MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

I've been out for over 2 months!

I am so happy! Christmas is the best and I am having a blast! I think I have gotten more presents on my mission than any other year at home. The ward has definitely shown us some love. We got two huge boxes from the ward--from toilet paper to fuzzy socks. (Wahoo fuzzy socks!) Thank you to everyone who sent me Christmas cards and letters :) Shout out to the Hicks family for the package!

There was a storm on Tuesday and the roads were terrible. We kept sliding around and we saw like three accidents. We had to chill at a members house for a few hours until it was safe for us to go out again. Good thing I was driving. (Just kidding, I have barely any experience driving in snow.)

We had our Christmas conference on Thursday and it was so much fun! President let us watch the new movie Ephraim's Rescue and it was really great. Except for the part when they kissed......that was super awkward. Can you tell I'm a missionary? Ha ha. There was a talent show after the movie and I love these missionaries more than sugar cookies--and I loooove sugar cookies. Sister Bennett and I got up and shared our "tire shop" story from last week's letter and taught everyone Silent Night in Sign language.

Side story: Every Wednesday we have a conference call with the president and all the missionaries. This particular Wednesday we didn't get on the call because we lost service. President calls on different missionaries to say prayers or answer questions. We never get called on but the one time we aren't on he calls on us. He wanted us to share our cool tire shop story with the whole mission. Whoops!

We met and taught a lot of cool people this week for a total of 31 lessons. It was a great week and now it's almost Christmas. It just keeps getting better. I love celebrating Christ's birthday the way He would want me to--sharing his gospel to our brothers and sisters to help them feel His love. Best job ever!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and remember the reason for the season.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,

Sister Martha Zeller

Picture 1 - I can't believe it's already been 2 months. 

Picture 2 - The Christmas talent show. This was one of the best. The 12 days of Christmas missionary style."On the first day of Christmas my mission gave to me - a really strong testimony!"

Picture 3 - Merry Christmas from Walmart! ha ha

A Week to Remember‏

Hello, all yous jawns!

It's snowing here yet!

This week was the ward Christmas party and it was a blast! Both us and the Elders had a part in the primary skit. We sang 'I believe in Christ' and I totally had a solo for the first verse. It was crazy! They did the Christmas story from the Book of Mormon point of view. Pretty cool. 

 

I am officially finished with my first transfer! That went by so fast. Nobody in my district is leaving, so we are all set for Christmas. Rachael has been out for 9 months?! What? I swear she just left.

 

Sister Bennett and I were driving in the car one day when the phone rang. I picked it up since I wasn't driving and flipped out when I saw that it was the one, the only, President Anderson. So I answered in a super cheery voice and he said he wanted to hear the miracle story about Jeff (Digger--the guy from my last email). So we told him about what happened and he said that he was planning on sharing it in a meeting with some general authorities. Pretty intense, right? Look out for the story next General Conference! haha jk. But maybe!

 

On Saturday we set up a game of volleyball for investigators and recent converts. The AP's happened to be doubling in our area that day as well. When that happens we plan a day for us and then give them a list of people to see. When we met up for volleyball they told us they found one new investigator, one with a baptismal date, and committed a less active member to come to church the next day for us. They fasted and prayed that they could find people for us to teach and they did! Faith can truly move mountains.

 

There are so many gated communities up here it's ridiculous! There was one that had a broken gate so we could always get in (we had the code but we never needed it). The one day we didn't have a code the gate was fixed. We were with a member named Zoila (Lenny Kravitz's daughter look alike), in her car. We got to the gate and called our investigator Ron for the code number. He has a super thick New York accent so we could barely understand the number. Finally we got it right and as we were driving under the gate bar it closed on the roof of the car all of the sudden! Haha it was crazy! So we had to back up and type in the number. This time we were determined to get through it as fast as we could before it closed on us. Right when it went up Sister Bennett and I screamed to "Go, go, go!" and instead of moving forward we rushed backwards. She had left it in reverse. Haha. We could not stop laughing. We eventually got through and the lesson with Ron went really well! The power of the Atonement is so real! It's definitely something else to see it change someone's life. 

 

Nothing can replace serving a mission. There are experiences I have had and lessons I have learned that I could learn no where else. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve. If anyone is not sure whether they should serve or not, read D&C 4. Then you will know. 

