Merry Christmas to each of you

Well Christmas was good. I had a wonderful time with great members and even got to open presents. I was very well received into this ward. Just about every house we went to had gifts for us and they were great gifts. I have all new socks and a few more ties and even some new shirts. Skyping home was great fun too. Thank you to everyone who sent me cards & gifts. Merry Christmas to each of you.

 

We had a great week again and we did lots of service. We helped two people move that weren't members and we have return appointments to teach both of them which we're excited for. With the way this area is set up we seem to always have something to do. It's strange, since my greatest struggle thus far has always been filling our day with productive work to do but here it's been more about choosing the best things to fill our schedule with. It's a great problem to have. Elder Franca and I decided to force ourselves to plan even more effectively so we can be assured that what we're doing is exactly what the Lord wants us to do. I know I've been talking a lot about planning and scheduling and setting goals as of late but it's really become a huge part of my mission and I feel like it will really help me after my mission as well. 

At the Christmas Conference we even gave a training about goal setting and it was amazing. We presented the training to three different groups but by the end we had presented the training to about half the mission. We really felt inspired and we asked hard but achievable things of the missionaries and for the rest of the day missionaries came and thanked us for the training and the spirit we helped them to feel. I was grateful for that confirmation that we had taught by the Spirit.

I'm happy to be here and I know I'm exactly where the Lord wants me to be. 

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

I'm in Nashua & life is great

Well I don't think I've ever had a more hairbrained transfer than this one. I was in a really good routine in Oxford and it all got reset. It was strange, I felt like I'd never been transferred before. I think I lost pretty much everything after I unpacked it but I think I'm settled a little more now so that should be good.

I had a great final week in Oxford. Our final lesson with Barry was great! We went over the importance of Joseph Smith since every time we tried to teach that it never really stuck. So we started our lesson strong by telling him that we were going to teach him why Joseph Smith is an important part of the restored gospel. By the end of the lesson which was filled with testimony bearing and dot connecting we asked him to pray and ask god if Joseph Smith was a Prophet to which Barry promptly said no. He proceeded to say that he needed to read the entire Book of Mormon which he had previously been opposed to. Now he had a good enough reason to read it and he committed to read a chapter a day. We asked him why he didn't want an answer because we told him he could pray and get an answer without reading the whole book and he said he wasn't ready for an answer and we asked him to explain. He said that once he gets that answer there's nothing holding him back from jumping in the water. So at least he understands what it would mean if Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God but he's not ready to make the commitment associated with that knowledge so he's taking his time which is understandable. It was basically the best last lesson you could have in an area and I was grateful for that opportunity.

Nashua has been wonderful. It's a great ward and environment to do missionary work. We're in a city but it's big enough to have a car so it's really easy to make daily contact with everyone! This has been the easiest area to fill our planner but I'll have to make sure that I continue to focus on priorities so I don't get caught up in just filling the planner. Also regarding our car, we drive a minivan which is pretty great. We use it for carpooling to distrrict meetings and stuff since we have three companionships in this area. I feel like a mother driving it but it's fun.

Elder Franca and I are going to have an amazing companionship. In all honesty all of my companions up to this point has had some special need that I was forewarned about but not Elder Franca.  He and I have had so much fun doing work. We really are able to work together and I don't really have to worry about him as well as the people we're teaching which is completely different for me and a welcome change.  He's helped me to be more obedient and already I just feel much more happier as a result of it. 

Life is great. 

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

Last week in Oxford

Well I'm getting transferred to Nashua New Hampshire. I'm excited and my companion is quite renowned as one of the greatest missionaries out there so I'm excited to serve with him. His name is Elder Franca, he's from Brasil and we will be the zone leaders. 

This past week was good. We had a Zone Conference with Elder Packer of the seventy which was awesome. He laid down the law and helped me get some aspects of missionary work into a better perspective which I'm grateful for. 

I was really grateful for this past week in Oxford. It's my last week here and it was a blast! To be honest when I first arrived here with Elder Acosta we had very little work to do and it was very hard. I was happy to see how the area has grown and I pray that the new missionaries will continue to improve and help others come closer to Christ.

At church they asked me to give somewhat of a departure testimony/talk which I was happy to do. The last time I gave a talk was when I served in Pittsfield and it was absolutely terrible. I did not prepare because I was a missionary and I thought that meant I could get up and give a great talk without preparation. It was a stupid idea. Anyway I put a bit more time into preparing and I thought it went well. I even made someone cry haha. I think I'll just tell you what I talked about and then be done with my letter.

