First off, Its cold. Very Very cold. I don't know how winnipegians do it but somehow they manage. I asked one person "how do you Winnipegians do the winter?" and they responded with "grudgingly" haha I thought that was funny. So last night Our church put on something called "Prelude to Christmas" and it is like a musical production with our church and also a local catholic church. At the production the Priest of the Catholic church got up and told this joke: He said, "I'm sure not many of you know this but there is a story in the Catholic church that goes like this: One day the pope had a very important meeting with all of his cardinals and so he told his secratary "do not inturupt me for any reason, I don't care if someone calls or comes in, do not interupt me" and than he went into his meeting. He was a little preturbed when the secratary did come in and say there was a call for him. Grudgingly he left the meeting and said that he told her not to inturupt. She responded, No, you need to take this call. After a few minutes he went back into the meeting and said "I got some good news and I got some bad news" Everyone decided they wanted to hear the good news" he told them that Jesus was on the phone and he has returned for the second coming. Everybody was pretty excited and than said wait but you said there was bad news " He said yeah...He was calling from Salt Lake." Haha I thought it was a pretty funny joke, especially since it came from the Catholic Priest.
Anyway on to our week. We had a fairly good week. We found a former investigator named Laurant who hasn't been visited with missionaries for 5 years but he is Golden. He said he recieved some anti material 5 years ago but doesn't care anymore. He came to church for the first time and loved it but while he was there he said he found the antil pamphlet and wants us to come over to talk about some things. I'm not too worried becuase I think we can explain it to him and he trusts us quite a bit. He is from Benine, Africa and is just a super humble great man.
Kathryn has been difficult to get ahold of this past week. I think her common law is making it slightly difficult for her to do things so we have to work through that. She is still great just have to work through some things.
The marinos are great. The dad called his dad (who is a pastor or something down in florida) who has been trying to get his son to join a church forever so he called him excited to tell him about his baptism date. Well, his dad didn't share his excitment. He was actually pretty upset. We talked to the Marinos and he said it is ultimately his decission he just would rather have his dad's approval. We will probably have to work through that unfortunately. He said he wishes his dad would just not be so closed minded and supportive. They still want to be baptized just might take a bit longer now. They need your prayers...seriously.
Well not much else to say. When you walk outside in your sweater or in a bathing suit on the cruise, please remember that your son is wearing Big boots, two pairs of socks, long johns, a sweater, a big parka, two pairs of gloves, ear muffs, a Toque (a beanie), and a scarf and is still cold.
Love,
Elder Turner
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
12.6.2010
Here are some pictures from my old area, not sure if I ever sent them. The one with the hispanic family is an active member family (the younger woman is the one that called mom for her birthday), the other big family is a less active family we were working with, and the woman and the boy are Melina and her son. She was the really golden investigator with a not so golden "other"
Here are a few more pictures that I'm not sure If i sent before. One of them is of Curtis. Our neighbor in our old area who always gave us a ton of food and baked us a ton of pies (he's not a member).
One of them is of my pumpkin that I carved. It is Igor holding a skull. I used a stencil.
The other picture is something that I learned you could do on the camera so we were having fun the other day with it.
and the last one is of me and my neices/nephew. Oldest to Youngest: Matea, Naleah, Quintin and Pria Their last name is olsen.
I don't take alot of pictures but I take a few. Here are two that I though you would enjoy. The fur is taken from off our big coats.
12.6.2010
Not too much to report on this week. I've been sorta sick (mom, don't worry) so i've just been really tired and didn't do much work one of the days. Everybody gets sick this time of year up here but I'm pretty much over it now. Kathryn and her family and also the Marinos were suppose to come to church this week but nobody showed up. That was really disappointing. This week should be alot better than this past week though. We have alot more appointments set up and we're working hard. We also have zone conference and interviews this week and I think we are watching "Its a wonderful life". I told sister Paulson we should watch Elf and she had never heard of it before but that she would consider it. I didn't actually think we would watch it though.
So I heard you've been talking to my Bishops wife. haha. That is kinda weird but whatever. They are the nicest people ever. Today she stopped by the church while we were playing dodgeball and gave Elder Mitton and I and the other missionaries in the ward gift cards to a nice restraunt. I said something like thanks for the christmas gift and she said "this wasn't your christmas gift" haha I was shocked. They are really great though.
Not too much else to talk about. Sorry this is really short. Hopefully next week we'll have more to report on. We should be meeting with The marinos and Kathryn this week but you never know. Justin just wrote me and mentioned that him and his brother are going to a spring semester at BYU and his brother is going to find an apartment so after the spring when his brother goes on a mission Me and probably tony can move in to that apartment but he'll get you the details later just wanted to give you a heads up.
Love,
Elder Turner
So I heard you've been talking to my Bishops wife. haha. That is kinda weird but whatever. They are the nicest people ever. Today she stopped by the church while we were playing dodgeball and gave Elder Mitton and I and the other missionaries in the ward gift cards to a nice restraunt. I said something like thanks for the christmas gift and she said "this wasn't your christmas gift" haha I was shocked. They are really great though.
Not too much else to talk about. Sorry this is really short. Hopefully next week we'll have more to report on. We should be meeting with The marinos and Kathryn this week but you never know. Justin just wrote me and mentioned that him and his brother are going to a spring semester at BYU and his brother is going to find an apartment so after the spring when his brother goes on a mission Me and probably tony can move in to that apartment but he'll get you the details later just wanted to give you a heads up.
Love,
Elder Turner
Monday, November 29, 2010
11.29.2010
This week has just zoomed by. It truely is crazy how fast the mission gets. I'm glad you got those pictures from Sister Heieie (pronounced Hi - i, in case you were wondering). That is our Bishop's wife. They are super great people and alot of fun.
So we invited about 10 people to the christmas party and all 10 said they would come. It was pretty disappointing when none of them came. The Marinos and Kathryn both didn't show up which was the biggest disappointment. Well it was the biggest disappointment until they both didn't show up to Church. That was a bigger disappointment but oh well we will just keep working with them on that.
Actually on a brighter note Kathryn is preparing for baptism on January 8th and The Marinos are preparing for the 18th of December but we are going to have to push that back because in order to get baptized they have to come to church 3 times and that won't work now that they didn't come. We actually got ahold of the Marino's yesterday after church and we found out that she had a pinched siatic nerve and was in a ton of pain so hopefully they can come next week.
Thanksgiving was fun and so was the Christmas party. Not too much else happened this week. One day it got down to - 24 C which by the way is ridiculously cold. It has also been snowing quite a bit. They are expecting this winter to break records. Supposidly we already have 80% of the highest recored snow fall during winter and we are only in the first 2 weeks of winter.
Well Sorry there isn't much to write about this week. I hope you have a great week and keep up the good work (what ever that means)
Love,
Elder Turner
So we invited about 10 people to the christmas party and all 10 said they would come. It was pretty disappointing when none of them came. The Marinos and Kathryn both didn't show up which was the biggest disappointment. Well it was the biggest disappointment until they both didn't show up to Church. That was a bigger disappointment but oh well we will just keep working with them on that.
Actually on a brighter note Kathryn is preparing for baptism on January 8th and The Marinos are preparing for the 18th of December but we are going to have to push that back because in order to get baptized they have to come to church 3 times and that won't work now that they didn't come. We actually got ahold of the Marino's yesterday after church and we found out that she had a pinched siatic nerve and was in a ton of pain so hopefully they can come next week.
Thanksgiving was fun and so was the Christmas party. Not too much else happened this week. One day it got down to - 24 C which by the way is ridiculously cold. It has also been snowing quite a bit. They are expecting this winter to break records. Supposidly we already have 80% of the highest recored snow fall during winter and we are only in the first 2 weeks of winter.
Well Sorry there isn't much to write about this week. I hope you have a great week and keep up the good work (what ever that means)
Love,
Elder Turner
Monday, November 15, 2010
11.15.2010
Hey Mommy,
I know you are probably super busy or at the least just forgot. Don't worry about it. Things here are going really well. Elder Mitton and I are having a ton of fun. We get along really well and we both just want to go out and work so much so I don't have to fight him at all. Definately a relief. The other day we were at the grocery store and we walked down the ethnic aisle and we found a ton of Japanese Stuff so we bought it. We got Yakults, those mushroom chocolates, the pokeys and koala bears. Ha it was pretty fun to reminise. We were just hoping for Pocari Sweat, Yaki Soba, and Calpis but I guess you take what you can get.
This past week was a fantastic week. We worked really hard and found a ton of success. Kathryn came to church this past week with her entire family (total of 9 people) and we also had another investigator come named Ryan. It was really great to see them there and I really think they enjoyed themselves. Kathryn had a huge smile on her face because she had her whole family there, something she has wanted for a while. Next week is the Primary program and the kids were practicing for that so maybe next week they will come to see that. That would be really great.