 

The snow here really isn't that crazy. Everything was covered in ice, including our car, this morning. I think everyone is paranoid about the weather when really it isn't that bad. The main thing I'm concerned about is hitting a deer or something. They are everywhere!

 

The Christmas Devotional was so good! There is no better way to celebrate Christ's birth than sharing His gospel. This will be the best Christmas ever!

Have a great week everyone! The Lord is on your side

 

2 weeks until Christmas :D

 

Love,

 

Sister Martha Zeller

Turkey day... CHRISTMAS!‏

Happy December! I am so excited for Christmas!!!

There are so many things that happened this week I don't even know where to begin. I think I say that every week though. But this week I really mean it! ha ha. I think I have had Turkey every day since Thanksgiving. Try deep frying turkey in butter. Best turkey I have ever had.

We had a lot of appointments on Tuesday, which never happens. We went to visit some of my favorite people on earth. The mom's name is Evelyn (best name ever!) and boy, is she entertaining. She kept talking about her gospel raps and finally she performed them to us. They were legit! Haha. I didn't realize how legit they were until she showed us this rap video that her and her friends made in the 80's. It's called "Can You Feel It" and it was so funny. Very talented lady that's for sure ;)  

On Wednesday we visited a less active family's house for dinner. They live in a gated community called Penn Estates so we had to get a special badge to get in. We had a referral from church headquarters in Penn Estates that we tried to contact afterwords. We found his house and knocked a few times. We thought we heard him inside but sometimes people just don't answer the door. We headed back to the car and started going over our plans when we saw a security gaurd pull into his drive way. Apparently you're only allowed to knock on someones door if that person is expecting you otherwise it's illegal. So we sped away and were laughing so hard. 

Thanksgiving was something else!  No turkey bowl this year :/ Our first stop was our favorite less active, Lorraine's house. She invited us over weeks before. She is so awesome! We ate at about 2 and the food was scrumptious (but not as good as my mothers!) She made 12 pies for the 4 of us. I only had 6 pieces of pie because they were all different and Sister Bennett and I wanted to try all of them. SO good! We had to pace ourselves because we had two more dinner appointments.

Next we headed to the Beebe's house. Another one of my favorite families. We were so stuffed we only had a piece of pie; good thing it was banana cream cause it's my favorite (still not as good as my mom's)! We had such a good time hanging out and hearing stories. Sister Bennett and I sang our mission hymn and they were all recording us with their phones. It was pretty funny. 

Lastly we went to the Viallalta house. Somehow we fit more into our stomachs. We sat down at our plate and looked at each other. It was a great moment but we both did pretty good. The whole ride home I was in a food coma.

We visited a guy named Alaine and every time we say a prayer he always chimes in at the end and says "P.S." and then says what he wants to pray for. It's hilarious.

The highlight of my week was a guy named Digger. Has anyone ever heard of the show "Sons of Anarchy"? Yeah he was in a gang like that. He grew up in an Amish village and somehow became a "Hell's Angel". He's a big guy, covered in tattoos, and pretty intimidating. He also claimed that his son saw him on the show "Gang Land". Crazy stuff. He also told us a bunch of stories that are a little too graphic to repeat. Before I got to Stroudsburg, Sister Bennett and Sister Taylor came in contact with him. He told them about his past and they said they would stop by soon. Sister Gottredson and I went back there and got a return appointment with his wife. In essence he told us his kids had seen too much and he had turned a new leaf. We recently went to visit with him and he has done a complete 360. He quit the gang and has become completely focused on family. He wants to lead a class about gang prevention and everything. We are teaching his family this week and we are so excited to help him understand the gospel. I already love him so much! The Lord is truly preparing people for us to teach and we just need to trust him.

One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths". We are blessed and highly favored of the Lord.

Thank you everyone for all of your love and support. I can feel your prayers every day. Remember to observe then serve this Christmas season. The Lord has given us so much and it's our obligation to give back. But in reality we receive so much more when we serve!

Much love,

Sister Martha Zeller

I wish there were a cool breeze!

This week was awesome beyond belief!

It is unbelievably freezing. I've never experienced this before.. ever! Haha. Nevertheless! The work must go on. 

