A Week of Craziness!

 Dear EVERYONE! 

This past week has been a very very odd week. In fact this transfer has been so odd, it's opened my eyes to a lot of things haha ( I know I probably say that about all my transfers so far ) But There have been some awesome things that have happened in the past week that have been very exciting!

The Greenwich Elders are now moving into a new apartment! Yup, we are moving sometime with in the next couple of weeks above our be Branch Mission Leader's home! They remodeled a lot of the old apartment that was there so that we have somewhere nice to be! Elders have been in our current apartment for 5+ Years and we are now finally upgrading! No that is all the real exciting news I have to bring up, except for one other thing. Transfers is Next week on Tuesday the 24th! Which means that Transfer calls are this Saturday on the 20th! I hope that I will be able to stay 1 more transfer so that I can live in the apartment for a little while. haha We sadly move in after Transfers have happened, but we shall see where the lord needs me next transfer!

This past week we have had some random sicknesses going on and around! Our district leader Elder Mecham (Who was my District leader in the MTC) came down with a pretty bad cold and now has pink eye on top of the cold. His companion now also has Lime Disease as well. I did catch a little bit of what Elder Mecham had for a couple days, then It came to me! I have the power of LDM-100! I took some in the morning the next morning and was up right and ready to work full of energy and didn't feel any of the symptoms I had felt the previous couple days. (Thank you Meldrum Family and my mom for sending it to me and introducing it to me!) I will be seeing if it will work for the other Elders on tuesday at district meeting.

HIGH OF THE WEEK:

The high of the week for me this week was being able to help out and do service for our Branch Mission Leader and his family to help us get our new apartment ready for us to move in.

LOW OF THE WEEK:

The low of this week seemed in my eyes a lot this week. When in reality the only true low of this week was, that we had to drop our investigator with a baptismal date. (she was our only one)

SOMETHING I AM GRATEFUL FOR:

Something I am indeed grateful for this week, is the love and guidance that I have received from my Heavenly Father, My family, Friends at home and here out in the mission field. With out any of them, I would have gone insane and would not have had my head on straight. :)

SOMETHING I WISH I COULD HAVE CHANGED:

Something I wish I could have changed this week, would be the way I felt about the things that have happened this week and I wish I could have kept the faith of a child. Which is something I will definitely work on this next week starting right now.

WHAT I STUDIED THIS WEEK:

I read from the Book of Mormon all week this week in study. I read about when Christ came and visited the Americas and ministered to the people, up to when all the Nephites are destroyed and Moroni is the only one left of his kind.

I love you all and hope all is going well back home and that the lord is blessing all of your lives continually!

Love,

Elder Zenger

Friends, Family and All Whom I Love!

Dear All who read this message each and every week! 

This past week, we have had not to much excitement going on with it being the 4th of July weekend, no one was home to teach or talk to. But we did all that we could with the people we could catch at home that stayed home for the hot weekend.

Recently we have been having some major, major thunder and lightning storms this past week. We have pretty much had one every day this week except for one day, that was the 4th when the Branch had their annual Branch picnic at a lake. The Branch picnic was AWESOME! We sadly couldn't go swimming, but did enjoy spending time with all the adults and old people (who couldn't or didn't want to swim with everyone else) and soaked up a lot of sun and got a pretty good tan out of it! haha 

The thunderstorms have been so intense! Elder Wilson and I were eating at a members home when a huge storm passed by. The power first went out and then it turned into a brown out. Since it was so humid and warm, we opened the kitchen door to let it cool off a bit. As we are all trying to unplug the stove and the fridge, this HUGE crack of thunder and lightning hit somewhere close and made all of our ears ring and jump pretty bad. haha It was so cool but so horrifying at the same time haha 

So at the close of this email, I promised you and my Aunt Reba that I would include the following things at the end of each email to all of you.

HIGH OF THE WEEK:

The high of this week was defiantly seeing my prayers answered in certain areas and how much the branch has stepped up to help us in our missionary work!

LOW OF THE WEEK:

The low of the week was pretty much the weekend of the 4th (or after the 4th) when we could not catch anyone home! Especially our investigator with a baptismal date.

SOMETHING I AM GREAT FULL FOR:

Something I am truly so great full for this week, is the amazing chance we have to converse with our heavenly father on a daily bases on anything we need help with. 

