... he knew that we had God with us

Howdy from the great white north! :) I have absolutely loved this week!

Tuesday we had an awesome baptism for a girl in the ward. We've been working with her family for a while now and they have come a long way so we were able to see her baptism and that was awesome :) I gave a talk on baptism and so that was really fun. I hope that the spirit was able to teach her as much as it was able to teach me as I prepared it. He's a picture from that

Then on Wednesday we had our last district meeting before this next transfer so we had a bit of fun and did the whole pillow fight thing I did in my last district for the whole “what are we fighting for” as missionaries.  It was really fun and we were able to kinda let loose. So here is some pictures from the fun we had. 

Then on Thursday we decided to go take some pictures for Facebook since we hadn’t done that the whole transfer.  So we went to a park to take some pictures and this like 19 year old guy starts walking over to us.  I look over and I think, "he's gonna come over and talk to us."  So missionary mode kicks in and I call out to him and I'm just like hey how's it going?  And we start talking to him and explain who we are and what we do.  He then tells us that he felt as though he needed to talk to us because he knew that we had God with us.  So we got his information and everything and we plan on swinging by sometime soon!!  Then later that night we had splits with a member of the ward and we were out doing stuff and we decided to go swing by an investigators house and see how she's doing.  Well for some reason I went to the wrong house 😅 and I didn't realize until it was too late.  The member thought it was funny.  I knocked on the door and asked for the investigator and she's all like, "umm she doesn't live here..." so on the inside I'm like screaming because I was like, “why the heck did I come here!!”  I knew what house it was.  Then I realized that the Lord must have sent us there on purpose so I go into my whole door approach and I didn't get a return appointment but who knows?!?  It was pretty funny though.

Then Saturday came along and we had dinner with a part member family and they were telling us about how the missionary taco eating record was 14 1/2 tacos so naturally I had to beat that 😅 so I went for it and I got to like 14 tacos and I felt myself fill up.  It was crazy, but I was so close I had to push through!! So I buckled down and ate one last taco and got the record for the most tacos eaten by a missionary!!  So that was awesome and they put me on their wall 😅 I took a picture of that naturally 😂  So that was a blast!!  I wasn't feeling too good when I went home but hey no regrets from this end!! :)

Then Sunday was transfer day... we got the call and well… Elder Bozue is leaving me L  this transfer with him has honestly been a blast.  Over the past 6 weeks Elder Bozue became more than a companion or a friend; he became my brother.  We got along so well and we were able to work really hard and I loved it all so much.  But I'm staying in the area so I'm super happy about that.  And I'm getting a new companion!!  Elder Blum!!  So far I've heard a lot of really good things from him so I'm excited about it :) anyway so we had dinner with the Simmons who are probably my favorite family of all time!!  They are seriously the best!!  Sister Simmons made the freaking best lasagna ever!!  Like honestly on a scale of 1-10 it's like 100000000 😍😍 so good... anyway after dinner brother Simmons took us to go see the helicopters and try on some gear!!  It was so awesome!!  I got some pictures of that!! 

 

I've loved this week but transfer weeks are always tough because I have to say goodbye to all my friends for who knows how long.  It reminds me of the scripture where Alma sees the sons of Mosiah for the first time after they went out to teach the gospel, "...Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God." (Alma 17:2)  I'm excited to see what all these great elders and sisters do and see how much they come closer to Christ over the course of my mission and theirs.

I love all of you!! Talk to you next week!! :)

Love,

Elder Zeller

2425 6th Ave. S Great Falls MT 59405

Two for One!!!

1/9/2017

Hey everyone!! This week has been awesome!!  All last week I was praying and I was like, "please let next week be better. Please!" And you won't believe what happened!! It was!! J  I kid you not, in the first three days we had more lessons then we had the entire last two weeks put together!  And we even started doing splits

twice a week instead of just once!!  The work is doing so good and I'm loving every second of it!  I found myself thinking less and less of home this week and more and more about the work.  It was honestly sooooo cool and I'm seeing so many miracles!! We started out the week having more lessons than the previous two weeks combined!!  It was so awesome!  Theeeeeen Elder Bozue got a bit sick 😅 so we were kind of stuck in our apartment for most of the week trying to get him feeling better.  He would start feeling better than it would get worse and he couldn't sleep for very long.  