Now that that's out of the way. We can talk about my favorite guy Mike! He dropped us a week ago but he agreed to let us teach him one more lesson- The Restoration. So we did and the Spirit was so strong! I am not a very good teacher but I've learned that when I follow the Spirit, that doesn't matter. He agreed to come to church and he actually came! I cannot describe the happiness I felt when I saw him in the chapel. I know that he knows there is a God (he is atheist... for now). Not only does he know there is a God but that he has a Father in heaven who loves him more than he could ever imagine. So that was great.

This week I went to my first zone conference! That's where the mission president, his wife, the APs and a bunch of zones have a big meeting. President Anderson and his wife spoke and then the APs taught us to use the pamphlets when we teach. They are so inspired. It was really nice seeing a bunch of my MTC friends again. My companion from the MTC, Sister Reed, was there and it was so nice seeing her and catching up. I swear I'm asked to say a prayer at everything no matter what. Every dinner appointment they ask me to say the prayer (probably because I am new). Even at Zone conference I was asked to give the closing prayer. What's the big idea? Ha ha just kidding. Praying is the best.

We went over to a couple in our ward's house who happen to be Philipino. I have never had so many different kinds of meat in one meal. They had loads of food and then loads of dessert. It was great. Got some awesome recipes ;)

We decided to visit a bunch of potential investigators in these yellow condos. It was a lot of separate buildings with about 4 apartments each, spread out in a semi circle. We decided to go knock and see if they were interested. We had like 13 people we wanted to contact, so we got to work. We went into the first building and knocked. No one answered, so we knocked again and waited a little bit. As we started to head to the doorway that lead to outside we saw...WHITE. This crazy snow storm was raging outside and Sister Bennett didn't even have tights on. In the two minutes we were inside the ground was covered with an inch of snow and the wind was so strong. What!? Haha it was so funny. Especially because we had just started. Sister B. said "It is so warm outside! I wish there was at least a cool breeze!" as we were being blown away by the ice cold wind and snow. Ha ha. We were icicles by the time we got inside the car. Good thing we had hot cocoa at home!

The Sister Training Leaders did splits with us this week. It was so much fun! I went out with Sister Gottfredson and Sister Bennett went with Sister Arguela. I squeezed every bit of information I could out of Sister G. She goes home next transfer, so she knows a lot. She taught me a lot about being humble and learning things from each companion. It was really cool to hear her stories. I told her about how I struggled with teaching and she told me about how she did too at first. She said she is still a terrible teacher but through the Lord and following the Spirit she was able to teach. I am so grateful for my weaknesses and how they humble me. Being a bad teacher allows me to rely on the Lord for the words. Weaknesses are awesome! So are trials. 

I feel like a mission is the MTC for life. I have learned so much that will help me later in life. Stuff I could have never learned anywhere else. Missions are the bomb. 

I love these people out here.

Thanks for the package Katie!! I loved the pictures from the Halloween party the recipes and most of all the letter! Thanks for all the letters! I didn't get them until zone conference because you sent them to the mission home. Letters are the best thing ever! Seriously!

Have a great Thanksgiving! I will thoroughly miss the turkey bowl this year! Except they are having one here and playing soccer the whole time. What what! Love you all and thank God for His love and blessings.

I am grateful for my brother Jesus Christ and his sacrifice so that I can be with my family forever. I love you all!

Until next week,

Sister Zeller (4)

The mission life is the life for me (1 month!)‏

It's official! I finally feel like a real missionary. This week I have learned so much! Of course I will say that for every week of my mission.... hopefully. I can't believe it's already been a month since I left. What? I feel like I just got here yet I feel like I just left. Confusing, I know.

 

I just want to start off by saying I am in the best ward ever (besides Mt.Scott ward)! The members help us out so much and feed us almost every night. Of course, we could use more sisters to go teaching with us but that's in part our fault. As I continue to get to know everyone I grow to love them more and more. Sister Bennett and I decided to make cookies for all the ward leaders and thank you notes to everyone who either gave us rides or fed us. It helped us realize how much the ward was doing for us and hopefully it helped them to feel more appreciated. Then we asked for referrals :)

I am not here for me but I am here for my Heavenly Father and my brothers and sisters. Now that I have realized this I can truly show my love for both. I have learned countless lessons from Sister Bennett. She is a trusted daughter of God. Something she always tells me is that it is better to be trusted than to be loved. It's so true. That obedience to the rules helps both the members and God trust me more as a missionary. God loves everyone equally but he doesn't trust everyone. Same with the ward. I love them all so much and of course I want them to love me, too. I want them to remember me after I leave. But that's not what I am striving for. I want to uplift them and serve them. Sometimes it may seem cool to be disobedient and stay over at a members house for 2 hours. You may seem cooler to the members and it may make you seem fun to just play games at their house but this is not our time. I am here to do the Lord's work. Sister Bennett and I have seen so many blessings from that obedience. 

