Dear Family and Friends,
We had interviews with President Bonham this week and it went really well. I feel like I was able to learn several things to help to be a better missionary personally. One thing that I have really been trying is improving my prayers. President gave me some suggestions for doing better and so my prayers can "get through the ceiling" as both he and my dad put it. And I have had some miracle experiences. The last few weeks I have been praying to know that God loves me and it has been pretty silent. I have always looked up to Sister Slade because she would often have experiences like that where she just knew that God loved her when she prayed. She is really good at praying and I look up to her a lot for that. I often don't put in enough work in my prayers and that is probably why good answers are few and far between for me. But I actually felt like Heavenly Father was listening to me this week when I took more time and followed the guidelines that President Bonham had give me. I am so grateful!
Yesterday we had Ward Conference and President Dickson (Mt. Vernon Stake President) visited our Ward Council meeting. He asked to go around the circle and have everyone introduce themselves. After everyone had gone around the table, he said, "It's good to see Sister Turley still in our stake. She was from the Oak Harbor side of things. You are blessed to have her." That was probably the best compliment I have ever gotten in my entire life. Period. I had no idea that he even knew who I was. It did my heart good. :) I also really enjoyed our Sacrament Meeting yesterday. The messages were centered on the fact that you are not expected to always know what you or doing. That's what the Plan of Salvation is about. To learn. We are not "experts" when we start and it's okay to make mistakes. And when we finally learn, we move on to something else, or get another calling or another challenge. I needed that. I have known and learned about that idea, but I had never thought about it in those words. We are not supposed to know what we are doing and that is the point.
Dominick is still progressing and I think he is getting more comfortable with coming to church. It is so exciting! I think he is planning on playing basketball with the Elders and he is bringing some of his friends for Pday today. That should be fun. And maybe they will get some new investigators out of it, too. We talked to our bishop and he said that one of the main focuses of their bishopric meeting this week is going to be to figure out some good fellowshippers for Dominick. He just needs one good, "solid" friend that is in the church to take him under their wing. Reach out to those that you don't know at church!
In my study this week I really enjoyed Ether chapter 12. I had two thoughts when studying that really comforted me. I never really understood that the bit about weaknesses was Moroni receiving comfort that he was not perfect. In essence, he was worried that people would make fun of him because he was not a good writer. And as he sought the direction and help of the Lord, he received the revelation "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble" (Ether 12:27). It gave me a lot of peace to think that God is the one that made us weak. It's not just that we are mortal or not as good as Him or just weak in general. Weaknesses are part of out divine design. I image Heavenly Father creating my Spirit and taking a lot of thought and thinking, "this is a good weakness for Cherise. She will learn a lot from it." And not in a cynical way, but in a perfect, caring, I-love-her-so-much-that-I-want-her-to-have-this-gift way. I am grateful for that revelation I received. The other verse that I really identified with was verse 32. It states very simply, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Our Father wants to bless us. In fact it pleases him and brings him joy to do so. We (I) just have to remember that.
Love,
Sister Turley
Monday, January 27, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
S. Turley in the WEM
Dear Family and Friends,
We got lucky this week and John's funeral was right after District Meeting, so we got to attend most of our meeting. Actually, we just went to his burial because his funeral was at the Catholic church in Burlington and when we found out that it was there, it had already started. But it was good to go. When they started lowering his casket into the ground, there was a "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth" that I had never heard before. When that happened, my heart ached so much for them. I couldn't help but just cry out for the people to the Lord to help them and lift them. My heartache was so intense, that I almost couldn't handle it. I am not sure that I have ever felt any emotion like it. I am grateful to know that his only daughter joined the church a few years ago and will be sure to take care of his work in the temple. That put my mind at ease significantly. I have been afraid that he will get lost.
This week was kind of a bummer. We now have one investigator! We can't seem to keep investigators to save our lives (or our sanity). We try to help ourselves feel better by saying that "100% if our investigators are on date, and 100% our our investigators are progressing" (Dominick). And finding is hard. During accounting with out district leader on Sunday evening he asked what methods we had been using to try and find new investigators, and after we had shared our efforts, he said, "Well, it sounds like you have tried everything. Sorry..." Oh well. We will be studying chapter nine of Preach My Gospel this week.