Things are going well here. Elder Mitton got his cristmas Package and we found a Christmas tree so we put up our christmas tree and we are getting into the Christmas spirit. We did take pictures but Elder Mitton was smart and brought his card reader so that he can send pictures home but I forgot. Maybe I'll have him send me them. We'll see.
Well not much else to say. I love you and hope you had a great week and don't worry about not writing me, we didn't have too much time today anyway.
Love,
Elder Turner
I know you are probably super busy or at the least just forgot. Don't worry about it. Things here are going really well. Elder Mitton and I are having a ton of fun. We get along really well and we both just want to go out and work so much so I don't have to fight him at all. Definately a relief. The other day we were at the grocery store and we walked down the ethnic aisle and we found a ton of Japanese Stuff so we bought it. We got Yakults, those mushroom chocolates, the pokeys and koala bears. Ha it was pretty fun to reminise. We were just hoping for Pocari Sweat, Yaki Soba, and Calpis but I guess you take what you can get.
This past week was a fantastic week. We worked really hard and found a ton of success. Kathryn came to church this past week with her entire family (total of 9 people) and we also had another investigator come named Ryan. It was really great to see them there and I really think they enjoyed themselves. Kathryn had a huge smile on her face because she had her whole family there, something she has wanted for a while. Next week is the Primary program and the kids were practicing for that so maybe next week they will come to see that. That would be really great.
Things are going well here. Elder Mitton got his cristmas Package and we found a Christmas tree so we put up our christmas tree and we are getting into the Christmas spirit. We did take pictures but Elder Mitton was smart and brought his card reader so that he can send pictures home but I forgot. Maybe I'll have him send me them. We'll see.
Well not much else to say. I love you and hope you had a great week and don't worry about not writing me, we didn't have too much time today anyway.
Love,
Elder Turner
Friday, November 12, 2010
11.8.2010
So some pretty big news. We got our transfer calls this past week and Elder McCleave is being transferred to my first area agnes (now called Stafford cause they moved the apartment). Our areas are called by the street we live on. We're the Munroe Elders for example. Anyway, my new companion is the one and only Elder Mitton. haha. President called and told me I was getting him and said I heard somewhere that you know him from Japan. I didn't even know that until after we planned transfers. It was pretty funny and I'm excited to serve with him. I'll drop Elder McCleave off on Thursday and pick up Elder Mitton.
As for the area we had a fairly good week. We were super busy and the work is really starting to progress. The ward now has really good missionaries and so the members are starting to build trust with the missionaries. This ward had some bad missionaries in the past which kinda halted the missionary work but they are starting to trust us again. A couple weeks ago we got a refferal from a member and yesterday we got another one so things are picking up. The refferal from the member a couple weeks ago is going really well. They live about 45 min away but on tuesday they are coming in and having a lesson at the church. The are the Marino family and they are really great people.
This winter has been so nice. Today was 13 C (55 F) and we played football outside. It has been quite warm which is unheard of for WINTERpeg, ManiSNOWba (you would not believe how many people we talk to that use that joke, it wasn't funny the first time and still isn't funny) The great thing about that saying is if it is a cold day people say WINTERpeg but if it is a windy day it suddenly changes to WINDYpeg. The people here are so clever. I'm hoping the weather will be like this all winter but people tell me not to hold my breath.
I told Sister Olsen to call you Cami so that she can see if you want her to bring anything up. I don't know when she'll do it but expect a call. They are great and she is planning on dropping off a letter with a check in it that I need deposited. You might also get to meet all my neices and my nephew as well.
Well not much else to write. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement.
Love,
Elder Turner
As for the area we had a fairly good week. We were super busy and the work is really starting to progress. The ward now has really good missionaries and so the members are starting to build trust with the missionaries. This ward had some bad missionaries in the past which kinda halted the missionary work but they are starting to trust us again. A couple weeks ago we got a refferal from a member and yesterday we got another one so things are picking up. The refferal from the member a couple weeks ago is going really well. They live about 45 min away but on tuesday they are coming in and having a lesson at the church. The are the Marino family and they are really great people.
This winter has been so nice. Today was 13 C (55 F) and we played football outside. It has been quite warm which is unheard of for WINTERpeg, ManiSNOWba (you would not believe how many people we talk to that use that joke, it wasn't funny the first time and still isn't funny) The great thing about that saying is if it is a cold day people say WINTERpeg but if it is a windy day it suddenly changes to WINDYpeg. The people here are so clever. I'm hoping the weather will be like this all winter but people tell me not to hold my breath.
I told Sister Olsen to call you Cami so that she can see if you want her to bring anything up. I don't know when she'll do it but expect a call. They are great and she is planning on dropping off a letter with a check in it that I need deposited. You might also get to meet all my neices and my nephew as well.
Well not much else to write. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement.
Love,
Elder Turner
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
11.1.2010
Helllllllloooooo Turner Family.
Happy Halloween!!! Last night we weren't allowed to proselyte after 5 so we ended up going to a members house for supper and had a fun time. We had a nice quiet Halloween. It is pretty funny to see up here though, everybody plans their costumes around their winter gear. This week we had the years first snow fall so everybody has been talking about that. It went away that day (which rarely happens) but there isn't snow anymore. The weather is now just kinda chill. And yes mom, Canada does celebrate Halloween. They celebrate Christmas too. November 11 is Remembrance day which is another holiday in the states but Remembrance day is about remembering fallen war heroes.
This past week we had a really good week. We went out to that refferal who lives about 45 min away and had a pretty good lesson with them. We are going again this week. We also got to go to a baptism on Saturday for somebody in the other ward but it went really well. It was a fillipeano baptism (filipeanos are my favorite people ever by the way) which means that instead of the normal baptism deserts we got a full coarse meal and food to take home. haha they love food, they love missionaries, and it is a win win situation for me.
Also on Saturday we got to go over to The Rodriguez's/Silks and carve pumpkins and watch "The Best Two Years". It was a really fun night. That movie was funny before but it is really funny when you realize that is really how a mission is. It was a great night.
Before I forget, Sister Olsen (my Second cousins wife) is going down to Utah than Las Vegas I think this week or so. She asked if there was anything I wanted her to bring home to you guys and I think I just might give her the check to give to you but other than that I don't have anything else to send. She than asked if there was anything she could bring back up. I thought about my Christmas package soon. I know it would be a hassle to get it ready quickly but it would save you alot of money from having to send it up. I'll have her call you and you can make that decision I guess.
Well Transfer calls are this Sunday. Crazy to think this transfer is gone already. My mission is just zooming past and it isn't a good thing. I love it out here. At least now I'll get to go home and have a brand new Nephew/Neice. haha remember when I thought the pregnancy test was instant. I was pretty grossed out. haha well I love you all.
Elder Turner
Oh and no, I have no idea what is happening with the elections. I know Canada just had theirs though but I don't even know the results of that.
Happy Halloween!!! Last night we weren't allowed to proselyte after 5 so we ended up going to a members house for supper and had a fun time. We had a nice quiet Halloween. It is pretty funny to see up here though, everybody plans their costumes around their winter gear. This week we had the years first snow fall so everybody has been talking about that. It went away that day (which rarely happens) but there isn't snow anymore. The weather is now just kinda chill. And yes mom, Canada does celebrate Halloween. They celebrate Christmas too. November 11 is Remembrance day which is another holiday in the states but Remembrance day is about remembering fallen war heroes.
This past week we had a really good week. We went out to that refferal who lives about 45 min away and had a pretty good lesson with them. We are going again this week. We also got to go to a baptism on Saturday for somebody in the other ward but it went really well. It was a fillipeano baptism (filipeanos are my favorite people ever by the way) which means that instead of the normal baptism deserts we got a full coarse meal and food to take home. haha they love food, they love missionaries, and it is a win win situation for me.
Also on Saturday we got to go over to The Rodriguez's/Silks and carve pumpkins and watch "The Best Two Years". It was a really fun night. That movie was funny before but it is really funny when you realize that is really how a mission is. It was a great night.
Before I forget, Sister Olsen (my Second cousins wife) is going down to Utah than Las Vegas I think this week or so. She asked if there was anything I wanted her to bring home to you guys and I think I just might give her the check to give to you but other than that I don't have anything else to send. She than asked if there was anything she could bring back up. I thought about my Christmas package soon. I know it would be a hassle to get it ready quickly but it would save you alot of money from having to send it up. I'll have her call you and you can make that decision I guess.
Well Transfer calls are this Sunday. Crazy to think this transfer is gone already. My mission is just zooming past and it isn't a good thing. I love it out here. At least now I'll get to go home and have a brand new Nephew/Neice. haha remember when I thought the pregnancy test was instant. I was pretty grossed out. haha well I love you all.