I was not exaggerating when I said my area was huge. We drove 100 miles the other day because we couldn't fine a ride from a member. 100 miles!! That's crazy!

Miracle! Yesterday we were striving really hard to be exactly obedient with the 1 hour dinner rule and 45 minute lesson rule. We did it the whole day. Our district leader Elder Evans promised us that if we did that we would find more investigators. I am very happy to say we got 5 new investigators last night. What what! We have a total amount of miles we can go so we had to split it for everyday. We can only got 37.4 miles a day. Yesterday we went exactly 37.4 miles. AMAZING BLESSINGS! Miracles are the best.

As a missionary You never know when your next meal will be so you just have to eat as much as you can. Sunday we had no dinner planned. We had no way in which to get dinner. However, the Lord watches over his missionaries. After an appointment with a family of investigators they invited us to stay for dinner. I have never been so stuffed in my life. They are an awesome Polish family and it was pretty awesome. 

 

I never realized that something distracting happens during the restoration lesson every time. Stupid Satan. 

 

Anywho! I hope everyone is having an awesome week so far. Keep on keepin on! Thanks for the prayers and may God bless you,

Much love, 

Sister Zeller (4)

A Series of Hilarious Events

On Monday, November 11, 2013 12:22 PM, Martha Zeller <martha.zeller@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Wow! This week was something else! I suppose we can start with the first hilarious event that is definitely the most random. So I woke up at 6:30 and stumbled to the bathroom. I opened the lid to the toilet and to my surprise there was a MOUSE IN THERE! Of course I freaked out. I called to Sister Bennett to come in there and she told me later that my voice sounded like a murderer had gotten into the apartment. Ha ha. This little mouse had somehow gotten into the toilet and was swimming for who knows how long trying to get out. So we got it into some tupper wear and let it free in the woods outside. I don't think I have ever laughed so much that early in the morning. 

 

On our P Day last week we somehow forgot to do our laundry. So we decided to do it later in the week during our lunch hour because a subway is right next to the laundromat. We finally had a chance on Wednesday to do it. So we put our stuff in and ate our sandwiches (delicious). There were Catching Fire posters everywhere. Can't wait to see it when I get home! Anyway, we were sitting there waiting for our laundry when this guy comes up and starts talking to us. He didn't look like the most sane man in history but he gave us his card (he was a musician or something) and so we gave him our card (a pass along card with Christ on the front). Then he started talking about how he loves Jesus but Satan is so strong and just works on him. We invited him to church and then we got our laundry and left. Later that night the called us and I answered because Sister Bennett was driving. He started talking about how Satan was too strong and he couldn't do this anymore and I started to kind of freak out because he sounded suicidal. I had no idea what to say but I knew he loved music so I told him to play me a song. He was like..... OKAY! He played us this song he made up and then we sang to him (I Know That My Redeemer Lives). It was great but we had to go to a meeting and I told him to hang in there and then we hung up and whatever. While we were in the meeting he called us. Then he called us again. Then 2 more times. I don't even remember giving him our number. Long story short he calls us every day. On Thursday it was about 14 times with 4 voice mails but now it's calmed down to about 4. It's great. Good 'ol stalker Randy. No worries Mom, he's harmless. He wasn't suicidal either. 

 

Next hilarious event! On Saturday we went to this less active members home who loved to cook. We were just going to stop by but she insisted we stay for lunch (she had made lasagna which is my favorite). The problem was we had just gone to lunch so we weren't hungry at all. But she insisted and instead of giving us a little bit she gave us the biggest slab of lasagna I have ever seen. Which was fine because I finished it pretty fast. Tyler Owens, I was thinking in my head in that moment "Dang girl! Sure can put it away!" Ha ha ha. BUT THEN! We had a dinner appointment right after that. I'm not going to lie, I think I gained 5 lbs that day. 

