Four months already?‏

Time flies by but what's new? 

There are walls of snow lining every corner now. We had some huge storms this week and they are slowing down the work just a bit. We drive in anything unless President Anderson grounds our cars. Our car is a beast in the snow, so we don't have as many problems as most people.

 

 We only had Sacrament this Sunday because there were so many people that couldn't leave their houses! They were snowed in. So a bunch of the members and us got shovels and snow blowers to helped as many as we could out. Of course we couldn't go home and change so we got to shovel in our Sunday best. Haha. It was so much fun. There is no better feeling than being in the service of someone else. One lady had a driveway that was 1/5 a mile long! They usually did it by shovel but there had been so much snow that it was a lot harder. She was so relieved when 6 people showed up and started helping her. I love this ward!

 

There is a part member family who we have been dropping by a bunch lately but never seemed to catch them home. Finally one night we stopped by again even though they are never there. They were home! We got in to see them and little 11-year-old Sierra, who isn't baptized. Her parents are on board for us to teach her. We will extend a baptismal date next lesson but we are so excited. She is quite the little fireball!

 

NO random thoughts! We didn't really have time to eat our lunch yesterday and so last night we had a lot of extra food. We made it out to the very boarder of our area to visit some people that were snowed in. I had the feeling I should grab our lunch and although it felt kind of weird carrying my lunch around I've learned to just follow the spirit. The first family we visited didn't need anything and kind of gave us a weird look but at the less active's home we visited right after that, their car had been stuck and they couldn't go shopping for anything. They were very grateful for some food. Follow the Spirit, he knows stuff you don't. 

 

Thanks for all the love and support! Shout out to the Mt. Scott young women! Thank you for all the love and valentines candy. YUM! Also shout out to the primary for the cute notes and letter :) Hicks family, you are awesome and those hand warmers are being put to good use. Dave Caudle, your letters are the BEST! Haha. The pictures are awesome too. 

 

I am so grateful for wonderful people back home who are always there for me. 

 

Dash your fear and be faithful,

 

Sister Zeller

 

 Some of my favorite people

4 months!

SnOw My Gosh!‏

BREAKING NEWS: Tomorrow is the day we get iPads!!! Finally! It will be a great day :)

Snow is great but there is way too much! It snowed 10 inches on Wednesday. Good thing we bought shovels beforehand. It was a great service opportunity though, I have to say. We walked down the street with our shovels in hand helping the people of Tannersville :) Let's just say we were pretty sore the next day. It also snowed on our P-day so that threw everything off. We had to do emails on Tuesday instead.

This week our Sister Training Leaders doubled in for the night. I love doing exchanges with them and squeezing all the knowledge out of them that I can. They gave us some great pointers to be even more obedient. Wahoo! We also treated them to the best breakfast we could provide. YUMM-Y. 

 

Expecting miracles we got a referral last week from Elder Seeley. He told us of a girl he had been teaching that just moved into our area. We had been praying for one baptism this transfer and when we finally contacted Ariel on Facebook we found out how prepared she is for baptism! Of course there is always one obstacle, she lives on the Northern boarder of the ward which is about an hour away from the building... and she can't drive. Nevertheless, where there is a will there is a way. God always makes a way for us to keep His commandments.

There is a young man in the Stroudsburg ward who had his farewell this last Sunday. His family is one of the strongest in the ward. They are such a light to those around them. Anyway, during his talk he mentioned a lesson we had with their family after dinner 2 weeks ago. I was reading the talk the fourth missionary and so in the lesson we had them close their eyes and imagine in their mind what they want to have become at the end of their life. We talked about our divine potential and how we need a game plan to get there. It was one of the first lessons that I took the lead in creating and I just followed the Spirit. In his farewell talk he told everyone how every day he wrote a little bit of his talk and then the Thursday before he felt like he should start over. He talked about the lesson he learned from that dinner appointment we had with him. I felt so good that I had actually been a tool in God's hands in influencing someone else for good. I truly felt like a successful missionary at that moment. Tender Mercies!!!