Elder Turner
Oh and no, I have no idea what is happening with the elections. I know Canada just had theirs though but I don't even know the results of that.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
10.25.2010
Hello Everybody,
This week was a fairly good week. Not too much happened but it is still been pretty good. We did go out to teach that member's friend. Turns out they live about 45 min. away so the member took us out there. After the long drive there we discovered that his friend wasn't home. Kinda a bummer and the member was really embarrassed. I hate getting lunched when we bring members along but I've never been lunched when a member brings us along (Lunched that the person missed the appointment, I thought I should clarify) That member called us today and said that he got caught up the other day and didn't get home till late so we are going out there again this week. It should go through this time.
This past week was stake conference and everybody we invited didn't necessarily want to travel to the stake center so we didn't have anybody come. We also had a Masters Fireside last night and Bro. Rodriguez and Kelsey Silk showed up (from the baptism) and another one of our investigators named Kathryn. We're hopefully going to be setting a baptism date with Kathryn. She is super ready for it, she just needs to take care of a few things before hand. The zone has 30 baptisms set before December which is huge because it's not something that usually happens. The mission is starting to pick up quite a bit so that is really great.
I'm doing good. Elder McCleve and I are getting along great and we are having alot of fun. The weather has been suprisingly good, especially for this time of year but they are expecting snow this weekend. Not the best news but we'll take it. It's gonna come sooner or later. Well Sorry there isn't too much else to talk about. I'll try and have more exciting things next time. Oh, The Rodriguez's are having us over this week for supper, pumpkin carving, and to watch "The Best Two Years" (President gave us permission). It will be pretty fun.
Love,
Elder Turner
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
10.18.2010
Wow so much happened this week. I'm constantly tired but I guess that just means I've been working hard. The baptism was amazing and the spirit was really strong. We went to the church to fill up the font and for some reason the hot water here in Winnipeg comes out like dark brown so it looked disgusting. haha we told the girls that becuase they wanted to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized we were trying to recreate the Jordan River.
Needless to say they weren't impressed. haha Bishop luckily had bought some pool die and so we put that in
there and so the water was like a deep blue. Looked kinda funny but better than brown I suppose. We didn't think too many people would show up but we set up a ton of chairs in the Relief Socity room. Well that filled up pretty quickly and during the first talk we had to set up more chairs and I had to sit out in the hall. As I was in the hall more people kept coming and they had to stay in the hall. Luckily everybody piled in to see the baptism and than we moved it to the chapel afterwards. After that everything went smoothly. The girls were so great and they just beemed. The younger one had to get dunked twice and after the first time when she found out she had to get dunked again she said "Are you Kidding Me??" pretty loudly. Everyone Laughed. They were also pretty happy/ honored that President Paulson and his wife came to see it. All in all it was a very long but extrememly good day.
At the baptism a member told us that he had been talking to his friends and they agreed to have us meet them so we are going to go visit this family with the member on thursday. We are pretty excited because member refferals are great. I don't think members realize that Tracting isn't the most effective thing and the best way to do missionary work is through the members. This particular member once went tracting with the Elders before I came and was like "Oh so tracting doesn't always produce people to teach". Maybe we should take members tracting more often. haha I don't think that would go over very well.
Jayden is adorable for sure and he's going to be even cuter when he gets a real puppy for Christ
mas. I just wish I could be there to see his face when he opens the present.
Sounds like everything is going good back at home. We should be having alot of good things happen this upcoming week and we are pretty excited about it. Sorry I don't have too much to say but the baptism really was the highlight. I'll try to send pictures today but if I don't get to it I'll send them next week. Love Ya
Elder Turner
Thursday, October 14, 2010
10.13.2010
So something really strange and unexpected happened this week. We were eating at a Filipeano Member's house this past week and his daughter and her 4 kids live there as well. They just moved up from Utah and the husband has to still work there and travel back and forth but he was there this past week as well. I introduced myself to him and he asked me how many elder Turner's there were out and I said just 1.He than said "Oh, you're my cousin" haha His name is Matthew Olsen. He is the Grandson of Grandpa Turners sister. They told me that even though I'm a distant uncle to the kids in Filipeano culture, I'm still at the same standing as an actual uncle. They call me Elder Tito (which is Uncle in Tagolog). I thought that was pretty funny and the last thing I expected was to run into relatives. They tahn invited us over for Thanksgiving on Sunday so I got to spend time with my new neices and nephew. haha.
This past week was really good. We had another Thanksgiving meal on Monday so I've been stuffed for a while. Oh sorry this is being written on Wednesday, Monday was thanksgiving so everything was closed, Tuesday was Zone Conference so we had no time to write. We have to head out to Interviews with the President soon after this. Zone Conference was really good. We had a General Authority come out and talk to us, Elder Sybrowski (?), and it was really good. The whole time I thought they looked really familiar but than I realized as his wife gave her conversion story that they spoke to us while we were in the MTC and she told the same story. They were both really good and we will hopefully start to improve as a mission. I think we all have kind of inherited a sense that our mission is not as successful as others and so its ok when we don't have much to show for it. I guess "whether you think you can or you can't, you're right" really makes sense in this case. We kinda needed a wake up call I guess you could say.
No mom I'm not sick, yes you loaded me up with tons of different medicine before I left and I still have quite a bit left. I've lent out more than I've used myself so don't worry about me.
That is so exciting that Casey is going to serve a mission. She'll do really great. Let her know that I've been meaning to write but I don't write many letters anymore. I've probably sent 2 in the last 6 months. But don't get me wrong I love mail so keep sending it. Just give me time to respond.
I want to make this really clear. Canada is not too much different from the United States. Canadian Thanksgiving is the same exact thing just on a different day. It is also actually for a different reason. Theres is because some guy tried to find a northwest passage by boat and failed but when they got home they had a feast of thankgiving that no one died on the journey and that they returned safely home.
We're gearing up for the Silk Girls baptisms this upcoming week. It will be on Saturday. I'm pretty excited for them and they are ready. I'll let you know how everything goes with that. It is tough planning a baptism exactly the way they want it and than having to ask members to participate. I guess if I baptized more often I would be use to it. haha
Well I love you all and hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Turner
This past week was really good. We had another Thanksgiving meal on Monday so I've been stuffed for a while. Oh sorry this is being written on Wednesday, Monday was thanksgiving so everything was closed, Tuesday was Zone Conference so we had no time to write. We have to head out to Interviews with the President soon after this. Zone Conference was really good. We had a General Authority come out and talk to us, Elder Sybrowski (?), and it was really good. The whole time I thought they looked really familiar but than I realized as his wife gave her conversion story that they spoke to us while we were in the MTC and she told the same story. They were both really good and we will hopefully start to improve as a mission. I think we all have kind of inherited a sense that our mission is not as successful as others and so its ok when we don't have much to show for it. I guess "whether you think you can or you can't, you're right" really makes sense in this case. We kinda needed a wake up call I guess you could say.
No mom I'm not sick, yes you loaded me up with tons of different medicine before I left and I still have quite a bit left. I've lent out more than I've used myself so don't worry about me.
That is so exciting that Casey is going to serve a mission. She'll do really great. Let her know that I've been meaning to write but I don't write many letters anymore. I've probably sent 2 in the last 6 months. But don't get me wrong I love mail so keep sending it. Just give me time to respond.
I want to make this really clear. Canada is not too much different from the United States. Canadian Thanksgiving is the same exact thing just on a different day. It is also actually for a different reason. Theres is because some guy tried to find a northwest passage by boat and failed but when they got home they had a feast of thankgiving that no one died on the journey and that they returned safely home.
We're gearing up for the Silk Girls baptisms this upcoming week. It will be on Saturday. I'm pretty excited for them and they are ready. I'll let you know how everything goes with that. It is tough planning a baptism exactly the way they want it and than having to ask members to participate. I guess if I baptized more often I would be use to it. haha
Well I love you all and hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Turner
Friday, October 8, 2010
10.4.2010
Well this past week has been pretty great. How could you be mad when General Conference is shown. It was really weird for me though becuase you only get 4 General Conference's on you mission and that was my third. Time goes by really quickly. Conference was great though. My favorite talks were Patrick Keaton in the Priensthood Session and my favorite speaker always is Dieter F. Uctdorf in both the Saturday Morning Session and the Priesthood session. The one in the morning was probably my favorite talk of the conference. Last week Elder McCleave and I bought a tube of Cinnamon Rolls and had them Sunday Morning so I'm keeping the tradition alive, even if they aren't as good as yours. We had 4 people come to church The Rodriguez girls (whom are getting baptized October 16th) came to all four sessions but went to the other chapel becuase she wanted to see some friends and Catherine and her Common-Law came for the last session. It was really interesting becuase she has 7 kids and always struggles to raise them and she is trying to quit smoking. They came about 30-45 min late but two of the talks that they heard which she really enjoyed was about raising kids (especially teenagers) and quiting addictions. Definately spoken straight for her.
