So this past week has been a pretty roller coaster week
full of lots of fun stuff as well as some tragedy. everything all really
started wednesday. Burns was hit with a big storm and we went to the
church to wait it out the day was going pretty slow and no one was home
really as this week was fair but fair didn't officaly start until
thursday but anyways after the storm blew over we decided to go see our
wml bro Johnson about a former investigator that we had contacted
earlier in the day and he lives outside of town on the other side of the
Indian reservation and as we are going up broadway which is the main
street in town we saw that there was an accident and they had the end of
the street blocked off and so we had to go around. As we drove passed
though it was weird as there was no cars that looked like they had been
damaged and the road was clear minus all the cop cars and the barricades.
So we finally make it out to Bro Johnsons house and we pull up and he
is outside working on one of his sheds and is also on the phone so we
get out and are standing there waiting for him to finish on the phone
which he finally does and the first thing he says is bad news elders.
and he said it so calmly that I'm expecting him to say something like he
ran out of nails or something super minor but instead he goes on to
explain that Jonathan who is a less active youth we have been working
with as well as a great nephew to him and the half brother of our two
investigators that we are teaching and who had recently moved in with
the family that they were living with and who we were starting to get to
know pretty well had been hit by a truck while crossing broadway and
that it didn't look like he was going to make it. A wave of shock and
disbelief just washed right over me while brother Johnson went on to
explain that he had to go to the hospital so he couldn't talk with us
right then which we totally understood and asked to follow him and he
said ok so we rushed to the hospital here we found out that he was
riding his bike most likely home from school wasn't paying attention and
rode right in front of a semi truck and that they were going to life
flight him to bend but that chances were slim that he was going to make
it. After waiting there for a little while totally in shock we followed
sister Johnson out as she was leaving talking to her about everything as
well as the former investigator we had contacted.while talking I felt
something hit my head and get stuck in my hair so I reached up to pull
it out and it then stuck to my fingers and saw the black and yellow
strips just in time to feel the wasp bite me which wasn't good as I am
at least midly alergic to wasps so we went back into the hospital to get
some ice to try and stop the swelling talked to bro sanders who is a pt
at the hospital then went to the chamber to talk to sister Harrison
about what happened and while we are there I get some more ice as now my
finger is twice its normal size and then after finding out that she
didn't have any medicine we went to the store and bought some benedryll
and by then it was time for our dinner appointment with the smiths which
live about twenty minutes out of town so by the time we got the the
meds had kicked in the swelling had stopped but I was feeling super
sleepy in addition to the shock I was in from the accident needless to
say I don't remember much about that dinner other than it was rice with
Yoshida sauce. After that we went to Jori's house for a lesson but he
had obviously forgotten as we walk in and he had a bunch of friends over
and they are watching sherk so we go into the kitchen to talk to him
and he starts talking about the accident and how it had shook his mom,
who was the head nurse at the hospital, pretty bad and so we ask how he
was doing and jori looks down and says "he's dead" and even in my
drugged state it hit pretty hard we went home and just went straight to
bed feeling completely over whelmed the next day things were a little bit
better as it was the start of fair and one of the members in the ward
had gotten us passes to the fair so we went there and watched all the
four h and ffa animals get judged and learned a little bit about what
they were looking for it was a totally new experience for me but was fun
then we walked around trying to talk to people as everyone in harney
county was there they had even canceled school but no one really wanted
to talk to us but friday the rodeo started which was soooo cool to watch
and there are this things called lion balls which tasted so good and
there was so much in addition to the rodeo such as horse racing which
was cool to watch they even explained how to bet so Elder Johnson and I
pretended to bet which was pretty funny we lost most of the time but
anyways since we weren't really having success at the fair we decided to
make saturday our p day and just enjoy the fair and then work today so
we did and while there we got cowboy hats and all of a sudden people
were a lot more willing to talk to us but overall the fair was fun so it
was a great way to end a rough week
Elder Telford
Sunday, September 8, 2013
ztms the ER and other great acronyms
Sept 2, 2014
So this week has been
a pretty busy week. After my email last week I came back to Bend with one of
the zone leaders for exchanges we got in at 8 and hadn't had dinner yet so we
went to Glory Days which is a pizza and more place in town. It’s the best place
to eat and the owner is a member and lets us eat for free. So we stopped there to eat. When got back to
the apartment and started to plan. That was exciting as I had to take the lead
and really be the one who was in charge of what we were doing. We had some
appointments and names just kept coming into my mind to visit and Tuesday we ended
up getting a lot done. We had two lessons one with a less active who we were
going to teach about patriarchal blessing from true to the faith. Except the
one problem was as we were pulling up I realized that I had forgotten the book
at the apartment, so instead we decide to go over a chapter in the book of
Mormon. So we go in and we are talking to her and then we ask where she was in
her reading and she says 2 Nephi 13 and so I say ok lets read that. Then I turn
to the scripture and it is about Nephi having a vision about the future of the Americas.
