September 30, 2013

Hey Mom I am on. So we are going to have a fireside this sunday about

Temples and Temple marriages and things like that. If you are awake

and able would you be able to send me some pictures of Joshs or

Rachels or Bradens Temple pictures within the next hour? If not that

is ok, but if you could that would be great!

…

Yeah ones like these are great. We will be showing them digitally.~

Maybe send some of Rach and Braden too.

…

Can you send those last ones as attachments because I need to forward

them to my branch email, but one I went to forward the ones of Rach

and Braden the pics were not there

(Bec)

Hey bec sorry I have not written in a while I was going to write last

week but the internet was really bad. To answer all your questions …

So (here is the real story) with the missionaries that got robbed. We had a zone conference here in Huambo so there were 13 missionaries living in the same house for several days. So Monday night at 7-8 Elder Kearney and Elder Clifford went to the grocery store to by some food so that we could make dinner for us 8 missionaries who were still in Huambo, also because of all the confusion with all the missionaries Elder Clifford had not done shopping for the week so they went and did that.  They were gone for a while and I kind of got nervous. A little bit later I got nervous again as well as some of the other missionaries. I went and got my phone and I saw I had a missed call from Elder Clifford. I called them back but no answer. All of us were kind of worried and we decided that we would go look for them (if they weren’t back) in10-15 minutes. But with in 5 they got back and told us they got robbed. They said they left the grocery store and they were coming back on the bikes (we have bikes here in Huambo) and two electric scooters passed them and then stopped in front of them and stopped them. Elder Kearney said he was about to punch one of them, but he pulled out a gun, Elder Kearney said he was pretty sure it was fake but then the guy cocked it and Elder Kearney said it was definitely real. They didn’t point the gun at their faces. The gun was pointed at Elder Cliffords stomach though. They ended up taking everything except a few groceries and the bikes. One of the guys kind of jokingly slapped Elder Kearney. he said it didnt really hurt...just made him really mad. They then told them to get on there bikes and ride home... so they did. They got their backpacks stolen and their cameras and most of the food they just bought, and scriptures, but only copies of there personal documents, and they stole their phones as well. .....

But we are all safe!!

I love you Bec!

I hope you have a great week!

Sparkley Buns Power!

Elder Tilley

(Mom)

That is so crazy that Caylie is going to get baptized! that is really cool! How old is she?

2.) Those (pics) you sent will be perfect. yes I should be able to print them out. So I can just do that! It will be alot easier (then having you send them)!

4.) No I haven’t (gotten a 2^nd counselor yet) and I may not... it just depends we will see. The secretary went to Spain to go to the Temple and will not be back till the end of October, so I wont be able to get a picture of us until then

5.) Yes I will try to (get some pictures).

6:) Elder Clifford and Elder Whitaker and Elder McCune and I (are the 4 Elders in Huambo)

7.) Yes..we have bikes but we do not use them alot because there is no good

place to put them when we are teaching or contacting.

They have some taxis but very few routes that they take so me mostly walk.

8.) Honestly I can not really remember much (of P. Merrills talk). He did talk about obedience and Power though and he said the way we can be more Powerful missionaries is by being obedient!

9.) No I will try (my debit card again) today

10.) (Yes…Huambo is closer but) still not like the US, but it has sidewalks and trees that Humans planted which is unusual. Missionary work wise it is pretty dead. In Terra Nova we were teaching about 19 lessons in a week, this past week we taught 7. Our weekly planning which normally takes 3 hours took about 45 minutes:) Things were kind of like this went I got to Terra Nova too, so hopefully we can get members more involved and get the missionary work up and going!

My mission is one of the hardest things i have ever done, but I am so grateful for the experiences that I am having that are helping me grow closer to my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ! I do not think I would be able to do this with out the Grace of Jesus Christ! I love this Gospel because of the joy that comes into my life and the Joy that comes into the lives of those that really apply it in their lives! I know the Restoration happened and I know the Atonement is real because of the Holy Ghost has testified to me that these things are true and I have seen the Atonement work in my own personal life as well as the lives of others! Being a Branch President is a new experience as well. The Lord is blessing me with the revelation that I need to help the Branch. I also have a testimony of callings as well! I have seen the Lord give me specific instructions or things I need to do to help the branch and I do not believe I received that revelation because of anything that I had done. It was mirrly becasue the Lord called me to be the Branch President and so I feel like he was blessing me with those revelations to help me in my calling and I am pretty sure I would not have received those revelations if I had not been called to be the Branch President. The Lord qualifies him who he calls! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen!

Love you Mom!

Elder Tilley

 (Braden) I was going to write last week but the internet was Bad!

I hope that you had a wonderful Birthday and a great 1 year

annaversary (No Idea how to spell that!)

Love you Bro!1

Elder Tilley

Could you sent this to Preston!