Elder McCleve and I get along really great. He is hilarious and we just have tons of fun together. He's a great missionary too so that helps. I love having a truck. It is the greatest thing ever. Unfortunately we have to keep track of our K's which takes alot of the fun out of it. I'm not sure if that is in every mission but I think we have had missionaries here who have driven to Alberta, Ontario, and about 10 years ago, Utah. Yeah they took pictures in front of their house and drove back. They should have just stayed there becuase they got sent home that following week. Sometimes missionaries are just stupid.
Haha I'm glad you liked the pictures of Balut. It didn't taste bad just the thought/texture were gross. I probably won't do it again. Between sessions of Conference we went to Olive Garden for their never ending pasta bowl and I ordered the Parmeson Alfredo Portebella (knowing full well that portabella was a mushroom). It wasn't bad. I figured I've never really had it and Ive had balut...how bad could it be.
I hadn't heard that Evan got his mission call. That is so great. He'll do great, he'll be able to help alot of his investigators personally with problems they get. I sometimes wish I had a companion who was less-active or a convert just to be able to help our investigators personally. I know Evan wasn't either of those but it is the same effect.
Well I am overjoyed today, especially for Evan. I'm so happy I was able to write today and find that out. Next week we will be emailing later becuase next monday is Thanksgiving (Canada). I love you all and are constantly praying for you success as I know you are as well.
Love, Elder Turner
Monday, September 27, 2010
9.27.2010
This past week was pretty slow. Not too much happened but the big news is that we got our transfer calls. Elder Woods is coming over from his area (jefferson) which is closing to be with Elder Fackrell and be the new district leader. So He is staying in the same ward and they will cover both areas. I'm being moved to an area called Munroe and am staying in the district. I'm pretty excited. I'm going to be with Elder McCleave. He is a very quirky missionary but he is really funny and we get along so I'm excited. I get a truck (the truck is a Chevy Colorado) which I'm also excited and I'm prime driver. I've been prime driver for the past 6 months (senior companions are usually prime drivers) but we didn't have a car. My old area is getting a car as well.
I'm literally moving two areas over. I'll still be going to the same building but just the other ward. It is the London ward. I'm going to miss Gateway ward (my old ward) because they have some great members but I'm excited to start a new ward. It's weird because my district leader now is the elder at Munroe and everytime we went on exchanges I went to his area (even if I was with his companion) so I've taught all but 1 of their investigators. That will be nice and make it an easy transition. Munroe has two baptisimal dates. They are two girls (12 and 14) whose mom and step dad are super active but their real dad is anti. The mom and step dad have full custody so she can get baptized regardless. They are all super active and the girls are really great. They are already members, just haven't been baptized. They will be baptized the week after General Conference. They also have an investigator named Catherine who is Golden. I've taught her before. She asked the missionaries when she can be baptized and was reading the gospel principles manual and said "I really have a desire to be get married for eternity but I just need to find someone with that Melkizidek Preisthood" haha. She is really great.
So this past week we also taught Melina and have her set for a Baptisimal date for December 11th. She commited to come to church 3 times a month at least and to go to the fireside that weekend (it was another one of those Elder Masters' fireside) which was yesterday. Well, her new boyfriend won't let her go to church or the fireside so we are kinda stuck with her. She can only leave his sight for school and work. I don't know why people put themselves in these positions but it is stupid. Sometimes people are just dumb. Not too much else to report.
Our ward now has a ton of Filipeano members. they are the best people ever. One of them asked us to come over and give their house a blessing (first one I've ever done, I didn't even know that people did that. Did we do that to our house?) When we got there we realized she had invited us over for her sons 4th birthday party and their was a lot of Filipeano people and tons of good food. Then she asked me to bless it in front of everyone. haha I was nervous about doing it infront of just them. It went well though. She also decided for fun, she would make us Balut (Ba-Loot). Balut is a fertilized duck or chicken (we had chicken) egg that is almost devloped. You boil the eggs than crack the shell, pull off a little of the skin, drink the fluid, eat some of the yoke, than you can see the actual bird (beak, feathers, etc.) and gobble that down. It didn't taste bad but it was so gross. Hopefully I'll get time to send pictures today. I Think you'll enjoy it.
Our birthday lunch was good. It was at a place called Mongos. It is a mongolian stir fry restraunt where they have a ton of veggies, meats, noodles, and sauce and you put everything that you want into a bowl and then they through it on the grill right in front of you. It is pretty fun and tasted really good. I'm sure you could understand it better if you had pictures but I didn't take any. Look online, I'm sure they have some.
Well I love you all. Hope your week is good. I'll try and respond to everyone who wrote me but I'm gonna try and send pictures first so if I don't get to it, I will next week. Love ya
Elder Turner
Me holding the last bite of balut.
Balut...One is before you open the egg, the other is after. Can you see the birds head?
More Balut Look at how good that cake looks. Good thing I didn't throw up on it.
More Balut. This was really fun to do. I had to do it but i know you just love the pictures (esp. mom and Destiny)
Two pictures from a birthday party.
Marco Anthony (he's 4 now) playing with Elder Fackrell's Camera
One is of all of our zone at P-day activity (last transfer) and the other was at an Elders Quorum activity. We had a pig roast. That is the head.
This is from left to right Elder Fackrell, Elder Burch, Elder Woods, and I. Elder Burch, Elder Woods and I are pretty good friends. The first picture is serious and I think Kevin, and Cami will probably get the second picture ("Make the Face of your character!!) haha
9.20.2010
Hello everybody.
I hope everybody is having a great week. This week wasn't too bad for us. We did have somebody come to church for us this week which has been the first time in a while. He is from Sudan (Africa) and his name is Joshua. We might have to turn him over to the Young Single Adult Elders because he is that age but we are hoping on starting to teach his whole family. His English is ok but he really liked church. He had to have been the spirit because he doesn't understand too much English.
Karen has once again disappeared. Hopefully we get ahold of her soon. I don't know what to do with her. With Melina though we had a really great lesson with her. She is starting to learn again which is great but she wasn't able to come to church this past week because she was going to the zoo. Her boyfriend isn't the best example for her but she stated that she needs to be the example for him. Hopefully good things continue to happen with her. Things are starting to slowly build up again and hopefully it continues to go up.
That member (the DeFrancescos) fed us cafe rio yesterday. It was so good. Thanks for sending the recipe, she appreciated it as well. She had a recipe for the dressing that tasted exactly like it so she said she would copy it for me to give to you.
Not too much else happened this past week. Next Sunday is transfer calls and there are going to be a lot of changes in the mission. 9 missionaries are going home including our assistant so it is exciting to find out who our new leaders will be. Well I love you all and keep on keeping on.
Love,
Elder Turner
Sunday, September 12, 2010
9.6.2010
This week has been pretty good. We still haven't found anybody to teach but we did find alot of potentials that should be paying off soon. Our mission has had the goal of getting 50 to church for a while. In the summer it gets really hard to get people there and for the past 4 or so weeks we have gotten under it. This week we all fasted for it and we were grate full to get 57 at church. Our zone had 25 (there are 4 zones in all). Unfortuately we weren't able to help at all in the goal but we are definately working for it this week. Karen finally called us on Sunday and apologized and said she felt like she needed a little break so she wants us to start coming over again. I wasn't even mad that she took so long to call, I was just so excited and happy/overwhelmed that she called. It really was a great feeling.
Not too much is going on here. Because of the new schedule thing that the church put out zone confrences are every other transfer so this transfer we aren't haveing zone conference but there is a huge training meeting for all the leaders Wed, Thurs, and Friday from 8 am to 5 pm every day. They eventually invited everyone to go in Winnipeg so it will be sort of like a Bi-zone conference but spread out over three days. I'm pretty excited for it but this whole week is shot. Monday was P-day Tuesday District meeting than shopping and emailing (the stores and libraries were closed due to labor (or Labour up here) day. Wed thursday and Friday is that huge meeting all day, saturday is a Pig Roast for the ward, a couple appointments and we have to find time that day to plan for our upcoming week for three hours and than Sunday is Church, Monday will be P-day. Not too much actual missionary work will be happing this next week but that training meeting will be really great and help us in the long run. It is on the new way to use Preach my Gospel video so its gotta be good.
BTW Sorry I didn't write yesterday, as I mentioned earlier, it was Labour Day here yesterday.
Mom, a couple in the ward had us over for supper one day and we started to talk about restraunts in the states and I mentioned Cafe Rio and she said that is one of her favorite restraunts and I said that you had the recipe for Cafe Rio Pork and she said (and I quote)
"If you can get me the recipe, I will make it for you" There is no way I am turning that down. If you can get me the recipe that would be really great. Also if you can find a recipe for Cafe Rio's house dressing (or if you know one) that would be great to.