SOMETHING I WISH I COULD CHANGE:

Something I wish I could have changed this week is, the way I reacted and looked at certain things and choices I made. I do know that I did learn and grow from those choices and will never forget the amazing feelings I felt afterwards.

I love you all and hope to hear from you sometime soon!

Love,

Elder Zenger

 

Picture #1- Elder Wilson my companion

A BUSY WEEK

Dear Family, Friends, and others.

I have to tell all of you this past week has been a pretty good week, but it has been a little stressful and super exhausting! Which is good, because that means we are staying busy and not sitting around doing nothing all day! haha

The past couple of weeks, I have had to deal with the car we have been given to use in our area. Last month Elder Dalton and I found a huge scratch (that is pretty deep) on the passenger side of our car after we got out of doing our laundry at the laundry mat. Since Elder Dalton kept putting off taking it in to get it looked at and priced, I had to do all of that and make multiple phone calls to Elder Barlow who is over all the mission vehicles in our mission. Well, I got all of that done, and 2 weeks later, Elder Wilson and I walked out of the Laundry Mat and found the driver side Mirror smashed and all over the road. Yeah....I wasn't to happy that P-Day. I called the mission office and explained that we had no idea what had happened and was told to take it back to the body shop and do the process that I did before when I took it in for the scratch. I had to fill out a police accident report, as well as a mission accident report. Fun, Fun. haha I will send a picture of it with this email. 

Elder Wilson and I had an awesome chance to bring some of our investigators to a Dinner appointment on Friday evening last week. It was so much fun and the members we were with helped answer some questions the investigators had about the Plan of Salvation which is what we told them we were going to teach them this week! They are such solid people to teach its crazy! The only thing really holding them back is their current church. Which starts the same time ares does and they are very very active in their current church. But, they are doing their best to try and come to church with us sometime very soon! 

On Saturday, Elder Wilson and I went over to Glens Falls, NY with the Glens Falls Elders (Elder Mooseman and Elder Moore) to help out with a project home for some members that are in our Branch. They bought a home in Glens falls and qualified to have it completely remolded and re done with the Habitat for Humanity project with does it all with Volunteer s and everything is donated. We spent the majority of our saturday up there with the Glens Falls Elders Volunteering to help the house be finished by the 13th. It was such a blessing and amazing time we had with all of the people involved in the project.

In closing I was going to do as my aunt Reba suggested in her letter to me this week, and I totally forgot to bring the letter and or write down what I was supposed to do haha So I will remember to do it next time!

I love you all and hope that the lord is blessing you all continually each day. I know the lord loves each and every one of us no matter what we do, think or say.

Love,

Elder Anthony Zenger

Broadcast of the Century!!!

Dear Family, Friends, and all others whom read this message.

This past week, here in the New York Utica Mission, in Greenwich New York, has been amazing! We have recently received a Branch Mission Leader for our Branch here in Greenwich which has been a major blessing! This Branch hasn't had a Branch Mission Leader in a long time, let alone one that has been called that was going to actually stay around for a long time. 

Which now leads into the amazing experience we had at the "Broadcast of the Century!" From Salt Lake city on Sunday afternoon! (evening for us here in the east) It was such an amazing broadcast we had! I felt the spirit strongly and couldn't help but to get teary eyed during the broadcast. At the end of the Broadcast, Our new Branch Mission Leader, and Branch President, were both in tears. The Branch President Came over to my companion and I as well as our new Branch Mission Leader and said to us with a smile on his face saying, " We have a lot of work to do." What an influence this broadcast has had on just our little branch here in Greenwich. I cannot imagine the impact it had on people through out the world! 

Earlier this week we had the wonderful opportunity to have a ZTM or Zone Training Meeting with our entire zone this month. We were trained on ways we get our branch involved in helping us find people to teach and how they can come with us to our lessons with investigators as well as when we go see Less Active members. Because of Miles, we were instructed to ride up with the Glensfalls Elders to ZTM, They stayed the night at our apartment and we left in the morning to the meeting all the way down in Albany. On the way home from ZTM, We noticed that Elder Moosman (Driver) was sweating bullets and driving kinda funny. We asked him if he was ok and if there was anything wrong, he said no he was ok. We heard a constant vibration coming from his pocket. We asked him what that was, he said it was his insalen pump telling him he was out of insalen for his diabetes. We asked him how long he had been out of it, he said it was out half way through the training which was 3hrs long! We knew immediately that was his problem and why he was driving funny. Since I was the only other person in the car that had a tiwi card and could drive, we made him pull over into a parking lot so that way we could get him something to eat and drink ASAP. Luckily the place he pulled over at, was a BBQ place that just opened! It was such an interesting thing to watch Elder Moosman, (who by now is dripping in sweat and is loosing energy fast) walk to the restaurant as his companion (Elder Moore) and I were under each arm helping him walk. We were greatly blessed that we got him food and sugar just in time anything brutal happened, and that we were safe and didn't die form his driving on the way home. 