Hey Pres How are you doing? How is school going for you? I forget are you doing any sports right now or are you just waiting for basketball to start up? Careful will the ladies alright ;)  Sao perigosas! :)

Love you P Dog!!

Elder Tilley

Logging off!!

Love you Mom!!!

Elder Tilley

have a great week!

September 23, 2013

Elder McCune...New Companion and New Area...HUAMBO!

(From Sister Merrill) 

Good morning!

Elder Tilley just wanted me to email you and let you know all is well.  He was not able to get his weekly email sent due to connection problems...(not surprising here!!!)  He will try to catch up next week.

He is doing great as he has stepped into his new responsibility.  What a great young man..!!!

 Hope your day and week goes well.

Pennie Merrill

(This is what he got off so far ...

Answers:

Well on the church records (MLS) there is only like 9 people because MLS is kind of a wreck right now in Huambo so we are trying to work with South Africa (where the church headquarters are here in Africa) to fix MLS. But we have about 30-40 members I would say. We only have a few primary kids and no Young Men or Young Women. We have about 30 people come to church every week including little kids and investigators. So there are about 5 that are inactive I would say.

(What do you do?) . . . Well basically everything... I am just a normal branch president that is a missionary as well... well technically I am a missionary first and then the Branch President... but all my responsibilities are the same. We just had our Branch Council Meeting last night and that actually went pretty well.

I am sure there is something you guys could do (for a service project), but I am not exaclty sure at the moment... do you have any ideas?

One thing I just thought of was that we are going to be having a fireside on Marriage here in two weeks. Would you be able to send me some Temple fotos of Josh or Rachel or Braden?

Pops!

Thanks for the advice, I will definitly do my best to apply it!

Any interview with a girl I have, I leave the door cracked open and my companion is right outsider the door  so that we can remain in sight of each other.

Things are going pretty well. I was not too overwhelmed by the calling. Initally I was kind of scarred and worried, but nothing to big. But I had an interview with a Brother last night who explained some of the issues and problems that were happening in the  Branch and I have recognized as well, but that really put a weight on me and I am now trying to figure out and resolve.

I find it interesting that sometimes the Lord, especially since I have been the Branch President, instently gives me the revelation or the guidance that I need and then other times he makes me work for it!

One instance of this was that on Sunday I had just called a new lady to be the 1st counselor in the Primary as I was sitting up in front I felt the Spirit tell me that she needs to speak next week and the topic should be (the blessings of Tithing) right after Sacrement was over this lady came up to me and said "Would I be able to give a talk next Sunday?" In kind of amazment, I said "yes you can" She then said what is my topic? I told her that I would tell her that I would tell her later (I wanted to tell her the experience that just happened with me) So we set her apart after church and then I told her the experience I had and the topic I felt she should speak on, she was also alittle bit surpriesed and amazed at the experience as well. It was a really neat expereine  for me!

I am doing well and I hope that you all is well with you too!!

Love you Pops!!

Elder Tilley 

September 16, 2013

I am just to the left of the brown shoes; I am taking the picture

Trip to Huambo

So new news! I have been transferred to Huambo (Province). I am actually already here in Huambo.... and Mom so you know that dream you had about me just coming home and lying in bed, well I think it might come true! Why? Because not only have I been transferred here to Huambo, but I am the new Branch President of Huambo! Pretty crazy right! I did not see that one coming at all!

Transfers happened a little bit early because Presdient Merrill was coming down for a zone Conference with the Lubango and Huambo Elders this past week end so he decided to do transfers and sustain the new branch president during church on Sunday. But I randomly got a call from President Merrill Thursday night and he said that transfers were going to happen early and that I would be transferred to Huambo and be the new Branch President. I initially took it pretty well, but then afterwards a flood of things came into my mind that I realized I had no idea how to deal with. We called my companion to be my first counselor, I do not have a second counselor yet, but we called a Portuguese man, named ilidio to be the secretary. I was sustained on Sunday and have already given two talks, given two temple recommends, delt with tithing and all of that. So it has been pretty intense the past few days.

Because of the zone conference we have had 13 missionaries here. All the Lubango and Huambo elders as well as the elders who were in huambo and Lubango, but were getting transferred back up to Luanda and the assistants. So all of us have been in one house the past 3-4 days... so that has been fun. So yeah it has been going well.

Answers:

I am not sure how many (missionaries) we have now, we are getting two from the states this Wednesday, but I am not sure who they are I think Elders Rigby and Peterson. We have 13 new missionaries though that are either on their way here to Angola this week, have been reassigned for the time being (waiting for visas) or who are in the MTC! Pretty crazy!! I don’t know where we are going to put all these missionaries because we do not have very many leaving. Elder Montgomery was transferred to Benfica, and Elder Hannay took my place as zone leader. Elder Mccune is my new companion and my first counselor. He is from Utah.

