August 13 journal

August 6

FYI-Elder Montgomery (the one he mentions) is the missionary Dad, Braden and I met in the temple the day before he left for the MTC and Jayce left for Africa. (He went to Highland High and they have several mutual friends).  He has been in New Jersey waiting for his visa. His mom called this morning and said the consulate office of Angola called this morning and said the visas are in. She called the mission home in New Jersey and they said they didn't get that message, but would send them right over to pick them up. So hopefully the President and 2 missionaries will be arriving in Africa soon! (Those boys are in New Jersey so they are close to the consulate office and don't have to wait for the visas to be shipped anywhere). Here's the letter...

August 6, 2012

Hey mom Internet went out last time, so I could not write. We are having problems today too so I hope this and my other letters will go through!

His name is Seba. we went to the hospital this week to visit him because he had to go back again, and hospital was very interesting. There were about 5 other people in the room with him and they do not feed them a lot and it is not very clean. He is doing a little bit better though.

We went and visited (Moses) the day we fasted for him and he was still kind of the same and he did not really want to sit with us. Than on Tuesday we got a call from him and he asked us to come over. He said that he had been struggling, but he is ready to change and he said he wanted to have the same desires that he had after his baptism... to do what is right. He told us that he knew that he was the one that needed to change and that we could not do it for him, but we would be there it help him. Also he said that he was thinking about serving a mission too! Wow!! What a change of heart!! I am really starting to see the power of prayer and fasting as well as the powere of the Lord to help change people!

We were not able to sit with (Antonia) this week so that was a bummer and she did not come to church.

Paula is about the same still looking for an answer. Addilson’s story is complicated but his dad is always out of town and his mom is always gone, but his dad came back for a day or two so we talked with him and he said that he wanted to sit down with his wife and Addilson and talk about it (that is what he said last time) But he said that they would all be home this Saturday and they would talk about it. So we are praying that they for one will sit down and talk about it and two that their hearts will be soften to allow him to get baptized.

Nelsa we continue to teach her, her husband is not around a lot so it is hard to talk with him. So things are kind of on hold with her, but we continue to teach her.

(Bella’s) husband is building their house right now and he said that wanted to wait to get married until their house was done. So that may take another few months, so we just continue to teach her and try to help her build her faith.

We do have some others but I am not sure how serious they really are we keep going to their house but they are always busy or are not their, so we are not really sure.

One though her name is Bete and she lives really far away and she accepts the message for the most part, but it is really far so it is really hard for her to come to church because of the money to get their. So that is the issue we are having there.

(Talk on Tithing) It is coming along I just have been a lot of thoughts about it, but I have not sat down and really thought about what I am going to talk about. Yes I remember J.

Yes I was able to see it! (Movie of Jailey and Jacey) But we cannot get sound here so I could not hear anything

My companion is pretty good. Definitely a little bit different, but good. Yep it’s been 6 weeks already. So honestly I do not know a lot about my companion because there are normally 4 missionaries down here in Lubango and my companion and another missionary got transferred. So my companion got here, but guess where the other Missionary’s companion is? Yep his companion is Elder Montgomery!!! (when he gets here). So right now we are walking in a three some and we have to cover two areas instead of just one until Elder Montgomery gets here. It has been very stressful trying to combine the two areas and deciding when to work in one and when to work in the other! It has been a very stressful week! Also my companion and the other Elder are really good friends so... yeah I do not really know my companion yet. But his name is Elder Borden and Elder Montgomery's companion’s name is Elder Kelsey. Haha yeah . . . every companion is marriage prep!

I still didn’t make gravy . . . not yet... right now I am just kind of in survival mode. (Not really worried about making good food, just what fills me up)

President emails and responds to emails pretty much every week. His wife has her visa, but he still does not have his... so yeah.

I do not think they have the perpetual education fund here, but I am not really sure. Yes they have seminary and institute, but just one day a week.

I am trying to upload pictures but it is not working for some reason!!

Love you Mom!!

I hope you are doing well!!

Love Elder Tilley

…Hey mom sorry I tried to send some pictures, but they would not upload! I will try it next time!

July 29, 2012

Big changes my companion is getting transferred and my new companion is going to be Elder Borden.

Thanks for sharing Pops! Family Recreation activities are very important! Here is a Journal entry that I had, let me know if you can read them!

