"Choose the Right"... literally:)

“Obedience brings miracles”, I've heard this said more times over the past few months than my whole life combined.  And serving in Cut Bank I wasn't sure what this meant.  I'm in an area where there isn't much progress.  I've been obedient the whole time I've been a missionary.  I pray for my investigators and the less actives we are teaching, but they weren't progressing and they still aren't progressing. 

Earlier this week I witnessed a miracle; a miracle that God had given us through his mercy because we had “chosen the right”.  It was earlier this week and my companion and I just had a lady call us and schedule a time on Saturday. So we had planned on seeing this lady right at the time that she had scheduled but we ended up having an hour where we didn't know what to do… so we chose the right. We were at an intersection and we turned right.  And it was about 10 feet down that road we met this guy named “K”(edited for privacy). Guys “K” was probably the most receptive person I've met. We started talking to him and before we even had a chance to ask him he said that he would try and make it to our church and he accepted a Book of Mormon and everything!!  It was so cool!!  Then while we were feeling so good, one of our investigators told us he wasn't going to make it to church at all for the rest of the year because he has his own church where he goes to into his garage and practices Buddhism. Kind of a bummer, but hey it’s all good!!  Life as a missionary was still great!!

Also my bike has been a piece of work let me tell you.  I went out on my first week in Cut Bank and the tire was flat so we got slime when we were in Great Falls and we go to put it in and get the tire pumped up when I find out that my bike has a special valve on the tube called a presto valve. I had never seen this in my life.  So we found a member who knew something about bikes and he had a presto valve bike pump!!  So I pump up my tire and I'm good the rest of the day. Well the next day rolls around and its flatter but still rideable so I ride it for a solid week then it gets so low.  I'm worried about damaging my rim so I go to this member’s house and pump it up again on Thursday.  Then on Friday I come outside to ride it and it's completely flat... It's all good though because now I can find out how to change a bike tire or put a patch on it and I'm only a month into my mission so now I can have this knowledge all my life!! So it's not all bad!! :)

Then on Saturday we had 3 appointments set up in Browning and all 3 bailed on us… such is the life of a missionary!! :)  Then Sunday came around annnnnnd “K” didn't show up... But it's all good!! I see enormous potential with him and I know that with the Lord all things are possible all we have to do is choose the right :)

I know that obedience brings blessings and that saying doesn't just apply to missionaries and the missionary handbook.  It can apply to everyone and living the commandments.  I've come to know that through obedience God will bless you.  I've seen this principle in action and it is so amazing.  God knows when to bless you in your lives. President Eyring said in this last general conference, "All of us have had our faith tested by precious blessings delayed, vicious attacks of those who wanted to destroy our faith, temptations to sin, and selfish interests that reduced our efforts to cultivate and soften the spiritual depths of our hearts." I love how he says that our faith can be tested through blessings being delayed. Sometimes we feel like God doesn't hear us in our prayers and that God doesn't bless us. I know that he does and that he blesses us on His timeline because He knows us and how to bless us and it might not be the right time.

You asked if I’ve been homesick… of course I've been homesick. It would be kinda weird if I wasn't.  But even throughout the times I've felt that, I felt the lord and savior so much closer because they know that I can do this and so they cheer me on and I can feel it. It's a feeling I almost can't describe but it fills me with happiness :) 2 years and I'll be back :) no sweat :) I always remind myself that I'm giving people what I was born into through the grace of God. I'm giving them families forever. To me it's worth it being away for two years if I get to almost give back to God and pay it forward by giving others the opportunity to live with their families forever. I've been so incredibly blessed by being born in this gospel. I want to give others the same opportunity.

I love you all!! 

-Elder Zeller

P.s. Add me on Facebook if you want!!  Elder Jaxon Zeller (I won't be able to add you back but you can see things going on!)

Mission Moments: Mac'n Cheese & an Apostle {nothing sweeter than that}

Hey everyone!! This week has been crazy!!! But hey I've been out for a full week in the field!! Even though I've only spent a total of about three days in my area...

