The gospel is simple but no one ever said it was easy

Well first off I was pretty sick this past week as you know so we really didn't do a whole lot. For most of the week I was trying to still do work but I couldn't focus on anybody or their needs because my head was hurting too bad from the massive headache I had. On Wednesday though we literally did nothing which helped me out a lot and for the rest of the week we were able to do some good work. 

Thanks for all the support from home.  Your letters and packages have been great. I just got another package from you today but I haven't opened it yet. I got Grandpa's letter and Wand as well and that was great, his letter was awesome. It's the first one I've ever gotten from him, all the other ones were from Grandma writing for both of them. 

I'm glad to hear that about Brigham, he's a good guy and I've seen a lot of change in him and in his letters. Keep me posted on his call. 

We met with Steve again and he's doing better. He's finished his treatments and hopefully he'll start to make a full recovery. Our next step with him is to help him get the Aaronic Priesthood which he's looking forward to and is preparing himself for. He's been reading a lot and we were talking to the Stake President about it when we were at his house and he went and got this book series by Bruce R. Mckonkie called The Messiah. It's 6 books in total so it should keep Steve busy for awhile.

We also had our first Zone Conference with President Miller this week and that was wonderful! He had a lot of great ideas about how to help the mission improve but of course every ward has it's own unique challenges that have to be overcome before the ideal model can be implemented. We asked our ward mission leader if there had ever been a ward mission plan and he said the plan was to baptize and retain converts. Now it's not the most specific plan I've ever heard and hopefully we'll be able to build on it but at least we have a start. Our next move is to get the Bishop involved more. He has the keys to the area and if we are following his direction than we have the whole support of the ward, which is important.

 One positive that has come from the High Priest Group. The HP group leader asked us how hard would it be to set up a weekly night to go on splits with the missionaries.  We told him it would be easy and he asked us if Thursday nights would work well and we said yes so he told us to block that night off for dinners because we were going to be out with the High Priests. It sounds good to me. The best part was when he said "I don't care if all you do is ride around in a car, I want my men going out with the missionaries" of course we're going to do a lot more than that but it shows how committed he is to getting this started.

Happy 16th Birthday to Camdon on Wednesday. Guess you'll be doing some of this now, huh?

The Gospel is simple but no one ever said it was easy.

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

He wanted to be approachable and teachable

This week has gone by way too fast! Everything has been getting better and we're really beginning to enjoy the work. Last week we took on so much service because we had the time but there needs to be a balance to what we do. After all our purpose is to build faith, help others repent, help them make covenants through baptism and the gift of the holy ghost and to give them the tools to endure to the end. Well this week we had much more balance. We have a new investigator which is great and she was one of the referrals! We still did service but not as much. My favorite part though is probably with the digital work that we do. Elder Acosta and I taught 3 lessons over Skype in one day! It was so cool. We taught all of them the Plan of Salvation. It has helped me understand how comforting it is to have that knowledge. Many people talk about how we take the Plan of Salvation for granted but I never really took it to heart until I started teaching people from Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Thailand. They hardly even know who God is much less his personal plan for them. I'm grateful for that increased gratitude I now have.

Life is good here in Massachusetts. 

I've really grown a lot this transfer. It's definitely been the hardest one yet but it has also had some of the greatest rewards. I hope it doesn't sound like we're over the hump yet though. Everyday presents it's own struggles and challenges but I've made it through everyday up to this point in my life so I'm sure I'll be able to keep on going. Especially because I'm experiencing so many rewards because of our efforts. We're finding a groove to work in and it's a good one too. The members trust us and the Bishop volunteers us for assignments. We have just about as much support we can get and we're doing our best to utilize it. I've never had so much member support and honestly I don't always know how to use it. I've gone almost a year working fairly independent from the ward despite our best efforts and now that we have so much of it we don't know how to use it! But we're learning to and it's really great to have. 

I've also really grown to love the ensign! It's not very easy for me to sit through conference but I can read 5 conference talks in 30 minutes every day and learn much more! It's been great, I started reading through this most recent conference ensign about a week ago and I'm almost done. We do have living prophets and Apostles who give us relevant and specific direction in our life today. I've learned so much already. People who question why the church doesn't give more direction about how to be a member in todays world need to read the ensign! Almost every talk addresses social media, popular apps, trending topics, etc. I think it's great. 

I'm trying to be more humble and receptive to the teachings of others. One of the smartest guys I ever met was at Philmont and his name was Karl. I was his Ranger and he was an anesthesiologist. I learned a lot about him and what made him successful throughout his entire career. He told me that early in his schooling that he decided that wherever he went he would consider himself the dumbest person in the room. He wanted to be approachable and teachable. Of course it sounded a little extreme to me and I tried to tell him that surely he couldn't truly believe that with all that he had accomplished but he defended his statement valiantly. If that mentality worked for him then surely I could learn something from that. I may not take it as literally as he did because I know the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I can not hide that from others but there is undoubtedly something that every person I meet can teach me and the more I learn the better off I'll be I figure. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain the resolve and humility to truly reap the rewards of this effort.

