What Christmas is all about as a Missionary

Hey all!! So apparently my email last week didn't go through all too well!!  Major bummer, but hopefully it works this time 😅

This week has been super awesome!!!  It's been the Christmas season out here and man I love it!!!  Christmas is super different as a missionary, but it's a good different.  Before I get to Christmas Day I want to tell you guys about a few days before Christmas…  

So as a district we decided that the day before Christmas Eve we were going to go out and carol to some families that we felt would benefit from us going over. We start off and for investigators and people who aren't members we gave them a video on Christ that was on the restoration as a Christmas present.  And for members we gave a little nativity.  Well as we were going around we visited these older ladies who weren't going to have much company this Christmas.  And almost every year at Christmas time I have an experience that gives me a deeper understanding and meaning as to what Christmas is and the true meaning of it.  Well this moment was that time.  We went over and we sang to the two of them and gave them the nativity and the lady starts crying and letting us know how thankful she was that we had thought of her this Christmas.  It just really meant a lot to me knowing that we as missionaries made a difference in this ladies life and that even though I have no singing talent at all the spirit was there.  It gave me the understanding of Christmas as a missionary this year.

Christmas as a missionary is all about others and serving them and helping them feel the spirit of the Savior at this time of year.

Now when Christmas came around it was super cool!! I got to talk to my family!!  How fun is that?!?  It was really awesome being able to talk to them on Christmas.  I am so thankful for how supportive they have been especially at this time of the year.  Towards the end of my call my mom asked me to share a spiritual thought with them and kinda bear my testimony in whatever I felt needed to be said.  It's difficult to describe how I felt as I shared my thoughts and my feelings with them. I knew that I needed to say that.  And as I bore my testimony on Christ it was so amazing to be able to apply what I have learned and what I feel as a missionary with my family.  I love them and I'm so thankful for them and everything they have ever done for me. Thank you J

I love you all and I'm so thankful for you all!! I know it's a bit late but Merry Christmas everyone!! J

Love,

Elder Zeller

2425 6th Ave. S Great Falls MT 59405

The Goodbye Week in Cut Bank:(

Hey guys!!!

So this week has been really crazy!!!  But at the same time it hasn't... so all day Monday and Tuesday basically I said goodbye to all the members I've met in my first area.  I have served there since the beginning so it was pretty hard to say goodbye.  I really grew to love the Cut Bank / Browning area and the people there.  Some of the people I said goodbye to, I was able to take pictures with!!  So hopefully they will be okay with me sharing them with you and who they are.  I sure do love them.

So this is brother Harward and he comes up to Browning every now and again for his work and he is really awesome!!  He really helped out with the missionary work during the trunk or treat that happened a while ago.

This is the Ericksons and they are the senior missionaries for Browning and I absolutely love them.  They were such great missionaries and they were super awesome to meet!!

This is the Meyers.  They are really awesome and they were always willing to talk and have a good laugh!!  I'm really glad that I was able to meet them and be as good of friends as I was with them.  She was actually one of my first blessings that I’ve ever given!! J

This is the Van Wagoner family and they were super awesome!!  They really helped a ton with missionary work. I loved their whole family and they were really awesome!!

This is the Browns.  They were some of the first people I taught and we were able to get really close and I was really able to learn what real missionary work is with this family!!  They are super awesomeJ

This is Ernest Marceau and he's a really good artist up in Browning.  His testimony of the Book of Mormon is rock solid and it's was really cool to see him bear his testimony through his artwork.

This is the Houles and they were a way awesome family with awesome goals of getting to the temple and being sealed together forever!!  They were such an awesome family and I loved going over to visit them and teach Tony about the gospel.

This is the Mcnabb family and he was my branch mission leader over in Cut Bank and Browning.  This whole family was super awesome and really missionary minded and it was really awesome to meet them!!

This is Brother and Sister Maddox and they were awesome!!  They helped a lot with missionary work and their testimony of missionary work was awesome.  I loved getting to know this family and doing missionary work with them was awesome. 

