Winter is here

We had a good week. Some highlights were

Interviews with President Miller

Stake Conference

Teaching people

Our Stake President, Pres. Holland, is amazing. He is just everyone's best friend. The theme of Stake Conference was developing Christlike relationships with those around us. At the adult session of Stake Conference he got up and said "well for the first time I'm in the uncomfortable situation of literally having nothing to add" so he had the tech guy set up a mic and for the last fifteen minutes the 2 counselors walked around with the mic and gave it to people as they felt inspired. Although Pres. Holland did pose theses two questions 1.What blessings come from a Christlike relationship? 2.If this is something we want what gets in the way of us having them? It was cool, I've never really seen that before but that was only the second time I'd been to the adult session of stake conference so who knows maybe it's a little more regular.

For the general session we sat on the stage with lots of crying children and I couldn't really hear even though I was trying. The reason we sat back there is because we had invited a less active man named bro. Comella that week to come and he said he might but he wanted to sit with us in the back so we took the furthest back we could find. He's a train guy that works for Amtrak and he's like the equivalent of lead flight attendant in an airplane.  He showed up 45 minutes late in his train outfit which was super cool and he joined us in the back. Now I've read lots of stories of people unjustly being agitated by noisy children and for the first time I was annoyed by them too. We had promised lots of blessings to this brother if he came to Stake Conference and the children were really throwing that off track. It certainly didn't go unnoticed to our friend and he got up and left quite unexpectedly which really derailed me and I couldn't help but get frustrated with all the little kids. After a short time though Bro. Comella came back with a stack of amtrack junior conductor hats and gave them to all the little kids. At first they didn't pay any mind to it but after some time they figured out what they were and it was a hot topic. I'm not too sure how it worked out but they stayed quiet for the better part of 45 minutes after that which is all the time Bro. Comella had before he had to get back to work. I was grateful for Bro. Comella's patience when I wasn't and hopefully we'll be able to help him have more spiritual experiences at church.

This is Sis Favey. Her mom is pretty old & sick. She's forgotten how to speak English so she just speaks French. I like them. 

It's been cold. Winter is here. 

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

The resurrection

This week was hard balancing everything. We had a lot of mission meetings which took up over half of our week but we did what we could to cram everything into half of a week.

Our good friend Steve is progressing well. He's still on track to be baptized on Jan. 30, it's super exciting. Although he still has some gaps he will be ready by then. He lives out of our area but he's dating a member in our area so hopefully we'll get it all worked out for him to be baptized in the Nashua ward. He has great faith and it's cool to see him make connections in the gospel. He's getting more out of the scriptures and his prayers are much more personal and he's always at church so with that combo his conversion has been steady. It's great to be a part of it. 

I gave a talk last Sunday on the resurrection. It went well and I think most people liked it. here's the talk

Through the merits of Jesus Christ we will all be resurrected. “both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame,” (Alma 11:44).  This is a gift promised to all of us and it accomplishes the first half of God’s work and glory to bring to pass the immortality of man” (Moses 1:39). We receive this gift because of Jesus Christ, all of the works of God are accomplished through Jesus Christ even that of the resurrection. Jesus Christ had power over death because of his divine sonship and he also had the capability to die because of his mortal mother. With this he paved the way for the resurrection of all. We see Jesus testify of this in John 10:17 when He says “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.” This simple statement testifies that Jesus knew and understood his role in the resurrection, Jesus knew that he had the ability not only to die but also to rise again in triumphant glory. Jesus was the first one to be resurrected with a perfected and immortal body, although others had been raised from the dead no one had been resurrected. He was our example in that regard and perhaps some of the most reassuring verses of scripture teach us of this when Mary seeking Jesus in the tomb hears the words of an angel saying “He is not here for he is risen” (Matt. 28:6).