One of the things I learned this week was triggered by a scripture in Alma 7:8 when Alma is preaching to the people of Gideon. "for behold, the Spirit hath not said unto me that this should be the case. Now as to this thing I do not know; but this much I do know, that the Lord God hath power to do all things which are according to his word." There are a lot of things in this world that can sway us. That's why it is so important for us to realize the things that we do know. Especially in trials when we are confused, hurt, or exhausted. We must realize the things we know for sure. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's kingdom on the earth. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that everything I am doing now is preparing me for something else. I know that as I keep the commandments of God everything will ALWAYS work out. I love you all and challenge you to write down the things you know for sure and to never forget.

Thanks for all the support! I love you all. 

The field is literally white (all ready to harvest)

Missionary humor ;)

Expect to hear some miracles next week!

Keep on keepin' on,

Sister Zeller

P.S. Something funny- The new District Leader Elder Hunsaker always says "Nigh-night Bye-bye-bye" on our nightly calls. Haha still don't know where he got that from. Ha ha ha. 

Go away snow we have work to do!‏

Don't get me wrong, I still love snow! It just needs to calm down so we can actually do our job and change people's lives.

We didn't get to email yesterday because President Anderson said we were not allowed to drive. Luckily some members let us use their house for laundry. We didn't get a chance to email so we get to do it today instead. 

This week was quite the week! We got so much stuff done. We finally got out to the nether most parts of our ward boundaries to see a less active family. We got to teach them about faith and challenge them to read the BOM. They have like 20 different animals in their home and one of them is a huge BIRD> ew. Apparently its supposed to live to 100 so they are going to pass it off through the kids. I guess that's pretty cool. 

 

The Stroudsburg ward is starting to catch the wave! A few of the members are showing us up in missionary work. ha ha. We went to dinner with the best of 'em last night. Her name is Sister Wheelis and when we were leaving the restaurant she gave a pass along card to a couple sitting near us. It was awesome and she did it even though she was nervous. What a trooper! Mom and dad, you have to meet her! There are a lot of people you have to meet. 

 

I can't believe the Seahawks won! No expected that over here. 

 In PMG it says that when your humble you can see your weaknesses better- well I guess I'm humble because I am far from the perfect missionary. There are so many things I need to work on. But the words "He qualifies those he calls" are proven to me over and over again. They have given me a lot of comfort this week. I have literally seen my weaknesses become strengths. My teaching skills have improved immensely. I can teach with power, love, and simplicity. Obviously I have a lot of work to do but I have taken leaps and bounds from where I was. 

 

I know that the Lord is always watching over me. But more importantly he is using me as an instrument in his hands to help other people. We were on Facebook (this is a Facebook mission) the other day and I had the random thought to ask a member to go teaching with us that night. I did and she promptly accepted (miracle in itself). We didn't get a chance to plan what we were teaching Danielle, an investigator, so I had to follow the Spirit completely. I started turning to a scripture about God's love and then 2 Nephi 32:9 caught my attention. I recognized it as the Spirit and just did it. The lesson was on prayer. It was a great lesson and we had a kneeling prayer at the end by Danielle. That Sunday was Testimony meeting and the member went up. She talked of her experience with us a couple nights prior and said that God always knows what we need. She said that prayer was exactly what she needed to hear and going out with the missionaries is such a blessing. It was so amazing. I love seeing confirmations by the Spirit that what I do and those random thoughts I follow really do benefit the people around me. More often than not we don't see the fruits of our labors. Heavenly Father knows that sometimes you just need to. 

 

We had the opportunity to teach Relief Society and teach about....wait for it... missionary work! Surprise! ha ha. It was a great chance to make the Sisters realize the importance and help them catch the wave. 

 

I am so blessed to serve in the best mission in the world. I am so blessed with loving friends and family supporting me and the missionary effort. I love you all and keep on inviting everyone. 

Doubt not, fear not.

 

Love, 

Sister Zeller

They love to hunt here. This is in someone's basement.

 Goofing around.

The bird. (Don't be fooled. I was scared to death.)