As far as determining my topic I was reminded of the prophet Jacob who said "for why not speak of the Atonement of Christ and attain a perfect knowledge of him" (Jacob 4:12) 

Many people use the phrase "Apply the Atonement" it's not a phrase that's used in Scripture and rarely is the time ever taken to explain the how of the application. It's like being given medicine to cure a disease and not knowing whether you're supposed to ingest it, take it through an IV or apply it as a cream, etc. Without that knowledge it doesn't do us any good.

A phrase that is commonly used in the Scriptures and I believe holds the same meaning as "apply the Atonement" is "Come unto Christ" (Moroni 10:32) when I discovered that it was very revelatory for me because our purpose as missionaries is to "invite others to come unto Christ...". In other words we invite people to apply the Atonement in their life. The best part is that the rest of our purpose teaches us how to apply the atonement. It is through "Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end" (PMG, 1) as we focus on developing and acquiring these principles and ordinances we are able to apply the atonement. 

Ultimately "enduring to the end" is the faithful observance of the other four points of focus and it all culminates with the reception of the holy ghost "which bringeth sanctification because of [our] yielding our hearts to God" (Helaman 3:35) If we aren't feeling that sanctification then take a step back and look at the preceding ordinance: baptism, or for those who have been baptized it is partaking of the sacrament. What is wrong with our participation in that ordinance that hinders our receptiveness to that Spirit?

If we struggle with feelings of worthiness or doubt in partaking of the sacrament then take a step back and repent or change your life to be in greater harmony with Christ's teachings. Then proceed with assurance that you are worthy to partake of the sacrament.

If we recognize the need for repentance in our lives but lack the conviction to make the change then remember that faith is unto repentance. As the prophet Samuel said "And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins," (Helaman 14:13). When we struggle with repentance take a step back and work on developing your faith! Paul understood the importance of faith as he resolutely testified "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians4:13). Faith is the first building block of our testimony. If you struggle to have Faith then find whatever desire is within you and "let it work within you until you can give place for a portion of [the scriptures]" (Alma 32;27)

As we focus on these principles and ordinances I know that they will lead to the development of Christlike attributes and ultimately life eternal (Moroni 8:25-26).

I hope that makes sense and that it will help you gain a better understanding of how to "apply the atonement"

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

Thanks so much for sharing your son with us!  He has been a great missionary and we have really enjoyed having him in the Oxford Ward!  He's been fun!  Even if he does have to give me a hard time about my beloved Utes.  I'm a big Utah fan and that is always one of the first questions I ask the missionaries from out west.  Where does your allegiance lie?  When he first got here, he didn't really have an allegiance.  Now I think he does.  Even if it's just to get at me!  

The Burt family

Here is Elder Turley with his new companion Elder Franca. At least I think that's his name!  Elder Turley has a great looking tie on!  . We will miss him in Oxford! I had to give him a red and black tie!  Then he won't forget us!  And the Utes! He is a great missionary!

Hello everybody

Hello everybody who reads this. I don't have much time and my letter will be short. 

Barry believes everything we've taught him. He often will try to argue but the Spirit has always been there to quell any objections he has towards being baptized. We were teaching him about the covenant of baptism and he interrupted us to say that although Baptism would bless him spiritually it would hurt him temporally. He proceeded to tell us that the house he's living in is owned by his rich brother. Barry's fear is that if he joins the church he would face being disowned from his family which is devout catholic. If that happens he'll be homeless. He looked at us and with real fear told us that he didn't want to go back to that again. It was really humbling and I feel really bad for the guy. There's not much we can do except help him develop greater faith in Christ insomuch that he would be willing to face those consequences as a result of being baptized. He told us he wouldn't keep it a secret either if he was baptized because he felt like that wouldn't be standing as a witness of God at all times which is part of the covenant of baptism. 

He continues to read and pray about what we teach him and he'll continue to be converted but I pray that his conversion will be deep enough that he'll trust in the Lord enough to be baptized. 

Please keep him in your prayers. 
-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

Thank you to Sister Graff for taking good care of these elders. She is the primary chorister in Trev's ward & the primary kids got to earn items like (deodorant, soap, toothpaste & so on) Such a great idea & sure makes this mama happy. 

