Transfer Time

Hello my wonderful family

Things have been crazy with transfers being tomorrow. I got called as a district leader and am being transferred. It's really hard to leave but it's obviously inevitable. I have enjoyed my time here in the Ledgewood ward so much and I have learned so many things from the the missionaries I have served around, as well as the wonderful members in our ward. I have been blessed to be a part of so many special moments here and witnessed countless miracles. Elder Althouse and I really struggled to find people to teach for most of the transfer, however, the last two weeks we have seen the results from our hard work. We have begun teaching some truly amazing people. We were very excited for next transfer because it is set up so perfectly for success. It's tough to leave when the future is so bright. This of course happens to missionaries all the time, so I can't complain.

The very first day of the transfer Elder Althouse and I knocked a street and met an older man named Richard. As we talked we found out that he had known members
of our church throughout his life and even had an uncle who was a member. Someone had even given him a Book of Mormon, which he still had. We asked him if he would allow us to teach him, but he just wouldn't have any of it. We stopped by a few weeks later and he told us that maybe we could talk to him after Thanksgiving. For some reason something kept drawing us back to him even though he wasn't interested. Last Saturday we went over again and he agreed to allow us to teach him at McDonald's. I never thought that we would ever really get anywhere with him until we taught him. We had such an amazing lesson with him, and he told us about many experiences in his life that I know prepared him to meet us. At the end of the first lesson we taught him, he prayed and thanked the Lord for the prophet Joseph Smith. When we taught him again just a week later, he had read the first 19 chapters of the Book of Mormon! He asked us all kinds of amazing and in-depth questions about what he had read, questions I hadn't even wondered about until I came out on my mission. He attended church yesterday and said that it "felt like coming home". He also agreed to come to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional Broadcast and afterwards told me that "everything that was missing from other churches was here". I have really felt a great love for this man and pray with all my might that he will make the necessary steps in working out his salvation.

There are many people who I will miss working with. We also started teaching another youth aged boy named Richie, who has a baptismal date set for Dec. 19. I really hope that I accomplished all that I could have while I was here. I will miss so many of the awesome members and their example to me.

This will be the first time I have ever been transferred. It will be hard enough learning a new area, but being a district leader for the first time makes it even more of a challenge. Surely I will experience a lot of growing pains like I talked about a couple of weeks ago. I know that I will learn a lot and I take comfort in the knowledge that who the Lord calls he qualifies. I'm going to need a lot of qualifying...

p.s. I have a cold so it's hard to concentrate and write an in-depth letter. Hopefully It makes sense.

Love Elder Tilley

I can't believe it is time for Ryan to leave the Ledgewood Ward. As a mother I was secretly hoping he would stay there for Christmas, well lets just be honest, I wish he could stay there his whole mission. The people there have been amazing! I have been in contact with several of them and I know that I won't be this blessed in the other areas that Ryan will serve. So I guess it was selfish to wish for him to stay, I know that he needs to learn and grow from all the people and experiences that New Jersey has to offer.

Again I say thank you to the wonderful people of the Ledgewood Ward who have fed, mothered, taught, loved and been an example to my Ryan. We will be forever grateful for all that you have given him.