Monday, August 30, 2010

Week 8

General Epistle from Elder Martin to the Gentiles... he he, nah could you imagine, but yeah here's my message to the non-family... but hey family can read it as well....
Greetings friends, family, loved ones, those who accidentally came here, and those who love me but I'm not so sure about... nah, I do love you all though.
So have I made it clear how much I love being a missionary? Well I do. I love every minute of every day. Except the minute of 6:30-6:31 But once I get up, I'm okay. I am so amazed at how much the spirit is involved in this work. Let me explain through story.
Yesterday, we are at church, we had no investigators, or so we thought. Apparently this guy came to listen to his friend give a talk in church, he sat in the 3rd row, when he left, his phone fell out of his pocket into the pew. A member of the bishopric who normally leaves the Chapel immediately, for some reason decided to check the pews and clean them up a bit, as he got to the third row, he saw a phone, when he saw the phone, he noticed that it just started to vibrate. He picked it up, found out that a non-member left it in the church and would like to come pick it up. Meanwhile my companion and I were just about to leave church to get some other things done, we were out by the car, and decided to come back in, when we got in we caught up with this member of the bishopric who gave us the phone and said it would be more appropriate for us to give him the phone. We find out he's in the lobby on the other side, so we walk over there, and give him his phone, he almost leaves, but then we introduce ourselves and talk to him for a second, and he says "Well I'm incredibly interested in learning more about your church, I really feel like this is what I need" We picked up our jaws from the ground and explained that we were the missionaries! he was excited. We will teach him soon.
We have a guy we are teaching who was less active for a while and desired to have the discussions from us so he could learn more about the church and serve a mission, so we started teaching him and he told us about this friend of his who might be interested, so we had him invite him to the next appt. He didn't come, he flaked out on us, so we just taught him anyway... well the next time we came over, we asked about his friend and he said "oh he's actually here right now" so we were excited about that and we taught him the Restoration, after I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith, and explained what I felt and the conviction I had that Joseph Smith was a prophet, he said "Yeah I think I know exactly how you felt, that's how I felt when I was reading the Book of Mormon". He explained perfectly the feeling of the Holy Ghost, he said he'd never really felt that way before, but he felt like a warm blanket was wrapped around his heart, he asked his friend about it, and they had a good conversation that day, and then he met with us. I am so grateful for how the spirit works and how we are blessed. I'm so grateful that this man will now be blessed to receive the gospel, he didn't come to church, but he plans on it. We're meeting with him again next week, he has a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation and we are more than happy to answer all of his questions.
I know that the Spirit uses me to do the work of the Lord, it has very little to do with me, in fact its a further testimony of the truth that He uses someone like myself to do His work, the weakest of His servants. I am so glad to be in a place where He CAN use me. I love the gospel, I love the Savior and am so blessed to be called as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm blessed to have the opportunity to invite others to come unto Him. This gospel is true, I know it is.
Elder Martin

