time and attention. I love my companions and the area I'm in. I'M SO BLESSED!!! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Tilley
P.S. I'm going on an exchange to my old area- Paterson! Yay!
How's life? I don't know how much you've heard about the flooding out here, but it's really bad. Actually I guess I should say it was pretty bad, because now we're dealing with the aftermath. We've spent pretty much every day this past week doing service and helping those affected by the floods. On Saturday, Sunday and Monday we had a large group of "Mormon Helping Hands" organized to help with relief. The coolest day was definitely Sunday. All of the wards in the Stake met for just 30 minutes of Sacrament and then went out to do service. It was kind of strange seeing everyone in their work clothes during Sacrament Meeting, but it was such a cool experience. The spirit of service was incredible in that room and throughout the day. It was an awesome sight to see everyone gathered together in their yellow shirts ready to serve. In the area we served in it was impossible to go anywhere without seeing members of our church helping out. There were over 700 volunteers! We were the only one's helping out and I know that it was great exposure for the church. At first people were reluctant to allow us to help, but as the day went on more and more people accepted us in. The damage was devestating and many people lost everything thing they had. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. So many lives were touched by our service and were filled with gratitude.
There are people here who flew out from Salt Lake City to help organize the relief efforts. There will be organized service for probably the next 3 weeks or so. President Obama even came to visit Paterson, Wayne and Lincoln Park which were all hit very badly. Our area has the most damage done to it, so we've been doing service non-stop, even when it isn't organized. It has been quite an experience. A lady told us that during the flooding someone came by in a boat and when she asked if she and her children could catch a ride to safety, the man in the boat tried to charge her 20 dollars per person. It's a sad world that we live in. It's weird to go into people's homes and just throw everything away and tear everything down. I always thought that flooding was on the lamer side compared to other disasters... not true at all. It's been a huge eye opener to me and I'm pretty sure I'll NEVER live next to a river.
With all the craziness this week we haven't been able to see very many people and teach. We stayed in four different places so I'm SICK OF PACKING AND MOVING! It was really hard to stay organized and plan effectively. We pretty much stopped scheduling apointments because they kept springing random service on us and we had to keep cancelling everything. We haven't really been in touch with anyone we're teaching and I'm scared that we're losing people. This week we're going to have to work extra hard to make sure we get in contact with everyone. I've been here for three weeks but we've basically only had church once so it's hard to get to know everyone. It seems like the service takes away from the work, but as I've thought about it, I've been reminded of the early saints in Utah who were building the Salt Lake temple. Brigham Young asked that they stop work on the construction of the temple and instead focus on finishing the transcontinental railroad. It must have seemed as if that took away from the great work they were doing, but in the end that railroad allowed them to finnish the temple much faster than they would have been able to without it. I know that the flooding that has happened has humbled many people, and the service we have rendered is softening their hearts even more. One lady took a picture of the back of my companion's shirt so she could forever remember who helped her during this great trial.
Things have been great for us in our trio. Last night we were planning and the last of the 13 steps to planning is companionship inventory. This step is usually only done during weekly planning but if needed it can also be brought up in nightly planning. For those of you who don't know comp inventory is the time to discuss strengths of the companionship and individuals, things that might be holding the companionship from working in unity or being obedient, to resolve conflicts, to set goals... stuff like that. Anyway, last night I brought it up more as a joke and asked if there was anything we needed to talk about. It surprised me when Elder Tippetts said he did have something to say. He then expressed, so sincerely, his desire to be the best missionary possible and then pleaded with me to show/teach him what he needed to do to make that happen. We then had I guess what you would call a heart to heart moment. I feel very humbled. He had made a comment earlier that day that I needed to stop focusing on improving myself and start helping him to improve. I love young missionaries and it's an incredible opportunity to work with two of them. In all of the confusion this past week I think I've forgotten the importance of why I'm here. I'm here with these two missionaries for a reason, and that reason is to train them how to be successful missionaries. This week I'm going to forget myself and focus only on helping my companions, my district, and my investigators. I'm responsible for them and they deserve all of my time and attention. I love my companions and the area I'm in. I'M SO BLESSED!!! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Tilley
P.S. I'm going on an exchange to my old area- Paterson! Yay!
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