So yeah those were the families I said goodbye to and it was sad to say goodbye but at the same time I knew that I had hopefully done what the Lord needed me to do there and now I was done and he needed me to do something else in Great Falls.  Also later that night (as we were heading to Great Falls) me and Elder Lankford had been working on this video and getting it just right so here is that 😂 it's kinda funny 😂

That Wednesday was transfers and so as I was waiting in the zone leader’s apartment we played games because we had to wait for our new companions and whatnot.  Anyway, at about 2 that afternoon everyone gets back and in walks Elder Davis (my MTC companion)!!!  It was way awesome to see him because I hadn't been able to see him since we went to our first areas 😅 so it was super awesome to see him!!  

I met up with my new companion, Elder Bozue, and you won't guess where he's from… 😂 he's from Missouri as well 😂 so out of the three missionaries in the whole mission from Missouri I've served with two of them 😂 how crazy is that?!? Anyway, Elder Bozue is a really awesome missionary.  He knows how to work hard and have fun doing it!! I'm really excited to be companions with him!!

Then on Thursday we were about to go out and do some missionary work, and we started our car so it wouldn't be super cold when we get in it and we closed the door and somehow the door locked!!!  So we got locked out of our car!!!  With the car running and the keys inside!!!  So what did we do??  We grabbed a crow bar from inside and a wire hanger and broke into a mission vehicle 😂 annnnnnnd here is a picture 😂

So yeah, then after we got into our car we get a call from the mission president telling us to stay inside because the roads were too icy and bad and it was too cold to go out tracting.  So that's what we did.  We stayed inside for two days!!!  I had cabin fever soooo bad 😂 but hey it's all good because eventually we were let out!!

The past few days we've been doing missionary work and whatnot.  It's been really awesome to meet some of the members here!!  And it's super cool serving in a ward!!  It was kinda funny because yesterday was my first Sunday and so I was sitting there in sacrament meeting and he announces that I was gonna bear my testimony… in my last area didn't do that 😅 well needless to say I was stressing super bad!!  I mean for those who know me I have really bad stage fright when it comes to that!!  But it was all good :) the spirit helps out a lot 😅 as long as we do our best!! J anyway so that was my week!! I'm super excited to help the work in this area!! J love y'all!!

Love,

Elder Zeller

2425 6th Ave. S Great Falls MT 59405

Transfer Time is Bitter Sweet

Hey everyone!! This week has been pretty interesting to say the least!!  

I started on exchanges with Elders in Conrad and basically I stayed in Conrad and was a missionary there in that area until Wednesday, when we ended up switching at district meeting.  So later that night we went to a members house for dinner and it was some pretty good food!!  I’m not totally sure why but later that night Elder Lankford got like suuuuuper sick!!  And he's been sick like ever since Wednesday.  It's gotten better but Thursday morning, at like 3, he woke up and puked like 5 times!!!   Needless to say we were pretty well stuck in our apartment hahaJ  But it was good!!  I got a lot of studying done which is always nice :)

Then we had the baptism on Saturday!!  But unfortunately our investigators wife fell (and she's pregnant) so they were really worried about the baby.  Which meant that they weren't able to make it; which was sad but it's all good!! The Lord works in mysterious ways so who knows why things happen the way they do.  She and the baby must have needed some extra care so I’m glad she was watched over. 

Anyway, so we caught a ride up to stake conference and there was a Saturday adult session that we were able to make it to and it was really awesome!! Everyone who spoke, talked about Christ-like attributes and it was really awesome because I felt like they all applied to me individually. Kinda cool when stuff like that happensJ 

Then on Sunday we found out transfer news and I'm going to be leaving Cut Bank and I'll be heading to Great Falls.  It's kinda bitter sweet leaving all the people in Cut Bank.  I've come to love them a lot but I'm also excited to meet new people and help others come unto Christ.  I really love this gospel and I LOVE being a missionary.  It's been so rewarding so far and I've learned so much and it's only been 4 months!!  I'm excited to experience more trials (I know weird) but through them I can love the times of joy that much more and grow from those trials given to me.  I love you all and I love hearing from you!!  Until next week!! ❤😘

P.s. Elder smith says hi :)

P.s.s. My new address is

2425 6th Ave. S

Great Falls MT

59405

Love,
Elder Zeller
123 1/2 4th Ave Se Cut Bank, Montana

Christmas Surprises to Broken Air Vents... another great week!