Awesome Week!

We had an awesome week! We were super busy and even when appointments fell through we always found some way to be productive. We made the best of it and had a lot of fun keeping busy. One of the people we're teaching (Barry) has been moving along very well! I love the guy and he always makes the most original comments. He has some remarkable faith in Jesus Christ and almost every time we talk about Christ he tears up and it's cool to see. He also loves the Book of Mormon and continues to be amazed by it and what he reads there. Much of what we teach he already believes. In fact he already believed in the Plan of Salvation. He has a different name for everything and his ideas were a little off but everything we teach he readily accepts. Except Baptism. He'll get there though, he came to church this past Sunday and had a wonderful time. He had previously come to a baptism on  Saturday so when we asked him to come to church he said "of course! I loved the way I felt there, why would I deny myself that feeling again," so that was really cool.  Why has he not been baptized you might say? Well I don't really know, he always has a few excuses most of which revolve around his Catholic/Italian heritage but I think that it's deeper than that. Thankfully God knows and it's very easy to see how much the Spirit has been working within him, his knowledge in the Gospel is increasing tremendously but his actual conversion is taking more time. When he met our bishop he compared himself to a Marlin and said that I was like the fisherman reeling him in. I felt like one of Christ's disciples in Matthew 4:19!  Of course we both know that it's the Spirit that converts but I'm certainly doing all that I can to help bring that Spirit into Barry's life. 

Elder Whittle got his birthday package and it came at the perfect time! Not only did you get the day right but it came while we were home and the mailman rang our doorbell so he was able to open it right away. He was very impressed with the package so thank you very much. I don't know if you knew this but cherry cake is his favorite which was quite amazing that you sent that. The triscuits were too strong for him but that's fine because I think they're great! He loved everything else. Thank you very much Mom. 

This picture is from a couple months ago but here you go. 

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

Received this from a family in Trev's ward. They write that Elder Turley is the greatest and their kids really enjoy him.  They are hoping he won't be transferred just yet. 

Got these pictures from another Ward member (sister Graff) she is so great to send me pictures weekly. She says this was her sneaky shot of them vacuuming (completely unsolicited) after her sons baptism. She sent them home with a big plate of cinnamon rolls which I'm sure he loved. So grateful for these members who look after them. 

Come unto Christ

I got to go on exchanges this Friday with the zone Leaders and it was super great! I guess I should also say that Elder Nixon who I trained in Boston has become my Zone Leader here in the Springfield Zone. He and I are super close and we were so excited when we figured it out. Naturally when exchanges came around we went together. I went to his area and it was great to almost have flipped roles. We had such a great time catching up and talking about people that we used to teach but our best moments were when we were teaching together. we'd already been companions so we knew how to work together but in 6 months the two of us have both changed a lot. It was almost like being on exchanges with someone else. We were both super happy to see the changes in ourselves and overall it was really good for both of us.

Although I should also add that meanwhile in Oxford Elder Whittle and Elder Cagle were able to commit one of our new investigators to baptism! It was the first time we taught him and I guess it went well enough that he accepted an invitation to be baptized. His name is Belmiro and he committed to be baptized on January 2. So we had a good week. 

This week my ponderizing verse is Omni 1: 26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.

So yeah that should be good

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

Received these pics last Sunday from a fellow mom in Trev's current Ward. My eyes immediately welled up with tears cause it's the holidays & I'm missing my boys. It also made me feel like I had a little visit from him & that brought smiles. 

Is that Christmas tree hanging from the ceiling? Why yes it is.

Well we already have our Christmas lights up! Elder Whittle was very gung ho about it and it didn't bother me so we just did it. I'll include a picture in this email. This week has been a lot of fun and we've accomplished a lot.  We set a goal to have six lessons with investigators this week and we put a name with each goal. We worked hard to achieve this and set an appointment with every single person! By the end of the week though only one of those lessons actually happened. Only One. Interestingly enough though neither I nor Elder Whittle felt bad or disheartened because we could both honestly say that we did our best to make it happen. We still had great contact with each of our investigators and did what we could to help them progress. 

President Miller been advising the mission to have more frequent and shorter meetings with those we teach. Those that we've been able to apply this with has been very beneficial. Even though we really didn't see any of them this week we still had contact. I'm trying to help out where I can and I pray God will bless me with more of those opportunities. 