I know the church is true and that we are led by those who have been called and given authority from God. I believe in Jesus Christ and the strength that we receive when we humbly acknowledge our faults in prayer. I believe that we can develop personal relationships with God and more fully see his hand in our life as we do so. I know that I am loved and that people are looking out for me and for that I am grateful.

Love,

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

I've sort of become the official music chorister at district and zone meetings because I can get pretty into it. Thanks to the example of Grandpa. I think I need to elevate my game though and if you could send me a baton of sorts (even if it's really silly) I think it would be the next step to elevating my status as music chorister.

Staying put

I've officially been in Oxford for 6 weeks! A whole transfer has come and gone. Three people gave us referrals this past week and they're all for families! We've been trying to get in contact with all of them which seems to be the hardest part but we're working on it. This past week we did a lot of Service! We've really been putting ourselves out there asking to help people and this week it payed off. It's been really helpful with gaining the trust of members as well s doing some manual labor. I didn't realize how much I missed doing manual labor until I started doing it again, it felt pretty good.

Steve was confirmed Sunday and it was a really powerful experience. Nothing remarkable was said during the blessing but I could feel the power of the Priesthood and the Holy Ghost and I knew that Steve was being sanctified by it. He only stayed for sacrament meeting because he's too sick to stay for all of church. Steve has taught me a lot and I know that God will use him as an instrument in His hands. Please pray for his health. 

I'm not sure if I've written home about this but I've become something known as a "digital missionary" I can go on predetermined chat websites and use it as a finding tool to teach people the restored gospel. It's really quite effective actually, if you think about it compared to tracting. We can't get on at any time of the day, only in the mornings and it's pretty much what we do in place of tracting. Instead of knocking on doors we go on chat websites and talk to hundreds of people who are already willing to talk! The trick is getting to Skype with them and then introducing them to the local missionaries. I've had three Skype's: one from Thailand, Indonesia and Japan! It's so cool! I literally pray that I will find someone in Japan that Jaron could teach because that would make for the coolest conversion story! In the end though I'll pretty much talk to anybody because I can't judge who is or isn't ready for the gospel. We pray every time we start that God will help us know who to talk to and what to say. It's quite a bit of fun too!

Anyways thank you for praying that the members in Oxford will help us find people to teach. It has already helped! We now have referrals for three families that we did not have last week. I know that prayer is crucial to our success. I know that Joseph prayed and got an answer to his prayer so I can too. 

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

I guess someone noticed

Steve was baptized! It was the best baptismal service I've been to on the mission! In all humility we did a pretty great job. Two of his daughters spoke and neither of them are members and for me at least that's when I felt the spirit the strongest. We were trying to print the programs on Saturday so we could be prepared by Sunday but we just ran into problem after problem, it was really stressful and kinda felt like a waste of a day especially for a Saturday. We didn't even get it worked out and we showed up to church not knowing how or if Steve was going to have a program for his baptism. But during sacrament meeting we had a change in Bishopric! We were not expecting it at all but it worked out really well because we were able to go and change the program and get some help to print it in the clerks office. Then it looked really cool because the program already had the new bishop as presiding even though he'd only been called two hours previously. The stake president was there too so he ended up presiding and bishop conducted but still, it was really cool.

As for a little more about the new Bishop. We were actually at their house for dinner on Saturday night and afterwards I was talking with Elder Acosta about how some families just always seem to be involved in everything that goes on in the ward but nobody really notices, acknowledges or gives them credit. Not that they need but you know what I mean.  I told him I thought the Naefs were one of those families. Well the next day in Sacrament he's called as the new bishop so I lean over to Elder Acosta and whisper is his ear "I guess someone noticed". We were both laughing a little bit.

Steve is crazy with his reading! He read the entire book of Mormon in 5 weeks, he's read the entire Gospel Principles Book all the missionary pamphlets, the entire book on temple prep and now he's started reading preach my gospel. It's so awesome especially because it's sticking! He remembers all of it. We're going over to their house for dinner this Wednesday and I'm so excited to see what's going to be new. He's still battling cancer but this Sunday the whole Ward fasted for him. When Bishop first told him that he was going to ask the ward to fast for him he started crying because he was so touched, I know he'll feel the blessings from my fast as well as the other ward members.

I have learned so much about enduring to the end here in Oxford, I'm not sure what the says about Oxford but I think it's a good thing. The missionary work is really hard here. I've never had to work harder to stay busy than here in Oxford. The members love us though so that's a huge comfort, otherwise I'd really be struggling. Pray for the members in Oxford to help us find those who are ready to receive the restored gospel! It would really help us out. Thanks!

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley