Sept 9, 2013

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

Finally Pictures and more Pictures some are from the MTC and some from when he first got to Oregon.  

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

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 

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.

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.  

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 )

Elder Telford with his Mission President and his wife as well as his companion.

First Oregon Letter

July 29, 2013

So this has been a pretty long week since last time I wrote.  I sang in church on Sunday at the MTC as a district we sang I am a child of God, it was still pretty good despite my voice sister Mecham was a wonderful pianist. Then Monday and Tuesday were packing days and final class days. Wednesday I woke up at 3:45 our alarms were suppose to go off at 3 but somehow all three decided not to work so we rushed to finish packing and cleaning within the space of an hour.  We made it though and were out waiting for the bus at 4:15, little did we know that we would be waiting there for another hour, as some missionaries at the main campus were late but we made it to the airport and on to the plane. We arrived in Portland at 9 am and met the mission president, his wife and the two AP's Elder Covey and Elder Buhler. There were a lot of hugs and then we loaded all 25 people into three vans complete with luggage. It was a tight squeeze and then they told us for the first day, we were going to go on an adventure and we were off. After driving for what seemed like forever from my cramped seat at the back of the van we pulled into the parking lot of the Portland temple. It was so pretty and we got there just in time because it was going to close for a couple weeks the next day. While we weren’t able to do a session we walked around and took many pictures. Inside the temple there is an atrium as a waiting area. It was really nice to go in there and just sit and feel the spirit.  After we went to the mission home for lunch and then on another two hour drive to another surprise place, which turned out to be the coast Cape Kiwanda. We had a little devotional type thing on the beach looking out at haystack rock it was an incredible spiritual experience President Samuelian really should be an inspirational speaker. Though I bet we looked pretty funny a whole group of people in suits and church clothes just sitting on the beach. Then we went to dinner at the church in Newberg another long drive with much needed napping time. Once there we were greeted by all the missionaries who were going to train us we ate dinner and then had interviews with the mission president.  I was the last one for the night so mine was really brief. Then I was taken to a members home for the night with another missionary who I didn't know. He accidently broke the bed he was sleeping in. The next morning we met at the church to be assigned our trainers it felt like Christmas with all the suspense, I was in after a big meeting on rules the time finally came for companions to be assigned. He started with the sisters and then the Elders and after about an hour of watching people get assigned my suspense grew until the last trainer was called up an elder Johnson he wasn't there the night before so I had yet to meet him, and then I heard my name called. I went up and they told me that elder Johnson and I were companions and that we were going to serve in the ward farthest away from the mission home, the biggest small town ever called Burns.  Later I found out it was an eight hour drive, after some adventure driving to Bend first with the zls we discovered that we weren’t going to make it to Burns until super late so we spent the night at the zls.  The next morning we were off for Burns and then an hour into our drive the zls called and they had left their keys in our truck. Burns is an all car area we have a nice big red truck, so we had to turn around and go back to bend, then we were on our way again.  I felt like we were never going to make it to Burns. I'm in charge of the phone I never thought I would be texting so much on my mission. Late Friday morning we made it into Burns, Elder Johnson is great he is from Pleasant Grove Ut he has about 3 months left on his mission.  We get along great oh and for those of you who would get this, my first meal outside the mission home area was Panda Express. We arrived and the goal for that day was to meet all the ward members. I shook so many hands, the ward mission leader is a cop and his brother is the bishop and his other brother is the first counselor. We then went to the Harrisons and taught their daughter Morgan about prophets and then we set up her baptism program, it was a really good lesson, jk she was all ready being baptized  on Sunday so Sunday came and after my being iniated in to the ward by saying every opening prayer for every meeting, we had her baptism and confirmation. They even had me stand in the picture despite my teaching her only a part of one lesson, and then I stood in at her confirmation and elder Johnson gave her the HG. after which we raided the former couple missionaries fridge for lunch and then tried to visit families all of which weren't home, needless to say I all ready have quite a few stories. We had dinner at the bishops house as well as desert, he owns DQ in burns so we had DQ Ice cream with homemade apple pie. We then had homemade ice cream at the Harrison’s. I came home sooo sick of Ice cream despite it being so good. To describe Burns I don’t really know if I can Google earth it or something and you'll understand what it’s like in Burns. Since I can't print things I would appreciate letters more than emails, that way I can read things more than once and can have more time to write about everything going on, by the way for those of you wanting to write me and that should be all of you the address you should send things to is the mission home. 

Oregon Salem Mission Office

700N Deborah road STE 260

Newberg OR 97132-2196

ps. the home strongly suggest you send things priority mail usps as they then forward it to my actual address that way I don't have to keep sending a new address and have things go to the wrong place

July 19^th , 2013

Hey everyone,

Well the time has sure flown by I ship out early Wednesday morning. Where to begin so Saturday I was asked by one of the zone leaders to go to the chapel with him to practice for Sunday because his companion didn’t want to go.  I said sure I went not with high expectations of him because he seemed like the very athletic type and not very inclined to anything musical. Boy was I humbled he was a musical genius I was in awe as he played song after beautiful song. Then he starts playing a gorgeous song I have never heard before and I asked him what it was and he was like that idk I just made it up, on the spot,. We stayed there for almost an hour and I was just listening to this 6'6 high zone leader play piano. You really can't judge a book by its cover, did I mention he sang beautifully as well.

The Sunday was weird because I got up and the first thing we had was sacrament meeting and it was in the church but not the main chapel. Then we went to breakfast and then the sisters went to relief society while the elders studied,  my companion was in meetings, then I had a meeting and was informed that this Sunday my companion and I were going to teach a district lesson. Then we had a Sunday devotional and it was great there was an elder the speaker talked to who liked a girl who was a member and somehow her family ended up like actually adopting him and converting him. We were all cracking up luckily we were watching it on a broadcast so none of them could hear us. Then I watched a fantastic talk by Elder Bednar on the character of Christ I invite you all to watch, not read, it.

Monday was a normal day I got up went to zone teaching, and then to class and then to gym.  Oh by the way my gym is a parking lot in Wyview and I have it at noon it is so hot, but it’s great to move around and not sit all day.  We started trc I don't even know what it means but we taught a guy named Gabriel and he is incredible.  We hardly are teaching him anything he believes everything we teach without a doubt.  Though at first he really struggled with god and Jesus coming down to Joseph Smith but then after we explained and talked about it alittle more he was like just like Joseph, God has answered my prayers and he tells this story of God answering his prayers as a child and he's crying and I'm so happy. Then we had to go so we leave him with an invitation to pray about the BOM and he says ok and we leave.

 Tuesday was a normal day up until that night we had the Tuesday devotional and had to walk all the way up there from Wyview. We got there kind tired and sat down and low and behold I look up kiddie corner from me and there is none other but Elder Brockwell I eventually got his attention and he waved and said hi. The Tuesday devotional was by President Hinckely's son and him and his wife gave a great talk about following inspiration. Then with my legs asleep and my rear hurting I was informed that we had to stay because they were going to take a picture of the group and that it was the third time they have ever taken a picture of the missionaries at the MTC.   Then after being super hot all day we got to walk home in the pouring rain. We get back and I'm soaked.

Wednesday I got to be a host for the new missionaries, talk about dejavu, and a luggage lackey and every missionary I had was up on the top floors, so I got my work out for the day while there one of the sister missionaries was guiding the new missionaries, and I'm like I know her I know her and then I see the tag and it says Edgington and it was Marci Edgington for those of you who don't know she is a dance teacher at byu who I have worked with before.

Thursday  I was in field orientation at 8 in the main campus so in order to get to the main campus we have to take a bus there and there was so many people that the doors could barely close and while waiting I ran into Elder Money again, an old friend from dance. Once there we wander around totally lost ended up there eventually and basically what the meeting was about was a bunch of workshops dealing with actual missionary work and then we broke for lunch, it’s here I need to interject that the cafeteria on west campus is a good 5 minute walk from my dorm and its an old pool house turned cafeteria we get one option and can only go through one time and we either get a can of soda or milk and either an apple or orange. I walk into the main cafeteria and it was like heaven it was all you could eat totally fresh fruit I ate so many strawberries and the food was so much better I actually knew what the meat was and we ate so much there I had soo much food it was incredible. then we went back to sessions and we then during our break I checked out the bookstore it was cool and walking back I walk into elder pope and get a picture with him he went in way before me yet we are leaving the same day. then at dinner I run into Elder Sullivan and talked to him for a little while both of them are on main campus not west campus after we watched a dorky play and went back to the west campus and did our trc with Gabriel it was our third lesson with him and we were going to teach the atonement we go in to teach and he already knows about the atonement and after a little clarification how to repent and then totally lost we invited him to baptism and it was scary at first he asks if his catholic priest had the authority to baptize him as a child and we try to so it really nice and finally he says did he or didn't he and we say no expecting him to be offended and instead he goes ok and bears this beautiful testimony about how after we taught him about Joseph Smith that it went straight to his heart and he know it was true and that when he closed his eyes he saw himself there and he's crying and I'm crying and then we ask him again and he goes if it’s what I need to do I’ll do it but i dont want to do it out of respect for you or for my family and he then talks about how much he loves seeing us and the message we share and the good feeling from God he gets and then says I will get baptized I just need to know for myself and so we challenged him to pray about it and he was like ok i will ,and then he said the closing prayer for us.  He is so close I hope he prayed about it and will accept today, as we left he gave us giant hugs and I felt so much love for him it was amazing, we walked out and started cheering. I went to bed that night feeling so good and the spirit so much. I woke up today and went back to west campus breakfasts though I actually like my blueberry bagel with peanut butter and honey.  Sunday we sing in church and so we practiced and now I'm here.  I know God loves all his children so much and wants us all to succeed and will help us if times ever feel too overwhelming I suggest dc 50:40 it touch me good luck and next time I write I'll be in Oregon Salem

 good luck and good bye

Elder Telford's first letter

wow I dont even know where to start so much has happened lets start with wednesday I was picked up finally by a host and he led me through a chapel and they gave me my name tag there and a packet with my room and other information. then I was rushed over with my luggage to my dorm in building 18 right off of freedom I even got the basement room as I walked in to my room I see these guy with bright red hair and glasses and the host introduced him as elder drake my new companion. we were then taken to the chapel for a new missionary introduction I swear we sung like ten songs then the mtc president and other leaders that I can't even remember now I was so worried but as I sat with my district and my new comp. I learned that we were all going to Salem. I guess this is the point where I introduce everyone in my district first there is my companion elder drake great guy I love working with him though at the time he seemed pretty overwhelmed and I was unsure what to think of him. then the first sister I met there was super friendly sister bent shes great and has a lot of excitement for the work and to be there it was definately contagious and I felt better especially after seeing elder drakes unsureness then I met her companion sister twichell she seemed a lot older that sister bent though their the same age she just graduated with a degree in sewing from byu i then there was elder young he's actually just from orem went to mountain view hes quite and tends to get down on himself a little bit because of his being short and a little bit large but a great missionary we get a long great. Then there is sister edwards who is a convert of almost two years and sister mecham who seems nice and is from a small town here in Utah though I had never heard of it oh by the way elder drake is from Ogden so pretty close. then there is elder Mcmullin great guy from arizona he has a third of normal hearing and has to wear hearing aids but he is fantasic a natural leader and very willing to help after that first orientatation I went to class for the first time I actually had to cross freedom to get the classroom and subsequently the cafeteria as they are over in the raintree complex. My class room is actually the living room of one of the dorms just turned in to a classroom with desks and a flat screen tv my teachers are bro belliston and sister lamplugh their really nice though moy favorite is bro belliston he is so kind and absolutely hilarious. we then went to dinner in the cafeteria (old pool house) and instead of the main MTC we have a set meal every one eats the same thing, I actually had a cesear salad as the main course of my lunch today my p days are fridays but since I leave on the 24 I will onlly have one more p day so that when everyone will be able to hear back from me through emails and that is the only time I can read them if you need to get in touch with me sooner the mail is faster we get it twice a day. So back to the first day after dinner I met our zone leaders Elder Garrett (6,6 the man puts josue to same) and elder bair pretty tall also they seem nice not my favorite but still nice. then we went to a teaching experience at a chapel The bus I ride now is called the ryde it took three buses to get us all there once there we were divided into three groups and ushered into a room with a bunch of chairs for us and at the front of the room was a living room set up and then bro christensen came in and if youve seen the district you might know him better as elder christiansen and he told us that we were going to have real people come in and we were going to tteach them as a group andn to focus solely on the investigator and so we did and if we wanted to teach something to them we would raise our hands and talk to them we went to three different rooms and three different investigators I spoke sometimes and I want you all to know that the lord puts scriptures and thoughts into your mind as you go not to try and solve it yourself after that which was amazing we got a tour and then went to bed the three other elders in my district were my roomates and our district has been getting along great we shower in shifts, I''m in the night shift and so after showering and getting ready for bed I had like no time left to write in my journal so I had to go straight to bed. funny story so it was blazing hot the first day so we were all hot and sweaty so uuupon arriving back to the dorm we turned the temp down so it was feeling good until a half an hour after laying in bed sleep was hard despite being tired and by the way for those of you planning to go on a mission you pray so much more so this was like midnight now and I could still hear the air conditioning and also I'm on the top bunk but it was getting cold so I covered my self with my blanket and slept waking up every couple hours convulsing because it was so cold in the morning I wake up with my hands numb and I ask my companion is it ok if I turn the heat up alittle trying to be careful not to offend anyone and he says sure go ahead. I walk