It was too late to change so for the next hour I'm trying to explain this
chapter and what’s going on while keeping her on track. Which was hard but it turned out to be good
while it wasn't a chapter I would like to go over normally. I was glad I was there to help clear things up
or else I think she would’ve walked away with some really weird ideas about the
chapter. Then we visited some more people before our first appointment with our
two new investigators which was rough at first as there were a lot of kids
packed into that small house, and there were lots of distractions. We were able
to teach part of the first lesson and leave them with books of Mormons and
reading assignments. Wednesday we visited some more people and had another
lesson with the two girls where we finished the first lesson and talked about
the intro to the book: and recommitted them to read that and pray about it. Then we went to another lesson with Jory and
that was really good. We talked about chew,
he seems to have more of a desire to
quit now and then we played basketball with him. While we were warming up
mutual was going on. As I'm getting a rebound this girl comes out of nowhere
and tries to get it at the same time, but I start talking to her and it turns
out she is the one girl we got a referral about. A little bit later she asks how she can join
the church. Then before I could really talk to her she leaves. I felt really
bad for not talking to her more but then she was at church yesterday and we
talked to her more and exchanged numbers, and told her we would call her later
to set up an appointment. Thursday we were in Bend again and got back in time
to go play Frisbee with some members and nonmembers which was good, except I
always hate explaining that I go by my last name because I'm a missionary. That
and everyone here has a really hard time saying Telford. That was fun my team
won and after being tackled a couple of times I woke up the next morning with a
bruised rib which wasn't fun, it’s getting better. Saturday we went with a recent
convert family up to the Steens mountains and right as I get out to take my
first picture of the mountain/ valley thing my camera died, so you'll just have
to google pictures of the Steens and pretend I'm there. Sunday we had fast and testimony meeting and
as we are sitting there I feel a tap on my shoulder from Elder Johnson and he
motions for me to go up and at first I was really confused but then I realized
that he wanted to bear his testimony which meant that I had to go with him and
bear mine as well. I felt really nervous as usually I had more time to think
about what I wanted to say and I usually get really nervous anyway bearing my
testimony to the whole congregation. As
Elder Johnson is bearing his I silently prayed for peace and to be relaxed and
right before I had to get up I felt this peace wash over me and I know that it
was from my Heavenly Father and I bore my testimony which in itself wasn't
anything special, but as I sat down again I had a special testimony in my heart
that Heavenly Father is real and that he loves me so much as to bless me with
something that was really very minor but important to me. After that we went to
lunch with a ranching family in the ward. They bbqed steaks and that was really
good. Then we planned for the coming week and went to a lesson with Kenzie and
Zoey the two girls we started teaching this week. Hardly anyone was home not
even Zoey so we just taught Kenzie, and things went a lot faster. She had done
her assignment and prayed and we asked about that at the beginning of the
lesson how she felt while she prayed? She
said hot and cold flashes and so we said sometimes answers don't always come at
first and then continued with the lesson and the whole time I had this feeling
that we needed to talk more about her prayer, so at the very end I felt
impressed to ask her how she felt after her prayer and she said good. I asked if she felt like she wanted to do it
again and she said yeah so I bore a short testimony that those feelings were
from the Holy Ghost, and that as she continues to read and pray that the
feelings are going to get stronger and she will know it's true so that was good. Then we went to go to a less actives house to
share a message and as we are going and it’s like 8 by then we get a call from
a member that works at the hospital asking us to go over and administer to a
girl from the Crane Branch who had been in a car accident and was having some
really alarming symptoms so we called Bro. Johnson and he met us over there. We
go in and all the lights are off and there’s this teenaged girl laying in a bed
with sunglasses. We talked to her and her mom for a little bit and then we gave
her a blessing and during the blessing even though I wasn't saying it I felt
the spirit really strong and felt like everything was going to be ok. So overall a busy week, I got a haircut again
I think it’s the shortest I've ever had it.
