11.16.2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11.9.2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love,
Elder Turner

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

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

11.2.2009

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

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

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

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

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

At a training meeting...

10.19.2009

I'm glad that you were able to talk to Tony. I was going to ask you if you've heard anything from all of my friends. By the way I went to buy winter stuff today. All of it without a coat was about $320 and my card was declined. I tried just buying $20 socks and it worked so i tried everything without the boots ($200) and it still was deciled. Do i have money on there? Or does it have a limit on how much I can spend. Next week we are going to have to shop again and I'm taking your card and mine. Hopefully one of them works.

It sounds like you've been busy with Youth conference. Did you go paintballing or just watch? I can't see you paintballing.

Thanks giving was very similar to American Thanksgiving. We had turkey and ham at everyplace though. BUt stuffing, yams, mashpotatoes, cranberry sauce. I know you won't believe this but I've been eating mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumbers, and pickles. I feel bad denying somebody's food so I just eat it. Cucumbers are still gross but everything else isn't bad. Sorry for all the grief I've given you. Nobody has given me seafood yet so i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The baptism was really good. We had a few investigators. WE had three lined up for Nov. 11 but we had to drop two of them. One is less accountable and the other hated church and didn't want to come back because she thought one of our speakers (incredibly quiet and boring) was our preacher. We tried explaining but she didn't want to hear it.

Kevin wrote me and told me he got the swine flu. that is so neat. My brother survived an epidemic. haha I'm sure you freaked out though. haha.

Well If you send me a package ever, can you put in lots of pictures, cds, candy, and my cologne (addidas moves). we are allowed to have cologne by the way. Well not much else to write I'm pretty frustrated with the whole winter gear situation. It's alot of money and I my card gets declined. Well I love you and look forward to your next letter.

Oh yeah, a lady in my ward travels to china quite often and wants to look you up when she gets there to find out the ward. She wants your chinese phone number and address. Its ok if you don't want to give it.

Love,
Elder Turner

10.13.2009

Hello,
Sorry this e-mail is a day late. It was the Canadian Thanksgiving yesterday so we couldn't going shopping or go to the library. This past week has been way good. Friday we had a tri-zone conference and Elder Gibbins of the Quorum of the seventy (or second quorum idk) came and spoke to us about the importance of members in our work. After zone conference one of the wards provided a Thanksgiving dinner for us which was so good. Sunday the Bishop of our ward invited my companion and I out to his house for Thanksgiving dinner and when we got there we discovered another senior couple in our ward was invited as well as the Mission President and his wife. The food was still very good. Lastly, yesterday a family, the Kenny's, invited us over for yet another Thanksgiving dinner. Once again it was delicious. I remember Kevin and Destiny saying I would hate Thanksgiving and Christmas because you get fed too much. I have no Idea what they were talking about, it was soo amazing.

So last week I was planning on buying my winter gear but their heavy stuff wasn't in yet so I contemplated the idea of just buying gloves and a hat then but just decided to buy it all at once. Lucky me, the snow came. Yes it already snowed here. I am literally freezing haha. Hopefully we have time to go get some stuff today. haha I don't know how much i'm suppose to spend but for me and my comfort I'm going to buy the best stuff for the best price. If it is over your limit, let me know and I will pay you back when i get home. We went from summer (which was about two weeks long, i got the last week of that) to winter and now we are starting to get into fall just to get back into winter. Everyone here is pretty shocked that it snowed because it usually doesn't happen till end of october. I mean, the trees are still green.

My favorite thing about the mission so far is just watching people change. You can see the difference of them at the beginning and then when they start using the gospel in their lives. They are genuinely happier. The hardest thing so far is watching people know the truth, or feeling the spirit and then having them decide not to progress. It is really difficult to see how much happier they could be but choose not to be.

I'm happy to hear about BYU winning again. That is way good to hear. I hope Mark enjoyed that. They have football here but it is kinda different. The field is bigger and there are only 3 downs. I've only seen high school practices but that is what everyone tells me.