Well not to much else is going on here. A couple of the apartments have been getting bed bugs and we thought we had one the other day but the guy who checks the apartments looked at the bug we trapped and told us it wasn't a bed bug. What a relief...those things are terrible. On the brightside though the mission pays for you suits to get dry cleaned if you get them.
Well I love you all and know that I pray for you often as well and I definately feel your prayers.
Love,
Elder Turner
P.S. I didn't hear anything about an earthquake, thats crazy. Thanks for the notice
Monday, August 30, 2010
8.30.2010
Well this past week hasn't been the most memorable. We are starting to see more missionary excitement in the ward so that is good. We taught 5 lessons last week so definately not very good. It seemed like everything we set up seemed to fall through so hopefully this next week will be better.
This week there seems to be a plague on our district. Our District Leader had his car broken into on Sunday and they stole his CD's, his comp. camera, and broke the ignition on the car so that it doesnt' work now. Another set of Elders (elder Woods and Elder Galbraith) got Bed bugs and they are always at our apartment so hopefully they don't bring any with them. Alot of apartments have been getting Bed bugs and they are not fun at all. They are nasty and I never knew about them until I came up here. I don't think we have them in the states. I know also understand the phrase "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite". I always thought that meant any bug but I did not know it was the name of an actual bug. they are gross. haha. On the bright side if we get it, the mission pays for our dry cleaning.
So on Tuesday we had district meeting and President Paulson came as well. Elder Fackrell and I were assigned to practice our tracting on President Paulson so we went out in the hall and he ended up talking to us the whole time. He eventually told us that if we keep working hard, not only will we find people, but people will find us. kinda a weird statement but the very next day it came true. We were walking away from our apointment and the man named Salifau came down from his house and wanted to talk to us. He is from Guinee (Africa) and only speaks French but wants us to bring him a Book of Mormon in French. Later that day we were walking and this lady named Ann started talking to us while we waited for the bus and she was doing her yard (her house is in front of the bus stop). She was talking about how she is pretty sick of religion and how they are businesses. We talked to her a little bit and she really wanted to learn more. We are pretty excited for her. She also committed herself to church this next week with her daughter. We're meeting with her in a few days. We also have quite a bit of members that we are meeting with this day which should be really good. Somehow we swung 4 dinner appointments which 1 is sometimes a rare thing. We really feel like the members are starting to trust us more and want us involved with them. Elder Woods and Elder Galbraith found out that their apartment/area is closing at the end of the transfer (we are already starting to close areas for next year) so the ward will now be down to 2 sets instead of 3. I think the members know that with less missionaries it means more emphasis on the members so they are starting to step it up.
We had a really great day at church yesterday too. It was the 5th sunday so the leaders of the ward spoke and it was really great. Also our ward mission leader pretty much committed one of the other Elders investigator to be baptized which she accepted. We did end up missing the Master's Fireside though this month because nobody was able to go from our area (you can only go if an investigator or RC go). It was a good opprutunitiy to find though so hopefully our work pays off.
Well not much else to say. I love you all and hope you have a great week.
Elder Turner
This week there seems to be a plague on our district. Our District Leader had his car broken into on Sunday and they stole his CD's, his comp. camera, and broke the ignition on the car so that it doesnt' work now. Another set of Elders (elder Woods and Elder Galbraith) got Bed bugs and they are always at our apartment so hopefully they don't bring any with them. Alot of apartments have been getting Bed bugs and they are not fun at all. They are nasty and I never knew about them until I came up here. I don't think we have them in the states. I know also understand the phrase "Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite". I always thought that meant any bug but I did not know it was the name of an actual bug. they are gross. haha. On the bright side if we get it, the mission pays for our dry cleaning.
So on Tuesday we had district meeting and President Paulson came as well. Elder Fackrell and I were assigned to practice our tracting on President Paulson so we went out in the hall and he ended up talking to us the whole time. He eventually told us that if we keep working hard, not only will we find people, but people will find us. kinda a weird statement but the very next day it came true. We were walking away from our apointment and the man named Salifau came down from his house and wanted to talk to us. He is from Guinee (Africa) and only speaks French but wants us to bring him a Book of Mormon in French. Later that day we were walking and this lady named Ann started talking to us while we waited for the bus and she was doing her yard (her house is in front of the bus stop). She was talking about how she is pretty sick of religion and how they are businesses. We talked to her a little bit and she really wanted to learn more. We are pretty excited for her. She also committed herself to church this next week with her daughter. We're meeting with her in a few days. We also have quite a bit of members that we are meeting with this day which should be really good. Somehow we swung 4 dinner appointments which 1 is sometimes a rare thing. We really feel like the members are starting to trust us more and want us involved with them. Elder Woods and Elder Galbraith found out that their apartment/area is closing at the end of the transfer (we are already starting to close areas for next year) so the ward will now be down to 2 sets instead of 3. I think the members know that with less missionaries it means more emphasis on the members so they are starting to step it up.
We had a really great day at church yesterday too. It was the 5th sunday so the leaders of the ward spoke and it was really great. Also our ward mission leader pretty much committed one of the other Elders investigator to be baptized which she accepted. We did end up missing the Master's Fireside though this month because nobody was able to go from our area (you can only go if an investigator or RC go). It was a good opprutunitiy to find though so hopefully our work pays off.
Well not much else to say. I love you all and hope you have a great week.
Elder Turner
Sunday, August 29, 2010
8.23.2010
So this past week was transfer week. Not too much changed. Our zone stayed pretty much the same. Elder Woods is not training Elder Mitton but is training Elder Galbraith from Seattle. Elder Mitton is serving with Elder Lui from Hawaii. He is a really great missionary so Elder Mitton should be good. They are serving out in Melville, Saskatchewan. It is a small town outside of Regina that was just recently opened. Unfortunatley I wasn't able to see him but I know he's in good hands.
Not too much else happened. Almost all of our investigators decided it would be fun to stop investigating. I think they all had a giant meeting about it because all but 2 dropped us. All I can say is that this past week hasn't been the best. I definatley understand though, sometimes missions are hard but you just gotta keep working. We have been tracting in some newer areas and hopefully things start working out for us.
This past week though we did quite alot of service for people. We helped one of our investigators cut down a tree which was alot of fun. The next day we helped our other investigator pick up all the apples from their tree (there were tons of them). and the day after that we helped the Hernandez's (the members that called you for your birthday) put up a new fence because somebody drove though theirs. I enjoy doing service though. It gets you out of you missionary clothes and you get to help other people.
Sorry this letter isn't too long. Really not too much (good) stuff happened this week so not too much to report. The weather has been pretty hot but the other day we were out tracting and huge clouds came and it started raining, than hailing. That was the biggest hail I have ever seen. Fortunately some guy let us under his porch and he talked to us for a bit but wasn't too intrested. It's been pretty hot though, so much so that we are praying for winter. I know when it gets to winter we are going to be praying for summer though. This one is suppose to be extremely bad, or so they are predicting. But what do I know haha.
Love,
Elder Turner
Zone Conference Picture
8.16.2010
So first of all, transfer calls. Elder Fackrell and I are staying together here in the Henderson area. Elder Burch is going out to Moose Jaw (6 hours away) and Elder Woods is training. We are with Elder Burch and Elder Woods all the time so I'm hoping Elder Woods trains Elder Mitton because then I will see him every Mon, Tue, Fri, and Sunday. Pretty exciting.
It seems like Jobsisee is doing really well. Unfortunatley we aren't able to look at other websites except for email so I am not able to look at it but it sounds like it is doing good. When is it expected to launch?
So this past week has been ok. It has been raining alot but today it is clear. It is starting to get a little colder and they are expecting a terrible winter this year. I guess that is just payback for what the locals call a "mild" winter from last year. There was nothing mild about it. haha I guess I'm just a wuss.
We are still having problems with our investigators but slow and steady wins the race. Luiz, the man who came last week to church, came again but when he got there late he saw the congregation before us leaving so he thought church got canceled so he left. That was disappointing but we are meeting with him this week. We are really working on getting solid, commited people to investigate. We haven't gotten a hold of Karen since she was suppose to quit smoking but her daughter said she cut down but hasn't quit. Hopefully soon we will be able to talk to her.
It seems like Kevin had a good time in China. That is good to here. I'm glad Kevin finally got some man hood, even if it was from a sheep. I guess you could say it tasted ewe...haha that's dumb.
Well not much else to report. I do come up on my year mark soon which is scary but it was bound to happen sooner or later. I hear it goes by way to fast after your year mark. This past transfer just flew by so I guess I'll be home in no time. weird. haha well I love ya.
Elder Turner
It seems like Jobsisee is doing really well. Unfortunatley we aren't able to look at other websites except for email so I am not able to look at it but it sounds like it is doing good. When is it expected to launch?