This last Monday was zone p-day so we drove down to great falls to spend it with the zone!! We basically just hung out in the stake center and played games. It was a blast though because I got to meet everyone!! After that we got to go and eat dinner with the Stake President. We got out a little later than expected so we had to stay the night in Conrad with the elders there.  All I'm going to say is their couch is the most uncomfortable thing I've ever been on. We then went to Cut Bank the next morning.

Later this week, the care center that we will go and help the people play bingo at had a barbecue so we were able to get some service in and help them set up.  While we were there we did a lot of contacting! It was awesome!! Hopefully we have a return appointment with a lady we met there. She seemed kinda hesitant but willing to hear what we had to say. 

Then on Friday we drove to Great Falls for a zone meeting which was pretty cool.  We stayed in Fairfield with those elders and went to Helena the next day to hear from D Todd Chrisofferson!! Talk about super cool!! And I was lucky because the next day they held Stake Conference and he spoke there as well!! So I got to see and hear from him twice!! The mission conference in Helena was awesome because I got to see all my MTC buddies.  It was so weird because we had only been gone for a week but it felt like so much longer.

Then in stake conference they had all the missionaries sit on the stand so I was literally sitting 3 feet from an apostle for 2 hours!! That guy just radiates the spirit... It was awesome :) My companion and I saw one of the less active families from Cut Bank there and we think that an investigator came as well!!  It's super awesome because it's like a 2 hour drive!!  Then we drove on home to Cut Bank and just started working again!!

Oh something cool that an elder here taught me was how to make fat ties and turn them into skinny ties!!  I'm loving it! I've already done it to one of my ties and it looks awesome!! Anyway I'm still loving it here and I'm working hard!! Love you all!!

-Elder Zeller

P.S. The pictures here are as follows: The first one is me having Mac and cheese for the first time on my mission!!! 😭😍❤ The second one is a sneak picture I took of Elder Christofferson that shows how close I was to him. I was literally 3 feet away from an apostle!! Then the next one is a nursery in Fairfield:) it was cool 😅  Then the last one is we went to a members home for dinner and the oldest boy showed us his snake and the snake ended up being hungry. So he ate a mouse... It was awesome!!!!! 

I Never Knew About Potluck Sunday!!!

Hey everyone!!! It's been awhile since you heard from me last. That's because I got out into the field!!  I missed a prep day so that's why it's taken me so long to write.

But never fear I'm back!! But hey, I'm serving in the furthest north area!! It's also one of the most ghetto areas!! 😅 (sorry mom) I'm serving in the Great Falls area, more specifically the Cut Bank & Browning branches.  It is a real small town here and it's really different than Lehi! I've been here for 4 days and I'm already in love with the people and the work so much. That actually reminds me of an experience I had… 

So the first couple of days I was super nervous about talking to random people and talking to the about the gospel. I mean, that just isn't something I did before, so it was kinda weird.  Anyway, I don't know why but I was reading in Moroni chapter 8 (specifically verse 16).  I read the last line of that verse that says, "... Perfect love casteth out all fear."  I read that and realized that this applied to my investigators and even random people I meet.  I need that perfect love, or Christ-like love for them.  I started to do that and the change was amazing!  I started thinking of inspired questions and I was better able to connect with the different investigators.  It was a complete and total change at how I had started and how I am now in the field and it's only been a few days.

One of my MTC teachers, brother Farr, used the vineyard parable as an analogy for missionaries.  The parable (for those who might not know) is about a master who hires workers to work in his vineyard. He hires them at different times of the day even as late as one hour before the work was done. But in the end he paid them all the same. He used this as an analogy for missionaries; some missionaries understand their purpose right off the bat and others learn their purpose a month before they come home.  They all worked at different lengths but they all got the same title of an RM (Return Missionary).  The only difference was how closely they worked with the Lord.  

I feel as though I'm learning my purpose better.  It's so exciting to see!!  But here in Cut Bank and Browning they don't have wards, they have branches.  With about 10 people per branch!!! Talk about completely different than Lehi!!!  It's been so great thoughJ.  One of the best parts of the branches (besides the members obviously) was the fact that this Sunday happened to be... POTLUCK SUNDAY!!!  We never had potlucks back home!!!  And the perk of being a missionary is I went to both branches so I got double potlucks!!!  And the food was soooo good!!  It was kinda weird though because this was the first Sunday where I went to an actual church building without my family.  It was kind of a weird experience and no one sings!!!  So it was literally me and another lady singing and I swear I'm tone deaf!!  But I didn't care!!

