April 29, 2013

I forgot that last week was the last week before we talk. I will talk with President this week to see if we can use his ipad so we can use facetime. What time does your church start and what time does Josh's church start so I do not plan it during church. If you are awake could you respond to this so I can plan with President this week? Thanks

Yeah we had own Zone meeting on Wednesday and it went really well. Definitely went a lot better then we were planning. In our Zone we have a really great group of missionaries and so their was a lot of conversation going on and the Spirit was very strong! We based the training off of President Monson’s talk in Priesthood because he talked a lot about Missionaries. So he had 4 main points and the last one was teaching the gospel with love. So our training was based off of that. But we started by talking about our calling and how we are called of God by a prophet and we watched a few of the Bible films the church has and how he called the Apostles. Then we talked about love and who we need to love and things like that and then we led into service and how we can show our love by serving others. The Spirit was really strong because the missionaries really participated and had very strong great comments!

The area is going pretty well. We have tons of investigators, but it has been just really hard to get them to progress. However Adilson (from Viana) is getting married this week so hopefully I can get permission to go to their wedding! Also Inacio´s (from viana) daughter also accepted to be baptized which was really exciting! Inacio is a great missionary! I called him the other day and he told me that some of his family members are now sitting with the missionaries in Huambo! So that was exciting!

(Dad) Thanks for the email! You will definitely be in my prayers this week! thanks for being such a great father!! I love you so much!!

Love your Son! Elder Tilley

So I have tried to send pictures but the internet is really slow and it is not letting me. Sorry!

So one thing I thought I should share with you. So in Priesthood meeting I think it was Elder Callister talked about a story of his grandpa who when he was a young man his mother was really sick and so she called I think the bishop to come give her a blessing so he did, but she did not get better and then she asked her son to give her a blessing who was a newly ordained Elder if I remember right and he gave her a blessing and she immediately got better. Later he wrote in his Journal that he did not feel like Heavenly Father did not Honor the bishops blessing but Heavenly father just wanted to teach the young man that the power of the Priesthood in the boy is just as powerful as the priesthood in the man when used in Righteousness. As I thought about that, the story of Rachel and her baby coming right when she needed the baby to come came to my mind and then I thought that the prayers of a mother are just as powerful as the prayers of a missionary when used in Righteousness! Also we were able to watch conference this week end and I remember someone talking about how powerful a mothers prayer is! As I thought about these things I just want you to know that I feel that your prayers were sufficient for Rachel’s baby to come. It was not necessary that a missionary pray for her! I feel that your prayers are just as powerful if not even more powerful then mine! I just felt like I should share with you that and how you should give yourself more credit and know that your prayers are heard and answered by Heavenly Father!!

Love you Mom!

I love you so much Mom!!

Tell everyone hi for me!

Love you

Elder tilley

logging off

Hey bec I was wondering if you could do me a favor! So we are aloud to right friends now and so I was wondering if you could get me Fabian Finks email as well as Pratick as well as Chris Okawa. you should be able to find them on Facebook or I think Torrie Robinson would know.

Also their Is a friend on my facebook who is indian I can not remember his name but we were friends at Asu

Thanks

Love you

Elder Tilley

From MaryLou Clifford to Tammy Montgomery and I (We are the 3 Arizona mom’s that have been getting together the longest and most often). . .

Kyle said that Elder Tilley had a split with them so he stayed the night at their apartment (to interview an investigator for them) and he said our 3 boys stayed up talking and it was pretty cool.  I thought that was pretty cool too!  :)

April 22, 2013

Me using Elder Mariquels glasses just for fun

Here are letters I sent Grandma and Grandpa:

Grandma

Thanks for writing me! Thanks for the update and for the support! I love you and Grandpa so much! I hope that things continue to go well!!

Thinking of you as well!

Love Elder Tilley

Hey Gramps!

So it has been a while since I have written you. So a couple of weeks ago was General Conference and we were able to watch the Priesthood Session here which was great! President Monson told a story of a boy who served a mission in Australia, but before he left he was really nervous and concerned about his father because he was not a member of the church, so President Monson told him to write to his family every week and every once in a while a personal letter to his Dad. So the boy went out on his mission and did that for two years without missing a week, just before this boys mission was over his father stood up during a church meeting and said that he had made the decision to be baptized (which was a surprise to many including President Monson) and he said that he would travel to Australia at the end of his sons mission to be his Sons last baptism as a full time missionary! 