So this past week has been ok. It has been raining alot but today it is clear. It is starting to get a little colder and they are expecting a terrible winter this year. I guess that is just payback for what the locals call a "mild" winter from last year. There was nothing mild about it. haha I guess I'm just a wuss.
We are still having problems with our investigators but slow and steady wins the race. Luiz, the man who came last week to church, came again but when he got there late he saw the congregation before us leaving so he thought church got canceled so he left. That was disappointing but we are meeting with him this week. We are really working on getting solid, commited people to investigate. We haven't gotten a hold of Karen since she was suppose to quit smoking but her daughter said she cut down but hasn't quit. Hopefully soon we will be able to talk to her.
It seems like Kevin had a good time in China. That is good to here. I'm glad Kevin finally got some man hood, even if it was from a sheep. I guess you could say it tasted ewe...haha that's dumb.
Well not much else to report. I do come up on my year mark soon which is scary but it was bound to happen sooner or later. I hear it goes by way to fast after your year mark. This past transfer just flew by so I guess I'll be home in no time. weird. haha well I love ya.
Elder Turner
Monday, August 9, 2010
8.9.2010
So this past week was ok. We had a lot of disappointments this past week but also alot of blessings. I guess you win some and you lose some. We set a baptisimal date with a man named Kenneth. He's from Nigeria and he is pretty great but hasn't come to church so it doesn't actually count as a date yet. He has a job at his church and often times the timing conflicts.
I'm not sure if I wrote this story before but we contacted a kid who gave us his info but didn't seem to intrested. When we called he ended up hanging up on us and his mom called back to apologize. We got to talking to her and she wanted to learn more about the church so we set an appointment. When we went by she told us she wasn't intrested anymore which was pretty disappointing. We than talked to President and he told us to go back. So we did. And set up another time and we actually had a really great lesson this past week. It was pretty exciting to see. She did say she would come to church and didn't end up coming so I don't know why. We'll have to get in contact with her soon. Good story though.
Sorry not much else to write about. This week was pretty slow. On Sunday we get our Transfer Calls so we will know where we are going. Pretty exciting. I love transfers, mainly because I like change. Don't get me wrong though, I will still miss our investigators and members if I leave but I still like the change aspect of it all.
Love,
Elder Turner
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
8.3.2010
This past transfer has flown by like crazy. Elder Fackrell and I only have two more Sunday's before transfers which scares me how fast everything is going. Elder Mitton is going to be here at the next transfer so that would be pretty fun to see him. I know what he looks like but its been a long time since we've done something together.
This past week has been pretty good. We've been really busy which is probably one reason this transfer is flying by. We already have 14 appointments set up this week which never happens so we're pretty excited. We haven't been able to get ahold of Karen since she quit. She works shift work so we just don't know when to call. Hopefully she's doing good but we'll find out soon enough. A member called Melina and talked to her. Melina is just super stressed and having a hard time but still wants to investigate just wants a little bit of time to figure things out.
Some pretty exciting news. Elder Fackrell was in Downtown Winnipeg (that is where he started, which is also where I started). There he taught a man named Gaberial from Sudan Africa. He also taught her sister. Gaberial is getting baptized this week and his sister (Akon) and her two kids will be at the end of the month. When they were teaching Gabrial he asked for copies of the Book of Mormon to send home to Sudan so they gave him two english ones and an arabic one. Well according to Gabrial, his village loves them and they read them all the time and every Sunday about 500 people get together for "church" and all the young boys wear white shirts to be like the missionaries. haha. Pretty amazing story. Too bad there is no missionaries there yet but when it is open 500 people are ready to be baptized.
I did get the video of Jayden floating but I can't watch it because of these computers. For some reason they won't let me watch certain videos. I did get alot of pictures though and I really enjoy those ones.
Oh by the way, yesterday was a civic holiday so that is why I didn't email. I'm not sure what the civic holiday means but Canada Loves holidays and they have them way too frequent. If they don't have 2-3 each month its rare. Oh also I heard that my friend Brittney Allison is engaged. That is crazy to hear that our friends are getting married. I also heard that Rozlyn Jensen is either engaged or already married. I'm happy for both of them but that is still really weird.
About two weeks ago we contacted this kid and got his info but I thought it was fake information. We called a few days later and his mom answered. We asked for the kid and she asked who we were. Than she told her son and told him who we were and he came over and hung up the phone. haha so we just laughed and continued making calls. A few min. later his mom calls back and apologizes for her sons behavior and than starts to ask us questions about what we do. Supposidly she has been looking for a church for 6 years. She was pretty excited to have us come over and teach her more. So we went over and she said "Yeah, I'm not really intrested anymore, thanks though" and than closed the door. We were pretty disappointed. Elder Fackrell was talking to President Paulson about it and President flat out said go back. So yesterday we went back and she wants to meet on Saturday and have her son sit in as well. It's weird...its as if President Paulson is inspired or something. haha pretty exciting.
Zone Conference was really good. There are going to be some major changes in the mission. They are going to have an entire new way of using Preach My Gospel. Also there is a new "The District" videos (ask Kevin and Destiny). Our mission is loosing alot of missionaries as well. Now we have about 98 missionaries and by next July it will be 56. Each ward will eventually have one set of missionaries (Our ward now has 3 sets and another ward has 4) That also means that each set will cover a huge area though. That means that 5 sets of missionaries for all of Winnipeg. Every area will have a car though. We are also loosing a ton of senior missionaries and nobody to replace them. Apparently there are 12 senior couples preparing to serve a mission right now...for the whole world. The church is desperatley in need of senior couples.
Well not much else to talk about I love you all. I've also heard that that movie (inseption or whatever) is really good. Not too big of a concern for me right now though but I definatley will see it.
Love ya,
Elder Turner
This past week has been pretty good. We've been really busy which is probably one reason this transfer is flying by. We already have 14 appointments set up this week which never happens so we're pretty excited. We haven't been able to get ahold of Karen since she quit. She works shift work so we just don't know when to call. Hopefully she's doing good but we'll find out soon enough. A member called Melina and talked to her. Melina is just super stressed and having a hard time but still wants to investigate just wants a little bit of time to figure things out.
Some pretty exciting news. Elder Fackrell was in Downtown Winnipeg (that is where he started, which is also where I started). There he taught a man named Gaberial from Sudan Africa. He also taught her sister. Gaberial is getting baptized this week and his sister (Akon) and her two kids will be at the end of the month. When they were teaching Gabrial he asked for copies of the Book of Mormon to send home to Sudan so they gave him two english ones and an arabic one. Well according to Gabrial, his village loves them and they read them all the time and every Sunday about 500 people get together for "church" and all the young boys wear white shirts to be like the missionaries. haha. Pretty amazing story. Too bad there is no missionaries there yet but when it is open 500 people are ready to be baptized.
I did get the video of Jayden floating but I can't watch it because of these computers. For some reason they won't let me watch certain videos. I did get alot of pictures though and I really enjoy those ones.
Oh by the way, yesterday was a civic holiday so that is why I didn't email. I'm not sure what the civic holiday means but Canada Loves holidays and they have them way too frequent. If they don't have 2-3 each month its rare. Oh also I heard that my friend Brittney Allison is engaged. That is crazy to hear that our friends are getting married. I also heard that Rozlyn Jensen is either engaged or already married. I'm happy for both of them but that is still really weird.
About two weeks ago we contacted this kid and got his info but I thought it was fake information. We called a few days later and his mom answered. We asked for the kid and she asked who we were. Than she told her son and told him who we were and he came over and hung up the phone. haha so we just laughed and continued making calls. A few min. later his mom calls back and apologizes for her sons behavior and than starts to ask us questions about what we do. Supposidly she has been looking for a church for 6 years. She was pretty excited to have us come over and teach her more. So we went over and she said "Yeah, I'm not really intrested anymore, thanks though" and than closed the door. We were pretty disappointed. Elder Fackrell was talking to President Paulson about it and President flat out said go back. So yesterday we went back and she wants to meet on Saturday and have her son sit in as well. It's weird...its as if President Paulson is inspired or something. haha pretty exciting.
Zone Conference was really good. There are going to be some major changes in the mission. They are going to have an entire new way of using Preach My Gospel. Also there is a new "The District" videos (ask Kevin and Destiny). Our mission is loosing alot of missionaries as well. Now we have about 98 missionaries and by next July it will be 56. Each ward will eventually have one set of missionaries (Our ward now has 3 sets and another ward has 4) That also means that each set will cover a huge area though. That means that 5 sets of missionaries for all of Winnipeg. Every area will have a car though. We are also loosing a ton of senior missionaries and nobody to replace them. Apparently there are 12 senior couples preparing to serve a mission right now...for the whole world. The church is desperatley in need of senior couples.
Well not much else to talk about I love you all. I've also heard that that movie (inseption or whatever) is really good. Not too big of a concern for me right now though but I definatley will see it.
