I see miracles everyday

Well hello everybody! I hope ya'll are enjoying the sun while it lasts. We have a really loong sunset that begins at like 2 and goes till like 5 so if we're driving west at all during those times it's blinding. Then it's dark by 5 and we still have 4 hours of proselyting time so it's been a unique experience. Even so I'm adjusting well to the cold. Thank you to everyone who has written me and sent me things, it really makes my day to see what's going on in your world.

I dont know if I told you but we set a mission goal for 70 baptisms in the month of November! In fact Pres. Holland actually set the goal for us as an apostle of the Lord so we really took it to heart. Anyways we're at 63 baptisms already and are expecting to actually reach like 100 baptisms! It's really pretty awesome and has really helped unify the whole mission. It's really a miracle since the record before was 59 baptisms in a month. Pres. Packard's goal is to make this the new normal and I agree with him. Why should this month be any different? I just wanted to let you know that Ive been a part of a miracle and it's a fantastic feeling. 

So that guy who gave the really funny prayer hasnt been to church in a really long time but he has a car and doesnt really have any good excuses.  He was telling us how he gives all the people in his community rides to the store all the time even though he doesnt want to go but he likes to serve. We asked him if he would give people rides to church and he said Yes! We just gave him the name of someone that needed a ride.  Anyway he came Sunday. He was laughing and talking with everybody the whole time so it was really awesome to finally see him at church. It's interesting how eventhough people may not go to church or live all the gospel standards they will still be the first one's to show up at a service project or help other people out. We just figured out a way to get him to church and help other people so it was really great!

So I went to the temple last Wednesday for part of my training and it was so great. We had instruction about how to function as companionships, being fully consecrated and literally acheiving Zion within the mission. Then we went to the temple and it was so great to go there especially after I've learned so much about the gospel I was really able to appreciate the temple much more than before.

 So I figured out one of the sisters in my district has been to Philmont! Her grandpa is in the general young men's presidency so he goes to philmont at least once a year as part of his calling and she went with him! In fact the time she was there was the same week I was there as a scout. It was really cool to make that connection. I talk about the things I've learned at Philmont so much that my companion decided to apply to work there when he gets home! It made me laugh when he told me he was going to apply.

So it's actually been like 60 degrees here on average lately which means all the snow melted but I dont doubt that it will be back soon enough. Strangely enough at 60 degrees I've been turning the A/C on in the car which I never thought I'd do out here but I am.

Thank you so much for your help and support I really appreciate it. If you mail me Christmas cds I will send them back home. The reason for that is we already have a lot of Christmas cds. I thought I would give some specifics on what would be really nice to receive. 

The Prince of Egypt Soundtrack

Clyde Bawden

Conference talks

EFY stuff

David Archuleta stuff

You can get pretty creative with it too dont think that just because it's not produced by the church or isnt hymns that I wont be able to listen to it

Not much has happened this week that's overly noteworthy. I mean I see miracles everyday but some of them are personal and even if I wrote them down I dont think the full concept or idea would be conveyed. When I write letters I feel like Moroni when he complains about how he's not a very good writer. 

Love, Trevon

It was pretty much like Luigi's smash ball

If people want to send me anything for Christmas I would love CD's. The guidlines are that is has to invite the spirit and remind us of Christ. Other than that it's free to our own interpretation so please send some variety! IF you dont want to buy music you can get all the efy music on LDS.org Also CLyde Bawden CD's would be nice. It doesn't  have to be LDS church music either. It just has to fit the guidlines previously stated. And please NO Christmas music.

So we were out visiting the addresses of former investigators ( they normally dont live there anymore but it gives us a good excuse to meet new people and hopefully slip in a lesson and it helps us with record keeping.) Anyways we knock on this door yada yada yada the person we're looking for is no longer there but we get in the door and ask if we can share a message with them.  They are African American & there are quite a few of them running around & talking french so we have no clue whats being said.  Finally they all gather and we start teaching about the restoration and for those who have ever played SSBB the spirit was pretty much like luigi's smash ball (ask camdon for explanation) It was really awesome! Pretty soon people are crying and saying they feel peace and we were like that's  the spirit testifying to you the things we are saying are true. We told them that if they prayed they could know for sure it was true and then invited them to pray mid lesson and ask God if the things we were speaking of were true. SO they did and they decided it was true. WE committed them to baptism but we were so caught up in everything that we forgot to set a date. Regardless it was definately the most spiritual experience i've had on my mission thus far. 

We aslo set a date with a guy to be baptized on Dec. 13 2014. which is the last time this millenuim that the date will align in that sequence. 

