January 27, 2014

Elder Money is on the left he is from Utah and knows Shawn and Janae. 

Then Elder Tingey again and then me.

Braden is taking a seminary (teaching) class? When did that happen?

 We have this program that President Walton created that helps members get involved with missionary work. He was never able to implement it and our mission as a whole is not doing it, but we are trying to do it as a Branch.

Basically what it is, is a list of things that members can do on a daily basis, weekly basis, monthly basis and yearly basis to strengthen their own testimonies and to share the gospel, then it has a space for where you can put peoples names and then you create specific dates of when you want to give that person a book of Mormon or invite them to church or invite them to sit with the missionaries or be baptized... things like that, so we are trying to impletment that in the branch!.

 We got to teach them once Monday night before they left. It was a good lesson, but we have not been in contact with them since they have left.

 I will write you about (investigators) in the family letter

 I dont have any (pictures) today, I will try next week

Sister Merrill said that she was going to write you today and let you know that you should get my flight plans this week, and then you have to confirm the flight plans within 24 hours or something like that, but she said she would write you about it.

Elder Whitaker is on the left. He is a really smart kid got a 34 on the ACT he goes to BYU, he is a really good missionary. Santa is my old Companion Elder McCune, he dressed up for the end of the party. Then me and then Elder Tingey. Also a really good missionary and a lot of fun to be around... we like to talk business together:)

Fam!

So this week went really well I did 104 push-ups in a row before I collapsed! (Got to get in shape before I get home ;)  )

This week we had an awesome missionary experience happen. One day elder fountain and I were knocking on apartment doors and we knocked on this guys house named Eugenio (Ugene in English, I dont know how to spell that) so we asked if he had some time that we could talk about the message we had about Jesus Christ, he said he had a few minutes, but we just taught him really quickly at his door and then marked another time to pass by him. For what ever reason i felt like he had some potential, but I don’t really know why. We passed by him I think the following day we sat down and before we could even say a prayer he just starts talking about his life and the things he has been through and how he was an orphan from the age of six and he had two older brothers, but the oldest was 11 and they lived for three years without any help from others. He explained the rest of his life and how he did not really worry about religion and things like that, but then he changed and he saw the difference in his life and he started to go to the Pentecostal church and he said he felt happy there and then he said he left the church for a time and he saw the blessings leave him and so he went back to the Pentecostal church and he said he saw the blessings that he had before come back. As he was explaining this I thought to myself "how are we suppose to tell this man that his church is false and that ours is the only true church when he has felt happy and joy in the church he is in and has seen blessings when he has gone to it?" As I was thinking this he then said that he felt like he was weak and he wants to be more involved in the work of God, but doesn’t know how to. I asked him if it felt like there was something missing in his life and he said yeah he felt like there was something missing. We then very briefly talked about the restoration and I told him that I believe that what he is missing is this church, the Restoration of the Gospel. He was very intent on listening to what we had to say. We were not able to teach all of the Restoration that day, but we asked him to read the restoration pamphlet and pray and pray to know if this is what he was missing in his life. We went back and taught him on Saturday in the morning and I asked him if he read the pamphlet and he said he did. Then I asked if he had any questions and even though this is not a question this was his response "at the end of the pamphlet it says to pray to know about Joseph Smith" he paused and so i asked him if he prayed about it and he said he did and then I asked if he had received an answer and his response was "No, but I Know it is true!" Kind of a funny response :) saying no, but then saying he knew that it was true. So then we taught in detail about the restoration and what it means to know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet (it means that this is the only true church on the Earth). I invited him to be baptized and he accepted and then Elder Fontaine invited him to be baptized with a specific date (we decided on the spot March 8th) and he accepted as well. He said that he had never been baptized, but would like to be. We explained that this time between now and his baptism would be a time for him to prepare and continue to pray and read the Book Of Mormon to discover if the Book of Mormon is true!

We left him a book of Mormon and he said he would come to church. He came to church and he participated and I think he really liked it.

It was a great experience!

Love you Family!!!

Elder Tilley

Dad: Those are awesome experiences! Those are so cool! I am really glad that you shared them with him. Let me know of the Miracles that happen in the future. We also had a really cool experience with a guy in his twenties named Eugenio. I wrote about it to the family so you can read it!!

Love you Pops!!

Your are a wonderful Father and Husband and Church Leader !!

Elder Tilley

I look up to you alot!!!!!!!!

Love you!!

Elder Tilley

(Becca) Keep up the great work Bec! Mom said you are kind of in a slump, but are just coming out of it! EYE of the TIGER! Go tear them apart! Dont worry about anyone in the stands! Just go play your game!  Go play Tilley Basketball!!!

Here is an inspirational quote for you!  "Its not about how hard you get hit, but how hard you CAN get hit and Keep moving!!!"

That is what it is about!! When you get hit by LIFE or pressure or anything like that and continue to move forward!! and not just SURVIVE through it, but to see how hard you get to hit it back, that is how Champions are made! Love you Bec! Go hit them back hard this week!!!

Love you !!!

Sparkily Buns Power!! 

