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.