Typically for transfers we find out on Monday and then transferred on Wednesday, but because of the Zone Conference here in Huambo we had transfers a little bit early.

:) yeah i wish I would have practiced more (piano)

If it is not too much of a hassle... maybe a little framed picture of Christ or the family to put on my Branch President desk :)

I dont think (conference) will be live, but we will get DVDs later on and we will watch them, but probably in Portuguese, which obviously I can understand, but it is just different in English, especially hearing the apostles actual voices.

(Dad)

I heard that BYU stomped on Texas that is pretty cool, also with ASU winning that is soo crazy! It sounds like the business is picking up and going well.

So Mom probably told you that I was transferred to Huambo and called to be the new branch president of Huambo. Pretty crazy, if you have any advice for me that would be great!

I talked with President Merrill and he said that he still wants me to focus on missionary work, but keep the branch running and functioning well. He told me that my goal should be to find and train someone to be the next branch president. President told me to try to be looking for someone member or nonmember that could be a future Branch President and then the hope is to call him before I end my mission and then my companion and I would be his counselors to train him... right now I am not sure if there is any one in the branch that could be the branch president, but I feel like there definitely could be... but that is going to be my goal before I leave (President Merrill told me that should be my goal, but if it doesn’t happen then that doesn’t mean I failed or anything it just means that heavenly Father had some different plans for the branch)!

Having said that, until then I am still the Branch President so any advice I would love!

I love you Dad so much and look up to you so much!!

Elder Tilley

FS experience…Wednesday or maybe it was Thursday I can’t remember but we passed by Mi and Chelsia, but we taught the entire family. One little boy when he sees us always comes and gives us a hug :) But we taught the Dad and the Mom as well the plan of Salvation. the mom goes to another church and the dad believes in God but does not go to church or anything like that. So we taught them and the dad who is kind of a smoker and kind of a hard man, at the end of the lesson said "maybe you goes can come over some day and we can make lunch for you guys" then he said "we like you guys coming over becasue we feel blessed when you come over. Also when we went over Chelsia was sick and as we were living the Spirit very quietly said "give her a blessing" I kind of ignored the prompting and thought "she will be fine she doesn’t need one" we left the house and the spirit was working on my pretty hard and I felt really bad that we did not give her a blessing. I thought well maybe we’ll call them tomorrow and if she is still sick we can come back and give her a blessing. The spirit continued to work hard on my and then the thought came that if I went tomorrow then the father would probably not be in the house to see and feel the power of the priesthood. (The dad works a lot and is out of the house a lot) When I thought that I stopped in my tracks and said Elder Hansen we need to go back and give chelsia a blessing, he was willing to go back, but I think I thought it was kind of weird but we went back and I knocked on the door and the mom came out and I said in our church we are able to give blessings of health and we wanted to know if chelsia would like one? The mother not knowing anything about priesthood blessings immediately without hesitation responded "yes she needs one" We went in and explained what would happen. We gave her a simple blessing that said she would recover quickly. When we got done with the blessing Cardosia their boy who is about 6 jumps in the seat waiting for his turn to give him a blessing :) he was doing fine so we did not give him a blessing (thinking about it now we should have just given him one though since he wanted it)

then the mother said I also have a sickness can I receive a blessing too? We gave her a blessing as well and the spirit was very strong in the room!

I have thought several times to myself what a precious gift a Priesthood blessing would be to these people. They have never felt the real power of the Priesthood probably ever in their lives and here for the first time they are able to receive and feel the real power of Christ in the lives! It really is a Miracle!

I love you so much Mom!

Thanks

Elder Tilley 

(Letter from Pennie Merrill to Sister Tilley)

Thank you for that information (about the orphanage)! You are an answer to my prayers. We have wanted to go there and take some of the Elders but no one seemed to remember how to get there or have any info. I guess I didn't ask the right person! Hopefully we can do a service project for Christmas! 

We have felt the love and support from you and all the other Moms. Thank you for your prayers. That is where we gain our strength.

Have I told you how much we absolutely love your son? He is a great strength and such a strong leader. I am glad to hear you are ok with him staying here for a time longer! ;-) we love these young men so much it is going to be very hard to tell them good bye…your son is one of the chosen leaders whose testimony and loving personality touches all he meets. Thank you for teaching him the correct principles of the gospel and the desire to serve! Hope your day is good and thank you for your friendship.

Pennie Merrill

September 9, 2013

 We went to the beach for a little bit. 
The waves were really big... it was alot of fun!

