11.16.2009

Sorry I don't have too much time to write. I was getting ready to write your letter and a girl here at the university needed help talking to her friend about the gospel so I stopped to talk to her. Now I only have about 15 minutes.

Hopefully I can get you a picture of just me but no promises. I'm loving this weather. It is the middle of November and it is still 11 c. It is way nice. They are planning on having this weather till Christmas. The people here have never seen this kind of weather before but I'm loving it. YEAH GLOBAL WARMING!!!

I'm starting to get better at staying awake. It's difficult but I've been reading a lot of Ensigns. I found a whole box of ensigns that are way old so I read all the "Latter-day voices" or miracle stories of people. They are way corny and make me laugh but I like them and they keep me awake. I occasionally read the articles too.

A few more things for my Christmas package. Those gel clicky pens I think they are called G2 or something. Preferably Black. You know which ones I'm talking about. Also i want cologne. The kind I use is called Adidas Moves.

Can I get your address and Chinese phone number? That lady is still asking me about it. She is way nice and wants to meet you when she goes over there.

Also mom, After reading all of these "latter day voices" I read a lot of conversion stories. I realized I don't know yours. What happened, how'd you meet them, how did you know it was true, what were your feelings? I want to know everything especially the miracles you noticed.

Well not much more to report things are going good. I have good stories but time is running out so I gotta go. Love you all and have a great week. I'll tell you more stories next week.

11.9.2009

Well my new area is good. We are in an area called Pendygrasse in Saskatoon, Saskatachawan (I still don't know how to spell that). It is a good area lots of walking. We have met some very interesting people. I've kinda got discouraged recently because we have set up many appointments (like 50) since I've been here and two have actually happened. Everyone just isn't there for the time we set up to go. I'm trying to figure out what we're doing wrong so that we can fix that. It gets way frustrating. It's kinda funny sometimes how God answers prayers though. I was praying and telling him how frustrated I was and how much I felt like a failure but than at church we sang "God Speed the Right" and the line "If we fail we fail with glory" really hit me hard. I'm doing all that I'm suppose to and I'm working hard so even though I fail I shouldn't be disappointed. I've gained such a testimony about prayer since I've been on my mission.

Elder Halliday (my companion) is from Farmington, UT. He is the only boy of 5 kids so he thinks lots of things are gross and jokes around with me about them (he hates it when I spit) haha. We get along pretty well though. I've been tired so much lately from walking so much that I fall asleep everywhere around our apartment and he is constantly waking me up. haha Hopefully soon I'll get use to it. Also my District Leader Elder Gines is from Las Vegas and he went to Coronado High School. He is a way fun kid and we get along great.

Your right Remembrence Day is this Wednesday. It is very similar to our Memorial day. Supposidly November 11th is the day WWI ended so they remember all of their fallen soldiers. Lots and Lots of people wear these plastic poppyseed flowers that are red with black centers. I guess somebody wrote a poem for remembrence Day about poppyseeds and so they wear them as tribute or something like that. You could probably go on google and image search Remembrence Day Poppyseed and find what they looked like if you care.

Thanks for the recipe last week. I made it and it was way good. Does it taste different if you make it in the microwave? I wanted to do it in the microwave cause its easier but Elder Halliday says the oven tastes better.

About your talk. I don't have too many suggestions. A great place to look is Preach My Gospel. Lesson 5 is the commandments and one of them is Keep the sabbath day holy. It explains it pretty simply and even gives scriptures for it. I think you can read it online somewhere.

Recently all of the stakes in our mission are trying to get the members to be more involved in missionary work. It is a tough job and its hard to get some members motivated. Life would be so much easier and the work would progress so much faster if every member would just suggest one person for them to teach. People are often scared to share the gospel but from the experiances of the members who have done it, people often see it as more of a sign of love and respect than anything else. We have been visiting lots of members to encourage them to teach their friends. Alma 29:9-10 is one of my favorite scriptures about that because it is Alma explaining that when he calls people unto repentance, and they repent how much joy that brings them. Every time we invite someone to do anything, Watch a church movie, read the Book of Mormon, come to church, come to mutual, anything that is related to the church we are inviting them to repent. If they accept they are repenting becasue they are bettering themselves. Hopefully the members here catch on to the missionary spirit. I really believe that this is going to help so much.