My week has been super crazy!!

First we had a zone conference on Wednesday and so we got to go to Great Falls.  We got there Tuesday night to practice for a musical number we had (I can’t sing to save my life btw).  Also we had to prepare a 3 minute talk on A “Book of Mormon Challenge” the mission has been doing this year.  Anyway, so I prepared one and everything (But remember that because it will come up later).  So we went to the conference and the whole time I’m stressing because as some of you may know, I don't like talking in front of people; it’s just not my thing.  So I’m sitting there listening and waiting and stressing. They started by going through some training with us and they taught us on using the Book of Mormon more in our teaching.  It was really cool stuff and I think I learned a lot.  But then later on we heard the testimonies of the missionaries that are leaving this next transfer.  It was really good hearing their testimonies and whatnot. THEN!!...  After the testimonies president gets up and he tells the names of the missionaries that will be giving talks and it wasn't me!!  I was in the clear!!  I was good and sitting pretty and I was SO happyJ.  The spirit probably was listening to my thoughts and decided to humble me a bit because we got done with them and president says, "so we have time for one more talk... Elder Zeller?" WHAT THE WHAT?!?!  Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?!?!  I was so dang scared it was so funnyJ  Well like it’s funny now but at the time I did not like it.

Then we went to go and eat as a zone and we got these packages that the office staff made us.  It was a huge surprise because it included a letter from my family!!  Of course it made me cry in front of everyone!! But it’s all good J It also made me smile because they had written about all of our family Christmas memories and some of them I had totally forgotten about J  I guess I’ve just been getting wrapped up in the work and whatnot they totally slipped my mind J but it was a good reminderJ  Also during the zone conference they had a slide show of pictures our families sent in.  The picture my family sent in killed me!! I love Libby in the picture J she just cracks me up every time I see it so it was great!

After zone conference we had to hurry and leave Great Falls because we had an appointment with someone in browning and it is like a 3sh hour drive from Great Falls to Browning.  So we drove and we got there and talked to this part member family and got things sorted out with them and helped resolve a few things.  We challenged them to come to church and they made it!! But I’ll get to that later.  

Once we left their house we drove back into Cut Bank and we walked into our apartment and we both were like, "hmmmm… it's kinda cold in here..." and that's when we realized that our heater wasn't working!  How much does that suck eh?!?  Well it gets worse!!  We try turning it on ourselves and it doesn't work so we just had to guess that our landlord has a special way of turning it on so we called him up and he told us that he was on vacation and wouldn't be getting back until the next day at about 8 or 9...  so we had to live in the freezing cold for a nightL.  So I bundled up like crazy and I couldn't even tell that we didn't have heat!  That's how bundled up I was!  We checked the thermostat in the morning to see how cold it was in the apartment and it was like 15 degrees!!  It was literally soooo cold!!  So we were talking to a member and he finds out that we don't have heat so he invited us over since we were gonna be there later that day anyway.  He was such a huge help it was honestly awesome!!  

After we were finished there we went and helped a family put up their Christmas lights and we got them all up and it worked out mostly!  We do have to go back and change some strands so it looks better but that's ok.  Then after we went back over to the members who invited us over earlier and we helped them move all of their stuff into their house.  So that was fun and we met a lot of their friends who weren't members and so that was really awesome!!

Then Friday we were able to play bingo!! I love bingo J but other than that nothing too crazy happened on that day. We did find out that the lady we were teaching in the hospital was moved down to Browning.  So then on Saturday we were able to see a lot of people and we found where the lady from the hospital was.  So that was good and then we went and taught an investigator and she told us that she really liked church when she went the other day!  So she's super solid and I’m super excited for her and her family.  So then we invited some people to church and went back and did some work in Cut Bank but nothing else to noteworthy.