We had two great lessons with Dominick. He and Alejandra had been suffering the effects of the adversary this week as he has seriously begun to prepare himself for baptism. We were grateful that they had a talk and both recognized that a lot of their trials had intensified since Dominick said "yes" to being baptized. They recognized it and are ready to make a counter-attack. Dominick said that he is not going to let Satan stop him from doing what he knows is right. I am grateful for his faith and dedication. On Saturday evening we shared some mormon.org profiles with him and he was really excited about them and wanted to watch all of them and share them with his dad. He is quite the missionary. We also went over the baptismal interview questions and he is ready.
I had an "aha" moment during my study this week. I have been studying in Ether (the Brother of Jared is my favorite) and I have always wondered why he picked stones to light the barges. I have always thought, "why rocks, that's random" or of one of my aunts saying that her kids were going to be "dumb as rocks" so I never really got it. Until now! It is all symbolism. The Savior is the the rock, the sure foundation on which we are to build. And he likewise lights our path back to our Heavenly Father. It all makes sense, it was not just happenstance that the brother of Jared picked stones to light their way.
Oh yeah, I forgot. The other big news around here is that the Seattle Seahawks are going to the Superbowl. After the game on Sunday night, there were fireworks going off in the neighborhood. It's going to be crazy, but we will have something new and exciting to talk about at doors :) Sister Holt and I broke down and got Seahawks shirts. That is going to be my mission souvenir, haha.
Love you lots and thanks for all you do!
Sister Turley
We got lucky this week and John's funeral was right after District Meeting, so we got to attend most of our meeting. Actually, we just went to his burial because his funeral was at the Catholic church in Burlington and when we found out that it was there, it had already started. But it was good to go. When they started lowering his casket into the ground, there was a "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth" that I had never heard before. When that happened, my heart ached so much for them. I couldn't help but just cry out for the people to the Lord to help them and lift them. My heartache was so intense, that I almost couldn't handle it. I am not sure that I have ever felt any emotion like it. I am grateful to know that his only daughter joined the church a few years ago and will be sure to take care of his work in the temple. That put my mind at ease significantly. I have been afraid that he will get lost.
This week was kind of a bummer. We now have one investigator! We can't seem to keep investigators to save our lives (or our sanity). We try to help ourselves feel better by saying that "100% if our investigators are on date, and 100% our our investigators are progressing" (Dominick). And finding is hard. During accounting with out district leader on Sunday evening he asked what methods we had been using to try and find new investigators, and after we had shared our efforts, he said, "Well, it sounds like you have tried everything. Sorry..." Oh well. We will be studying chapter nine of Preach My Gospel this week.
We had two great lessons with Dominick. He and Alejandra had been suffering the effects of the adversary this week as he has seriously begun to prepare himself for baptism. We were grateful that they had a talk and both recognized that a lot of their trials had intensified since Dominick said "yes" to being baptized. They recognized it and are ready to make a counter-attack. Dominick said that he is not going to let Satan stop him from doing what he knows is right. I am grateful for his faith and dedication. On Saturday evening we shared some mormon.org profiles with him and he was really excited about them and wanted to watch all of them and share them with his dad. He is quite the missionary. We also went over the baptismal interview questions and he is ready.
I had an "aha" moment during my study this week. I have been studying in Ether (the Brother of Jared is my favorite) and I have always wondered why he picked stones to light the barges. I have always thought, "why rocks, that's random" or of one of my aunts saying that her kids were going to be "dumb as rocks" so I never really got it. Until now! It is all symbolism. The Savior is the the rock, the sure foundation on which we are to build. And he likewise lights our path back to our Heavenly Father. It all makes sense, it was not just happenstance that the brother of Jared picked stones to light their way.
Oh yeah, I forgot. The other big news around here is that the Seattle Seahawks are going to the Superbowl. After the game on Sunday night, there were fireworks going off in the neighborhood. It's going to be crazy, but we will have something new and exciting to talk about at doors :) Sister Holt and I broke down and got Seahawks shirts. That is going to be my mission souvenir, haha.
Love you lots and thanks for all you do!
Sister Turley
Exchange with Sister Merrill. Bike helmets and funny hats.
Our good friend, John
Go Seahawks!
Monday, January 13, 2014
It's been one of those weeks :)--S. Turley
Dear Family and Friends,
So I was going to start this email by saying:
"The bad news is that one of our investigators died...the good news is that one of our investigators is in jail." But, that is not entirely true. You will have to read on...