Anyway later this week we had the opportunity to go up to Browning for a baptism but it didn't end up happening which is ok!  You know everyone needs to do things at their own time you know what I mean??  I've been able to see the hand of the Lord during this week through inspiration I've received and being able to purify myself and make myself a greater missionary. But the sweetest miracle I saw this week was on Sunday…

We go to church and this lady shows up and I have never seen her before, but I'm kinda new so that happens every once in a while.  So I didn't think anything of it so I just kinda sat there and she walks up to bear her testimony and she shares her story as to why she came to church.  She had been praying for help and her visiting teachers just happened to come by.  They were able to help her when she needed it most!!  How cool is that!?!  She's pretty excited to be coming back to church and she's hoping to get a patriarchal blessing soon but she’s taking one step at a time.  Next we had a lesson in gospel principles and it was so great and she was just able to talk and meet a lot of members.  It was a sweet thing to happen.

Sometimes I don’t think we realize that the little things we do can have the greatest impact on others and the ripple effect can be great.  Something as simple as visiting teachers going to visit someone changed her life for the better. 

I love it out here so much and I love the people!! They are seriously the best!! I can honestly say this is the best ward I've served in!! No doubt in my mind... now the truth is it may be the ONLY ward I've served in but the best nonetheless!!

  

I love all you guys and I hope everything is going alright!! Talk to you next week!!

1/16/2017

Hey everyone!! This week has been soooo solid!!

So a few things… on Thursday we had a zone conference with the two zones up here and it was super awesome!!  They talked about how we can use Facebook and members in missionary work (at least that's what I got out of itJ).  It was super cool to see different ways Facebook can be used.

Then on Friday we had exchanges where I went with one of my zone leaders and worked in his area and I learned sooooo much about my abilities as a missionary.  I also learned about a lot of ways that I can improve.  I mean there is always room for improvement and I definitely can use some improvement!!  I was able to teach a lot of really cool people.  And meanwhile over in my area they committed one of our investigators to baptism!!  It's amazing how the spirit is able to work.

Then on Sunday we had a ton of people at church and it was so awesome to see them there!!  And in one of the lessons we talked about using Facebook and social media to flood the earth and I have a super strong testimony of using Facebook now and other forms of social media to hasten the workJ  It's super awesome!!  Something we've done when we go over to members houses is we have them go through their friends list on Facebook and go through and if they feel inspired to share something with a certain individual then do it!  Share a Mormon message or a Mormon ad or something.  So I guess that I would challenge some of you guys to do the same or even just go check out some of the Mormon messages out there, they are so awesome!! I love all you guys so much!!

Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Zeller

2425 6th Ave. S Great Falls MT 59405

The Best Way to Spend New Year's Eve

Hey everyone! This week has been kinda slow.  Apparently this time of year is pretty tough for missionaries because everyone is out of town or they have company and they can't talk.  But it was New Year’s day, as I'm sure all of you are aware of... 😅 We tried thinking of how to best use our time on New Year’s because we had to be in our apartment earlier that day.  So we decided that we would go to an assisted living center and visit those people who might not have company.  It was really fun to go and just talk to them and listen to their life story.  It was definitely one of the best ways to spend New Year's EveJ  Other than that not much else happened.  Like I said no one is in town 😅

We went to church and I walked in like 15 minutes before church was supposed to start and it looked like it was a branch.  It filled up by the time church started but there was still a lot of people missing (probably because everyone was up so late 😅).  So yeah that was my week.  Also it snowed like a bunch 😂 and this snow is way different than Utah snow!! I didn't realize that snow could be so different but it is!!

Alright now it's time to get serious for a moment.  I want to kinda talk about the power of prayer.  I was reading in the doctrine and covenants the other day and I read chapter 88 verse 68 and it says, "Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will."  The end of this really hit me.  The fact that he will unveil his face to us in his own time, in his way and according to his will.  Sometimes it's hard to see when he blesses us, or helps our testimony grow but it's on His time table; kind of a game changer in my eyes.  I love the power of prayer and as a missionary I rely on it a lot!  The Lord is there and he always will be!!  He's waiting for your prayer and He wants to answer it.  

I love you guys and I'll talk to you next week!!

Love,

Elder Zeller

2425 6th Ave. S Great Falls MT 59405