Love ya,
Elder Turner
Monday, July 26, 2010
7.26.2010
So this week hasn't been as good as others but it was still ok. We had an amazing lesson with Melina on Tuesday but than haven't been able to get ahold of her since than. I'm not sure what happened but we're kinda worried about it.
We also met with Karen and talked about the first vision and how satan tried to stop it from happening. We related that to smoking and how satan doesn't want her to be baptized. She seemed to enjoy it and she is ready to quit smoking this Sunday. I guess before the Elders kinda pushed her about smoking and she quit for a month but only for them. She says she wants to do it on her own time and so she is pretty sure she is ready. We're excited for her and we got permission from her to talk to her everyday and she how its going.
This next week we should be really busy. During our weekly planning we set major goals and we are planning on making them. Unfortunately with Melina being MIA it's going to make alot of those goals very difficult.
To add to the stress of this upcoming week we also have less time to meet our goals because we have Zone Confrence this week. I'm excited for it but it is going to make our goals that much more difficult.
So I was talking to a missionary out here (Elder Banks) and he said his best friend knows our family. I don't really know them but they are the Jones. They live in Virginia. Elder Banks said that we went way back but that I probably wouldn't remember them. He did say he was pretty sure it was us because they got a Christmas card from you and found out I was out here and they knew that you lived in China. Kinda intresting.
My Birthday was really great though. We had district meeting and the Senior Sister brought cookies. Than because it was my birthday we had a District Lunch and Montana's (its like an Applebees but a little nicer) and Elder Burch (My companion from Selkirk) paid for mine so that was really nice. Thanks for all of the Birthday wishes and for the package.
Sorry this is short but I honestly don't have too much to write about. It's been hot...and humid.
Love,
Elder Turner
We also met with Karen and talked about the first vision and how satan tried to stop it from happening. We related that to smoking and how satan doesn't want her to be baptized. She seemed to enjoy it and she is ready to quit smoking this Sunday. I guess before the Elders kinda pushed her about smoking and she quit for a month but only for them. She says she wants to do it on her own time and so she is pretty sure she is ready. We're excited for her and we got permission from her to talk to her everyday and she how its going.
This next week we should be really busy. During our weekly planning we set major goals and we are planning on making them. Unfortunately with Melina being MIA it's going to make alot of those goals very difficult.
To add to the stress of this upcoming week we also have less time to meet our goals because we have Zone Confrence this week. I'm excited for it but it is going to make our goals that much more difficult.
So I was talking to a missionary out here (Elder Banks) and he said his best friend knows our family. I don't really know them but they are the Jones. They live in Virginia. Elder Banks said that we went way back but that I probably wouldn't remember them. He did say he was pretty sure it was us because they got a Christmas card from you and found out I was out here and they knew that you lived in China. Kinda intresting.
My Birthday was really great though. We had district meeting and the Senior Sister brought cookies. Than because it was my birthday we had a District Lunch and Montana's (its like an Applebees but a little nicer) and Elder Burch (My companion from Selkirk) paid for mine so that was really nice. Thanks for all of the Birthday wishes and for the package.
Sorry this is short but I honestly don't have too much to write about. It's been hot...and humid.
Love,
Elder Turner
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
7.19.2010
Well, I guess I have to come clean. I did open up my package the day I got it but I didn't want to admit it so I pretended like I didn't know last week. haha Love ya. Thanks for all the presents everybody. I don't know who sent what so I'm sending out a general thanks to everyone especially Destiny and Cami for putting it together for me. We spent last P-day playing bang and I've already eaten all the candy. Thanks for the song book and the cd as well. A dying missionary (means he is going home) gave me a CD player and his speakers so I don't need one anymore.
So we had an absolutley spectacular week. It was so amazing full of miracles. Elder Palica and I talked to a 19 yr old girl a while ago and she asked for a Bible and BOM. We didn't have a Bible is stock so we kinda forgot. She ran into us about two weeks ago and so than we told her we were waiting on one to get. Than Elder Fackrell came and we went and dropped it off last tuesday. We had an amazing lesson with her and we set up daily contact (we call each day and see how her reading is going). We than met with her on Friday and committed her to Baptism (sept. 4) and than we met with her on Saturday and gave her a tour of the church and than on Sunday she came with her son and cousin (9 yrs. old). The kids absolutley loved church and so did she. She wants us to start teaching her sister and her friend as well. When they got home from church her 3yr. old son said he wanted to go to church again and she said ok next week. He responded with "NO!! I want to go now!!" haha. that made us laugh. We are really excited for her and she is loving what she is learning.
Karen is doing great. Her and her daughter have both agreed to quit smoking on Aug. 1. Pray for her. This isn't the first time she has tried to quit but it should be the last. I guess there was an older woman in a different ward here that was scheduled to be baptized but 30 min before her baptism she was rushed to the hospital and is now waiting a double lung transplant because she smoked for 70 some odd years. We are definately praying for Karen and we hope for the best of course.
We have definately been working hard. The zone leaders have this ceramic angel statue that the call "Lola, The tired angel" who is one of the angels that helps everybody out (Promise in the D&C somewhere) The area that made her work the most that week gets to keep Lola for the week. Today the Zone Leaders gave it to us so that was really nice.
Well not much else to report. I did the math the other day. The last time Mom and Dad didn't have a teenager was about 14 years ago i think. It was a while ago when I did it. haha. I'm a man now!!!!
Love,
Elder Turner
Monday, July 12, 2010
7.12.2010
Sorry I have to make this one quick. There is a thousand people here at the library and other missionaries need to write. This week is really great. We have alot of appointments set up for this upcoming week and its really exciting. Elder Fackrell and I get along great and we are going to be doing quite alot of work in this area. I've been senior companion for quite a while. I just never mentioned it.
Karen is doing great. She bore her testimony to us at the last appointment but the smoking has got to be hard for her to do. Things are going really well. Thanks Cami and Brian and Kevin for all the pictures. Its nice to see that everyone is doing great.
I got my birthday package this past week. Thanks a ton for it. I can't wait until I can open it. Pretty exciting. I'm almost not a teenager anymore.
Well sorry this is short. Don't hate me. haha Love ya,
Elder Turner
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
6.6.2010
This week was a fairly good week. I'm actually very excited about this past week. We worked really hard and actually we had someone come to church so that is good. Her name is Karen. She recently moved into our area from another area and wants to be baptized just is struggling with quiting smoking. Hopefully we can help her with that.
This week we got our transfer calls. I'm staying here in the Henderson area and Elder Fackrell (pronounced Fack-roll) is going to be my new companion. He is a fairly new missionary. He has only been out about 4 months. Elder Palica is leaving but staying in Winnipeg. Different zone though so I won't see him as much. I'm really excited because I've only met Elder Fackrell a few times but I've liked him everytime. I'm pretty disappointed though cause Elder Clarine is leaving. He is probably my favorite Elder out but he is being transfered to Regina (don't laugh Kevin). At least he'll be able to go to the Temple.
Sorry this is pretty short. I don't have too much time today. Transfers are on Thursday so it will be fun to have a change. Elder Burch is staying so I will have been with him my entire mission except my two transfers in Saskatoon. I was able to go Karls baptism. I thought I wrote about that last time but I guess not. I was not however able to go to Chris's but I hear it was good. Elder Smith, my comp in Selkirk, is staying there but he just got called as district leader.
I would write Grandma and Grandpa but I don't know their emails. If you send them to me that would be great. Tell them hello for me in the mean time.
Well I love you all and hope you have a great week.
Love
Elder Turner
This week we got our transfer calls. I'm staying here in the Henderson area and Elder Fackrell (pronounced Fack-roll) is going to be my new companion. He is a fairly new missionary. He has only been out about 4 months. Elder Palica is leaving but staying in Winnipeg. Different zone though so I won't see him as much. I'm really excited because I've only met Elder Fackrell a few times but I've liked him everytime. I'm pretty disappointed though cause Elder Clarine is leaving. He is probably my favorite Elder out but he is being transfered to Regina (don't laugh Kevin). At least he'll be able to go to the Temple.
Sorry this is pretty short. I don't have too much time today. Transfers are on Thursday so it will be fun to have a change. Elder Burch is staying so I will have been with him my entire mission except my two transfers in Saskatoon. I was able to go Karls baptism. I thought I wrote about that last time but I guess not. I was not however able to go to Chris's but I hear it was good. Elder Smith, my comp in Selkirk, is staying there but he just got called as district leader.
I would write Grandma and Grandpa but I don't know their emails. If you send them to me that would be great. Tell them hello for me in the mean time.
Well I love you all and hope you have a great week.
Love
Elder Turner
6.29.2010
How's it going?
So this past week has been really good. We had a pretty successful week and we are working like crazy. When I say successful I mean we did better than we have in previous weeks. This Sunday is Transfer calls which is crazy because this past transfer just flew by. I'll let you know what is happening next Monday.