Yes, one of our investigators did pass away this week. It was not entirely surprising, but it is still devastating nonetheless. John passed away during dialysis on Monday. He fell asleep and never woke up. It is just so sad, because he really wanted to be baptized before he went. He was a good man and wanted to follow God. Everybody loved him :) We offered to help out at the funeral and the reception next week. Unfortunately they are during District Meeting, so I am kind of torn. But I think it will probably be best for me to get some closure. That is one thing that I know I need from my past life experiences. I need closure or I go crazy and can't move on.
GOOOOODDD NEWS!!!!! Dominick is getting baptized! We put him on date for February 15th. I am so excited and he keeps saying that he is excited too :) This is my first investigator on date for about four transfers, so it feels really good. And there is more good news. Dominick planned to turn himself in and do his jail time today, but he went in and saw a judge and they waived his warrant and gave him community service instead. That is such a relief! Dominick told us his plan last week and so I have been praying extra hard for him all week that he would have the strength and courage to do what he needed to and he was pretty cool headed this morning (we had breakfast with them before Dominick headed out). But Alejandra was really struggling, so we are glad that it worked out in their favor! God blesses us for accepting and acting upon his Gospel and commandments.
We had a miracle of finding a new investigator. A man that previously lived in our ward was visiting and had a referral for us that he wanted to introduce us to after church and before he traveled back to his home. So we went out to visit her, but she wasn't home. It used a lot of our miles to get out there, so we decided that we would stop by a part member family (they weren't home) and another referral that we had gotten last week, but had not had time to visit. And she was home and grateful that we had come. Her mother-in-law called in the referral and we were pleasantly surprised that she was genuinely interested! Our original plan fell through, but the Lord had it all work out for the best.
In our ward and also in the Ensign recently, there has been a big emphasis on enduring to the end. Consequently, I have been thinking a lot about it this week. In Sacrament meeting I was thinking and remembered something that I used to do when I was training to run a half marathon. When I was starting my run and would get to about mile 1.5-2 (which for me is the hardest to endure--still trying to find your groove, but have already run a good distance) I would say in my head "Just run forever." And it always worked! I don't know why, but maybe it was that I was in essence putting it into the "eternal perspective." I was never fast, but I endured. Similarly, the work has been kind of an endurance race for me lately. But I have told my self "Just work forever," or "Just tract forever" and it seems to help. I think making a conscious effort to focus on the work and making it my "forever" has helped me to endure and have a better attitude about it. I have been a lot more diligent and I enjoy the work a lot more.
This week in my studies I came to Ether chapter 2 where the Lord chastens the Brother of Jared for three hours. But reading the surrounding verses, it makes sense. The Lord just wanted to bless the people. But they didn't pray. He wanted to take them to the promised land so they could start building better lives for themselves and be successful and establish the church more fully. But instead, they hung out in tents by the seashore for four years. Had the people be active in praying, they would have been able to receive revelation to continue to the promised land and receive more blessings. He chastened them because He wanted to bless them and He couldn't. Don't forget to pray!
We had some crazy rain on Saturday! It was Monsoon status rain with insane wind. I was on an exchange and Sister Fuge and I could barely take a few inch step in the wind it was so strong. And we tracted in it for about 4-5 hours. I don't think there was a dry spot on our bodies when we finished. And I am pretty sure that my face got windburned. We kept saying that we survived a hurricane. It is supposed to be warmer this week though, so I look forward to that :)
Love you lots!
Sister Turley
So I was going to start this email by saying:
"The bad news is that one of our investigators died...the good news is that one of our investigators is in jail." But, that is not entirely true. You will have to read on...
Yes, one of our investigators did pass away this week. It was not entirely surprising, but it is still devastating nonetheless. John passed away during dialysis on Monday. He fell asleep and never woke up. It is just so sad, because he really wanted to be baptized before he went. He was a good man and wanted to follow God. Everybody loved him :) We offered to help out at the funeral and the reception next week. Unfortunately they are during District Meeting, so I am kind of torn. But I think it will probably be best for me to get some closure. That is one thing that I know I need from my past life experiences. I need closure or I go crazy and can't move on.
