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

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

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

8.23.2010

How's it going?

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

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

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