 

During a silence while we were there the lady Lorraine said out of the blue "You have a shiny spot on your forehead". Of course I thought she was just saying my forehead was all greasy and I was thoroughly embarrassed. Then she said there were shinies all over the table cloth. I was like what? She meant there was a sparkle on my forehead. HAHA! People and their funny words.

 

Dadio! Send me your conversion story please! Mom, don't delete the voice mails on my phone! You will die if you do. 

 

Enough funny stories already! There were so many miracles this week I don't even know where to begin!

 

I suppose I will start with an awesome lady in the Stroudsburg ward named Sister Cheetam. We had a lesson with our investigator Ron that morning and we could not find a ride! Sister Bennett had a thought in her prayers that we should call and ask for a ride. So we did and she was down for it. He lives in Dingmansferry which is an hour from where we live (still in our area). We were so happy! We got to the lesson and it's kind of hard to teach Ron because he goes off on these tangents and we can't stay on track. The lesson was going so so when Sister Cheetam started talking and baring her testimony about obedience. It was so awesome and it was exactly what Ron needed to hear. From that I bore my testimony and challenged him to experiment upon our words. He came to church on Sunday and pulled me aside. He said that what I said really changed him and he was so excited. It was awesome!!! Moments like that make everything worth it! Even our toilet being clogged ever since we found that mouse! (It's been like 4 days!) The Lord has so many blessings in store for those that are obedient to his commandments. Basically all I teach about is how much God and Jesus Christ love us. That's why we are here on this earth! Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to have what He has. He wants us to be happy! So awesome!

 

The biggest lesson this week that I learned was that of diligence, obedience, and charity. Mike is our golden investigator and we went to teach him again last week. It would've gone great except neither Sister Bennett nor I had the spirit with us. You can't teach when the Spirit isn't there. Earlier that day we had spent too long at a less active's house for various reasons. But basically we weren't worthy of the Spirit and those blessings even though HF wanted to give them to us so bad. After the closing prayer Sister Wheelis, the member we brought with us who is so awesome and sweet, offered to sing a primary song to them. She started singing a child's prayer half way through I got a prompting that I should join in. We were both singing and I felt the Spirit soooo strong. After the song was over I asked Mike how he felt. He said "I felt something." I told him it was the Holy Ghost and him and his daughter told us to sing another one. So we sang I am a Child of God. I am so happy that the Spirit was there when we left. 

 

Sister Bennett and I could have been a lot more diligent and obedient. After we got into the car the Spirit was gone again. I woke up the next morning and it still wasn't there. It was so frustrating! I was so confused on how I was supposed to do anything. I was so used to having it. I did all I could to get it back. I was super obedient, prayed, and I even fasted but still. I just wondered what lesson I was supposed to be learning. I decided not to be bummed. I decided to continue to do what I knew was right and just be happy. So I did! The Spirit didn't return until that night but it wasn't stronger than I have ever felt it before. I'm not even sure how this happened but in the midst of that trial I learned how to just speak to people and not be afraid of saying something wrong. Everyone is a brother or sister. I learned to forget about myself and just focus on other people all the time. That is my job as a full time missionary and it truly is the best job in the whole wide world.

 

This week was great and every Sunday I grow to love this ward more and more. They are all so wonderful! Sister Bennett and I get along so incredibly well and we have a lot of fun. We also work really well together in terms of teaching. She has taught me so much about teaching and pretty much about everything. She truly is an amazing missionary and you can tell she is really trying her best. What a wonderful trainer! I am so blessed!

 

This week should be great and I am so excited to see the Lord's hand in everything I do. I feel his love everyday and D&C 4 gives me so much strength.

Have a great week everyone! Good luck in college Joey! You will love it! Adrienne, good luck in Russia! I miss your brownies Wendy! Good luck in the MTC Elder Gaylor! You will do awesome!

Until next week,

 

Sister Zeller #4

Greetings!!!

On Sat, Oct 26, 2013 at 9:58 AM, Martha Zeller <martha.zeller@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Greetings everyone!!!! The Lord has truly blessed me this week and yes, it is still a blast! Sunday was amazing and we got to go on a nice temple walk. We got a bunch of pictures of the zone and it was super fun. I am so happy with my zone! We have all gotten so close this week! Mostly my district. We have all really opened up to each other and it's amazing to so how much we have all changed in a little more than a week. I can't believe I am leaving on Tuesday! That will be an awesome day though that's for sure. Family! I will be calling at about 4:00- 4:30 am! Sorry about that y'all! I don't make the flights.