This week my ponderizing scripture is Deuteronomy 6:18 which says:

18 And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the Lordsware unto thy fathers,

I've been working hard to be more accountable to God and this verse has really helped me to find strength in doing that. It seems to me that it's basically just saying, do what you know you need to do, stop complaining and wait to see the miracles happen. I still have my moments where I may not be as diligent as I should be but I know that God has blessings on store for me as I maintain faithfulness. So just do what's right and everything will be well.

Thank you to Sister Graff for snapping this picture of us in action setting up an appointment with a new member. 

Here's our Christmas lights. You might be asking yourself "Is that Tree hanging from the ceiling?" Why yes, yes it is. I remember hearing somewhere that it was a new fad so we decided to try it and we think it looks pretty good.

Have you been able to request any of our ancestors patriarchal blessings. It's a pretty cool thing and I challenge you all to request at least one. Just go to the church website under patriarchal blessings. 
-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

Find when you teach and teach when you find

Well it's been another six weeks and I'm staying in Oxford. That means I'll be here for six months! It definitely has gone by super fast and I'm excited to be here another transfer. This transfer we're going to revolutionize our relationship with the Ward Leaders and it's going to be the best thing for us and missionaries in the future. We're still working out a lot of the who, what, where, when and why but we're on a good path and God will help us out and that's comforting to know. 

I've done a lot to try and improve my ability to find people to teach! I was tired of not feeling good at it and I was tried of disappointing myself with unrealistic expectations so I took a step back and set simpler goals. For example if I know we're going to an event with nonmembers I set a goal to testify of a gospel principle to at least one person there. Then I increase and improve from there. It's really helped me out with overcoming fears that I have. Heaving a deeper testimony has also been very good because I'm not afraid of what they might say in opposition because I know that the work I'm doing is true so what is there to be afraid of? There's a principle that's really helped me to feel successful in this endeavor and that's "find when you teach and teach when you find" it's all over Preach My Gospel and my new motto. 

This is Palmer from one of the families here that take good care of us. We planned last week to wear our purple ties to church together. I won mine from his mom in primary singing time. 

We had a lesson with Joe and his family again. We watched the Restoration movie and then taught them how to pray. The Spirit was present and we testified and taught with power and I know that they understood what we taught which was very rewarding. We couldn't get the DVD player to work so while Elder Whittle was fixing it I read some stories out of the Children's Book of Mormon to the kids. It panned out really well because one of the stories that I read was about Joseph Smith so when we watched the movie the kids actually knew what was going on. Booyah! I have real high hopes for this family and we plan to set a date for their oldest daughter to be baptized in December. 

Have a super week!

Elder Trevon Turley

I finally found my dentist chair

We've had a lovely week in Oxford. We had a Zone Conference this week and a lot of it was focused on us as missionaries and our personal righteousness. I enjoyed it and interestingly a good portion of the conference was about Journal Writing so I was happy to have already received inspiration to write in my journal during General Conference.

Do you remember when I was talking about Monthly Goals a few weeks ago? Well I'm going to talk about them again. In most areas the missionaries plan their own goals although in preach My Gospel it says to plan goals with the ward mission leader. In some areas of the mission Monthly Goals are planned in Ward Council and they expand to more than just nonmembers. Well that is something the Stake President here wants to bring into every single ward in the Stake. Last Sunday during Ward Council our Bishop said that the next time the council met he wanted to build a ward mission plan. After church we met with him to brainstorm a few ideas and we really didn't come away with too many action items but we did introduce monthly goals with him and we also determined to meet with every Auxiliary leader individually and talk about what they wanted to see in the ward mission plan. We're trying to make a big push to help the ward leaders see how simple, easy and effective it would be to plan monthly goals. We've been correlating almost every night with our Zone Leaders to try and figure out how to best move forward and I'm grateful for their direction. 

We had an awesome lesson with a family about missionary work. We read a few stories about missionary work from the children's book of Mormon to Keegan and it was amazing to see the change in him. Before his baptism he struggled a lot to read but during our lesson he was actively volunteering to read and had an amazing retention of what he read. I remembered during his confirmation that I blessed him to develop a love for reading and I was happy to see that coming to pass. The best part was that at the end of the lesson everybody present had a specific person that they planned to invite to meet with us that week! Booyah! It was probably the best lesson I've ever had regarding missionary work and I feel like a lot of work will come from that commitment that we extended. We are going to change lives in that little next of the woods they live in. 