We've been meeting with this less active member who suffers from PTSD and lives in a veteran housing facitlity. He's a really great guy and when we visit he feels the spirit but once we leave he gets depressed and loses all motivation. He needs social visits so we just go talk with him once a week to help him out. This last visit went really well and we asked him to say a closing prayer and then we were going to leave. SO he starts praying and the next thing we know he says "please stop the missionaries from coming over and bothering me" and the memebr we brought with us just stops him mid prayer and says that isnt very nice and the the veteran laughs & tells him he was only joking and then he explains to us that he likes to joke with God and that God knows the intent of his heart. It was honestly hilarious and later in the prayer he talked about how grateful he was for us so it was all good. It's things like that that help me realize that there's a lot more to the gospel than tradition. the church in the west is a little different than in the east solely because of tradition and culture. At first it was really hard for me to accept that but it doesnt make the gospel any less true. That's just one example of what I'm talking about.

Peole always ask us why do we need a prohpet?  Especailly since we are all still entitled to personal revelation. Of course you can read Amos 3:7 but that doesnt tell you why it tells you how God reveals secrets. I think often times peole don't nesecarlly have a hard time accepting prophets they just dont understand why we need them. Which is very important. Ive been thinking about it and we're taught that the main role of the prophet is to testify of Christ. Interestingly enough that's also the main role of the Holy Ghost. Perhaps the Prophet is really a gift to us. If we were left to our own devices would we honestly be able to learn all we could to attain salvation relying solely on pondering and prayer. I doubt I could. Yet we have a man here alive today who we know is very spiritual and has a great gift for revelation. How much easier is it for us to discern Truth when we use the teachings of the prophet and confirm it with the Holy Ghost. And on the flip side take our own personal thoughts and beliefs and compare it with that of a prophet. It seems like the prophet is really just a gift to help us on our way. I know theres some scripture that I can't remember that says "from the mouth of two or three witnesses shall my word be established" most people relate this to missionary work and companionships but I beleieve it also relates to the prohpet and the Holy Ghost

The work is progressing and things are good. Let me know if any of you have thoughts on what I can do to be a better missionary.

Love, Elder Turley

p.S. Did you get the letter I mailed you?

Hey, You wanna talk about Jesus?

Well this week has been pretty good. In fact it actually snowed on friday so that was really exciting for me. We were at a zone conference and all the other missionarys were laughing at me because I got so excited but I didnt care.  It was snowing! I still dont care for the cold but the snow was pretty cool. Do you wanna build a snowman? 

My companion & I recently listened to eight lectures on Joseph Smith by Truman G. Madsen. He's the dean of religion at BYU so you know he knows his stuff. It was way cool, it really illustrated that Joseph was both a great prophet and man. For example it tells how Joseph loved to wrestle and that one night two preachers came to his service and they had determined that they were going to best him in scripture knowledge. Well after Joseph bested them he sent them on their way but once they left he got down from the pulipt and chased them down outside and asked them if they would like to try their chances at besting him physically by wrestling. It was hilarious and really shows you that prophets and apostles are real people and that it's only because they're called of God and have his help that they sometimes seem like they're perfect people to us. 

Work is progressing but I'm pretty sure that once you enter the MTC you enter into some time warp zone. I keep thinking things we did last week we did yesterday and that things we did yesterday we did last week. It's a common thing among missionaries and if it werent for a journal I'd have no clue when or where I did anything. Justin actually warned me of this and I totally see what he means now.

I went on exchanges for the first time so that was really fun, our Zone leaders are way cool and super helpful so it was great to have the chance to go proselytinig with someone other than my companion just to see another take on missionary work. I learned a lot about talkng with people you meet on the street. His opener was "Hey! You wanna talk about Jesus!" Surprisingly it worked with just about everyone. We did meet this guy at a park. He wouldnt let us leave or say anything so we just listened to him for like 30 minutes and then we smelt like cigarettes for the rest of the night. But it's cool it was a good experience.

Our Young Men here in the ward don't really take responsobility for their duties and they all show up late or not at all so the elders quorum always pass and me and my companion bless. On sunday the young men's leader became my hero. He's a new guy in the area but he basically got up and told the young men and their fathers that it was their responsobility to prepare and pass the sacrament and that it's not something to take lightly. If you want a description on how he spoke look up 2 Nephi 1:26-27. It was awesome! Hopefully we see some improvement from it. And he's from Arizona so I really like him.

Yesterday my companion wasnt feeling well so he took a nap and I pulled out the records for former investigators and called every single one. Only like a quarter answered and from them only half had any interest but It was great. After four hours of calling people we had regained like 4 investigators which is awesome. We'll see where we can go with that.

