More Flooding

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