April fools. haha I am so funny aren't I? I had to do something to
someone because I don't think pranks are really allowed here. haha Hey
Mace, did ya drink any goldfish yesterday? haha So my visa didn't come
last week but maybe this week right? It gets closer and closer every
week. haha but for reals. maybe this week. I wonder what they are
doing with it that is taking so long. Hmmm. I will never know. Even
though my visa didn't come I had a REALLY REALLY awesome week and some
pretty cool experiences. (Side note: Martha I got your letter and it
was the best EVER! 10 pages!) Martha was ahead of the curve I guess
and sent me a handwritten letter. I know you all heard it from a
general authority in conference to write missionaries REAL TANGIBLE
letters. That was the best thing ever. Emails are great but.... ya
know. So thank you David F. Evans. You all don't want to be sinners do
you? So write me a letter. Even if you don't know where I am. It will
get to me eventually. haha But I guess I will find it in my heart to
forgive you if you don't. maybe. But anyways.
Last monday was pretty fun. We played volleyball and some weird card
game called munchkin. It was funny but pretty weird. haha Transfers
were wednesday so everyone took pictures and said goodbye to those who
were getting transfered or going home. Our district didn't change too
much. On Monday I also made the best purchase ever. A "piggle wiggly"
t-shirt. It's awesome. I will attach a picture. Tuesday during
personal study I was reading the April ensign and I read the talk
about being encircled in the arms of His love or something like that.
One part stood out to me SO much. It said "I am convinced that none of
us can appreciate how deeply it wounds the loving heart of the Savior
of the world when He finds that His people do not feel confident in
His care or secure in His hands." Wow. That hit me hard. How many
times have I freaked out over the dumbest things or felt like nothing
was going to work out. All I needed to do was turn to my Savior and
let Him take those burdens from me. He is willing and ready. He can
heal ANY hurt. I loved that so much.
Wednesday started out as the worst day with ALL of our solid
appointments being cancelled. So we stopped by a potential families
house that we had previously stopped by once before but they weren't
home. As we walked up to the door I started freaking out in my head
like I always do and kept thinking, "What am I gonna say? What if they
yell at us? (no one has yelled at us yet so I don't know why I get so
scared haha) What if they say no? These questions just flood my mind.
So we go up to the door and I take a deep breath. We knock. A lady
comes to the door, opens it, smiles at us and says, "come on in." My
immediate reaction was to drop my mouth wide open and be like, "Wait,
are you sure?" haha but we went in. She was SO nice and we talked for
a bit and explained who we were. We found this family because they are
friends with a member of the ward so we talked about that and then she
said, "We just started going to this new church. We are pretty happy
with it." I could tell my companion was about to say well thanks
anyway. But the spirit was telling me in my head "do not give up do
not give up." I had no idea what to respond with so I just blurted out
"Have you ever read the Book of Mormon?" She said, no I haven't but I
think my husband has. So she goes and gets her husband and her
daughter and we are all standing there. The husband goes off about all
these weird untrue things he heard about the Book of Mormon (never
actually read it though) and I just ask him if he would like to learn
more. He says no so I'm thinking okay we will give up now. But the
spirit keeps telling me do not give up do not give up. My companion
looks at me like I am crazy but I just keep asking them questions.
Then I asked them again if we could come back and answer some of their
concerns and THIS TIME they said YES!!! I was like, booya! Thank you
Spirit! Man, I was so nervous throughout that whole conversation and
had no idea what I was going to say but the Lord really will help you
out. He DID help me out. We are seeing them again tomorrow night. Yay!
Later that night Sister Ross and I went to Olive Garden to celebrate
my birthday a week late. haha Oh boy are breadsticks delicious (allie,
they always make me think of you. Happy Birthday btw. I thought of you
on the 30th and kept saying "It's Allies birthday, Yay." just so you
know. haha)
Thursday was also amazing. Our investigator and his girlfriend have been
saying they can't get married for a while and sister Ross and I knew
we needed to have the law of chastity lesson with them but we were both
super nervous. So we planned out the lesson and went. It went GREAT!
They said that they are realizing more and more the importance of
marriage. I kept thinking in my head, "Wow, Prayer answered!" Then we
asked them if they have been praying about the BOM and he raised his
hand so fast and said "I did" like an excited kid in kindergarden. It
was so funny. He said he got a "tingly" feeling and he knows it is
true! I hope they liked conference!
Friday was my FOUR MONTH mark in the mission. Wow, I can't believe it.
I still feel like I just got here. It goes by SO fast! Some days I
feel like I have no idea what I am doing but the Lord always helps me
to have the strength to keep trying. I know that everyones prayers
help with that too.
The best for last I guess. CONFERENCE. How amazing was it? I am not
bias or anything but that missionary choir was AWESOME! It was so cool
to hear them sing at conference. The choir director is the same one I
had in the MTC and he is so funny. There were so many things I loved
from conference but I will just share a few of the most meaningful for
me. Of course the one about writing missionaries was towards the top.
haha I loved Dalin H. Oaks talk about the Atonement and sacrifice. It
made me think of how small a sacrifice this mission is compared to
Christ's sacrifice for me. Very humbling. I also loved how Henry B.
Eyring talked about how sometimes we go through trials not because we
did something wrong but because we just need a little more
"polishing." Even if we are good, we can always be better. And we can
do that by overcoming trials. I loved when Quintin L. Cook said that
what we ARE speaks so loudly people can't hear what we say. So true.
Richard G. Scott said that "fear departs when faith endures." That was
pretty great. If we just have faith and apply the Atonement we need
not fear the future. And I think my favorite quote was when Neil L.
Anderson posed the question, "What thinks Christ of me?" That really
made me think. If the Savior were to judge me right now and look at
all that I have done in my life what would he think? What a motivation
that question is to be better. I have a lot of work to do and I want
my Savior to be proud of me when I return to Him. He is the only one
that we need to aim to please. Pleasing the world will get us nowhere.
We need to do our best to be our best. As Elder Holland said, "Don't
delay, it's getting late."
I know this Gospel is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It brings peace in
times of chaos and pain. Christ suffered so that we could give him our
burdens and our mistakes. He is our best friend. The one that will
always be there and will always understand what we are going through.
I know that is true.
I don't know what lies ahead for me this week but I have faith and
trust that the Lord is in charge and He know what is best. I love you
all so much. Tchau until next week!
Sister Zeller
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