Well not much else to announce. We are going to a baptism tonight of somebody in the singles ward. It should be good. We are bringing an investigator with us so he can see what he will do when he gets baptized on Nov. 11th. Hopefully I'm not gone for that because transfers are the end of October.

Well I love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Love,
Elder Turner

10.5.2009

Hello,
Of course I watched conference. All ten hours of it. My favorite talk had to be Elder Hollands talk in the Sunday afternoon session. It was so good. When I heard there was going to be a temple in Sapporo I was so excited for Brian.

I'm pretty sure Lane and Lindsey are sending pictures home but I'll write them and remind them. My camera is fine, i just have to take the batteries out when not in use.

It has been pretty chilly here lately. I am buying my winter gear next week. I never know the temperature here because nobody knows the Fahrenheit and I don't understand Celsius. It is really annoying. The other night we fell asleep with all the windows open and it was the first cold night. It got to -2 Celsius and we woke up freezing. I don't know what -2 C is but 0 C is 32 F so it was below freezing. Also -40 C and -40 F is the exact same temperature and if the temperature gets below that, we can't go outside. I hear that happens quite often. Missionaries have fun though. Throwing a boiling pot of water up and watching it evaporate, spitting and watching it freeze before it hits the ground, or my favorite, seeing whose eyes can freeze shut first. I'm excited for the winter. Never had one like it and probably never will.

I can't believe Halloween is coming up. Time flies out here. Thanksgiving is next week. (yeah, we get it early in Canada) but I don't know what we are supposed to celebrate in November.

Now that conference is over we always have to wear our suit coat when out of our apartment till next conference. Before we could just wear a white shirt and tie.

I thought of more things I want:
Music: my favorite are the classical hymns that Kevin has. I want as much of those as possible. It just can't have drums, or anything that can't be played in sacrament.
Photo Album (i still want one)
American Candy (they don't have anything here)
Dr. Pepper (soda tastes different here)

The last two aren't that important, just throwing it out there.

That is about it for me. We played football today for P-day activity and I am so sore and hurt. haha it was fun though.

Well i love you.

(this is for the blog) ANybody who is expecting letters from me, it might be awhile. I rarely have time to write letters on P-day. Its a blessing and a curse.

Love,
Elder Turner

p.s. Here are some pictures of Paul with his Grandpa Turner at his 80th birthday party (and Kevin too).

9.28.2009

This week was so great. We are in downtown Winnipeg which is full of people so you get to talk to lots. We get a lot of new investigators but we also drop them as fast as we get them. People are often unwilling to keep commitments or unwilling to continue to listen. We have three companionships (two other elders and two sisters) in our ward. We have a goal to get 20 investigators to church between all 6 of us. Last Sunday, my companion and I had 13 planned for Church and 10 of them came. Unfortunately the other companionships were unable to get anybody to come but we were still very happy. We had a family from Mexico who is neighbors with the bishop and they are progressing very well, I just wish Kevin was here to translate. Sometimes they don't know what we are saying. We had a woman from Liberia who we taught on Saturday, she came to church and we committed her to be baptized on Nov. 11 and she said yes!! We had a family from Thailand who the father, Sacapau, speaks minimum English. Very difficult to teach them but yesterday at church they wore these very neat Thai shirts that are like knitted together or something. We taught them last night after church and they gave each one of us one of those shirts and a bag (kinda looks like a purse but still very neat). They are so nice and they are starting to understand our lessons. We had a man from the Phillipean named Dani who has a baptism date on Nov. 11. Lastly at church we had a guy named Tim from Canada who is golden. Everything we teach him he changes immediately. After our first lesson he decided to ask his boss for Sundays off so he could get baptized. He just recently quite coffee the other day. He is also getting baptized on November 11. That is going to be quite the day. 3 baptisms possibly 5 (we committed two others and they said yes but they couldn't come to church yesterday and they have to come once to count it.) Too bad transfers are on Nov. 1st so we might not be here to see it.

Until next week,
Elder Turner