I read a talk by Elder Holland that said what better blessing can we say than saying "In our Family we serve Missions!!" I am so grateful that in our family we say "We serve Missions!!"  Love you Pops!!

Elder Tilley

The Primary kids flooded the Primary room with water!! It was about two inches high so my companion and I spent alot of time getting all the water out.

Yo Bec!!! What is up!!

I am doing pretty well! My companion is great we have really gotten along and we have got a lot of work done! But I am sad because he is being transferred back up to Luanda to be a Zone Leader and my new companion is going to be Elder Borden! To tell you the truth ... I am a little bit nervous, but all will go well I hope!

So this might not be a great (story) but here you go.

So when I was in Luanda there was a member that was going a little bit crazy (really though). Anyways so one day we got back and our big gate door was broken, but we did not think anything of it. So we walked and started talking to the other Elders and they said that this member had come and broken into our gate and she was inside when they got home and she was saying a lot of crazy things. But they ended up giving her a blessing and kind of just sent her off. So that was really scary that she broken into our house!! It was really scary afterwards because she still is a little bit crazy and we did not know if she would break in again or not. 

I am glad Jose was able to fix the truck! Yeah don’t feel bad about it! At least it will be a funny story later on right!!?

Way to through down on Highland!! That is so sick! Keep up the hard work and tearing it up!! Remember to always be Humble and that way the Lord can help you even more. I remember sometimes after having good games I would get a little Prideful and a lot of times the Lord would humble me the next game :) I am not saying that you are getting Prideful, but just a reminder and just sometimes Satan likes to tempt people a lot more when things like that happen! Love you Bec!! Keep up the great work on the Court and off the court, Physically and Spiritually!!

The Primary kids flooded the Primary room with water!! It was about two inches high so my companion and I spent alot of time getting all the water out.

...I Might have to take a lot of money out of my account in the next couple of weeks because our debit cards we have were deactivated and we are not really sure what is going on because we do not get a lot of information here in Lubango. I have money to last me awhile, but I might have to pull some out for food and things like that. Just so you know!

We went to the hospital this week to visit (Seba) because he had to go back again, and hospital was very interesting. There were about 5 other people in the room with him and they do not feed them a lot and it is not very clean. He is doing a little bit better though.

We went and visited (Moses) the day we fasted for him and he was still kind of the same and he did not really want to sit with us. Then on Tuesday we got a call from him and he asked us to come over. He said that he had been struggling, but he is ready to change and he said he wanted to have the same desires ... 
(journal)

July 23, 2012

Hey fam!

So last week was pretty cool because we got to help a member build His house. We actually just put on part of the roof. We were planning on it only taking a few hours but it ended up taking the hold day! It was actually kind of fun. It was kind of weird though because their houses here are obviously different so I felt like I was more up at the cabin work on a fort or something! But it was fun!

COMPANIONS: Elder Tilley and Elder Davis

INVESTIGATORS: Also on Saturday/Sunday we did a Mission fast for President and Sister Thompson as well as the other missionaries that have not got their Visas yet so that was pretty good! Elder Davis and I also included in our fast two recent converts that are in 16 and 18. The Sixteen year old, his name is Seba, woke up one morning and his knee started to hurt him and it just got progressively worse. When we would go to see him he was in a lot of pain so we gave him a blessing but it kept getting worse. He finally went to the hospital and stayed there over night but then came back the next day we went over and he was still in a lot of pain and his knee had swelled up really big. The doctors said that there was something that was growing inside of the his knee. When we went over to his house he was going to the hospital again and was still in a lot of pain. So the last we heard was he went into the hospital again yesterday.  Normally the doctors here are actually pretty good, but I am not sure why they keep sending him home when he is still in a lot of pain and has to keep going back. So if you could keep him in your prayers that would be great! The 18 year olds name is Moseis (Moses) and he has been struggling more spiritually and he needs a lot of help so if you could include him in your prayers as well that would be great! We are teaching a lady named Antonia who speaks English I think I already told you about here. We are also teaching a lady named Paula, honestly I do not know her story but we invited her to be baptized last week and she said she would have to think about it... Also we have two other ladies one named Nelsa and the other Bella. The only thing holding them up is getting married. Bellas husband is a member so they should have all the documents and everything ready next month so hopefully she will get baptized soon. Nelsas "husband" is not a member so he doesn’t have a desire to get married because it is very difficult and it costs a lot of money, so we continue to pray. We also are teaching a 12 year old boy who is pretty much a member and comes to church and even seminary and stuff, but his parents have not given him permission to get baptized so we are praying that they will soon his name is Addilson. Him and Paula are related, but Paula is older and does not need permission so we are hoping that if she gets baptized their parents will allow Addilson to get baptized. Those are the main ones I will have to tell you about the other ones next week.