Something crazy about the area I serve (mostly browning) is that wild dogs just roam around the town (like packs of them).  And they attack cars!!!  They're literally everywhere!!  It's so crazy and I love it!! :)

Me and Elder Allen (that's my new companion, he's a super cool guy!!), we went contacting less actives and people that we thought would benefit from a visit from the missionaries.  So we went and visited the D - family (edited for privacy) and they are so awesome!!  We went in and talked and taught for like 2 straight hours!!  It was so great!!  We also talked to the H (Edited for privacy) at the D-family house and we talked to D (the mother) about her husband T, because he had been put on baptism date but then never showed up.  She said that we need to start meeting with him again so we can baptize him and D actually wants a patriarchal blessing!! How cool!!

We also had an appointment with this sister in Cut Bank named Sister M(edited for privacy).  She actually used to live in London but moved here and her conversion story is so dang cool!! She was on her computer in London and was about to go to bed when she heard somebody say "turn and look at me".  She thought it was her husband who had woken up but when she turned and looked there Jesus was on the computer screen waving for her to come to him.  The video then ended and the Mormon missionaries’ phone number popped up so she called it and asked for a Book of Mormon.  When the missionaries showed up she said to them, "I didn't order you guys! I just wanted a Book of Mormon."  She of course let them in and then was converted.  Elder Allen and I are still working on her husband.  He says that he's unconvertable, but we will see.  With the Lord anything is possible.

Oh man though my apartment is so small!!!  I love it!!!  I'll send pictures of it.  I wish I could send video but that's against the rules so pictures will have to do!!  Oh, and D. Todd Christofferson is coming for a missionary conference and a stake conference that I get to go to!!!  I'm so excited!!!

Oh and before I forget, I haven't told you about leaving the MTC… So the night before we all left we moved all the mattresses into one room and had this huge sleepover.  It was so awesome!!  We then woke up with the elders going to Florida at 3:30am (I'm going to miss those elders).  We became a family and it felt as though I was leaving my family all over again.  But I wouldn't want them doing anything else.  I'm sure that they are all giving the people of Florida the restored gospel and I love those guys!!  

I'm sure that most of you have already heard what happened at the airport before I left to Montana.  But I want to go over my experience and what I was feeling.  While at the airport I was able to call home.  I had been looking forward to this ever since I learned I would be able to!  So I called them and I was put on a conference call with everyone.  I was talking to my family and just looking around the airport and then I look down the terminal.  As I looked down I saw my dad.  My first thought was, "what the heck is he doing here?"  I was then overcome with emotion and I burst into tears and put my head in the phone booth area.  My dad then came up to me and gave me the biggest and best hug I've had in 3 weeks.  It was at this point that I found out that he had a flight booked for work before I gave my information away about my flight.  I feel as though this was divine intervention from the Lord.  Prior to this I was having worries about going to Montana.  I was worried about the work; and I was worried if I was what I needed to be for these people; and I was worried that I would fail.  Then I saw my dad and he told me, "I'm proud of you boy" this was exactly what I needed to hear at this time.  It reassured me that I'm ready for this and that I could do it.  Thanks dad :)

I just want to end this lengthy email with my testimony of this glorious gospel.  I love it.  I love the spirit it gives and the happiness it brings.  Being outside the Utah bubble has shown me what places are like without the gospel and I'm so thankful that God gave me the opportunity to grow up in this beautiful and true gospel. 

I was reading in first Nephi today when I read about Nephi building the boat. God commands him to build it and his first question was where can I find ore to make tools to build it? He doesn't come up with excuses like well I don't know how to build a boat; I'm unqualified; or he doesn't have to tools or means to make a boat. Instead he knew that with God all things are possible through the Lord.  I love this gospel so much!  And I love everyone who reads this!  Thank you for following me on this journey!