Anyways I love you all and want you to know that the greatest joy in this life is helping others. I feel like I'm finally beginning to truly understand that and I hope that you do too. 

On P Day we went to a local museum. Found this on display. What What? State pride right there. 

I also saw this painting called the trio. It reminded me of Holly, Elisabeth and Shelby. If you could somehow get this to them I would appreciate it. I thought it was funny. They even have matching hair color. 

Consecrate yourself unto The Lord

(This was a letter we got in the mail)

Hello family. How are you all doing in the sunshine state? I finally understand that nickname since I've been here on the east coast. I started writing at the top of this page because I thought I had a lot to say but I'm not sure I do now that I've started. So who knows how much I'll really write. Like this sentence here, it's just filler. Haha. 

Today we spent most of the day being taught by Elder Larry R. Lawrence & his wife. It was a remarkable day. He taught us about consecrating ourselves to the Lord. This has been an independent goal of the mission since the Packards got here. I know that everyone in the mission believes that we can actually attain this. At first I thought it was like Christs promise in 3 Nephi 12:48 which is not something we can actually achieve in this life but it is something we can strive for. After today I truly believe that we as missionaries can truly consecrate ourselves to the Lord. 

I've been instructed to pray for the specific needs of our investigators. I have Grandpa Turley to thank for giving me such a deep understanding of this concept. For whatever reason I was at grandpas after church one fast Sunday, it was just he and I. As we broke the fast he offered the most sincere & heartfelt prayer addressing the needs of all of his children & asking for blessings specific to their needs. I've remembered that event ever since it happened. I hope that one day I will be able to pray for my investigators with the same love & care that Grandpa spoke of for his children. Will you please thank him for me. 

With love, Elder Turley

We received the nicest email from a mom who is in Trevons Ward where he is currently serving. She sent us these pictures as well. It was such a fun surprise, especially since this was the first picture we've seen with his missionary companion. 

It was that Amazing!

So this week has been pretty awesome. I expect every week will be. I really miss the sun though so that's unfortunate. It's been really cold here like a high of 30. Literally, freezing cold plus the wind chill makes it even colder. How's life in the sunshine state? 

This is not my companion. Elder Pulsipher is who took me out contacting my very first day in Boston. 

We had our ward trunk or treat and like 3 families showed up so that was interesting. Regardless the work is progressing. In fact it's going really well. One of our investigators actually went contacting with us and he really enjoyed it. He's a little younger than me and he's already planning for a mission. His member friend wasnt planning on it but now they both want to go. It's great because they keep each other in  line. 

We also got a media referral from a guy asking for a bible. We go over to his house to drop it off and there are these two ladies there who wont listen to anything we say & they think we are Jehovah witnesses and slam the door on us. So we leave there feeling really confused. Anyways the next day at church this new guy is there with his friend and it was the same guy who requested the bible! Turns out he was just at work and it was the dog sitters who shut us down. HE aplogized profusely when we told him what happened. On top of that he's already read half of the Book of Mormon and we have our first lesson with him this wednesday. He's pretty much ready to be baptized. It's great being a part of this but it really has nothing to do with us, he has totally prepared himself.

The struggle that I've noticed here in this area is that we have really great first contacts and then people here are workaholics and it's like impossible to meet with them again. We have about 7 people that we've met since I've been here who were all really interested but we've been  unable to meet with them since.  It's a struggle. It's also pretty difficult to connect with people here. Once you do establish a relationship people are more open but until then everyone's  pretty closed off. I guess that's why we need members to help bridge that gap for us. 

Here Are the Elder Turleys. I met my 2nd cousin who got here 6 weeks before me. It's pretty cool. 

I havent taken a picture with my companion but I've gotten some great neature shots. How neat is that? That's pretty neat! I'll be sure and send them to you. 

I actually had to turn the car around and go back for this picture. It was that amazing. 

I got the package you sent and the food was on point thank you for that. I'm in the largest area in the mission. We have rolling hills and farmers and lots of trees and no sea food. In fact like half the people in the ward have connections to Arizona and they all think they know how to make mexican food really well. SInce I'm a native Arizonan they all have made mexican food for me seeking my approval. There's also been a sale on chicken so I had chicken fajitas 3 nights in a row. It was all really good food but honestly all I really want is to have some good sea food. 

Thank you to everyone who wrote me. I love hearing about your normal day to day happenings. Please keep those letters coming. They mean a lot to me. 

Love, 

Elder Turley

This was a drawing someone did for me in the MTC, I liked it. 

This is Garretts uncle I think & his wife. He was in the Branch Presidency over me in the MTC. 

This was our MTC mission zone.