GOOOOODDD NEWS!!!!! Dominick is getting baptized! We put him on date for February 15th. I am so excited and he keeps saying that he is excited too :) This is my first investigator on date for about four transfers, so it feels really good. And there is more good news. Dominick planned to turn himself in and do his jail time today, but he went in and saw a judge and they waived his warrant and gave him community service instead. That is such a relief! Dominick told us his plan last week and so I have been praying extra hard for him all week that he would have the strength and courage to do what he needed to and he was pretty cool headed this morning (we had breakfast with them before Dominick headed out). But Alejandra was really struggling, so we are glad that it worked out in their favor! God blesses us for accepting and acting upon his Gospel and commandments.
We had a miracle of finding a new investigator. A man that previously lived in our ward was visiting and had a referral for us that he wanted to introduce us to after church and before he traveled back to his home. So we went out to visit her, but she wasn't home. It used a lot of our miles to get out there, so we decided that we would stop by a part member family (they weren't home) and another referral that we had gotten last week, but had not had time to visit. And she was home and grateful that we had come. Her mother-in-law called in the referral and we were pleasantly surprised that she was genuinely interested! Our original plan fell through, but the Lord had it all work out for the best.
In our ward and also in the Ensign recently, there has been a big emphasis on enduring to the end. Consequently, I have been thinking a lot about it this week. In Sacrament meeting I was thinking and remembered something that I used to do when I was training to run a half marathon. When I was starting my run and would get to about mile 1.5-2 (which for me is the hardest to endure--still trying to find your groove, but have already run a good distance) I would say in my head "Just run forever." And it always worked! I don't know why, but maybe it was that I was in essence putting it into the "eternal perspective." I was never fast, but I endured. Similarly, the work has been kind of an endurance race for me lately. But I have told my self "Just work forever," or "Just tract forever" and it seems to help. I think making a conscious effort to focus on the work and making it my "forever" has helped me to endure and have a better attitude about it. I have been a lot more diligent and I enjoy the work a lot more.
This week in my studies I came to Ether chapter 2 where the Lord chastens the Brother of Jared for three hours. But reading the surrounding verses, it makes sense. The Lord just wanted to bless the people. But they didn't pray. He wanted to take them to the promised land so they could start building better lives for themselves and be successful and establish the church more fully. But instead, they hung out in tents by the seashore for four years. Had the people be active in praying, they would have been able to receive revelation to continue to the promised land and receive more blessings. He chastened them because He wanted to bless them and He couldn't. Don't forget to pray!
We had some crazy rain on Saturday! It was Monsoon status rain with insane wind. I was on an exchange and Sister Fuge and I could barely take a few inch step in the wind it was so strong. And we tracted in it for about 4-5 hours. I don't think there was a dry spot on our bodies when we finished. And I am pretty sure that my face got windburned. We kept saying that we survived a hurricane. It is supposed to be warmer this week though, so I look forward to that :)
Love you lots!
Sister Turley
Half of the awesome rainbow on Wednesday
The bus flew into the tree.
Tract all the houses! Sister Fuge and I after our adventurous exchange :)
Monday, January 6, 2014
The WEM This Week--S. Turley
Dear Family and Friends,
Happy New Year! I have set some new goals for the new year that I hope will help me become a more effective missionary and just improve in general. I decided that I need to focus more on my purpose as a missionary in order to increase my desire and willingness to work. So on the first of every month (which actually turns into about week--I am a really slow reader...) I am going to study the first chapter of "Preach My Gospel." Also, I really want to be healthier and more in shape because I am happier and have more energy and more enthusiasm to get out and do something when I am (the mission has been really bad for that). So I am going to eat more vegetables and exercise better in the mornings!
This week was a toughy. We have had to do a lot more finding because we are indeed running out of potential investigators, as I previously predicted. And that means tracting. My companion has been blessed has never really had to do a lot of finding before, so she took it really hard. We had to call it quits early on Saturday because she was just too hard on her. She took a nap and I updated the area book (we had a new ward list that needed notes written on it) and called a few potentials that we only have the phone number for. It could be a rough couple of weeks until we get some good finding in. I try to be sympathetic, but my previous areas have given me some tough skin when it comes to finding. We will keep trying to come up with more ideas.
We were able to meet with Dominick twice this week and he is progressing for reals now!!!!!!! It is so exciting. He is an earnest seeker of truth! He is planning to make changes in his life and he is starting to do them. He even fasted yesterday. And he fasted to have more strength and courage to turn himself in. The best part was that he thought of that on his own. We did not even have to suggest it. I am impressed that he has even come as far as he has considering his background, the situation he was born into and the fact that most of his family is still actively involved in drugs, alcohol and gang activity. He has shown in the last two weeks that he is serious about the Gospel and is gaining his own testimony! My favorite thing about Dominick recently though was probably in Gospel Principles class yesterday. When the teacher asked if anyone would be willing to give the opening prayer, Dominick without hesitation raised his had and said "I will!" I was priceless.