On Sunday night we went to visit with a guy named Peter that we had given a Book of Mormon to a few weeks ago. We had an awesome discussion even though his beliefs were far from ours. He had many questions about what we believed and explanations about why our beliefs were wrong. I felt the Spirit though the entire time as Elder Whittle and I testified confidently regarding our doctrine. We withstood his opposition and answered his questions. At the end of our conversation we had committed him to pray and ask God if the Book of Mormon was true and I believe he'll keep that commitment. The hard part is his intent. It certainly seems to us that he plans to pray almost to confirm that the book is not true. We don't know his heart though and I have Faith in the Spirit. After all in Moroni 10 he says to pray and ask God if these things (referencing the Book of Mormon) are not true. So maybe our good friend Peter is actually doing it right.

Here's a picture with the two Elders I trained Elder Acosta and Elder Nixon

Chayo has been studying up on Seminary, after all he's getting to that age

So in Edson Whipple's Patriarchal blessing it says that his Priesthood is after the Order of Enoch. Weird right? have you ever heard that before in the church? It seemed like a strange thing but in the context of the rest of the blessing it seemed like a normal statement. Well I've been thinking about it and what it meant ever since I first read it and today I found a bit of an answer! I found it in scripture. It's in the JST of genesis chapter 14 and it helped me to make a lot of sense of things so I thought I'd just write home about that cuz it was cool. 

Regarding the medical bracelet. It was actually a little big but some members had a leather punch so I just put another hole in it and now it fits perfectly. The wording is very legible and I'm sure it will make sense to a paramedic. Thank you. 

1. What is a valuable lesson you learned from your companion this week? Have Faith. It's not the most specific but I'm fine with that. 

2. What was the best thing you ate this week? Chili

3. What was the strangest thing you ate this week? Chili

4. Who spoke in church and what were the topics? It was the Primary Program this week

5. What could you use for Christmas this year? Wants and needs? I could use a humanatone and also a dentists chair. I have no wants. 

6. Tell us about a time this week when you were feeling humbled. When we had dinner with the Stake President. 

We had a chili cookoff this week and we were the judges. There were some really good ones and some really bad ones hence the answers to questions 2 and 3. 

Also regarding the dentists chair. I know I've asked for it in times past but on Saturday we found this outside the house across the street from the oxford chapel, just something to think about

Have a lovely week and don't forget to offer up specific help to the missionaries in your area. 

Also I've gotten a letter from different people five days in a row excluding Sunday! One of them was your Fall Pail of goodness so thank you for that Mom. 

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

A baptism

It snowed yesterday...

Not the most expected thing but it happened and it happened during church so all the kids were running outside to play in it while parents tried to get their kids back inside so it was pretty funny.

 We also had a baptism yesterday and it was kind of a big deal for us. His name is Keegan and he was a child of record. He's living with his grandparents who are semi active. His father is a member but is definitely not active. We've been teaching Keegan for about 3 months now trying to help him prepare for baptism. His dad came to the baptism as well as Keegan's cousin and her fiancé and neither of them were members. I'm pretty sure we will start teaching them so keep your eyes out for that one. 

Just about everything went wrong in preparing for the baptism. We figured out while filling up the font that the hot water heater had broken... so we put together a team comprised of a member of the bishopric, the High Priests group Leader, the ward clerk and us and we started boiling water in the kitchen and began carting it into the font. We had all 8 burners going heating up water and we kept the process going for over two hours. About an hour into the work we realized the plug hadn't been put in properly and the water was actually leaking faster than we could fill it. So our champion ward clerk, brother Welles, took of his shoes and socks, rolled up his pants and sleeves and went into the font to tighten the plug. Now we had to fill it again with the freezing water and much of our initial efforts had been wasted. We knew the water was going to be cold but we were hoping that we could take the edge off a bit. Keegan's Grandpa baptized him and people were genuinely concerned for his safety. Keegan was baptized and he took it like a champ, I'm pretty sure he was warmed by the spirit because he said he didn't feel too cold during the actual ordinance even though the water was very cold. It was pretty hectic but worth it all. 

Heres a picture of the water being heated. After it was hot we would pour it into the cooler and then carry it into the font. 

When we were travelling to the font from the sacrament room Keegan's Grandma asked me if I knew that Keegan wanted me to confirm him, well I didn't but that was ok, I told her that I had been asked to confirm people with less notice so not to worry. The confirmation went well and everything was dandy after that.