That was my epic story for you all this week! haha Hope you all are doing well and that the lord is blessing you and your families where ever you are! I sadly don't have pictures this week of anything and will talk to you all next week on monday! 

Love,

Elder Zenger

New Senior Companion

Dear Family, Friends, and others whom I love dearly!

This week I was made senior companion and was able to take over my area for the first time on my mission. So far things have been going great and I am excited to see what else this transfer has in store for my companion and I. We did indeed get one of our investigators with a baptismal date on Sunday for July 20th! We are hoping that things will continue to go well and that the date won't change because that day is the saturday before transfers.

Other things that have happened this week, I did receive a huge envelope from Josh Spilker that contained a ton of letters from our amazing youth in the Kimball ward back home. They were all amazing and thought it was awesome how they all took the time to write the missionaries that are serving in their ward. If any of them are reading this and or any of the youth leaders are reading this, I am indeed going to write back each and everyone of them and send them to Josh Spilker's house to give to all the youth and the leaders that wrote me at there next activity.That means I better get a move on and start writing! haha

I have realized more and more these past 2 transfers that Satan is all around doing all he can to tempt not only the people we go and see and teach, but us as well. It is hard, but I always remember all of you whom I have left at home and the ones here that I have met in the MTC and all around me that, you are never alone and aren't fighting alone. I know that the lord has blessed me and my family and friends and fellow missionaries that are serving and are preparing to serve and will walk with us as long as we allow him to.

In closing I would like to say a big HAPPY FATHERS DAY! To all the fathers that have been and are still in my life. You are all amazing examples to me and have helped me through out my life and still are supporting me and helping me through out my life and the lives of others.

I love you all!

Elder Zenger

Picture #1 - Elder Wilson my new companion. 

Picture #5 - Driving with Elder Dalton

Transfer Week 6/10

Dear Family, Friends and all of you whom I love! 

This week has been a great week! I had the chance to go on exchange with my district leader, we got transfer calls, and we taught some really good lessons!

This past week I got to go on exchange here in Greenwich with my District leader Elder Neville. Which means Elder Dalton went over to saratoga for the day. Elder Neville and I got a hold of a lot of people as well as trakted into a basher. (yup again) Other than that I learned a lot about my area book, door approaches, as well other little things that I needed work and help on. All around I did miss Elder Dalton a little bit on that exchange, but the exchange was truly beneficial!

Now for the moment you all are waiting for. Who is going where for transfers! haha Well we did indeed get transfer calls on saturday morning and Saturday evening. We are pleased to announce that Elder Dalton will be going to Elmyra New York to serve as Zone Leader! We are replacing both Elders in Saratoga with brand new sisters, and Elder Mecham (who I was in the MTC with) is going to be my new district leader. I am staying here in Greenwich with an elder who has just come out of training and his name is Elder Wilson, he is from Arizona and has a Scottish accent. (his parents are from Scotland) This does indeed mean that for the first time ever I am going to be senior companion and the designated driver for our area. I will admit I am a little nervous and have some doubts about leaving me in charge of an area that I only have been in 1 transfer. I do know that the lord does know something I don't and that he trusts me to take over this area and help the continuation of it's growth. I am now going to tell you something I was feeling through out this past transfer that I wanted to include in my last email and then forgot about it. I did send this email to a couple of people, knowing that they would share it with people who NEEDED to hear it before I put it in this weeks email. 