We were doing some cleaning in our apartment this past week and we found a bunch of christmas decorations so we set up alot. Haha we have two small christmas trees and christmas lights hung around our living room. Its kinda fun to get into the christmas spirit. I feel justified in setting Christmas stuff up this early because we've already had Thanksgiving back on OCt. 12.

About my christmas Package: peanut M&M's and vanilla hot chocolate would be good. Also Just a reminder: on the package put "Canada Winnipeg Mission" BEFORE my name. It makes it so that the mission home can sign for it.

Well not much else to report. We have Zone Conference this week so that should be fun. Well I love you all and look forward to hearing from you.

Love,
Elder Turner

Here are some pictures. Two are of the snow in Winnipeg. One is of my old district.

The one with just me and a guy is Tim (he is being baptized on Nov 11, and the one with me, Elder Ewell and a guy who looks like he should be on Americas most wanted is Terry (a less active that we reactivated.)

11.2.2009

Last week when I said I "assumed" I was staying in my area and Elder Ewell was leaving. Well I was wrong. Elder Ewell stayed and is now training again so I have a new "brother" (I have another one but he died AKA went home early). After driving 6 hours to Regina, staying the night there, and driving 2 more hours I finally arrived in my new are. I am in Saskatoon, Saskatawan. My new companion is Elder Halliday from Farmington, UT. We get along pretty well. Our apartment is way nice though. We have a grill and a fireplace. The grill has no gas and the fireplace has no wood but the important thing is that we have them. There is bad news to the transfer though. I am now a busing elder so My companion and I do not have a car so we mostly walk and sometimes take the bus. This transfer doesn't end till the middle of December and I'll probably be here longer than one transfer (but I've been wrong before)

Things I bought: A big coat that is black and way warm, cheap hopefully warm boots, socks, hat, beanie, longjohns, gloves, scarf, and unlimited use hand warmers. I've decided that the reason people are so rich in Las Vegas is because they don't have to spend all there money on winter stuff. Thanks for the recipe I do want alot more in my christmas package. All apartments have a stove, oven, and microwave. I think most have a crockpot but I'm not sure about a blender. I doubt any have a rice cooker. When you send them to me can you also explain things that I won't know like how to cook rice or define words that I don't know what they mean such as 'simmer'. Make it so a smart 4th grader could understand it. It snowed when we left winnipeg on thursday. When we got to Regina it was cold but not snowing. When we woke up there was about an inch of snow. When we got to Saskatoon it wasn't too cold and no snow. The next day it snowed. Now there is no snow on the ground but it is still kinda cold. Winter is coming and its coming fast. It sounds like everyone is keeping busy. Oh yeah the other day we stopped by one of our investigators here who ended up not being home. As we were walking from her house, their neighbor called Elder Halliday and I into her house. She is a 60 yr old native woman and asked if we could give her husband a prayer of healing because he had a stroke 5 years ago and can't walk. We taught her about blessings and gave him a blessing. We are now teaching them. They are going to need alot of work. He is thinking about moving out to a special home becuase his wife is mean and she drinks all day everyday. Its going to take alot of work but I see their lives improving.

I'm happy to hear about Matt. It sounds like he is doing good. Tony just sent me a letter he is a trainer and a district leader now so that is good. Supposidly somebody tried to fight him and pushed Tony on the groung and Tony's brand new companion (only been out three days) had to force the guy to back off. Haha fun adventures in Denver.

About my christmas package. You need to have it get here within the next 5 weeks so I can have it for christmas time. Also you need to write "Christmas" on it so the office staff knows to hold it. The only main things I want in it is the same pictures I had in my old album recipes and music.

Not much else to report. We are emailing from an University and people just sit and stare at us. I feel like a nun. haha. Well I love you all. Hope you have a great week. Elder Turner

At a training meeting...