-Elder Zeller

P.S. My address is

123 1/2 4th Ave SE

Cut Bank, Montana

59427

Elder Zeller Heads Out to Big Sky Country {A Mom Post}

Today my boy left the MTC to enter into the mission field of the Montana Billings Mission.  The words which Alma spoke to his son Shiblon capture our feelings so well as parents...  

Alma 38:2-3

“And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end.

I say unto you, my son, that I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy long-suffering among the people of the Zoramites.”

We sat on the phone with joy in our hearts, knowing that his father had a business trip (that was preplanned some time ago) and would be flying out at the exact same time as our son.  We all cried as the surprise was discovered and Elder Zeller was able to embrace his father one last time before he went out into the field.  We are truly blessed and we are grateful every day. 

22 Missionaries were boarding this flight so I feel it pertinent to quote one of my favorite apostles of our day, “Ward and stake councils can no longer say, … ‘There they go.’ No, the hour is upon us in which we must now say, ‘Here they come.’”—Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

From silverware to piñatas, I simply love this place

Hey everyone! This past week has just flown by! It’s weird to think that this time next week I’ll be in Montana! I’ve got mixed feelings about it because I obviously want to get out into the field and work at bringing others to Christ but I’ve just come to love my district so much that  I’m going to miss them once they're gone because I won’t be able to see them.

But hey a few funny things have happened this week… first me and this other elder whose going to Montana (Elder Anderson) decided to sneak a ton of silverware into his companions coat pockets during dinner (It was Elder Scouson).  We were about to just head into choir when he found them! We literally put like 20 pieces in his coat in random places!

Also you know that piñata you sent me mom? Well we busted that thing up and the whole floor had a blast! But this Sunday the branch president said that piñatas are against the rules and that we can’t do them anymoreL So I’m sorry mom; if you were planning on sending another one you can’t because it’s a rule now 😅

We’ve had a few things happen with our TRC's (Training Resource Center). This is a thing where they mix real investigators with not real ones and we teach them a few lessons to help us learn how to do things out in the field. I freaking love them, but we’ve had one funny thing that happened and an amazing experience happen while doing this training.  

First the funny thing…

This week we got some new investigators and so we went to this one lady to teach her and we were planning on teaching her the first lesson.  So we're talking to her to get to know her a bit more and it was weird… all the questions that she was answering weren't anywhere near what we knew about her from her slip of paper they give us to help us with a quick bio in it.  It was at this point that she asked us if we were teaching the wrong lady so we asked her how she pronounced her name (because she was from japan and I didn't know) and she pronounces it… it wasn't our investigator! It wasn't even close!! So we quickly apologized and went to go find our investigator and it turned out that she was sick! Talk about embarrassing!! oh well it was good for a laugh :)

Now for the not embarrassing moment…

so before the other experience we had 2 investigators and their names were Zach and Sydney.  Our first TRC was with Zach and my experience with him reminds me of the story of Benjamin Franklin Johnson; (This is Jaxon’s Great-Great-Great Grandfather who was best friends with the prophet Joseph Smith) where he gave great talks to many people and he got prideful so when he went to speak to a big congregation nothing happened and he couldn’t do it.  Well the same thing happened to me and my companion.  We were feeling great because we had given some great lessons before, and we got a bit prideful.  It was the worst lesson ever!  The spirit didn’t teach and it was telling us, “you can’t teach without the spirit”.  We used this as a humbling experience and quickly repented and our lesson with Sydney later that night went so great.  The spirit led that lesson and testified to me as to what God wanted me to say and talk about to invite the spirit.

I love it here so much though because they really push us. Like in our lessons they keep adding new material and ways to teach and it feels really overwhelming at first, but then as you get to teaching the spirit really does bring things to your remembrance and we are able to use the teaching strategies as the spirit sees fit and it’s just so amazing to see. It’s just another confirmation to me that this gospel is true and that there's no other way that it couldn't. I just love it so much and I’ve come to love it even more.  It just makes sense... I love you guys so much!

-Elder Zeller

p.s. Warner I got your letter! And my mailbox number is 216 for anyone who wants to knowJ