At the fireside on Sunday night my companion and other roommates sat by these Sisters from England at choir practice earlier that day (I couldn't go because I had Sister Training Leader meetings). They were telling me about them and I was freaking out because I wanted to hunt them down and talk to them. Literally, a minute later they walked by and I was like hi want to sit by me!.... Yeah it was pretty embarressing especially because they ended up sitting somewhere else. haha. No worries though. That Wednesday I was waiting in the Health Clinic for my companion and they happened to be there. I don't think they remembered me so I played it cool and casually asked them where they were from. I was freaking out on the inside though.

Another embarressing story! Sister Reed and I love to take pictures. Seriously! I have already taken 350 but I can't share them until I get out to the field. Sorry! Anyway, back to the story.We were taking a leisurley stroll after teaching an investigator and we saw this awesome tree with a bunch of leaves. Naturally we started to take pictures of each other throwing the leaves up and smiling. We were there for like 10 minutes and I was going to do it again until I looked over and saw this whole classroom of Elders looking at us and just cracking up. I was horrified! ha ha ha. So we ran away barely able to breath because we were laughing so hard. GOOD. DAY.

I'm not going to say that the MTC is a breeze because it's not. It has totally been worth it. We had a lesson that went terrible the other day but the Lord is always there to help us. He loves us so much! 

Marg, my feet smell all the time and I am sending you a letter. Send me your address on Dear Elder ASAP! Katie too! Oh and Katie, do what you have too. There is an Elder in my district who looks like him mixed with Logan from Veronica mars. Super weird! While I am talking to you two! Look for a Hyrum Balzer! He goes to BYU and he is so hilarious!

As the STL I got to welcome the new missionaries into the zone with the other two zone leaders. We gave them a tour on Wednesday night when they got here and it was super awesome! I got to answer all their questions and give them advice about the MTC. It was sweet! Plus they are going to Eugene Oregon so I got to give them even more advice! They are super awesome!

The teacher Brother Seuymore from the other district said to the other sisters that he thinks i'm going to get translated because I love everyone so much. It felt really good even though he's dead wrong. I do love them but I have so much to learn. 

Our TRC investigator Sarah is the cutest lady from Tennessee! Her accent was wonderful and we had such an amazing experience with her. The second to last lesson Sister Reed and I sang to her "I Stand All Amazed". Talk about a cry fest! Dad! Who knew I would sing to an investigator. Thanks for the idea! Thanks everyone for the Letters and emails. There is no time but if you send me a letter expect one back soon! I love you all! I am so excited to get to Philly. Trials are amazing! Head towards them with faith and always follow the spirit! Heavenly Father knows and loves each one of you and is waiting for you to come to him so he can bless you! 

Until next week,

love,

Sister Zeller #4

P.S. Good luck Jeff with your Football stuff in less it already happened. In that case good job!

The craziest week of my LIFE!

Holy Polaris! Where to begin!?

I guess I should start from the end of the MTC. We got about 1 hour of sleep and then headed to the big bus at 2:30 in the morning. Sister Reed and I were pretty wired for some reason and everyone else was half asleep. We had about 17 in our group going to Philly. Needless to say EVERYONE was staring at as the whole time in the airports. It kills me that I forgot my camera and I have to wait another week to send you all pictures. Seriously. Kills me. Anyway, I could not stop freaking out about going to Philly.

Finally we got there and met good old President Anderson and his wife Pamela. They are so awesome and I love President Anderson. You can just tell how close he is with the spirit. Really inspiring fellow. We drove to the mission home and took pictures and asked questions until dinner. Sister Reed, Sister B, and I all went to a members home to sleep for the night. The house was decked out with Halloween stuff. Except for the enormous Christmas village they had on the second floor. Mom, you should have seen it. I will send a picture next week. It had lights and music and everything. 

 

Next day we headed to the mission office and met our companions! We had a big meeting beforehand with all of the trainers and the Golden's (not greenies anymore). No one knew who their trainers were yet but right when Sister Bennett walked in I knew it would be her and it was! 