Monday, August 23, 2010

Week 7

Greetings people of the Earth, or all those who care about me enough to read my blog! The work continues to progress, and things are going well here in my area! It's still so very hot, but perhaps that is to our advantage, the people sometimes take pity on us, we never turn down water. I tried cactus fruit the other day! it was actually pretty good! I keep hearing that it does in fact cool off here, I'm very excited for the winter months!
I give a word of warning to all who listen to me! Don't tempt the devil!! So we have this investigator, he committed to Baptism, and when he committed, we warned him that the devil would put up a fight, that there would likely be some opposition that would come his way. His response went something like this "Oh trust me, He can't throw anything my way that would phase me! I've already been through so much, there is nothing else that could possibly go wrong!" no joke, he actually said that! So he doesn't show up to church last sunday, we dont' know why. We go over wednesday, his brother answers the door and demands to know who we are, we tell him and ask for his brother, so our investigator limps up to the door, I look at him and notice the veins in his left arm, the left side of his body looks almost numb he's just limping along, for some reason I thought "Wow, this guy is totally twacked out on drugs!" Thankfully I was wrong... it was much worse, he had contracted Mersa! or Merca, or Mersca, or whatever I have no idea how to spell it... anyway apparently its this incredibly deadly staff infection, that is very contagious and painful! He couldn't walk, it was in his foot, he was in tons of pain. We told him we'd "pray something up" for him and went on our way, we said a prayer, and a few days later things healed up nicely for him. We went and visited again yesterday and he's doing much better, we'll stop by again this wednesday. He's ready to make changes in his life, he has a lot of desire to change and be happy, he's had a pretty tough life.
So this week has been quite humbling, just one thing after another that reminds me of how human I am! I am so grateful for every experience though, I know that it is helping me grow and become more like the Savior. The spirit doesn't hold things back, He definitely lets me know what areas I need to work on. I love the trials I've been given, I'm so grateful to be growing from them, and to actually be learning from them instead of just ignoring them, and "getting through them". I've learned so much this week, about the work of the Lord, about myself, and about how there is a huge gap between myself and the work of the Lord. I am excited to bridge that gap and am hopefully making the appropriate adjustments in life to allow that change to happen in my life, it is only through the Atonement of the Savior that I can do this. I am so grateful for Him and what He has done for me! He's the reason I'm out here, to invite others to come unto Him. My testimony grows every day, and I realize every day how small I truly am, how its only in and through the Lord that I'm even able to accomplish anything out here, He leads the missionary work around the world, I am a mere instrument in His hands, and in order for that instrument to do any good, it must be in tune. I would recommend that everyone who has a Preach My Gospel should turn to the "Christlike Attribute Activity" in chapter 6... I can't remember the page number, something like 146... I dunno, its the last page of chapter 6. Take it seriously. It is a wonderful thing.
Today is transfers. It turns out none of us will be transferred... unless the news comes super late... but yeah we're all staying put! I will be safe for another 6 weeks, until I believe October 3rd. I can't believe its already been six weeks in Arizona! I am still alive! I'm in a constant state of being tired, but live I do. For some reason being tired must help the work along somehow, cause I'm getting more sleep than I ever got back home, yet I am more tired all the time! maybe its the devil... its his way of trying to stop the work from progressing... I think he probably spends a lot of time here in Arizona, it feels like home to him.
Hey good news, the Gospel is true! Jesus Christ is at the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I bear testimony that that is true, I know it is because He told me so. I could listen to the world and I would disbelieve, or I could listen to God, the creator of the world and all things and believe. I think I will trust Him who knows all things.
Elder Martin