Best of luck and if you ever have any questions ask the missionaries
they can help
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
August 26,2013
So This Week I Went Swimming
So a lot has been going on this week Wednesday we were doing a service
project and it started to rain which felt pretty nice as it rarely rains in
burns but then as time went on it started to thunder and lightning and then it
started really pouring hard it was like sheets of water were coming down and apparently
we got winds up to 75 miles per hour so we run back to the apartment to close a
window and at this point all the streets are totally flooded and there is a
huge branch blocking the entrance to our complex to I hop out and also at this
point I'm completely drenched and wade out to the branch and move it. Then we went to the chamber and helped mop up
a ton of water and it was a blast. Then the storm died after about an hour and
by the next day all the water was gone. We
went about life as usual.
We had stake conference this week we had Elder Bussy from the
seventy come and talk. Elder Johnson and I went to the leadership session
broadcast to Burns at 4 as the stake center is in Bend, which is two and a half
hours away from Burns. So after that we stayed at the church waiting for an
appointment we had there at 6 30, but he didn't show up til almost seven which
was when the adult session started. Then
after that it was 9 so we went home and went back the next morning for the
general session and that’s when the problems started. About 20 minutes in to
the conference our feed cut out and then came back but continued to freeze every
10 minutes or so for quite some time til finally after an hour the feed cut out
completely and we found out that the system in Bend had died and they were
working to just get us the audio, now which started to work and then died also,
until finally with 30 minutes left in the session the feed finally came back
and we watched the concluding remarks. It was good because it was Elder Bussy. He
gave a good talk. It was also good
because two of our less active members came for the first time, at least since I've
been there so that was cool. Then today I'm in Bend as we are going to do
exchanges again until Thursday.
This time I'm the one going back to Burns with the zone leader Elder
Worstencraft so thats exciting and scary at the same time as I'm going to be
the one that knows the area.
One really cool story for you all so last Monday I said I was
at a mission tour and while there we talked to the mission president about
Burns and our concern about only having one investigator and he told us that
there were at least two that were ready and that we needed to find them so we
really refocused our effort. Saturday
we were visiting a less active member who has some adult sons in the area and
we just said we were looking for people to teach and she said well I don't know
anyone and so we continued talking. Then she says that her son who is active is
now raising two of his nieces and they aren't members but have been coming to
church and seem interested. So we go
over there ( it was the next house over) and talk to her son who says the
oldest said she would want to be baptized except she didn't want to wear the
funny underwear which was funny. Then we set up an appointment to teach them on Tuesday so now
we have two new investigators which has really strengthened my testimony of
divine revelation but now time is short so I wish you all well the church is
true
Monday, August 26, 2013
August 20, 2013 The Benefits of Weed
So this week was a very interesting
and busy week, we had mission tour which is why I am writing on a Tuesday
instead of a Monday. To start the week last Tuesday I was running around Washington
park for morning exercise while my comp sat in the truck watching and as I was
running around I heard the gravel rustle and look behind me to see a decent sized dog right
behind me which kinda scared me, seeing as since I've been a missionary dogs
haven't been liking me much lately. So I pick up my pace and he just sat there
and finally ran off and in my head I'm thinking it was a tender mercy that I
didn't get attacked, and that he stopped just short of me, little did I
know. Then as I am completing another
lap around I hear a noise and look behind me a little sooner to see this same
dog come running at me full speed. So I start running as fast as i can away
from this dog which I was sure wanted to attack me. In the brief moment I heard him catch up to
me I braced for the bite and when it didn't come I in shock looked for the dog
and there he was running right alongside me so I slowed down and he slowed down
and now back at my normal pace I waited for him to get bored and leave but the
dog ran right next to me for the next 10 15 minutes at which point I started
back to the apartment telling the dog shoo.