All the missionaries have a real washer (LG really nice) except for Lubango:). We have a machine that I guess you could call a washer but it really isn’t. It just kind of spins in a circle and doesn’t wash very well. And there are two parts to it, the second part spins really fast just to get all the water out of your clothes. I am not sure if that made sense... than we just hang out our cloths out to dry.

I have only taught Primary once here. So we have a senior couple here in Angola and they live are stationed here in Lubango, but they are up in Luando until President Thompson gets here. There names are Elder and Sister Violin (both i`s make an "ee" sound they are Brazilian, but normally Sister Violin teaches Primary so since she is in Luanda people switch teaching it. Normally the missionaries don’t but one Sunday they needed help with the kids so we jumped in. But I have already taught gospel principles once in Luanda and once here also I gave a talk in Luando and I will give a talk here on tithing I think in 3 weeks, so that should be good. Love you mom!! I hope everything is going well!! Thanks mom your great!!!! Elder Tilley

Thanks Pops for the letter! I would 100% agree with that statement about the Book of Mormon! I remember thinking during my first transfer " I can do this as long as I have the Book of Mormon that I can read and study" because I know that Christ will help comfort and bless me as I read and study its pages! Thanks Pops I love you!!!

July 16, 2012

We went to a place today with a bunch of waterfalls so that is what these pictures are!

…So our new President got his visa and it was the wrong one so he had to resubmit his papers! I am pretty sure those two Elders in New Jersey had to do the same thing! So we think he is going to be delayed awhile several more weeks, but we are continuing to pray for all of them!

I told (President Walton) I wanted to leave later so my return date is March 13 as of right now, but Sister Walton said that date is not set in stone, but in the books right now it is March 13, 2014. Yes each companionship has a cell phone.

 Daily schedule is pretty much the same as before. We teach alot we have been averaging about 4 to 5 lessons a day. The members here really need our help so we teach a lot of recent convert lessons. We never really knock doors here. We normally just walk around and talk to people when we do not have a lesson but most of the time we do. A lot of times people will just come up to us and ask us what we are doing! We have not been walking around as much looking for people to find lately but this week we are probably going to do more. Elder Davis is very scarred to just walk up and talk to people so sometimes that makes it kind of difficult. But most of the time we just go from lesson to lesson. Our normal schedule: wake up and do the normal missionary things. We eat lunch and than head out and normally just walk to the lessons that we have. After the day is over we come back plan for the next day eat and than get ready for bed! That probably was not a lot of detail but that is our day in a nut shell!

(Braden) Holy Cow Bro!!!!!!!! You are engaged!! Did you update the FB yet!! haha just kidding! It is pretty funny to hear you talk about her! It sounds like you are in love! Haha but that is the way it is suppose to be I would imagine!

Dont worry about it! I am fully supporting you man! I hope that you have a great first week being engaged! Tell future Chelsy Tilley I said hi and that I love her too (love her as family that is! :) Love you Bro! thanks for your letter especially! I have been thinking a lot about it this week too and I thought that even the Savior wanted this cup to pass from him but never the less not my will but Gods be done! Even though it may be hard I need to do the will of God! Love you man!

Elder Tilley Could you send this pic to mom thanks!

(Dad) On Sunday we were at church and the Branch President called us into his office with another man! I was not sure what was going on, but this man was just driving down the street and he said he was directed to the church so he came in and wants to know more! Pretty crazy, we were not able to get his number but we gave him ours and he said he would come next week! He said he wanted us to teach his family as well! What a great Miracle... that I just wanted to share! Love you Pops keep up the great work!!

 Carlos has been taught the missionary lessons for about a year now! It is pretty crazy he is very quiet so I do not know his story very well. He was suppose to be baptized a few weeks ago but he was out of town the few weeks prior, so we taught him for three weeks and than Saturday was baptized. We were very excited. It was really stressful though because our tank to fill up the font ran out of water so Friday and Saturday we were trying to figure out how to get water, but a miracle happened and water came in through the street so we had enough, but we had to bucket it from our tank to the font because our pump is not working! It was pretty cool though because Carlos the one getting baptized came over and helped us so that was really cool!