Sunday it was awesome!! Because we went to Browning and we saw one of our investigators there and we started talking about baptism and he found out that I might be leaving in the 11^th so he told us that he wants to get baptized before I leave so we have a baptism this Saturday!!! I'm so excited because missionaries have been working with him for so long and he's finally willing to be baptized!!  Tender mercies!! J so that was super exciting... like way beyond exciting J

Sometimes we might think things in our lives are
impossible to fix.  Like when we accidentally
broke the air vent:) But really,
nothing is impossible when we come unto Christ.

Anyway so I wanted to finish off this letter talking about the sacrament meeting we had this week. So the whole stake wanted to do a special fast, where we really had our minds, hearts and testimonies based on the savior.  The spirit in that meeting was soooooo strongJ  It was honestly so awesome!!  It really helped me focus on the sacrament and how important it is for us in our lives.  While we were teaching an investigator she asked us about sinning after you're baptized and how does that work and we explained the sacrament and how it's almost like we are getting baptized again.  She really liked that.  But sometimes I'm not sure we really realize how important the sacrament is.  It's how we can be re-baptized almost every week.  We renew the convents we made at baptism and we are able to remember that we took upon ourselves the name of Christ, our Savior.  That's a big deal!!  The sacrament is so important especially during this season of thanks.  Remembering the savior and setting goals for ourselves to change and ultimately try and be more like Christ is what brings us closer to HimJ

I love you all and I'll catch ya later :) 

Love,

Elder Zeller

123 1/2 4th Ave Se Cut Bank, Montana 

I'm Thankful for Jell-O and So Much More

So this week has been a little different for me and I find myself sitting here looking at this screen trying to figure out how to put into words what I am feeling.  

It hasn’t been a bad week but I’m in a teeny tiny town on the outskirts of the mission and this is the first round of holidays.  I’m away from home and it feels weird.  I mean Thanksgiving was the first major holiday I spent away from home. It was kinda bumming me out at the beginning. I was all like, "man I'm not gonna say I'm thankful for Jell-O this year because no one will have it or even get it... I'm not gonna get a popcorn turkey this year... we aren't gonna go around the room and do “cheers” on what we are thankful for..." a bunch of these memories that I've had from past years kept swirling around in my head.  So to be honest, I was kinda getting bummed out.  

And then we went over to the “Mc” (edited for privacy) house (our Branch Mission Leader) and we had thanksgiving with him and another family.  We were about to eat and Brother “Mc” gives the prayer. And I don't know why but something he said really struck me and stood out to me. Like it made such an impression upon me that I even wrote about it in my journal. But he said something along the lines of, "as these missionaries sacrifice their time away from their families, know that they are a part of our family." Anyway it really was cool and it helped remind me that I'm out here and I'm apart of people's families out here. It was really actually pretty cool!! 

And that lead me to think that I have been blessed with a great family out here (of course they will never replace my own family - that was for you mom).  But there is no doubt that the Lord knew exactly what he was doing when he put us together to work.  With the help of good ol’ president Wadsworth I've been able to fully jump into the work and honestly change my whole thought process of how missionary work goes!  Like really and truly you have no clue how much President Wadsworth has helped me out and even some of my closest friends have too out here!  They've all been so great and in a way like a family.  There are so many people here in Cut Bank and Browning too that I love like family.  This has been a sweetest experience so far.

This also led me to a different thought about those who might not have a lot of family and how hard that must be for them.  The LDS church is doing a “Light the World” challenge and I just thought it would be awesome if all those people out there who are lonely felt what I have felt at this time how much that really could light the world.  So I hope that during this Christmas season (whether you are LDS or not) if everyone who reads this could “Light the World” by looking out for someone without family how cool that would be.

I am so grateful I am where I am.  The Lord knows what we need when we need it.  Love you all and let’s all get going and #lighttheworld

Elder Zeller

123 1/2 4th Ave Se Cut Bank, Montana

The Miracles that Tie Us All Together... The Lords Timing

Hey everyone!!  This week was pretty good!!  