As I heard that story I felt the Spirit tell me that I should start to write you more often! So what do you say I will write you more often and then you can fly out here to Africa and I will Baptize you! :) Is it a deal? ;) Haha I am just kidding!! But I did feel like I should write you more and tell you of my experiences and show my love to you! Because I really do love you alot! You have played a big role in my life and I am in part the person I am today because of you! Thank you so much for the lessons that you have taught me and for the way you raised my mother! She is an angel to me and I thank you for the way you raised her!

I love you Gramps I hope you have a great week!

Love 

Elder Tilley

I remember once I walked up to Mrs Zimmerman to ask her a question and instead of calling her Mrs Z I called her Grandma without noticing until after I said it! In stead of getting mad at me she just laughed and thought that it was pretty hilarious! Thanks Mrs Z for teaching me to not get mad and just thinking it is funny when people call you things that could be offensive!  (Side note... here on my mission in Africa we get called all sorts of names!!!)

Our branch is kind of suffering here. We are working with them and trying to make sure all of the meetings and everything that needs to happen, happen. This next couple of weeks our district (six missionaries and we are all in the same branch) we are going to study more in the Church manuals to see exactly what all the leaders for each group need to be doing and then we are going to organized with the branch and have a training meeting for the leaders and the members. Elder Mariquele and I are over the Young Men and Young Women so that should be fun! 

We have several investigators the problem with this area though is that very few progress!! We have one family though that will be baptized here soon. The fathers name is Lourenco and the Mothers name is Veronica; they are just waiting on some money from some one so that they can get married, but they have several kids and I think we will baptize their two boys Gideao and Adelino before the parents though. Lourenco is pretty much a member though he is already doing Home Teaching and kind of dragging is companion along, which to get anyone here besides the leaders to do Home Teaching is just a miracle so it shows a lot about him!

Regarding the new Missionary Counsels: Basically there is not a whole big difference; they are just going to have Sister Missionaries that are involved a little bit more in leadership. Basically it will be the same except that Sister Missionaries will be apart of the Zone Leader Training Meeting, but since we have no Sister Missionaries it is the same for us!

I will try to send more pictures next week

Yes I was (able to print out the quotes). Thank you!

In the next package you send, could you send some of that maple syrup sweetener stuff, Just the little bottle of stuff to make maple syrup!?

(Bec)

The only thing I got for you is to listen to Mom and Dad! I promise you that you will see how great they are probably when you are a little bit older if you can not already see it and they know a lot more then we do!! Pray for me this week Elder Mariqule and I are giving a training to our Zone! So that should be good with the Help of the Lord!

Love you 

Sparkly Buns Power!!

Elder Tilley

(Dad)

Thanks Dad that helps alot... So another quick question for you, so then what is the difference between trying to repent and do better and then being worthy! IF we are in Sin are we still worthy to enter the temple and baptize and things like that!

Love you hope you get better!

I Love you mom signing out!!

Love you

April 15, 2013

(Our family has been playing a game by text/email…here are some of Elder Tilley’s answers…FYI… these are jokes if you didn’t already knowJ).

You know you’re a Tilley when you think you are good because you can score 20-30 points in a church ball game!

You know you’re a Tilley when you are not allowed to watch TV on Sunday . . . unless you are with Grandpa!

You know you’re a Tilley if you are married and have a kid and still live in Mom and Dads basement!

answers: Yes I am taking them, I forget sometimes but yes I am taking the herbs and drinking the green drink every once and a while but I am going to start drinking it more often!

Can you do me a favor?:) Can you take $350 out of my account and put into yours for EFY and then take $370 out of my account and put into Dad´s for the iphone and droid that I said I would pay for? Alright thanks!!! :) Love you

Just sent this to Preston

Preston!

That is way awesome man!! Did you guys get any pictures!! I defiantly want to see you guys on the horses!! That would be awesome!

I will definitely be praying for you with Aims!

So Mom was telling me that you have a big hike coming up or something! That sounds way cool and fun! I remember that I was not able to go on a lot of hikes because of sports and things like that, but I wish I could have gone on more activities then I did. I know that it may seem kind of pointless for you, but there are other boys in your quorum that need your help and support! There are many boys in your quorum that do not have great parents like you do who care so much about you who are willing to get up at 5 AM to make you juice and have scripture study so that you are physically and spiritually healthy. There are many boys that need your help, that are not near as cool as you that need a friend and think how they would feel if Preston Tilley was their friend.