We were able to meet with our media referral, Bill, this week. We had a church tour, which was good and bad, and he came to Sacrament meeting (he told us before that he was feeling nauseous and didn't think he could last the whole three hours). Unfortunately, the church tour resulted in an info dump and Bill was super overwhelmed. Thankfully, he has a strong desire to learn and really enjoyed Testimony meeting. Most of our ward is converts and they all shared pure and simple testimonies of restored truth (and the importance of baptism :) ). We look forward to meeting with him again this week.
This week in my study I have been reading Mormon. And it is super depressing. It makes me so sad to read about the people who had the truth and then completely rejected it. I found comfort again, in the New Testament. I read about the occasion when the Savior healed Peter's mother-in-law. I especially loved Luke 4:39 that tells of the woman's actions immediately following her miraculous healing. It reads "And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them." The first thing she did was minister to those around her! She saw the Savior work in her life and then bore testimony and served her family and close friends. I love her example. Those are my favorite stories to read in the scriptures. When people gain a testimony, but their faith does not end there. When they faithfully endure to the end. The best.
Love ya lots!
Sister Turley
Happy New Year! I have set some new goals for the new year that I hope will help me become a more effective missionary and just improve in general. I decided that I need to focus more on my purpose as a missionary in order to increase my desire and willingness to work. So on the first of every month (which actually turns into about week--I am a really slow reader...) I am going to study the first chapter of "Preach My Gospel." Also, I really want to be healthier and more in shape because I am happier and have more energy and more enthusiasm to get out and do something when I am (the mission has been really bad for that). So I am going to eat more vegetables and exercise better in the mornings!
This week was a toughy. We have had to do a lot more finding because we are indeed running out of potential investigators, as I previously predicted. And that means tracting. My companion has been blessed has never really had to do a lot of finding before, so she took it really hard. We had to call it quits early on Saturday because she was just too hard on her. She took a nap and I updated the area book (we had a new ward list that needed notes written on it) and called a few potentials that we only have the phone number for. It could be a rough couple of weeks until we get some good finding in. I try to be sympathetic, but my previous areas have given me some tough skin when it comes to finding. We will keep trying to come up with more ideas.
We were able to meet with Dominick twice this week and he is progressing for reals now!!!!!!! It is so exciting. He is an earnest seeker of truth! He is planning to make changes in his life and he is starting to do them. He even fasted yesterday. And he fasted to have more strength and courage to turn himself in. The best part was that he thought of that on his own. We did not even have to suggest it. I am impressed that he has even come as far as he has considering his background, the situation he was born into and the fact that most of his family is still actively involved in drugs, alcohol and gang activity. He has shown in the last two weeks that he is serious about the Gospel and is gaining his own testimony! My favorite thing about Dominick recently though was probably in Gospel Principles class yesterday. When the teacher asked if anyone would be willing to give the opening prayer, Dominick without hesitation raised his had and said "I will!" I was priceless.
We were able to meet with our media referral, Bill, this week. We had a church tour, which was good and bad, and he came to Sacrament meeting (he told us before that he was feeling nauseous and didn't think he could last the whole three hours). Unfortunately, the church tour resulted in an info dump and Bill was super overwhelmed. Thankfully, he has a strong desire to learn and really enjoyed Testimony meeting. Most of our ward is converts and they all shared pure and simple testimonies of restored truth (and the importance of baptism :) ). We look forward to meeting with him again this week.
This week in my study I have been reading Mormon. And it is super depressing. It makes me so sad to read about the people who had the truth and then completely rejected it. I found comfort again, in the New Testament. I read about the occasion when the Savior healed Peter's mother-in-law. I especially loved Luke 4:39 that tells of the woman's actions immediately following her miraculous healing. It reads "And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them." The first thing she did was minister to those around her! She saw the Savior work in her life and then bore testimony and served her family and close friends. I love her example. Those are my favorite stories to read in the scriptures. When people gain a testimony, but their faith does not end there. When they faithfully endure to the end. The best.
Love ya lots!
Sister Turley
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)