He stayed right with me all the way back to the apartment and when I
stopped he stopped and then Elder Johnson threw a stick and as the dog was
running after it we ran inside. After a while he went back to where ever he
came from. Then we helped a family of one of the recent convert families the
vantassle family move in who are either non members or less active members move
in on Wednesday and bro vantassle thanked us with a big batch of his specialty,
no bake cookies! they tasted just like home. Thursday we helped a new family in
the ward move in and the elders quorum president, bro vantassel and us were the
only ones that showed up so that took a while. Saturday we helped the young
mens president move out and by then I was getting pretty good at moving. There
were so many people there that we made an assembly line and loaded really fast.
Later we went to visit the a part member family in the ward who we are
focusing on right now and have been helping clean up after they had a kitchen
fire, which was actually really good because Glen the husband has really been
warming up to us. We're hoping he might decide to investigate as he comes
to church every week and his wife is even one of the ward missionaries, but any
way we go over and he barely acknowledges us but as we are leaving after
talking to his wife awhile she mentions she has some furniture for us to move
from her parents house to their house . So we go and move two big dressers from
the house to the truck to the house and as we pull up Glen starts talking to us
more and then Elder Johnson asks for a match or a blow torch to stop the rope
from fraying after looking and not finding anything elder Johnson mentions
almost jokingly to use the grill and Glen goes “oh yeah I even have it lit” so
we go over and he turns on a burner and starts spraying it with the cooking
spray which cause a flamethrower effect. We were all laughing and so that was
good. Then we went over to the pluards,
a less active members house to try and help her get her older boys back in the
church. We show up and they hide from us and so we talk to her and her youngest
for a little bit and then we go to leave and as we are getting in the truck the
youngest, Luke, who is like 7 yells wait wait and comes running out and says
you can stay for a little longer. So we go back in and talk to her and Luke for
a little while and then left.Tthen we decided to do some ward list visits. We were
going to go to the lewisons who we had never heard of but we finally find the
apartment complex, which is looking really sketchy and we walk in the complex. It
just stinks with smoke and we find their apartment number and the door is wide
open and the keys are still in the door. So we knock and no answer we knock
again no answer so finally we call out hello and we hear a hello back and then
a very large man with only a pair of
shorts walks into view and tells us to come on in and sit down and so we do and
I'm wondering what the heck did we get ourselves into his name is Smokey by the
way which also described the apartment. Then his wife walks in fully dressed
but in back health so we talk to her for a little and then he comes back in
with a shirt now and starts talking about his dad who he took care of until he
died as he had Alzheimers, who apparently was at the va clinc being taken care
of and I guess he was losing a ton of weight and they couldn't get him to eat. Smokey goes up he is saying your medicine
doesn't work so now I'm going to try mine and then says " boy he started gaining all sorts of weight
once I started him on weed" and then proceeds to tell us how he saturated
all of his food with weed and then continues to talk about his dad and his own
heart attacks for the next hour straight Sunday we went to church and then
packed and went to Bend for mission tour which is basically zone conference but
with a general authority. We had Elder Richards of the second quorum of the 70.