out to the thermostat and remember; this is at 6 30 in the morning so Im groggy I look at it and the tab was a low as it can go on 55 degrees and I just look at it and I verbally was like what and then so confused I turned the heat up alittle and got dressed with my suit coat on as fast as possible and left to zone teaching by brother elton at first he struck me as rough and mean hes very oppionated and very vocal but as he taught that the only person that could teach us to do missionary work was God I knew he was speaking through the spirit and I felt a liking not quite a love yet but I felt better about him oh one other cool experience at the end of zone teaching I felt strongly impressed that I was suppose to pray that what I was to pray for was special and right as I'm getting ready to voulenteer he calls on someone else feeling alittle down like oh I guess it wasn't the spirit I went to my next class which was a workshop taught by bro beeston and right as we are starting he goes ok it looks like elder Telford has a special pray for us would you mind giving it and it touch me that it was God and that my impression was right and that this man who I had never talked to before knew what I had and it wasn't even that the pray was that special but it was special to me after that we had study time and towards the end of the first hour I noticed my comp having a hard time focusing and I felt inspired to do a comp study with him and we did it was great we are so different from each other but we fit together so well when it comes to Gods work then we had teaching by bro belliston and he informed us that we were going to role play and teach him pretended to be an investigator named ghee he showed us a video about ghee and then we went straight to comp study to prepare a lesson after praying and pondering his needs we came up with what he needed to be taught found our starting scripture and went with it and broke for individual study and I was feeling pretty burned out I was tired and kinda homesick but after trying my best to find scriptures and topics we met back together to prepare and we had gone in totally different directions but somehow they fit what I could find he found and what he couldn't find I found and that's when we got into it and the excitement and the inspiration just started growing and we totally forgot that this wasn't a real person after that we went to dinner and every dinner has mashed potatoes so I'm getting pretty sick of them but Ive been good eating really healthy I have yet to eat one of the deserets but after we went to met our branch president and found out that get this half my branch is going to the Atlanta Georgia north mission and that's the same mission my president served in he did interviews and assigned callings elder drake was assigned district leader and I was assigned his senior comp so we are still confused on whose in charge of who but we feed so well off of each other that no one person dominates we alternate our talking really well this night I had more time slighly though Ive learned if your going to be a missionary learn to write fast and a lot today we had zone teaching again the morning started rough but picked up after lunch and p day started we did laundry accidentally broke rules by playing basketball waiting for the wash you only play basketball during gym time but Im doing great as long as I take it one day at a time best of wishes and I bear my testimony that God loves everyone of us and that we don't have to be perfect but only have a desire to be better we are striving for eternal life which I learned today is eternal progression and Debra my favorite scripture is 2nephi 4:30-end if you ever want to start progression after messing up say that prayer to our father in heaven with full intent and you will be bless its powerful

 Sincerely, Elder Telford

Elder Telford leaving for the MTC.  He was scared and nervous but excited.

Well friends this is it I'm dying... jk I'm just leaving for two years to serve the Lord. As this is most likely the last time I will be on here for a while I would like to leave you all with my testimony. I know that our Heavenly Father lives and loves us because we are His children. Through the course of my life I've come to know Him and how to get to know Him even more while on my mission and for the rest of my life and what I have learned is he is not a distant vengeful God but a Loving Father who cares for us just as an earthly father would. I know that eternal life and salvation can only come through wonderful commandments which he has given us out of love it never was and never will be his desire to punish us rather to facilitate growth in our lives and now and through out the eternities. He is always there for us to communicate with through personal prayers and priesthood blessings. 
Now if any of you wish to write me *cough cough* (you yes you thought I was talking about someone else no its you) 
Here is my info:
Email: benjamin.telford@myldsmail.net 
Mailing address:
Elder Benjamin David Telford
JUL22 OR-SAL
2023 N 900 E Unit 839
Provo UT 84602