Starting from the left. Elders Stewart, Montegomery, Tingey, Money, Me, Garn, Chandler, Elder Hansen is on the groud with S. Merrill

Merkley, Montgomery, Chandler, Tingey, Garn in front of Money, Tilley,
Sister Merrill and Presidant Merrill laying Elder Hansen

Answers:

We were in the house when we found out. We were planning and our branch mission leader called us and asked who the missionaries were that got assaulted. I asked what missionaries? He then said that a missionary got assaulted in Filda (Filda is where we live). At this point I realized that it was Elder Chandler and Elder Garn that got assaulted and I am about ready to bust out the door to go find them or something. But the branch mission leader said that they were already on the way to the hospital. So then I decided to call Elder Chandler´s phone, and some random Angolan answered the phone and I realized that the person I was talking to was the person who stabbed Elder Chandler, so then I had a few words to say to the man :) but he ended up hanging up on me. So I called President who was already at the hospital waiting for Elder Chandler and Elder Garn (they got a ride from a members husband that is our next door neighbor). President said he talked to Elder Chandler and he seemed all right. He got stabbed a couple of times, but there was only two marks on him. One was a puncture whole on his spine, the other was a pretty wide cut between his shoulder and back (he got three stitches on that cut). They would have been fine if they would have just given up their stuff (Elder Garn gave up his stuff freely) but Elder Chandler put up a little fight and so it ended up in him getting stabbed. He has already been transferred to Cassequel. We are doing fine, Elder Garn his still trying to recover because he basically almost watch Elder Chandler get stabbed to death, but he is doing well. Initially I was pretty upset, we are all working on forgiveness though:) I am not too scarred because if E C would not have resisted nothing would have happened so we are just a lot more aware of where we are at and things like that.

We went on a Safari today with our zone!

I do not think (I need anything). If (the belt) is a big hassle i think I can do without it till the end.

People who have baptismal dates for the 28th of September 

Lopes: He is Garcia and Fina´s Son

Anacleto: He is Beatrizes son. her "husband" is a member, but they are working on getting married, but the son will be baptized before beatrize is.

Slow: He has had (some) problems in the past, but he is doing really well... his mind is a little bit slow if you could tell from the nick name his family gave him (Slow they called him that because he was a little slow and it just stuck... really sad, but we are working on helping him see that he is a son of God!)

Avo: A reference from a member... he is soooo Awesome! Really strong testimony already... we taught him on Sunday and it was one of those lessons where the investigator goes from being an investigator to basically a member who is not baptized yet.

Wilson: He is denilons cousin... also really awesome kid... he is 19 years old

Mi and Chelsia: Mi is 13 and chelsia is 11, they are also references from members. We are teaching their entire family, but their family will not be ready for baptism for a while, but they are champs and have really strong testimonies...

Baptismal dates for the 12 of October

Helder: Another reference from a member that we are teaching... but still in the beginning stages with him.

Ivandro: reference from a member... Elder mariquele and I taught him once when we were together, but then we dropped him because lack of desire... but two weeks ago he came to church and wants help to change his life... we taught him the Word of Wisdom and he really like it..

The Lord is really blessing us alot... I think this is the best area I have had, but it has been a long road to get here as well. Our area has been none for the kind of crappy area that is really hard and the branch is very dysfunctional that just wears missionaries out, but we have had a few new members move into our branch and were put into leadership positions and our branch is one of the better functioning branches now our area is really exploding! It is a lot of fun.

Saturday there were baptisms for the other zone, but there was a baptism from our branch so we went to it. We got there and like usual people were running late.. so president said that we should just all sit down and listen to prelude. Howerever there was no one playing prelude and I noticed no one else really knew how to play... so I went and played the few hymns that I know and it was really good because when I started there was a lot of noise, but after a few minutes everyone stopped talking and just listened... (I thought it would have been really nerve racking, but it wasn’t and I was pretty calm) I played basically all the hymns I knew and repeated a couple as well while we were waiting, but it was a real blessing because I messed up maybe two times during the entire thing and the Spirit was present in the meeting.

Elder Garn and I have also been playing for the branch and last week I found a hymns made simple book, so right before the meeting started I looked at the hymns and they looked pretty easy (right hand only :)  So I played the first one, the opening hymn, and basically butchered it... so then basically during the entire meeting I practiced the closing hymn over and over (with the keyboard sound off) and the closing him was a lot better.

That is way cool what they did at the seminary building... I guess you can only get that kind of stuff in old hick towns:) really cool old hick towns that is:)

Sounds good to me with Braden and Chelsy (getting a house).

Agreed the Book of Mormon has really helped me so much on my mission as well! That is an interesting dream you had... I am not sure if I have any comments on it, but thank you so much for sharing that with me!

Love you Mom!!!

Love 

Your Son!

Elder Tilley

Love you so much Pops!

Thank you for reminding me of that story!

Love you 

Elder Tilley

 (Preston)

I am so going to school you when I get back... just so you know!! 

I love you tons bro!

Love 

Elder Tilley