 

I can't say we clicked from the beginning but on the long car ride to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania we got to know each other a lot better. We are pretty close now and she is sooo flippin awesome. She is from SLC Utah and she went to BYU for a year. She always calls me a health nut and I guess she is right. 

 

My area is gigantic! We are in a car and we average about 40 to 60 miles a day. It doesn't seem like it takes that long to drive places, but it does! The ward is about 700 people but only 100 show up every Sunday. Some people have to drive 2 hours to get to church. On Wednesdays they have all of the meetings because it's too hard to drive back and forth all the time. We have a lot of work to do. The ward is amazing though! I've been fed dinner every single night since I've been here. 

 

Pennsylvania is so amazingly beautiful! The woods are amazing and I can't stop talking about how cool all the trees are. If you have ever watched the village then you know what the woods look like here. There are no street lamps here so it can get pretty spooky at night. Especially when people decorate with fake people hanging from trees with knives in their hands (I almost had a heart attack). My zone leader is British :) I wish I could write out everything I've been through over the week but aint nobody got time for that!

 

We visited a lady last night who had the best East Coast accent ever. Oh my gosh! I kept having to tell myself to listen to what she is saying but all I could hear in my head was me copying the words she said. Afterwords Sister B and I were practicing in the car. I will get the accent down before the end of this transfer. It's gonna happen.

 

My apartment is pretty big and there may be a hole beneath the tub from the apartment upstairs. It may leak nasty stuff down the walls and mold might drip down the walls in our tub, but who cares, right?

 

I will give you the highlights. Here we go:

 

Friday we went to see a couple named Pat and Alain. I had heard stories but nothing had prepared me for the experience. We got there and as I look over after greeting Pat there is this chicken staring at me. It's name is Cuddlebunny and I had to sit right next to it. Apparently, it really likes hair. I don't really like birds in the first place and then she brought out more. Overall she has about 20 chickens, a turkey, a turtle, a frog, 2 snakes and who knows what else. Plus, she loves Harry Potter and has an invisibility cloak, Voldermort's wand, Lucius Malfoy's cane, and again... who knows what else. (She obviously is a death eater.) She is a pretty awesome lady, though. Awesome with animals! Her husband Alain loves short shorts :) He also loves to kiss our hands when we leave because he is French Canadian and "that's just what they do." Silly. He also used the funniest phrase I have ever heard. On Sunday it was supposed to be really cold and he said "Yeah, it's supposed to be colder than a witch's breast on Sunday". I was dying of laughter on the inside. 

 

Anywho! Sunday was a full day of miracles! Every day has miracles but this day was truly awesome. We had church in which I bore my testimony of course. Because I am a missionary now and that's what we do. The ward was so loving and welcoming. There is an ASL translator person and a Spanish translator. Pretty cool. After a lesson with an investigator named Chris we headed up to Tobyhanna to visit the Vickery family who lived on the army base. We tried to get in but we couldn't find the main gate so Sister Bennett turned into a random set of apartment houses. The Lord brought us there for a reason and we decided to find out what it was and knock on doors. The first two no one answered but the last one did! His name is Mike and his daughter is Miley (I think) and he is pretty much a golden investigator. There wasn't a lady home so we were freezing outside his door talking to him about all the question he had. Gave him my first Book of Mormon and his daughter a popsicle (that's what they call them over here, I'm pretty sure it's really just called a sucker). We teach him on Tuesday and I am so flippin excited. 

 

We had a dinner appointment at the Bogarts and for a message Sister Bennett had a strong feeling (the Holy Ghost) that I should sing "A Child's Prayer" as a message. So I did and it turned out really well! The spirit was so strong and they really felt God's love for them. 

 

I am having so much fun and I could write three more pages but your just going to have to wait for my stories till I get home. 

 

The first few days were hard because I am not so confident in myself. On Saturday I realized that I was called by a prophet of God to be out here. If the Lord sent me then there is no way I can fail. This is His work and I am here to follow Him. I love this gospel and I know it's true. I know because I have studied and pondered and prayed. Heavenly Father has revealed His truths to me over and over again. Miracles are everywhere whether you see them or not.

Until next week,

 

Sister Zeller

P.S. When I gave out my first pass along card outside McDonalds I flipped out because I was so nervous but it worked out so well!

