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.