This transfer (month and a half) has been a real pain in the bum. I feel like I am being torn to pieces by satan and his followers and can only find peace when I get some sleep or when I get to email home. I have had some great experiences though this transfer that I have been truly blessed for. I know this work is not easy, I knew that before I left and I defiantly know that now. I know that all I have to do as our recent converts have to do, which is just endure to the end and stay faithful and true. I am really looking forward to this week (Saturday) when we get to find out who is leaving and who is staying and all that stuff so that way I can try and start a new transfer on the right foot and not feel like I am falling down millions of flights of stairs. Don't get me wrong when I say any of this because I love this work, I love doing it everyday. I just want to "go back to bed and wake up on the right side of the bed" 

I can now say, at the end of this transfer, that I needed to have those things happen to me in order to help me grow and progress and remember why I am there and that the lord has put me here for a reason. I will say I have had some really interesting spiritual experiences that were pretty intense and that I will not mention for I need not need to mention them. All I can tell you, is that this transfer has indeed been a big trial of my faith, patience, and hope. The exact Christ like attributes that I am working on and trying to improve on. I do feel like I have grown a ton this transfer and have gone through some good trials of my faith. I know that it isn't the end of those trials either, cause only through the trial of our faith can we grow closer to our Father in Heaven and gain a stronger and more firm foundation. 

At the close of this email, I would like to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to all of those who graduated from Seminary, High School, and other parts of school. You have accomplished something indeed great! Now continue forward and keep progressing and accomplishing those things that you need to accomplish through out the rest of your life, and always remember that the lord is always with you and loves you no matter what you do or say. I know this to be true, because I have not only seen it in my life, but in my current life and especially in the lives of others as well. 

I love you all and hope to hear from some of you soon! 

Elder Zenger

Week of Storms

Dear Family, Friends, and all of you who hear this message! (or email)

This past week has been a week full of weird weather, warnings, emotions, and allergies!

This past week we have had some major on and off rain through out the week. Like BUCKETS AND BUCKETS of rain! WE did indeed have a flash flood warning that was sent to us through text one day as it was raining and was blessed that there was no flood. We did though have a tornado warning that neither Elder Dalton or I found out about till a member told us and I checked and got an email from my dad saying that we did. Luckily we were not near the tornado, but we did see and tell that something wasn't right in the way the sky looked and the way the weather was acting. A tornado did indeed touch down in Amsterdam and in Schenectady which both have missionaries in them. There were no Missionaries or anyone hurt or anything damaged that we know of. so we are indeed very blessed that no one was hurt. During one of those storms yesterday (sunday) after church, we were sitting in our apartment practicing teaching a lesson we had in a couple of hours ( the windows were all open) when we both had the sudden urge to turn and look out one of the windows. When we looked, we heard what we can say was a literal crack of lightning! We heard the loud crack and saw the bolt of lightning hit the earth and we both sat in awe and shock of what we had both just witnessed. It was one of those experiences you hope you remember when you tell you gran kids stories from when you were a kid haha WE also had this huge roll of thunder that literally shook our apartment like a small earth quake!  It was a pretty good storm we had yesterday haha.

We also helped out our Young Women on saturday with there Garage sale (with stuff donated from everyone in the branch and around the neighborhood) that was their fund raiser for all the girls to go to camp this year! It was 91 degrees outside the entire day we were out there! The good news was, we did help the Young Women out. Not only by moving things for them, but we also bought somethings to send home. (which btw, my family, when you get a box at the door with my name on it, please put it in my room! thank you) haha It was a good sale though! They sold alot of stuff and made over 1000 dollars for camp for the next couple years! 

I was a little sick this week but am now better! I know what your thinking, "It seems like he is always sick! What's his problem!" That is exactly what my companion said this past week haha If I could choose not to be sick, I wouldn't be sick. But this time I got a little soar throat with a cough and with the pollen count at its high this past week, it mixed in with my allergies so I lost my voice for a little bit off and on through out the week which Elder Dalton wasn't to happy about haha but all is good not and I am doing TONS better! :) 

Nothing else has happened this past week. I can say that our appartment is a literal sana! It's so hot in our appartment that we sweat more when we aren't moving around!  haha It's also gross when you sweat so much that your skin is sticky.....hahah

On that note I am going to send you some pictures that we took this week while I was sick and other things we have done!

I love you all and will hope to hear from you soon! 

Elder Zenger

 

 

These pictures are:

1. Title of Liberty (Alma 46) that I made

2. sunset we saw on the way home from an appointment

3-7. is Elder Dalton and I using the Frosting we found cleaning our cubbard

8. is the rain storm we had the other day.