I Love you mom!!! 

Logging off

Elder Tilley

July 9, 2012

Cool place that we pass by almost everyday

Hey. So, first of all just so you know, there are several things I wish I could do better that would definitely help me on my mission. One I wish I could play the piano better! Second of all I wish I could cook better! I do pretty well with cooking, but it would just be whole a lot easier if I could do it better. Bec and Pres... I am not just saying that because mom wants me to, but I have been really thinking that the past few days!

Answers to Mom’s questions:

1.) (Stores???) Well kind of, stores are a lot smaller here. So kind of, but not really. everything is just a little bit different here, so it is a little bit harder. I do not think they have any cream of wheat or any type of wheat really.

I'm standing in front of the church. We live behind the church.

2.) I could probably get a crock pot, but I do not think it would work very well, because here in Lubango we get energy from the street, and we normally have energy, in the morning and at night depending on the day, but during the day it normally goes away. kind of weird, so if I had one I do not think it would work to well because it would not be turned on during the day.

3.) My companion was put his card into the computer last time and several of his pictures got erased... but do not worry I got a plan:) 

4.) Pretty much everyone believes in Christ! I am not really sure how, but everyone does or claims that they do.

5.) Yeah send pictures, I have a lot of fun looking at them!

(Dad) Oh I forgot to tell Mom that we have a Baptism this Saturday so we are really excited, hopefully I will try and send some pictures next week, but we will see. Also we had a lesson this week that was just really awesome! We are teaching this lady and her name is Antonia and she grew up in Namibia Africa so she speaks English so that was kind of fun teaching in English. But we taught her a week ago and invited her to be baptized and she said she did not know because she was already baptized in another church. On Sunday she came to church and gospel Principles was on Baptism. We were not there because we were teaching Primary but apparently she asked alot of questions. Also the last time we were with her my companion left a chapter to read, so after church we went to her house and taught her and it was really cool … because everything came together, in that her concern was baptism and than that was what was taught in church and that was what the chapter my companion left with her about. So she understood the importance of baptism. So I asked her again that when she knows if these things are true if she would be baptized and she said yes with a smile! So that was awesome we are just know praying that she will continue to read the Book of Mormon and pray and receive an answer!

Thanks so much Dad for all that you do for me and the support you give me thanks so much!!

My companion (Elder Davis)

Braden

…I feel like I am working hard and doing my best, but obviously sometimes It is really hard, and sometimes I feel like I would rather be home…after a really good lesson where it is just filled with the spirit and it really helps someone and afterwards I just think, man I love teaching and love helping people and I love being here!! 

I could do this forever!! But sometimes it is not always like that and… feeling focused and excited all the time I feel like maybe I am not giving all of my heart, and mind. I do not know if you had similar feelings or not, but I just wanted to share that with you maybe you have some advice! Love you Bro!!!...

Chelsy! Ha I know what you mean that it is hard to write someone you do not really know! Why do you think I asked Braden to have you write me a letter first instead of just writing one to you:):) Its pretty much the same food! But hear in Lubango the members do not feed us as much so that is kind of good and bad! :) I have heard that you are petty much awesome! And you must be if Braden thinks you are!! I hope you have a great week! And thanks for writing me!!!

I love you Mom I hope that you are doing great!!! Keep being the fantastic Mom that you are! Love you! And I am praying for you!! Elder Tilley

July 2, 2012

My companion is great. I really like him a lot. I am not sure what to say about him besides that he is a great Missionary and we are doing really well together. (Yes) he was already serving here this is his third transfer, so we might only get to be together for this transfer, but we will see.

Look up Lubango (on Google earth), there is an airport pretty close. Also there is a mountain and at the top there is a statue of Jesus. Its called Cristo Rei. We live more or less at the bottom of the Mountain. It is pretty sweet here. We are still in a city but it is just a lot more calm and stuff. It is pretty cool too because there are some places that are kind of far a way and taxis do not go out that far, so sometimes we have to take motorcycles!! Pretty cool! There are just a bunch of people that have motorcycles and they wait on the side of the road until someone needs a ride.