P.S.S We gave these guys in McDonald's (different day- we go there a lot) a pass along card with our number on it. One of them started texting us and I am pretty sure he thought we could date. Awkward.

The First of Many

On Saturday, October 19, 2013 9:57 AM, Martha Zeller <martha.zeller@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hello Everyone!!! 

The MTC is amazing so far and I only got here on Wednesday! I have learned a ton and I still have so much to learn. I haven't been too overwhelmed yet but it started to get a little hard on Friday. I have a lot of reading to do, especially because I have been assigned as the Sister Training Leader for our zone! (There are only 4 sisters.) I am so grateful for this calling. It has given me the opportunity to know the girls in my zone and love them that much more. Speaking of my zone.... it's wonderful! I love everyone and my district is super tight--as in we are all really close. Sometimes it's hard though when we are in personal study and we can't stop cracking jokes. 

My companion is Sister Reed from Clearfield, Utah, and I love her so much. I feel like we have been friends for a long time. We get along super well and are having so much fun together. She just graduated high school and she is a little older than me. We actually met on Facebook before we came out here because of that sister missionary page I was on. What's truly amazing is that my whole zone is going to Philly at the same time! So awesome. We leave on October 29, which is coming up soon. We have to wake up at 2 a.m. so that should be interesting. What's even more interesting is that we have a layover in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Lets just say I won't be the most focused sister missionary that day, but I will try my best.

Everyone is very friendly here and I have never felt the Spirit stronger. I had my first lesson yesterday with an investigator named Mike. Sister Reed and I did really well following the Spirit. We invited him to pray with us in the lesson and he did and felt so good afterwards. Before the prayer he said the feeling he had about his life was like he had just had 2 big macs (ya know that greasy, unhealthy feeling). After the prayer he said he felt like he just ate a salad. It was so funny. We love him so much and we teach him again today. I am so excited!

I have really learned how important it is to follow the Spirit ALL the time. I have been doing that since I got here and it has blessed me and others so much. Thursday night at about 10:15 (it was quiet time, a time they give us to reflect on our day and write in our journal) my companion kinda squealed and  said "I found my CTR ring!" really loud and no one said anything.. because it was quiet time. I was writing in my journal and had the prompting to write her a simple little note saying I'm glad you found your CTR ring. At first I put it off, but then I decided to follow it. I wrote the note and passed it down to her (I'm on the top bunk and she's on the bottom). She took it and laughed a little. Then she ripped off a piece of paper and sent a note back saying "That made my day! -er night! Thank you! I'm so grateful you're my companion! -Love Sister Reed". That made my day! The next day she said how much that meant to her and that she felt we were really close now. What a blessing. I am so thankful that I followed that prompting. I've done little things like that and it's making all the difference. 

One of my teachers is Brother Balzer (who served in Philly). He is hilarious and is like three people I know morphed into one. He looks like a kid named Max, and acts like a kid named Matt and William Busenbark combined. It's pretty awesome. My favorite teacher so far is definitely Brother Mahrt. He goes to BYU and he is amazing. Someone said yesterday that all he has left to do is get married and then he will be translated! Haha so funny. He has truly changed my life and helped me figure out how to teach by the Spirit. 

Everything has really come together and made sense here at the MTC. I will be really sad to leave but am so excited to get out there and help others come to Christ. I love you all and am so thankful for you in my life. Everything in my life, I feel like, has lead me to being on a mission.

One more thing! The most important thing I have learned here so far is to forget myself and do everything for others. The first few nights I didn't sleep well at all and I kept praying to help me sleep. But last night something clicked and I realized I'm not here for me at all. I am here for the Lord and to help bring his children back to live with him. I prayed to get sleep so that I could be more focused in order to help those I need to help later on in my mission, to learn the things I need to learn in order to be there for someone else. Guess what?! I slept like a baby!

Thanks everyone for the letters! I felt so loved. Keep them coming! Dearelder.com is amazing!

I love life, the MTC, my zone, and I love you all. Plus, the food is not too bad!

Until next week!

Love, 

Sister Zeller #4

P.S. I totally ran into Elder Dalton Boyles and he has changed so much. It has only been a week. It was crazy. Also I ran into Elder Ashton Beavers! Mom, isn't he your favorite?! Haha, they are doing great.