It's pretty crazy how the Lord works as a missionary!!  I've been praying for people to teach for a while now.  Haven't really seen a lot of a difference until this week!  This week we got two different referrals!  We got one online referral from a girl who referred herself and her family!  And we were able to go over and meet them and teach her mother with a stellar member who came with us!  How cool is that!  Then a member told us about this lady which he had talked to already about the gospel and she was really interested!!  So he brought us over to meet her and this lady is a machine when it comes to reading material!  We have given her every pamphlet and book we can and she just eats it up.  However the one thing she hasn't read all the way through yet is the Book of Mormon!  But she is reading it, so that is super exciting!  Plus she's at the hospital so she's stuck there for us to teach her.  She even told us that once she gets out of the hospital she would like to get baptized!  How amazing is that!  Another miracle that ties this all together is that the referral Family, the mom works at the hospital and she looks after the lady we teach in the hospital so we get to see her a lot!  I love it!  

The Lord works in such mysterious ways and it's so important to know that we may want something right now but the Lord has his timing of when it'll be perfect.  How amazing is Heavenly Father that He can bless others through us!  I just love the thought!  

I love this gospel and I love seeing people's eyes be filled with the love of Christ especially in this Christmas season!  I love seeing the lights all around.  The court house here in town set up a ton of cool lights and so naturally I had to take a picture... or two... or more!!  I just love Christmas and I love that they keep Christ in Christmas!  I love you all and I'll catch y'all next week!!

Love,

Elder Zeller

123 1/2 4th Ave Se

Cut Bank, Montana

Birthday Celebration and Inspiration

Howdy everyone! This week was pretty awesome!! My birthday came around and I'm 19 now!! Kinda weird, because in less than one year now I won't be a teenager anymore.  Kinda scary not gonna lie 😅 anyway I had a super cool experience this week in Browning.  So this is what happened...

The wind was blowing across the town of Browning.  We could hear dogs barking in the distance but we didn't care.  We had a job to do as missionaries.  A job that required our complete and 100% focus.  We had just left a members home who wasn't totally active in the church and we were hoping to maybe get her to come to church that Sunday.  After we left we were at a loss.  We had some time and didn't know what to do with it.  We threw ideas back and forth then finally another less active member popped into my head.  We decided to go with it.  Not knowing what would happen but we had the confidence that the Lord knew what he was doing. 

We walked up to the door and in an act of bravado knocked on the door... we waited... and waited... nothing happened.  We rang the doorbell... we waited again... still no answer.  In a last ditch effort we knocked on the door and after a few seconds started walking back to the car.  As I took those first few steps I wondered why we were here and why the Lord had sent us here.  After a few more steps we heard the door unlock and proceed to open.  We immediately turned around to see if it was the member we were hoping to see.  It wasn't.  But this didn't deter us.  We had been sent to this home for a reason and we needed to talk to this lady.  She invited us inside and started talking to us.  After a while she told us of her struggles in life that she was going through and how scared she was.  The Spirit then took over and allowed us to help this broken woman, who had almost lost hope, feel the love of God again in her life.  Towards the end of our discussion she told us how she felt like we were sent there for her and that God was looking out for her.  We talked about the church and she explained how she wanted her daughter to be baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  However, her daughter was two years old; so we explained to her about how we do baptisms and what we believe.  She told us that she wanted to become a member of the church as well and that she wanted her child to be blessed into the church and eventually get baptized.  As we were leaving we left her with a copy of the Book of Mormon and some other material for her to read about the church and asked her to come on Sunday.  She told us she would.  As we left the house we now knew why we had been sent there.

This experience has shown me that the spirit doesn't give us impressions just for fun.  He knows more than we possibly could and that if we receive an impression we need to act on it because you never know what could happen.  We also need to be constantly receptive and making sure that we are worthy of having the Holy Ghost in our lives so that we can receive those crucial promptings by the spirit.  "... by the power of the Holy Ghost he may know the truth of all things." (Moroni 10:5) this is how we have questions answered and this is how we can change lives.  Through the Holy Ghost we can have those hard questions of life answered and through the Holy Ghost we can change lives – both those around us and our own.  I've seen the Holy Ghost work in my life to bless others as well as myself, and through the spirit I've had questions answered when I couldn't find an answer on my own.  I know this gospel is true and that it has the power to change anyone's life.  

Love you guys!!