I'm glad to hear the Funeral went well. Your right though, many people did love her. Dad sent me the Eulogy and it was really good. President Paulson has been asking how everyone is doing with the loss. You can tell he really does care and concerned about not just us as missionaries but also our families.
It has been raining quite a bit this past week. The Mosquitos are out in full force as well. They are literally eating me alive. I found out this day that only the female mosquitos bite you because they need it to reproduce. That means every time you get bit, you probably just allowed 1000's more to be born. It's a terrible thought. It just means more are on their way.
So this Past week Karl from Selkirk got baptized. Very exciting. Elder Burch and I were allowed to go see it so we went on an exchange and it was really weird because Elder Burch and I drove back up to Selkirk together so it felt like we were still the missionaries up there. The baptism was great and he was so excited. The other day in church they played "If you could hie..." and Karl loved it so he decided he wanted that song sung at his baptism. We sang all 6 versus. haha there were alot of people who were not members and it was weird. Elder Burch and I were the witnesses for the baptism so it was nice to have a part in the program. That was by far the best day of my mission so far. I felt like I was on a cloud. Karl is going to be great and I'm so excited for him. We we went up to Selkirk it was storming but after the baptism it was a great cloudless sky and a really great sunset. All in all it was a great night.
Last night we had another Master's Fireside and they talked about the 5 and 6 articles of faith. really it was on the Church of Jesus Christ in ancient and modern times. Very very interesting. One point I liked was that Moses had chosen 12 princes to look over the 12 tribes (one for each tribe). Than they called a quorum of the 70 (in numbers somewhere) because when you read Genisis and when it talks about the Geneology of Noah there are 70 gentile nations. Each one in the quorum looked over each gentile nation. That's why when Christ told the apostles to only stay with those of the abrahamic covenant but sent the 70 out everywhere else is becuase the 12 look over those already in the church but the 70 is responsible for everyone who is not a member. When we are baptized we are "adopted" into the abrahamic coventant and thus under the 12's stewardship. It was pretty fasinating. I'm not sure if I got all of the facts right but it was something like that. It was a really good fireside. I really enjoy going to them.
Well not much else to report. Sorry to bore you with the old testament stuff. Love you all and keep doing great.
Love,
Elder Turner
So this past week has been really good. We had a pretty successful week and we are working like crazy. When I say successful I mean we did better than we have in previous weeks. This Sunday is Transfer calls which is crazy because this past transfer just flew by. I'll let you know what is happening next Monday.
I'm glad to hear the Funeral went well. Your right though, many people did love her. Dad sent me the Eulogy and it was really good. President Paulson has been asking how everyone is doing with the loss. You can tell he really does care and concerned about not just us as missionaries but also our families.
It has been raining quite a bit this past week. The Mosquitos are out in full force as well. They are literally eating me alive. I found out this day that only the female mosquitos bite you because they need it to reproduce. That means every time you get bit, you probably just allowed 1000's more to be born. It's a terrible thought. It just means more are on their way.
So this Past week Karl from Selkirk got baptized. Very exciting. Elder Burch and I were allowed to go see it so we went on an exchange and it was really weird because Elder Burch and I drove back up to Selkirk together so it felt like we were still the missionaries up there. The baptism was great and he was so excited. The other day in church they played "If you could hie..." and Karl loved it so he decided he wanted that song sung at his baptism. We sang all 6 versus. haha there were alot of people who were not members and it was weird. Elder Burch and I were the witnesses for the baptism so it was nice to have a part in the program. That was by far the best day of my mission so far. I felt like I was on a cloud. Karl is going to be great and I'm so excited for him. We we went up to Selkirk it was storming but after the baptism it was a great cloudless sky and a really great sunset. All in all it was a great night.
Last night we had another Master's Fireside and they talked about the 5 and 6 articles of faith. really it was on the Church of Jesus Christ in ancient and modern times. Very very interesting. One point I liked was that Moses had chosen 12 princes to look over the 12 tribes (one for each tribe). Than they called a quorum of the 70 (in numbers somewhere) because when you read Genisis and when it talks about the Geneology of Noah there are 70 gentile nations. Each one in the quorum looked over each gentile nation. That's why when Christ told the apostles to only stay with those of the abrahamic covenant but sent the 70 out everywhere else is becuase the 12 look over those already in the church but the 70 is responsible for everyone who is not a member. When we are baptized we are "adopted" into the abrahamic coventant and thus under the 12's stewardship. It was pretty fasinating. I'm not sure if I got all of the facts right but it was something like that. It was a really good fireside. I really enjoy going to them.
Well not much else to report. Sorry to bore you with the old testament stuff. Love you all and keep doing great.
Love,
Elder Turner
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
6.22.2010
Hello everybody
This past week was pretty tough. We had a tough week and an extremely busy one. We had Monday: P-day, Tuesday: Interviews, Wednesday: Zone Conference, Thursday: Weekly Planning, Friday/Saturday: Exchange with the District Leader, and Sunday: Church. I'm pretty exhausted but the harder the week the faster it goes.
It was nice being able to talk to you this past week mom. I was shocked to hear that Aunt Derd had passed away and I'm going to miss her terribly. Kevin wrote me and mentioned that it was shocking but its a good thing we have the Gospel. Being a missionary I know how true that is. There are so many people in this world that don't have a knowledge of the Gospel and yet have people close around them pass away. I don't know what I would do without the knowledge that I would see her again. It truely does bring alot of comfort.
I have been having a good week. Not as good as I planned but next week we are going to do alot better. Not this Sunday but next Sunday we get our transfer calls which came way too quick. Carl, up in Selkirk, is getting baptized this Saturday so I'm hoping we will be able to go (we have to have an investigator go).
Sorry this is short but I love you all and want you to know I'm doing good. Say hi to the family for me and my prayers are with you all as you attend the funeral.
Love,
Elder Turner
Monday, June 14, 2010
6.14.2010
Hello Eveyone,
haha Sis. Contreras (the lady that called you) called me this morning and was like "she thought something was terribly wrong and I felt really bad" haha. I thought dad had explained that it was President Paulson and something was wrong with me as a joke. They are a great family. Her parents do feed us spanish food every Friday and they are all from Guatamala except for the dad He is from El Salvador. I also told them to talk to Kevin in Spanish but I guess they forgot. They are a really great family and they do alot for us. President Paulson actually asked the parents (the Hernadez's) to become a senior couple for the mission so they will become missionaries in a few months.
The weather here changes so much. Lately we will leave in the morning and have it be pretty hot, than get completley drenched than hot again, than rained on again. For the whole day. I didn't bring a rain coat that day and I was drenched. We met alot of mothers on those streets who told me to go home and get out of our wet clothes. Yesterday and Today were beautiful though. Hopefully it continues for the rest of the summer. The mosquitos are coming out in full force and supposidly it is only going to get worse. The cankerworms (worms that hang from the trees and get all in your face) are starting to leave so I'm pretty happy about that.
This week has been full of more finding people to teach. We actually found quite a few people this past week and hopefully they will be going places. We were walking down a street and I waved to a man with his grandaughter on the other side of a busy street and he stopped and wouldn't move. We walked up to him and he mentioned that he had talked to us in Guywana or something like that (his home country) and they gave him a Book of Mormon. He than said he ran into missionaries here but wasn't able to make the appointment so I guess they stopped trying but he says he still reads it everyday and wants us to come by so we are meeting with him this week as well. The Lord definately knows how hard we are working and has definately blessed us. Sometimes we get knew people to teach from other missionaries for people in our area. Two different people from two different areas are both moving into our area this month with baptisimal dates. We also got three people turned over to us that were found but are actually in our area. We had an appointment with one guy and he had not lived in that house for quite a while but we ended up talking to the guy and we are meeting with him next week as well. He is a Baptist pastor from Somewhere in Africa but attended our church for a while in Kenya. He really liked it and wanted us to come back. Good things are happening here, it just takes a while for it to happen.
About your talk this week mom, I think the things that have helped our family the most was like what Elder Bednar (I believe) talked about...consistancy. We knew that every Sunday was church and we knew how we should act at church. Also You and Dad made the Gospel fun and something that was desirable. I also liked how I had the choice (or so I thought) if I wanted to go to church or things like that but I still did my best to go. If I did choose poorly you would express disappointment but I wouldn't be punished. I did also feel like yours and dad's testimonies were frequently shared whether you recoginzed it or not. One thing we could have done better was Daily prayer, scripture study, and FHE. Other than that you guys did a great job. Don't be too hard on your self. Not too many families have a Destiny in the family so you did something right at least with one of us. Also we are all still active, we have all served missions, two are married in the temple to worthy spouses. I would say you two did a pretty good job.
Well not too much else to report. I do love you all and hope for the best. Keep on living life and don't do anything stupid (Kevin).
Love,
Elder Turner
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