Right now we have 4 missionaries here (in Lubango and) one branch and we have around 50 to 60, but we have about 20 to 30 little primary kids that come every week and some of them don’t even have parents that come, they just come so that is pretty cool.

I found out on a Tuesday (that I was being transferred) and President said that I would be flying out on Thursday. Funny story though because on that same Tuesday we found out that we were going to get the keys to our new house, so I told our district that we were going to move out Wednesday so that I could have one night in the New house, they all definitely agreed with me. So we moved everything outside of our house, took apart our bed frames and everything ready to move. So we were just waiting for the Zone Leaders to come with their truck to help us move. Than we got a call from Sister Walton that we could not move in that day because the owner of the house forgot to connect the water line or something, so that was kind of annoying. Than I got a call from the one of the Zone Leaders that I was going to be doing a division with him right then so that way the next day he could just drive me straight to the airport and not come pick me up. So I had to rearrange my bags to fit the things I needed into one. Kind of stressful but the zone leader I did the division with I really like a lot so that was fun. But to answer the question about how long I had (to pack) well because of the short notice division only about an hour and a half.

Our apartment is a step up from my last one, but its not too bad. We are trying to move out of this one too, but it probably won’t happen for a while because the Walton’s are leaving on Wednesday! Pretty crazy! So starting Wednesday we will not have a President! I have been trying to eat more healthy (now that I’m here) but it is really hard because we do not have a lot of time. I try to eat eggs in the morning and an apple. We try to take turns cooking for lunch so we will eat Spaghetti and things like that. Then for dinner it is just fend for yourself. So I will have eggs again or some kind of soap, but it is pretty much like Roman noodles. Do you have any suggestions for me? I am getting kind of sick of eggs already. Do you know of any quick breakfast foods or dinner foods that I can cook? I love you Mom thanks so much for your letters!

(Bec) So I do not know what the deal is but every time I try and write you something happens and I cannot send you a letter. I wrote one last week and my computer time ended and it erased the letter and I could not send it, and I did not have time to get back on and send another one! Sorry about that. So how are things going with you? I hear that you are tearing it up on the Basketball court!! That is so sick!!! I wish I could be there to see you! Keep doing your best and working hard and everything will pay off in the end! I am not sure if you are going to do catz or not, but it will definitely help you stay in shape and stuff. I love you bec! I feel bad because I felt like sometimes I was not a very good brother to you before my mission. I hope we can be the best of friends now and in a couple of years too! Love you so much bec! keep up the hard work!! Love your favorite first oldest brother!1 :)

(Preston!) Hey Bro how are things going with you!? Dad told me that your ball handling skills are incredible!! Keep up the great work! I love you so much man! One of the things I miss the most is playing 21 with you and Bec outside on the little hoop!!  I hope that you are doing well! I love you so much man! My mission has definitely been really hard, but I can definitely see how the Lord is preparing me for the future! Keep preparing for your mission by doing the little things like reading your scriptures and praying! We are teaching boy that is 12 years old and he really reminds me of you!! Love you man! Elder Tilley

(Mom) So this week has been a little bit crazy! We ate at a inactive members house the other day and she fed us a hamburger, but it was loaded with a lot of stuff and I am not sure what it was, and it was really hard to get it all down. But that night I threw it all up and threw up the next morning too. So we stayed home Friday so I could get better, but I am feeling better now. Also on Sunday guess who was the Pianist? Elder Tilley! ha and guess who wishes they could play the piano better? Ha Elder Tilley! (Please tell Bec and Pres That!!!)  I am not kidding at all. Love you guys so much!!!!! Elder Tilley

Thanks Dad for the letter I always look forward to reading your letters.

This week we were at a house and there was a 15 year old boy more or less you sat in on a lesson and he is very religious and he tried to battle with others and (there were 4 Missionaries) and some of the Missionaries tried to answer some of the questions but it kind of got out of hand a little bit. So finally when we had a pause I just bore my testimony that I know this church is true and that we (us missionaries) know it is true because we have asked God and we know that these things are true! I than told the boy that he needs to ask God for himself if these things are true. I then kind of ended the conversation there, but afterwards I felt so good and I love testifying about the truthfulness of this gospel. Also afterwards I just thought that is why I am here to testify about the Restored Gospel! Love you Pops!!! Thank you for all that you do for us and all of the hard work you do to help our family live in ease!! Love Elder Tilley