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
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