Monday, August 16, 2010

Week 6

Dear Family and Friends,
Again thank you for the comments and well wishes!
I have had other opportunities to give blessings this past week, and the results were the same, I tried even saying something that apparently the Lord didn't want me to say, I started a sentence, it was pretty clear where I was going, and I was not allowed to finish my sentence, I had to just stop talking and say something altogether different.
Well the work here continues to progress at an accelerated rate, every week gets better, and each week I am amazed at how the Lord works through me as well as my companion! I don't even know where to begin with this past week! When this area first opened when I got here, we had zero investigators, we had no one to teach, we were hard pressed to find things to do, now a month later, we have 6 investigators, a number of less active members, and we are finding new people every day! I learned recently that the Phoenix Arizona mission is one of the highest baptizing missions in the world... or at least the US, it obviously doesn't compare to places like Brazil, but its still pretty high up there, the people here are wonderful and are ready for the gospel! We have over 100 baptisms a month. That's of course not boasting in numbers, cause the number means nothing, its the souls behind the number that matters.
I think I've mentioned a man we're teaching named Kelly, he's a great guy and we went back to teach him this last week, we taught the plan of salvation, it was a great lesson and the spirit was strong. We invited him to be baptized and he Accepted!!! He hasn't gained a testimony yet, but he said he knows he will, and thus he will. We are so excited for him... we'll see what happens when we have to tell him to stop smoking =]
We were tracting on Saturday and I gave my usual door approach, bore my testimony on the Book of Mormon, I don't usually ask the question of "Would you like to learn more about the Book of Mormon" I usually just ask what time would be best for us to come back and teach them more, but I asked if she wanted to learn more about the Book of Mormon... the reason I don't often ask it that way is because everyone always says no to that, but she said Yes! I was shocked, I didn't exactly know what to do, her husband wasn't home so we couldn't go in and teach her, so I asked if we could come back in a couple of hours. We grabbed someone from the ward and came back later that day, we taught the first lesson and it was amazing! She said that her and her husband had been praying to find a church that they could both attend together, and that maybe we were an answer to that prayer! She had a few issues with the church, she did however say she believed that Joseph Smith was probably a very significant prophet. What is wrong with everyone here? everyone says that!!! Yeah it's great to hear, but its so weird to me! If He was a Prophet, than the church he started is OBVIOUSLY true, right? She said that there are probably a lot of prophets though, and that she wasn't sure it could all just be in one church, she thought we were too centered on Joseph Smith, I think she thought the Book of Mormon was about him, we dispelled some of those concerns, and she is excited to start reading the Book of Mormon, she has a great amount of faith and has said that she knows that God will answer her prayers. I'm so excited for her and her family!
Speaking of people who believe us, we tracted into another lady, asked her if we could come back after she agreed with what we taught on the doorstep, and she said no. We then talked about prophets, and asked her why we would need a prophet today, she gave a sunday school awesome answer, she knows we need a prophet today, she believes the Book of Mormon is probably the word of God, and the Joseph Smith was probably a prophet, so we asked again "Can we come back and teach more" again she answered NO! I am still confused!
We are led by the spirit here in Arizona, we prayed where to tract, we found someone to teach, we asked him to be baptized, he said yes... that was Kelly... again we prayed where to tract, we were led by the spirit, we found a family to teach, we taught her that day... every day I see the hand of God in all that we do, He is truly at the head of this work, I know that. Oh I love being here teaching the gospel, I love finding new people to teach, I love seeing families come together in unity because of the gospel!
Interesting note for all the Turleys, I think I mentioned Bob Gibson last letter, well it turns out he also knows Grandma! he was surprised when I told him that she married grandpa, he wasn't a member when he knew them, but he's a member now. Do you remember him at all Grandma? He said he always played baseball with Grandpa, he said he knew your brothers, he went to school with Gene.
Well that's all for this week, It's been a wonderful week, I wish I could tell all the stories, I don't have time though, I had at least 3 or 4 other amazing experiences!!! One involved inviting someone else to be baptized, who said yes, so we have two with a baptismal date right now. But dang it all, none are coming to church!!!! grrr!!
Love you all,
Elder Martin