We have other examples of this in the scriptures which paint for us a wonderful image of how glorious the resurrection will be. One such example revolves around the story of Lazarus. Lazarus was a sick man who had had some exposure to the ministry of Jesus Christ, we don’t know too much about him before this story but we know that Jesus loved him and his sisters Mary and Martha. Upon hearing that Lazarus was sick Jesus testified among his disciples that “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby,” (John 11:4). Still, Jesus knew that Lazarus would die and he even foretold this to his Apostles. Upon arriving at Bethany, the town in which Lazarus resided, he found out that Lazarus had lain in the grave for four days. As soon as Martha, Lazarus’ sister, heard that her savior was near the town she ran out to meet him saying that if he had been there her brother Lazarus would not have died. Nevertheless she humbly accepted that her brother Lazarus would rise in the resurrection. To this Jesus comforted her by saying “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11:25-26). To this Martha again testified that she knew Jesus was the Christ, the son of God knowing that with those credentials all things are possible. With that miraculous setting Jesus made his way to the tomb of Lazarus with a procession of many people anxious to see what the outcome would be. Upon having the stone removed from the tomb he commanded Lazarus to come forth from the tomb. As the scriptures say in John 11 “and he that was dead came forth” (John 11:44).  I know that Jesus Christ brought back Lazarus from the dead and that the same power used to accomplish that miracle will be exercised at the time of our resurrection.

I also know that our actions today are very important in regards to the resurrection. Speaking of this Alma said to his son Corianton “If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness….Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness,” (Alma 41:6,10). We cannot suppose that at the time of our resurrection that all of our mistakes will be forgotten or that we will magically be perfect. In fact we will be even more burdened with our sins at the time of our resurrection if we do not repent in this life, “even a perfect knowledge of our guilt and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment” (2 Nephi 9:14). Fortunately God loves us and has promised that as “we repent we will be forgiven and the Lord will remember them no more,” (D&C 58:42).

May we all live our lives in such a way that we can look forward to the resurrection. Where we will be filled with the knowledge of enjoyment and will rejoice with God and all of our loved ones. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

There was a bit more to it but this is the condensed version. I hope you like it. 

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

Kinda a big deal

We've been cooking this week and that's been fun. It's been great to go out and do stuff even though it snowed quite a bit. We've been able to use it to help us. The day after it snowed we walked around with shovels and just shoveled peoples driveways and gave them our cards telling them to give us a call next time it snows. We also invited them to learn more about Christ but we have yet to have someone take us up on that offer. However, we saw a lot of miracles and we're in a great place to see more this upcoming week. We're accomplishing work in many different ways whether it be through finding, teaching or baptizing. It's a great thing! 

One of the miracle stories this week was with a man named James. Last Sunday he was at church with his girlfriend Cindy. Cindy is a member of the Boston Spanish Branch but James is not a member at all. Well when James would spend the weekend with Cindy they would go to church in Boston and they would go to the English ward. Which means that I knew James and Cindy already, in fact I'd taught James a few times in Boston during church. I didn't know that he lived up here in Nashua but we had a wonderful reunion and recognized each other. We were able to set up an appointment for Saturday finally and we taught him the Restoration with Cindy! It was a great lesson and we all felt the Spirit. When we asked him to be baptized on Jan. 30 he said he wasn't going to say yes or no but he wanted to ask God. Great! We set an appointment for Monday and committed him to come to church again. Unfortunately he doesn't actually live within our ward boundaries so we needed to hand him off to the Merrimack Elders. We had him go to their sacrament meeting and made sure the Ward Mission Leader in their ward made contact. Well the hand off went wonderful and the Merrimack Elders are going over tonight to talk with James about the chapters that we asked him to read (Alma 32 and Moroni 10). He's one that's been prepared for the Gospel for a long time and it's something that I could see when I first met him in Boston but I never got to see his conversion through because life got in the way. Thankfully I'll be able to witness his conversion now even though I won't be the one teaching him form now on.  It's pretty exciting. 

Elder Franca and I hgave set some goals for us that we think will really help us focus on the work. I'm going to tell them to you now in an effort to make myself more accountable.

They are: 

find 3 new investigators per week

through personal contacting get one persons contact info every day

extend an invitation to be baptized every week

We had it in our minds last week but it wasn't official yet and we found 6 new investigators and invited three people to be baptized so we started off well. 

I know the church is true and that this work we're doing is much greater than we often treat it. As we do missionary work we fulfill covenants that we made to gather the house of Israel and prepare the earth for the second coming which is kinda a big deal. 

-- 

Elder Trevon Turley

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.