That was probably the highlight of the week and it was the culmination of a lot of hard work, it was not easy to teach Keegan he's a good kid but he's eight and doesn't have the greatest attention span but it was a good opportunity for me to get better at teaching kids. 

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

Also my scripture for this week is Romans 10 13-15

 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

This is at our ward mission leaders house. These grapes are so good. Pretty much what I do every time I go there. 

I know that which The Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it

Life has been moving along pretty well. Once a month we plan and set goals. These goals are centered around people who we think have the ability to progress into becoming investigators, setting a baptismal date with them or even having someone baptized in the coming month. These goals help to plan our time and the hope is that we set them with revelation from God. At that point we treat the goal as though we received it from God and then we have a lot more drive to accomplish our goals! Well I've always struggled with setting time aside to ponder and pray about who the Lord would have us set as priority but leading into October I fasted and prayed many times about who we should set as goals and when it came time to finally put them down on paper Elder Whittle and I felt inspired about who to focus on. Already we're seeing miracles and I truly believe that we will meet every single goal because it was revealed unto us by revelation that our goals can and will be achieved. 

One of our people we are focusing on is a man George. He requested a Bible from Mormon.org. We set him as a goal to become a new investigator this month. There were other people that seemed to have more potential especially because we'd never even met the guy, we just knew he wanted a Bible. Well upon visiting him one evening he gladly accepted a Bible and a Book of Mormon and he seemed very excited to read them both! He's fairly religious already and he wanted a bible so that he had something to read when he went to visit his native country Ghana. As of now he's not an investigator but he leaves on the 28th for Ghana so we have time to meet the goal but we're going to have to work hard to achieve it. Still I believe we will be able to help him. 

Joe's family is doing pretty good! We actually weren't able to see them this week but surprisingly the whole family came to church! We knew Joe would be coming and that he might be bringing his children but the whole family showed up. They left quickly right after sacrament meeting but they still came to church. Their youngest son Michael is seven years old and he'd never sung a hymn in his life but he was singing proudly every single time we sang as a congregation.  We have the primary program in two weeks and we're going to try and get the kids to participate in it.

For my ponderizing verse this week I decided to choose Alma29:9 it says

I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

I thought it might be a good one for missionary work.

Alright well I think that's good enough, one of the things I felt prompted to do during General Conference was write in my journal so I've faithfully done that all week and it's made writing this email much easier.

I have a Wisdom tooth coming in. Only one and it's on my bottom right side, it doesn't hurt or anything but I figured I'd let you guys know. I'm not too sure what to do about it. 

Thanks for all that you do and keep up the good work. 

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

Have the days of miracles ceased? I say unto you nay.

Well I've decided that the verse I'm going to ponderize this week is Philippians 4:11 it says

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

I'll tell you more about the pondering aspect next week. 

This past week has been great! We've had a lot of member visits this week and they were all productive but the best part is that I am finally teaching a family! For the first time on the mission I taught the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ to an entire family! The father is a member but he hasn't been to church in years. His family from Idaho came out and visited him and brought him to church so that's how we got ahold of him. We had visited him twice hoping that his family would be there but they never were so we finally asked him when we could come over to teach his whole family. He gave us a time & we went. We asked him to offer a kneeling closing prayer at the end of the lesson. We figured it would be good for the family and it says to do that in preach my gospel but he said no and had Elder Whittle give the closing prayer. But overall the family has way more potential than they are willing to let on and we're totally going to help them come closer to Christ! 

So we've had quite a bit of rain. 

Conference was amazing! The best one for me yet. that's probably because I genuinely payed attention to every single talk for the first time in my life. It was thrilling to hear from the three new apostles. Elder Stevensons address was my favorite and it's probably because he quoted Preach My Gospel directly a few times. it made me happy to know that he knew it well enough to be able to quote it so flawlessly that it fit perfectly in with his address. 

I also really enjoyed both of Elder Eyrings talks he's a great speaker and his stories were inspirational and applicable. After his talk I asked the Elders Quorum president if he was going to buy a truck, it was pretty funny. 

Elder Lawrence's talk was fantastic about how versatile the spirit is. he came and visited our mission about a year ago so it was cool to see him again. He's from Tucson Arizona so he's definitely a great guy. 

I received a lot of guidance on how to improve myself, ways to improve the work and I was thinking about a lot of people that we're working with that could benefit from hearing various talks. I'm already looking forward to the Ensign so I can read through all of them again and I'm excited for the next session of conference and all that I'll learn then.

I know that God instructs these men to lead and guide us. Have the days of miracles ceased? I say unto you Nay

 
-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

This week has been stellar

Elder Acosta's gone and Elder Whittle is in the building!

Elder Whittle and I came out together but we didn't know each other in the mtc. He's also a middle child but he has 6 other siblings. This is his first area in Massachusetts. He's a computer whiz. He's my fifth companion.

This week has been stellar. We've been working hard to do better at bringing members out with us which has been hard but has had a lot of payoffs for sure. I feel bad asking members to help because I don't like to inconvenience them even though I know that we need their help. Well I guess you could say I've mostly overcome that. Yesterday at church we went into Priests quorum and told them about various appointments we had that day/week and asked them which ones they wanted to come with us to, it was actually really effective. We're also still working on going on splits with the High Priests but unfortunately one of them has always cancelled last minute but this week has the greatest potential of splits actually happening. 

So this is a cool place like 5 minutes from our house. 

Honestly I don't really know what else to write about, it's not like we aren't doing anything, we're doing a lot but I don't think there's anything I can write about that I haven't already written about. Things are going really well and we're having lots of fun. I'm learning lots and trying to give my very best always. 

Could you please send me a copy of Papa's poem that he would always share at reunion. Also I'm sending you the info on which medical I.D. bracelet to get. I'm thinking size large. Thank you. 
-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

Life is good

I got to go on exchanges twice this week and that was a lot of fun but it's going to make miles super rough for the rest of the month.  The first exchange was with our District Leader and the second time was with one of my zone leaders. 

Elder Cagle and I had a blast though! Pretty much everybody cancelled but we were so fired up we just stayed busy. I don't really know any better way to explain it. We were getting hungry so we randomly went to this pizza place. We're sitting there eating and this guy walks in and he just starts talking to everybody about anything, he's one of those guys. Well he sits down right by us and asks us where we're from because he knew we were missionaries. We ended up talking to him for 45 minutes and sort of taught him all about the gospel in a nutshell. Well suffice it to say we got his number and he left with a book of Mormon. As he was leaving he told us that every single day he packs his lunch but today he didn't, he said God wanted us to meet so that was cool. Hopefully things go well with him.

Steve got the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday which was great. Bishop asked the 1st assistant in the Priests Quorum to meet with him and teach him about it. I thought it was really cool how the Bishop did that, it impressed me a lot. Steve's 54 years old and the 1st assistant is 17 but it didn't matter because it was his responsibility. He'll do a great job. 

Elder Acosta is getting transferred and he's psyching himself out! It's a little comical and I wonder if I was like that when I got transferred for the first time. Nevertheless I'm doing what I can to ease the transition for him and I'm sure he'll do well. Our companionship has been very difficult and it's taken a lot of effort to make things work but that's ok because we both put in the effort and now we're really good friends too. I have complete confidence in him that he will be a successful missionary.

I've also been working really hard to memorize the Book of Mormon. It's been a lot of fun! I'm nowhere near having anything more than scripture masteries committed to memory. However, after hearing up to 5 consecutive verses I can identify the chapter and the book. I'm not trying to be boastful but this is literally what I do for fun on the mission! I would never say anything like that before the mission that's for sure but it's cool and it makes me feel confident when it comes to being thrown on the spot with scriptures. 

I know that the  Book of Mormon is true. I know that even more than it being true is that the events in it actually happened, it's not a big parable but it's actually historic events. The people in it are exceptional at choosing the right but they are still flawed to some degree. They held fast to what was right even unto death. I love the Book of Mormon for this reason and more. 

Elder Trevon Turley

I received these pictures from Sister Graff tonight. Their family is in Trevs ward & they were lucky enough to have dinner in the Graff home this evening. 

They even got to have a little cooking competition. Not sure who won. So fun though. 

Don't give up

I made nachos in my chef hat. They were really good. 

This week has been good, it's probably been filled with the most stuff to do than any other week in Oxford which is good because it means we're really starting to integrate into the area. Even though it may have taken almost three months since we got here I guess it takes time to figure out how an area works especially when both of us are new to Oxford. 

Even though we were busy we had a lot of disappointments but we took them remarkably well. On Saturday we went and visited four media referrals and all of them said no and not in a very nice way either. It was hard because normally media referrals are easy contacts because they have to go online and request something from the church whether it's a book of Mormon a bible or even just the missionaries. But when we got to the door all of them changed their mind and turned us down. To help us feel better we listened to "don't give up" by Josh Groban and we went to KFC and got some Baja Blasts.  The hardest part though was when Linda called and asked us to stop visiting/calling them, she said that when they wanted us to visit they would call us so that was a huge bummer. But regardless she's had a seed planted and we've done all that we can and I feel content with that.

We've begun to go splits with both the High Priests and the Elders Quorum every other Thursday night and that's been helpful to us. Last Thursday we met two families that we had never heard of before and I'm pretty sure would have never let us in if the member wasn't with us.

Today we planned to go to a shpping center with some Elders and they called and told us President Miller was coming along too so we'll see how that goes, I'm not too sure how much I believe them but whatever it should be fun if he comes.

Life keeps on going so that's good too. Steve is doing much better and he's even done with Radiation. Last time we saw him he could speak well enough to read all the verses which was huge since he had throat cancer. 

I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that the people who wrote it saw our day and wrote the words that would be the most convincing to us that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Nephi is a boss and Moroni is a trooper. 

I am really enjoying the yoga DVD, thank you. I'm getting really flexible and it's a great stress reliever. 

Elder Trevon Turley

So it turns out President Miller really did come as you can see. It was fun!

Temple day in Boston

We got to go to the Temple Yesterday! That was wonderful and I learned a lot and received a lot of revelation about the work here in Oxford which is always needed. The Temple was so busy that they stopped following the schedule and started having sessions as soon as they could fill an entire room. It was cool to be a part of that. Since we were near Boston we explored there for our Pday and that was great to be back. I really miss it and it was good to know that I can still navigate the city without a map. Granted it's been less than 3 months since I left but I was still a little worried. We got to visit a few old investigators as well and even though they're no longer being taught it was still great to see them. I also got to see Elder Corpus which made me much happier than I was expecting. We didn't always agree on how to go about the work but after serving with him for over 4 months and then not seeing him for almost the same period of time really brought us together I guess. I could tell he was happy to see me too.

We've been doing well here in Oxford but it still seems like a lot of the work we do is with members who are already very active. I understand that we can help everybody but sometimes I feel like there are people out there who need us more. If members are the key to missionary work than maybe I need to turn the key a little more to unlock the door because we certainly have lots of member help.  

As of late I've been doing a lot of studying in the Epistles of Paul and that's been very rewarding. It's easy to read the words but I've really been trying to understand why Paul felt it nescessary to write what he did to each group of saints that he wrote to. It's helped me learn a lot about the history of the early church as well as the struggles that the early converts had. Most important it's helped me recognize how synonymous the role of the church was back then versus the role of the church in our day. 

We started teaching this lady named Linda and she's fantastic. She met a member from Utah in an airport and talked for an extensive length about the church. The member referred her to us and upon arriving at her house she pulled up behind us after getting home from work. We had a wonderful chat outside her house about a lot of her initial questions. A lot of her interest was centered on our churches claim on living prophets and apostles as well as our churches belief on marriage. Conveniently we were able to use the "Family: A Proclamation To The World" to answer both of her questions. Her husband was very interested about what we define salvation as in our religion as well as what it takes to achieve salvation and he does not currently believe in modern day prophets and apostles but with careful study and preparation I'm sure we will be able to satisfy all of their questions. It's a good thing I've been studying Paul I guess because I'm sure that will come in handy.

I appreciate all the mail I've been getting these past few weeks, it's been very helpful and uplifting. Hard days are made lighter when I get mail. Now don't send me mail everyday mom just because I said that, if I got mail everyday then it would lose it's effect. Besides I usually get it on the hard days already so just keep doing what your doing. It really has been great. 

One last thing. I feel like I need a medical bracelet. I don't know what it takes to get one or what all information needs to be on it. I'll let you figure that one out. I do think it would be important for me to get one. Could you help me with that please?

Thanks and have a great week

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

yesterday we had a pday in boston and it was great becasue I got to visit a few former investigators and stuff and these pictures are from when we helped some of them move.

The stairs were too narrow to use them so we just picked up the couch and took it out on the roof