You are a strong leader and can help the other boys our in your quorum even if you are not the called leader you can be an example to them and help strengthen and build them up and be their friend and make them feel welcome and like! I know if may seem hard sometimes to be friends with people that are kind of “weird” I remember sometimes I fell into the trap of making fun of other quorum members because they were kind of weird! But this is not ok and not pleasing in the sight of Heavenly Father and a lot of times will push those people that are being made fun of and do not have friends out of the church.

This experience will definitely prepare you for your mission! In your mission you will probably be a trainer, district leader, Zone Leader, and maybe even an Assistant to the President. And in those positions sometimes you do not have a lot of friends, but you still have the responsibility to take care of those missionaries. These experiences now will help you and prepare you for your mission and life and so it is not pointless. I remember thinking before my mission "oh I will just learn that on my mission" which you will learn a lot on your mission but my thoughts about oh I can just learn it on my mission were wrong! The things that we do before our missions will greatly affect the type of missionary we are! So I would like to invite you to decide to go on the campout and try to make at least one new friend (could be more though) with one of the quorum members that may not have very many friends and help them and support them through out the campout and then afterwards continue to be his/their friend! What do you think?

Love you man I hope everything is going well!! Stay away from those girls!!!! I remember I started liking girls in JR High be really careful!!! (If you don’t like girls yet that is ok, probably better that way!!!!!!!!!)

Love you so much Bro and I hope you have a great week!!!!

Elder Tilley

5:59 (Dad)

Sounds like things are going well and the Lord is definitely blessing our family, which I am so grateful for! So when we Skype in a Month you are going to have to give a watered down version of what this new company is actually doing! Missionaries keep asking me what my plans are going to be after my mission and I tell them that I will probably finish school and then I want to get into a business with my Dad and then they ask what does your Dad and I say "UHHHHHH... I don’t really know:)

So could you teach me some about Repentance!

I have not done anything crazy bad in my life, but there are things that I would definitely consider sins, but at the time I did not really think about it, but now I think hmmm I definitely should have done something about it or told someone sorry or something like that and at this point I do not think I can really do anything about it. I am trying to not worry about it because I feel like it is just Satan trying to distract me, but if you could write something about that to me for next time that would be great!

Anyways love you tons thanks for being such a great father! Love you!!

Elder Tilley

Bec-

Things are going pretty well! Every area has its own ups and downs. It is funny because I feel like during my trials I will have these little breaks were the trial will pass for a little bit, and during the trial part I think "wow this stinks and this is so hard" but then during the break I think" wow I am so grateful I went through that trial" Kind of interesting, but it is good!

How are you doing! Are you really embracing the Gospel and really praying and studying the scriptures? I hope so; some of the most happiness I have felt on my mission is when I have really dived into the scriptures and when I pray with all my heart!!

I love you bec!!

Sparly Buns Power!!

So our area and the branch is kind of suffering a little bit! It seems like this branch is kind of suffocating a little bit! So we are going to try and work with the branch and help them out!

Sorry I did not write a lot about the area, but I will try say more next time.

In the package can you send envelopes, one more pare of those insoles (not the hard ones you sent just the normal floppy ones? I think that is all I need!

Thanks so much!!! love you!!!!!

Logging off

Love Elder Tilley

(Dad)I forgot to say Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was not able to print out the two emails so could you send them in the package too! I could watch the video of Jailey but I could not hear anything :) I might be able to next week!

Love you again!!

logging off again :)

Elder Tilley

April 8, 2013

April 8, 2013

(Kathy Ryan) and another couple of Christian ladies are here in Africa because their husbands are working here so they go to the orphanage once a week and help out. So we were their last Monday. This was the same orphanage that we went to for Christmas... not much to tell just went there to kind of play with the kids and teach them a little bit of English!

Answers:

We got to watch the Priesthood session last night! Elder Uchtdorf answered exactly one of my questions and concerns I had, which was a great blessing!

I am not quite sure how (Camilla) is doing, but apparently Elizabeth (Inacios wife) went to church on Sunday for the first time and it was testimony meeting so apparently that was really good!!