Monday we went to that and talked to the
mission president who told us that there were two ready for the gospel in Burns
and that we needed to find them in response to our telling him that we only
have one investigator who is basically a member he just can’t be baptized yet. We
went home and we get home Monday with about an hour and a half of time left so
Elder Johnson says who should we visit? The Pluards came to mind, so I say
maybe the pluards? he says ok, but before that he had to unload the car and as
we are unloading I'm think more about the Pluards and the better I feel about
visiting them. So we go over and on our way we see Luke at a house we didn't
know, so we stop and Michele it there too so we talk to them. She seems like
she wants to talk to us so we set up an appointment for today and then go try
and see a less active member named Madison who likes to read the BofM with us
and we go over and her mom says she’s out walking her sheep, I then confused
say a sheep? and she says yeah we have to exercise them. Then we leave and now
we still have an hour and 15 min left and unsure what to do we call the wml bro
Johnson and set up a meeting with him and Washington park and so we go there
and on the swings is Michelle and Luke so we get out and talk to them more,
while I entertained Luke and his friends. It was really good and then while we
are talking to her I hear this loud bahh and look over to see Madison walking
her lamb and she comes over and starts talking to us as well and then Bro
Johnson shows up and now all of us are talking and it was really good. Madison even committed to going to church on Sunday
and then they left and we talked to bro Johnson about our trip and the plans
for the week and then we had to go home so overall it’s been a great sore week.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
August 12, 2013
So a lot has happened this week last Monday afternoon we
went to bend for zone conference and exchanges and I learned that it is a
lot hard to stay awake for the two and half hour drive when you are the
passenger especially when you can only listen to church music and then
when we got to bend we went to this food service supply store called
cash and carry. I thought costco sold in bulk but this place put it to
shame I saw the biggest bottle of sweet baby ray sauce I have ever seen
it was huge. Then after that it was dinner so we went to find a place to
eat and after calling some of the other missionaries in bend, by the
way there is four sets just for bend, we settled on this little taco
shop and I had a massive burrito which tasted great anyways after that
we went to the zls apartment to unpack for the night the aps also were
staying in the zls apartment we had to bring in some mattresses from the
garage to accommodate all six of us, but it was way fun. then the next
morning we had zone conference and as we all woke up we realized that we
had a big problem zone conference started at eight and all 6 of us
needed to shower and get ready before then so elder johnson and I after
seeing that we were going to have time to shower there ran over to the
dls apartment and showered there and then went back to the zls to change
unfortunately everyone had left and despite our asking for them to
leave a door unlock we found the doors were locked and all of our church
clothes in the apartment so after calling the zls and finding out they
were in the middle of a car wash as we had car inspections that day and
would not be able to be back at the apartment for a while and we didn't
have time to wait we found the swamp cooler which stuck out of the
window and pulled it out and then I climbed in through the small opening
in the window and ended up inside and upside down and I'm sure it
looked hilarious two missionaries in pjs breaking into an apartment
especially when I started to climb in head first and all you could see
were my legs but we got in and made it to zone conference in time. zone
conference it's self was great my mission president really focuses on
first developing a vision and then strategy and tactics so we learned a
lot about that and the culture he wants to develop in the mission as we
are a combination of two different missions opm and oem and our slogan
is "build upon the rock" so our whole culture was focused on the gospel
of Christ and living the higher law or as the president likes to say the
more excellent way in regards to our rules and how we act. I don't
think I've met a single person who doesn't love our mission president he
is definitely a spiritual powerhouse. After zone conference which ended
at 6 I went on exchanges with my district leader elder Palmer. we went
to his wards assistant ward mission leaders house for dinner which was
great by the way breakfast pizza covered in hot sauce and then we
discussed what the ward needed to do to be successful after which when
Elder Palmer noticed the sun setting around eight he asked if I had been
to the butte and I said no and the next thing I know we are rushing to
the butte as fast as we can before the sun sets and basicly it was this
tall narrow hill that from the top you could see all of bend and it was
incredible especially because there had been a lot of fires so the
sunset was a deep red, pictures on the way and after the sun set we went
to an investigators house and talked to them is was two sets of young
couples living together and the one girl was investigating and her
boyfriend was sort of also investigating they were interesting the two
girls were nice and the one sorta investigator boyfriend greets us
wearing a shirt with atheist written in big letters and the back had
some sayings about why its best to be atheist. Apparently the girl Sarah
had all the lessons and was coming to church but didn't want to be
baptized because of the church's stand on homosexuality which is not a
question easily answered and honestly the more I learn about and teach
the gospel to others I've learned that God works through small and
