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

Monday, June 7, 2010

6.7.2010

Time has been flying by here as well. I can't believe its June already. But do you know what June Means? My Mommy turns 50!!!!!!!!!!

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Hope that came through alright. That is you over the hill. I love you mom and hope you have a great birthday. Don't worry about being old. Although old and dangerous behind the wheel, old people do serve a purpose. haha I love you alot mom and realize that dad will always be older.

I got my contacts yesterday. My eyes feel wonderful. Thanks everyone (mainly Brian and Cami) for getting that ready and thanks for my pictures of my favorite nephew.

So not too much happened this week. I don't know if I told you that Elder Reilly (from the MTC) went home at the beginning of our missions (about the second transfer). I got his wedding announcement yesterday which was really weird. haha its weird to think he is already married.

We're working really hard this past week and we definately had a better week than last but it still wasn't the best. This is definately my hardest area. Things are going good though. We have some serious plans on how to find people to teach and hopefully we'll be able to improve this next week. I'm sick of not being able to teach anyone.

There are quite alot of Jewish people in the Elders across the river's area and I was wondering if there would be a way to get me a copy of the missionary discussions written for Jewish people that those people in your branch wrote. That would be great.

My birthday is coming up and I was thinking about what I wanted I came up with a small list:

1. Bang! Card game (Kevin)

2. Other small games: Phase 10, skipbo, etc (I do have Uno)

3. A CD player with speakers

4. A small childrens hymnbook

5. Pictures (Not of me, I see myself quite often, its you I don't see)

With the pictures one if you could send me some pictures of my friends because I don't have too many of them. Jayden is also another great thing to send pictures of. I don't have too many pictures of my favorite mom and Dad either.

Well sorry this is short but I really don't have too much to say. We have zone conference next week which is something to look forward too but that will be after next weeks emails.

Love,

Elder Turner

Thursday, June 3, 2010

5.31.2010

How's it going? This week was ok. Nothing too much happened. It has been raining all week and we were out tracting one night when it was just pouring and lighting all over. We were drenched. I don't think I've been wetter before. At first we were avoiding puddles but eventually our shoes filled with water anyway so we ended up jumping through them. It was weird though the temperature outside was warm but we were drenched.

This past Sunday was our Stake Conference. It was a broadcast from the Vancouver stake so it was great to see. Elder Ballard and President Uchtdorf were there and it was really good. Unfortunately we weren't able to have anyone come to church. Last week as a mission we had 79 at church which was a record for the mission. This past Sunday we had 43 which was a pretty big disappointment. We also had a fireside last night. The firesides are called the Masters Firesides because a senior couple (Elder and Sister Masters) do it. They taught over at BYU Jerusalem and he has been in religion his whole life. He is now the coordinator for all the Seminaries in Central Candada and the institutes. He taught about the first 4 articles of faith and it was amazing. They always have great firesides.

Not too much else happened this past week. Sorry this one is pretty short but I don't have too much to write about. I haven't received my contacts yet but they should be here soon.

Thanks for all your support and prayers.

Love,

Elder Turner

5.25.2010


This week was a fairly good week. Tamara has been impossible to contact, I think she might be out of town. The two people that contacted us on the bus (Jason and Robin) have been busy and said they would call us (that is never a good thing) but we did have two investigators come to church which was great. They are intrested in learning but more as to see what we believe. Actually the wifes brother and his family are getting baptized in a couple months down in Kansas City so she wanted to come to church and see what he will be doing.

We have had some pretty good Gospel cfonversations with people this past week so hopefuly a few of them pan out. We have been trying to find like crazy and we're just waiting for the fruits of our labors.

So we also got our transfer calls this past week. Elder Palica and I are staying together for at least one more transfer. Actually everyone in our zone, except two people are staying. Everyone in our district stayed the same. This is a really small transfer. We are loosing 6 people (4 elders and 2 sisters) and we are getting 4 elders. President Paulson's brother came out this past transfer with his wife to be missionaries for the next two years. President is pretty excited for that. Right now they are working in Portage La Prarie but after the senior couple that are in charge of supplies and vehicles in the office leave in December, Elder and Sister Paulson will take over thier jobs.

Not too much else happened. We are working hard and being blessed for our efforts. Oh quick story, Elder Clarine and Elder Burch stayed over last night to make it easier to go to District meeting today (with permission of course) and the car got broken into last night. Elder Burch had his sunglasses stolen and Elder Clarine got his $450 camera stolen. Suprisingly they didn't want my collection of EFY and church CD's. weird. haha Elder Clarine is not very happy but it's understandable.

Well I love ya. Hope you have a great week.

Elder Turner

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

5.17.2010


Thanks for the email. I hope everybody is having a good week. Yes mom I did get the recipe, she is cooking for us on the 26th so I'm pretty excited. Our first dinner appointment was pretty good, it was with a family who the wife is really active but the husband isn't. He is kinda strange though because he was even talking about Less-actives and acts just like a super active member. Not sure what to do about him.


Glad to hear everything is going well at home. Things are changing so fast but than again life on a mission goes by even faster. This past transfer has literally flown by. Transfer Calls are on Sunday so I'll let you know next week whats happening.


So this past week had its ups and downs. We finally got ahold of our one investigator, Bonny-Sue, who is "golden" as we would say. We weren't able to contact her since she came to church two weeks ago and we finally found out it is because her husband won't let her answer the phone for us, won't let her meet with us, and won't let her go to church. The only reason she answered this time was because he was at work. We were pretty discouraged but we're still working hard. She asked us to drop off some material so she could study on her on time. Hopefully in a couple years she will be ready.


We were able to find a new investigator this week. Her name is Tamara. She is from Paraguay but lived in a German Colony so she speaks German best, than Spanish, than English. She is great and we are excited to work with her.


Also two people contacted us on the bus the other day and were excited to learn more about the church (this never happens) we are meeting with them tongiht so I'll let you know how that goes.


We had nobody at church this week which was sad. Elder Smith and his greenie just had 7 at church in Selkirk. He told me they found a really great family of 5 so it sounds like things are going good in Selkirk. We did have 6 less actives come from 4 different families so we were happy about that. We have been trying to work with the members alot more. We made a goal to meet with every member in our area. We were happy about them coming to church because we have been working with 4 of them.


Not too much else going on here. Transfer calls are this week but I think I mentioned that. Well I love you all and hope you have a great week.


Love Elder Turner

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

So you will stop complaining...

Haha just kidding here are some pictures!
The first one is of Elder Clarine, our District Leader. Dairy Queen had a deal a couple weeks ago where if you bought one Blizzard you got another for 25 cents. We took full advantage of that deal and was there everyday of the deal except Sunday.


The second one is of me and Sandy. Sandy was one of our investigators up in Selkirk. She is a great lady and hopefully she is making progress.



The First picture is of me and Beverley (the one outside). She was a really nice lady but was having alot of health issues so we weren't able to meet as often as I would have liked.


Christi and I are in this one. Another one of our investigators. I think I wrote home about alot of these people but if I didn't write me and let me know and I'll tell you more about them. They are all up in Selkirk, in fact all except the blizzard one were up in Selkirk.


This is of a woman named Sharon and her family the oldest is Dominique, than Paige, than Kaycee, than the youngest is Stephen. They are a great family and she is the second best mom in the world (Next to Carrie Turner). She cooked us baked goods all of the time too which might contribute to why I love them so much.


This is Chris Palmer. Another one of our investigators up in Selkirk. I actually just found out today he set a baptisimal date and came to church. That will be so great for him and yes I understand what he looks like and we are concerned about WOW issues as well.