WEM Week of July 8

Dear Family and Friends,

We had another lesson with Bennett on Saturday and also his wife, Verna! They are such a fun (might I say crazy) and wonderful couple. They are both still very open to hearing about our message. We finally got through all the Restoration lesson and the Spirit was incredible! It was so thick. During part of the lesson, I told them that I felt the Spirit there and described the calm, reassuring warmth and they both nodded their heads and smiled sincerely in agreement. Nearing the end of the lesson when we talked about the Book or Mormon, Verna said, "I think I need to read some more of the book." We encouraged them to do so and also invited them to pray about the truth of it. They said they would. We invited them to come to church, but they had some prior commitments they had to attend to. However, they said that they would come to church next week with us. I hope that they do! I pray that the Spirit will attend them as they study between our lessons.

We also had another lesson this week with Chuck Queeno. He still won't pray, but in the lesson, we invited him three times to pray and he is starting to think about it. Each time I invited him, you could see the wheels turn just a little bit more. He is reading the scriptures and has attended church both Sundays that he has had off (he works every other Sunday). But yesterday his baby was blessed during Sacrament meeting and his wife bore her testimony. I hope that Sam's continual devotion will help to spark a desire to come unto Christ more fully.

I am still learning a lot and being chastised often in my personal study, haha. One thing I learned in reading the Words of Mormon, is that peace=work. It says that King Benjamin "did fight with the strength of his own arm" (WofM 1:13--Lari) and in verse 18, "king Benjamin, by laboring with all the might of his body and the faculty of his whole soul, and also the prophets, did once more establish peace in the land." Peace was not a free gift and it was not easy to obtain. He had to WORK for it. I think that is true of personal peace and with others. We have to work at it. This has applied a lot to me lately because I am really struggling to love my companion. I pray all the time for that gift, but that has not been one the Lord has seen fit to bless me with, at any point throughout my life. I hate to say it, but I just don't love people. It takes a lot of effort on my part and on the part of everyone else. I try really hard, but am mostly unsuccessful. Usually, I end up get really frustrated with myself and wish I didn't have to be me because I truly don't want to be this way. And I guess my answer is to keep working. If peace=work, I need to put my shoulder to the wheel, even though it might hurt and my shoulder may get rubbed raw in the process. I pray that they Lord will grant me success as I follow the example of King Benjamin. What a genius!

Anyways, some interesting/funny stories from the week:
(1) Disclaimer: This one may not be appropriate for children... It's up to you. We were having a lesson with a less active member of our ward this week and it turns out that her boyfriend (also present, but making dinner) is Matt Gordon. Apparently he is "famous" for developing a strain of marijuana through single gene isolation that is supposedly an antedote to the "high" effects of marijuana and basically every other ailment in the world. Look him up if you dare. SUPER smart, but a little bit crazy? I find myself in a lot of interesting moral situations being on a mission...
(2) We were at a members house for dinner last night and we were washing our hands in the bathroom and the toilet seat was up. However, it was not your ordinary toilet seat. On the inside was emblazoned, "This Way to the Ministry of Magic" (Harry Potter reference). So clever!
(3) We were out walking around one day trying to contact some referrals that the zone leaders had given us and there was gaggle of little boys out riding their bikes, hitting each other with swords and various other little boy things. One of them yelled to us, "Hey ladies! You have nice clothes today!" Haha, such a charmer!

I hope that I will have more good things to report next week and I love you all!

Sister Turley