simple means and usually the simple answer is the best and so if any of
you have questions or concerns on certain aspects of the gospel and
still don't feel comfortable with the answers given by the leaders of
the church I invite you to find your own answer by the simple means of
prayer which may sound like the generic answer but just as we have to
pray to know if the gospel is true we also should pray to know if those
certain doctrines are true and I can promise you that if you ask with
sincerely with real intent wanting to know for yourself that God will
answer you and that is the only way you will ever be able to have a
testimony of any doctrine. after that we went back to the apartment and
got ready for bed and as we are getting ready Elder Palmer pulls out a
cello and says pick a hymn so I pick my favorite and he plays it with no
sheet music or hymn book and he goes pick another and I say another
favorite and he plays that well this continued for a while until I ask
if he's memorized the whole hymn book and he says no so I said well then
how are you doing this and he can play by ear very very well the next
day we did a service project went to eat and then thursday
we went to lunch with the zls at an Indian place and as we are waiting
in line this guy who is finishing his meal asks us if we are meeting
with anyone or if we are by ourselves and we say that we are by
ourselves and he hands us two 20 dollar bills and says lunch is on me we
thank him and as we talked to him briefly the zls recognize him and
after he left they told us that he was a less active member and his
brother was a bishop or something like that but his kindness really
humbled me as I being an active member and a missionary probably
wouldn't have done the same thing if I were in his shoes. Well time is
running short so a little bit about the people of burns they are all
mostly super nice most are farmers or ranchers everyone waves and knows
everyone and news travels super fast, most own animals which I now know
how to catch sheep but that's a story for another time. The church is
true the power of prayer is real.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Aug 5th Letter
So since I wrote last not a ton has happened. This morning
I helped the ward mission leader move a sprinkler line and then he gave
me a haircut. It was a little sketchy at first, when I was first told
that our state trooper ward mission leader cut the missionaries hair, I
thought it was a joke but I said ok apparently he has been cutting his
own hair for years but anyway I was sitting in his living room and he
walks past and he's like ok elder come with me and he starts heading
outside and I get up and follow him totally confused as to why he is
going outside when he said he was going to cut my hair but I walk out
and there is a green plastic chair in the middle of his gravel driveway (
he lives out passed the reservation next to three of his brothers one
of which is the mission president but anyway the point is this house is
out in the middle of nowhere and he is standing by the chair with a box
of clippers in hand and so I go and sit down on this little green chair
in the middle of nowhere and he starts buzzing my head but it actually
turned out pretty good despite my companion making jokes about how the
bald spot will grow back and I only got cut once needless to say this is
probably the shortest my hair has ever been. Another interesting thing
that happened is one of the part member families we were working with
had a kitchen fire so we spent most of Thursday over there cleaning
things up we vacuumed walls and ceilings and then took mops and attacked
the walls the husband is a non member and in the past hasn't been very
open to the gospel but has been slowly becoming more friendly and open
and after the fire clean up, hopefully we will be able to begin teaching
him soon. Then Sunday
we had fast and testimony meeting and there is a family in the ward
with a 3 year old and a newborn and this three year old has a vocabulary
of a six year old and so he runs up and his dad lifts him up to the mic
and with his mouth pressed firmly against it and with out any prompting
he begins to tell the story of Ammon how he cut off all the lamanites
arms and the king thought the Ammon was the great spirit but that AMMON
WAS JUST A MAN and not the great spirit, it was after this that he says
the church is true but then proceeds to tell us that lamanites kill
nephites and that nephites like to kill lamanites and is about to go on
but his dad whispers in his hear to have him wrap up and so he says " I
know Thomas Monson is a prophet and I know the church is true and I know
Thomas S Monson is a prophet....and I know Thomas Monson's a prophet
and that Thomas Monson is a prophet... everyone laughed yeah amen" its
at this point his dad bears his testimony while he keeps yelling I want
to go again and everyone is dying with laughter it was hilarious and
after the bishop gets up and says I know where I'm going for scripture
study. Everything is going good the work is starting to pick up we have
some potential investigators we are working on and I think I have had
more food than I have ever had in my life we get fed every night about
and Saturday we were fed twice, and the members make sure that my plate
is never empty but I am sooo sick of desserts it was great to have a big
cake or pie with ice cream for the first while after two weeks straight
it starts to lose its appeal however you never turn it down or else it
really offends the members and you never have only one serving needless
to say i am very grateful for the exercise time we have and much to my
surprise I'm actually loosing weight but we've had some great lessons
and I'm learning a lot still more to learn but its all good the church
is true and the book of Mormon is the best book every ( His letter cuts off here I hope it was the end and we didn't miss much )
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