Love,
Elder Zeller

123 1/2 4th Ave Se

Cut Bank, Montana

Service & a Holiday Bazaar

Hey everyone!  This week has been pretty good!!  Elder Allen got up and transferred so we went by people's houses that he wanted to say goodbye to.  Then we did a lot of traveling.  Like honestly most of this week has been traveling 😅 but I got my new companion and his name is Elder Lankford.  He's a pretty cool guy and it'll be really great to work with him!  

It's really cool because I can see the work flourishing!!  This past weekend we had the opportunity to do service for the city at a holiday bazaar and there were a lot of people that needed help moving in and out of it, so that's what we were there for!  

We were able to meet a lot of people from Cut Bank that I didn't even know existed!  So that was awesome because we got a lot of referrals. Some of them were from cut bank and others were from other places in Montana.  So we will get in touch with other missionaries and have them give a visit to those people.  It really was super cool and people were very appreciative of what we did :) I definitely was able to see that when you are in the service of your fellow beings you really are only in the service of your God.

Also I realized that I totally forgot to put pictures in last weeks email so I'm putting them in this one 😅 my bad 😅 anyway I love you all!! I'll catch you next week!!

Love,

Elder Zeller

123 1/2 4th Ave Se Cut Bank, Montana

Trick or TREATING the Book of Mormon

Hey everyone!! This week has been awesome like most of my weeks:)

This Thursday we had a trunk or treat in Browning and it was so great!!  The spirit there was awesome!  We had at least 10 or so missionaries come so we were honestly inviting people in off the street offering a free dinner for them.  It was super cool to see everyone so appreciative and it was just awesome!  Everyone we invited in was talked to about the gospel.  I loved being able to see the missionary initiative like this, was just way cool!!   We gave out 2 crates FULL of Book of Mormons!  So I would guess that we passed out maybe like 50 or so books:)

We invited everyone to church and we even set up a return appointment with a guy and so we are going to see him on Saturday or something!!  I'm so excited for the work that is happening out here!!  The people out here are definitely blossoming like a rose.  It's taking some time but eventually it'll be amazing to see the saints of Browning. 

Church rolled around and no one from the trunk or treat came but its ok because we know that there are Book of Mormons out there and that some people are now able to be touch by the spirit easier than maybe before:)  So we will see what the future brings.

I love this gospel and the things I see. I love you guys and I'll talk to you later!!!

Love,
Elder Zeller
123 1/2 4th Ave Se Cut Bank, Montana

Dogs, Food and a Hutterite Colony - My week as a Missionary

Hey guys!! This week has been pretty fun!! After I left on Monday we went over to this member’s house for dinner and a lesson and it was really good!! The kids were kinda bouncing off the walls after dinner so we weren't able to share anything with them but it's ok!! We brought the spirit into their homes and we talked about church and whatnot at the table so in a way we did share a message!! :)

Then on Tuesday we went to browning and I was chased by dogs as you can see 😂 it was fun :) I almost got my leg taken off by a dog I kid you not! It was so funny afterward 😂

Wednesday we had district meeting and that was fun!! (We got invited to go to a hutterite colony up here in Montana and so that's where I've been today.)

But anyway nothing really noteworthy happened on Thursday.

Then on Friday we had dinner with an investigator that moved here from China and he made us fried rice. It was pretty good!! It was a bit salty but all in all I was really appreciative that he made us a meal :)

On Saturday we jumped over to browning once again and all our plans fell through. So that sucked but we were able to visit with a lot of other people so it balanced itself out :)

Yesterday I went to the cut bank branch and Elder Allen went to the browning branch and it was really good!!  We got a few less active members to church and so we were pretty happy about that :) then after church brother “M” invited us over for dinner. It was way awesome!! We went over and talked with them a little bit and they made us food!! They are honestly the best you guys!! They love missionary work and it's just so great that I was able to get to know them :) 

Today we had the opportunity to go to a hutterite colony and it was super cool!! We were able to see where they lived and everything and we even got to ask them questions!! It was a ton of fun!! 

Well that was my week!!

Take care everyone :) I'll catch you next time!!

Love,

Elder Zeller

123 1/2 4th Ave Se Cut Bank, Montana