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)