Elder Tilley

January 21, 2014

January 20, 2014

1.) We have set up a missionary goal that every member helps one person enter the waters of baptism every year! That is our goal as of right now.

2.) Yep I got (the emails about tithing), yes you sent the right one, it was the first one basically about how we didn’t have money but we lasted 4 years without any income. Thanks for sending that to me.

3.) No not yet (Grandma’s Christmas package).

4.) (Church) was alright, more stressful without a first counselor, but it was alright. I only had 2 speakers planned and neither of them took the time they were assigned to and so I spoke again this week and even though I spoke we still ended church a little bit early, so that was a little bit stressful.

5.) No not really unfortunately (new Branch President). We are kind of just in this waiting game right now trying to figure out if a few brethren will be moving to Huambo or not. If they do then one of them will probably be the branch president if they do not then President Merrill will probably call a missionary to be the new branch President.

Elder Whilhelm got a santa suit for chirstmas! :)

Do you know when Becca finds out if she gets accepted to BYU or not?

We just got this email from President Merrill just so you know, so we cant really be chatting anymore :(

With modern technology the way it is I know it is possible for your families to know when you are on the computer and initiate chatting with you. This is not an authorized method of communicating with your friends or family. You should use the email service to read your emails received, write your new ones and then move on. If chatting with your families or friends has been part of your email then please communicate to your families that is not approved.

Fam:

So this past Sunday we had another really cool experience. We had this couple show up and none of the missionaries knew them. I went and spoke with the wife and our Elders Quorum President (Beato) was with them. Beato said that she showed up to the chapel the day before and then Beato told her that she should come back on Sunday. So she came with her husband. At the end of church she wanted to speak with me, so we sat with her and her husband and she explained how they are from Benguela, a city about an 1-2 hours away, but they are hear visiting his family in Huambo.  She then explained how she had a dream and when she woke up she knew she needed to go to church. So the next day, Saturday, she went in search of a church and she was going to go farther into the city but because it was raining she decided to stop at our church, a little bit on the outside of the city, and found Beato our Elders Quorum President.

She then explained how she feels like just praying and reading in the Bible she doesn’t feel like is enough and that she needs to do more in her life, but is not exactly sure what it is and came to me for counsel. When I heard that I was blown away and wanted to teach her the entire Restoration and tell her that she just found what she was missing in life, I was getting really excited and wanted to teach her everything, but I just taught very simply the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon and then we set up a time with them tonight (Monday night 20-01-2014) to sit with them and teach them more about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon! It was really cool to see the hand of the Lord Direct them to the true Church of Jesus Christ!

I love you Family! Hope you have a great week!

Love

Elder Tilley

Dad: Wow that sounds like the new company is going well. I am glad to hear that things are really starting to pick up!

Thank you for writing your testimony and those quotes from the Apostles!

Love you pops!

Elder Tilley

January 13, 2014

Hey Mom I need you to respond to this as soon as you can. Which airport do you want me to fly into? The Phoenix one right? Sister Merrill is starting my travel plans home and she needs to know. I am not sure if Sister Merrill is going to tell me my travel plans until like the week before, but she should send you an email when they are all done. I am not sure if Mesa is an option. If it is then i have a lay over in Salt Lake or even Phoenix and get home even later. But if you feel like Mesa would be better we can do that.

Second question. So they have these really cool African fabrics here and I was thinking that maybe I could bring some home and you could make me a quilt out of them with the dates I was a missionary or something, but would that be too much work for you if it will be too much work then I will not worry about it. Ok it will probably not be the same fabric several different ones maybe, also the fabric is pretty thin. How much should I buy? They sell them in Pieces already cut because they are used for skirts and to hold children on their backs, maybe I will try and buy one and then you know the dimensions, I am also not sure how wide they are. Should I buy enough for the Merrill’s too?

I got to go see Amelia and her Family in Lubango one last time :) They were recent converts when I got to Lubango. The boy on my rights name is Pedro. He is awesome! I love him! Both of the boys in the picture are thinking about serving missions!

Fam: My companion is getting transferred and I will be serving with Elder fountain! He is a lot of fun! It will be great

So this week we past by Guilherme and Florenças house and Guliherme told us a cool experience where one night in the middle of the night their baby girl started to cry and no matter what they did she would not stop crying. Guilherme said he started to pray and a little bit later the baby stopped crying. Guilherme had to get up about an hour later at 5 in the morning to go to work and his dad who lives right next door (very close to Guilhemes house) asked who was the choir who came and sang in your house. Guliherme did not know what he was talking about, but his dad insisted that some one came and sang, but Guilherem said no one was in their house, What it sounded like was that Guilherme thought a choir of angels came and sang their baby to sleep; way cool!

…(as Branch President) I am learning so much more about the church and how the Lord works then I could ever learn ... I feel like I am where I need to be. So many miracles I have seen and I would have missed out on (in another calling)… Also… one of my baptisms in Viana I believe will be moving here in a couple weeks and it is possible that he could become the Branch President or a counselor, which that would make my mission IF that does happen then that one experience alone makes my entire mission worth it! I would not trade where I am at right now for the world!

Love you guys^!