Monday, August 9, 2010

Week 5

Again thanks for the comments (Melanie sends them all to me). First, Aubree, I specifically told you and your family about my blog, I made your mom write it down and you were in the room when I told her. I told you when melanie texted me the idea of it, so you have no excuses =] and second, I'm a Martin he he.
Speaking of Turleys... I ran into someone here named Bob Gibson, he said he knew Grandpa and Teddy quite well, it was really fun to talk to him, I'll have to talk to him more and get some dirt!
Well the mission life continues to improve with each day! I love it here! This week has been incredible, with the changes we've made recently in our tracting, the outcome has been immediate. My first 3 weeks here, not a single person let us in their home, no one wanted us to come back, and last week we have had 6 or more people either invite us in, or invite us back, or just talk to us for a while. It's been incredible, we went from 2 investigators to 5 investigators with the potential to have 2 more, so maybe 7. And we keep finding! We find new people to teach every day, I love it! I love teaching, when we don't have investigators to teach, we teach the members. So much has happened this week I can barely even remember it now! We started teaching someone named Kelly, he loves talking to us, has a very open mind, but doesn't really have a desire to go to church just yet. We also tracted into someone named Trent, he's about 20 years old and only believes in what he can see and touch, we teach him tonight! He said he enjoys learning so he'll listen to us, but he's convinced that he wont progress with us very far, he wouldn't commit to pray, he said he thinks its weird to just talk to yourself. I was with my zone leader when we tracted into him, we were on exchanges, so I had a pro =] he got a doorstep prayer, which I offered, and we gave him a book of mormon and a plan of salvation pamphlet. I'm very excited to teach him tonight. Then we have another family that we have dinner with tomorrow, they already seem like they are Mormon, really nice guy, I only met him and his son. I think I heard that his wife is a member, but I don't remember. Anyway, I'm just so excited for the work! I went to bed last night thinking "Oh man, tomorrow's P-day" Don't get me wrong, I am excited to write this and other letters, I love writing letters, but I just want to get out there and find more people! On Saturday we set aside 2 hours to find 3 people. Well we found more than 3, we had so much success on one side of the street, at exactly 4 we stopped having success! The Lord is truly the one who directs this work!
We plan our day the night before, and on wednesday night, and even on thursday we had an hour that we just couldn't figure out what to do! we spent a good 30 minutes trying to figure out what we should do during that hour, we came up with nothing. We left it blank, the hour we couldn't figure out was 7:30 to 8:30. At 7:30 that night we received a phone call from our Zone Leaders saying that we needed to go give a blessing, I was given a number to call for more information. I called the number and the lady on the other line was crying and almost even panicking, I could barely understand, but her mom was having a hard time breathing, she was a really old lady and apparently she kept saying she just wanted to die. The old lady was not LDS, neither was any of her family except one of her daughters, the one who called us. So we went to the Hospital and met with the family, they kept telling her to stay, and to fight for her life because they all loved her, and they said "You can't do this to us, you have to stay here" she was getting very aggravated with them, and the Dr even came in and said they were causing problems, her heart beat increased and her breathing became very fast. Elder Campbell was asked to anoint, which meant that I would be giving the blessing. I was nervous, I was in a room with a family who wanted a miracle, and a lady who didn't. As I started to speak I wanted very much to give a blessing of healing, but I could not. I instead gave one of comfort, that she would enjoy the remainder of her time, and that her breathing would relax and that she would be comfortable. A couple of times thoughts came from my own mind of how I could give a healing blessing, but as soon as I was going to put them into words, the thoughts left my mind. She passed away 6 hours later. I don't know what effects it will have on her family, one of the granddaughters is investigating the church. I learned a lot though. It was an incredible experience, it wasn't til a couple days later that we remembered how hard of a time we had with planning out a time for that hour of the day. My mission has so far been full of these kinds of experiences, where the planning is inspired, our footsteps are inspired, and even our words. I have a testimony that God is truly at the head of this work. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God! I'm so happy to be where I am, while I miss you all, I am where the Lord wants me.
Until next week my friends!
Elder Martin

Monday, August 2, 2010

Week 4

My dear family and friends,
thank you all for your comments! I can assure you that I am fed very well. And this may be of note to those in the family, every time I mention that I'm a Turley, everyone immediately knows a connection, the Turley name here in Arizona is HUGE, some of the most well known people here are Turley's. A Turley started the paulo verde nuclear power plant which is very large. Anyway, I'm famous already here. Oh also something of interest to the Turleys, one of the Elders in my apartment is a Bartlett, He says he knows the name of Joyce and Lester, but not sure exactly why he does. I'll update later on that.
The work continues, and the spirit increases, and my testimony continues to increase! I love being here and look forward to every day. I am always impressed by the members here in Arizona. The Bishops are incredible, and the wards are incredible, the food is delicious and somehow I'm not getting fat! The Lord is truly blessing me in that regard!!!! Must be the lack of a decent lunch.
I've noticed some interesting patterns in missionary work. I think that the Lord places people on the earth almost strategically, every street I tract has a different "theme" if you will. I think the Lord places people based on their spiritual journey. One street I tract will be cordial and kind, but will still turn us away, another street everyone will be rude and just ignore us, another street people will all look through their windows and refuse to answer the door, another street they will come to the door and chew us out for what we're doing, another street will all bring out their bibles and start to bash us... It's fascinating to me that each street really does have a theme or a common factor in how they approach life... there are always a few doors on every street that are different of course, but for the most part one street has similar beliefs and approaches to life.
I had an investigator show up to church yesterday, it surprised us! we didn't even know until after sacrament. It was an amazing experience, it doesn't matter how much we get turned away, how many doors are slammed in my face, how many people laugh at us or mock us, how many people refuse to listen, the second an investigator shows up to church that's all that matters! I'm so excited for his progression, I am positive that he will be baptized, he has an answer just doesn't know it yet! I hope he finds out soon that he knows what he must do.
Well I'm out of time for this week! Thanks for the comments and for listening
Elder Martin