(Adilson) just said  "it is complicated" (typical Angola excuse :) about his school

I am not sure... I do not think (Rodrigo went to church)

(My language) is good, definitely still learning... I will definitely become more fluent the next few months!

(Zone leader responsibilities) As of right now, not a whole lot... we are in charge of getting and delivering the mail and we are also in charge of getting water into the baptismal font when we have several baptisms in our zone. (Actually harder then you think :) We had to cancel the baptisms this past week because of water issues. I am not exactly sure what the issue was, but hopefully we can figure it out this week

Elder Chatwin and I got along well... he is a blue:) (which most of my companions have been) and so it was hard sometimes just to stop and listen to him express his feelings about stuff even when I did not really want to. I think that is one thing the Lord really wants me to learn on my mission is leaning how to really listen to people even when I do not really want to. I remember one time in (another area) we started companion study and (my companion) started talking about his life and how he was feeling (not necessary anything between us just about life in general) and things like that (which was a typical thing for him) and when he started I remember thinking "oh great here we go again!" However just after I had that thought come into my mind another thought followed that I felt was from the Spirit that said " Listen!" It was not really a voice that I heard or anything, but it was more of a feeling that was quiet, but got my attention. I then did my best to put my pride down and really listen to what he was saying and it was a really good experience. But Elder Chatwin is a really good missionary! Really hard worker. In an interview I had with President Thompson he described Elder Chatwin as a missionary who wants to go conquer the whole world! It was really funny because we would come out of a lesson that the spirit was very strong or where someone would accept a baptismal date and he would just kind of freak out and say " That was sooooo awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It was kind of funny.

That is funny you mentioned about his pictures! :) we will be friends after our mission.

My new companion is great! He is a really good missionary! The area as well as the branch is struggling a little bit, but we just found a new family that this in our same apartment complex which was a miracle! We wanted to knock a few doors where we lived so we went down a few floors and knocked a couple of doors and then we went down to the second floor and Elder Mariquele said I think we should not this door. We knocked it and a lady answered we told her we had a message about Jesus Christ and she said "well would you like to come in?”:) So we went in and the husband was on the coach asleep but she woke him up and invited him over. He asked what the name of the church was and said oh I knew some guys like you in Portugal, but it was a different church. We asked what church was in and he said the Mormons! We then said well that is us! We ended up teaching a part of the Restoration, but not the entire thing, but they said they really like the lesson and the husband at the end of the lesson said "I actually really like this lesson and I want you guys to come back! " We left their house and Elder Mariquele and I just looked at each other and thought "What the freak just happened!"

We had another experience like that the other day too. We were in the street and I think all of our lessons had fallen through and Elder Mariquele said, “well shall we follow the promptings of the Spirit and have him lead us to find someone?” I said sure... he then said well do you want to start and I will follow you to a door or should I start. I told him I would go first. So I just start walking and I felt like I should knock a door. So we did and a teenage boy answered it. We talked a little bit and then marked a time for the next day to come back and teach him. We returned and taught him part of the restoration and the sprit was defiantly present and so we pointed it out to him and at the end of the lesson he said " I like the lesson alot! " These are just a few experiences that I had this week!

(I live) in the city, but kind of in the slums of the city, a little bit more like my first area, but a little bit worse... but just so you know we are probably in one of the best apartments in the mission. Really nice apartment we pretty much always have energy and pretty much always have water. The best part of our house... warm showers!!!!!!!!!! Those I am pretty sure the best things on the planet ( I do not think I will take for granted a warm shower again!!!!!!!!! :)

(If you could send me) conference quotes would be good... those ..”you know you are a Tilley if “ would be fun to read:)

Ok I will think of some... You know you are a Tilley when you think you are good because you can score 20-30 points in a church ball game!

(Bec)

How did you like conference! We were able to watch the Priesthood Session yesterday and I felt the spirit so strongly during it! I thought to myself wow these men really are Prophets and Apostles of God!! They really are!! One part that really stuck me was that I had a concern about something, but I did not really know what my concern was, I thought I knew what it was, but apparently I did not. I listened to Pres Uchtdorfs talk and he basically defined and answered my concern that I myself was not completely sure about! I love you so much bec! I hope you have a spiritual filled week! Love you

Elder Tilley

Sparkly Buns Power

(Preston)

I do not have much time! But those Tilley quotes were really funny. I will try and think of some this week! Love you Little Bro! Elder Tilley

ok love you logging off