Hi Family and Friends!!!

I hope you are all well and happy!  I'm super happy right now because we woke up at 5:30am and went for a hike with the zone! I loved it! It was so beautiful. I'm sad because I forgot my camera cord so I can't show you how pretty it is here. I so want to come back to California one day. I see L.A every day but I can't go because it's not in my area.  There is one street we were driving up last night to go to a members house and on the way back down there was a beautiful sea of lights as far as I could see and then the skyscrapers of L.A int he midst of the twinkling lights. It was an amazing view!  One day I will come back and go to L.A, the Hollywood sign is like 15 mins away but not in our area so we can't go. 

It's a little colder up here because we are closer to the mountains than we were in Pasadena but it's still nice and we are enjoying it here. It is a little harder to find people to teach here because it is a very rich area but we are trying to reach out to the ward members. We want to visit everyone in the ward directory active or less-active and try to find people to teach. That is something that make me more grateful to be on Temple Square because the difficulty of finding people is cut in half. We still need to go up to people and start talking to them but on Temple Square they've already made the first step by coming to us. 

We did a fun finding activity on Saturday. The other sisters in our district and my companion and I went to one of the main streets and drew the Plan of Salvation with sidewalk chalk and talked to people as they walked by. It was so fun! IT was a beautiful sunny day and we had a few people who were interested in what we were doing. There are so many more ways to find people then simply tracting. Actually I've seen more success talking to people on the street rather then knock on their door. The best way to find people to teach is when members invite their friends over while the missionaries are there for dinner. 

I read "The Fourth Missionary" by Elder Corbridge again this week because I needed to refocus on my mission. Not that I wasn't focused but lately there was a lot of times I found my thoughts drifting to "what I would do when... " kind of thoughts instead of focusing on the here and now and the work that I need to be doing. There is a great work to be done as a missionary and I will only have this experience once. I don't want to waste any of it by focusing too much on the future. I'm here to serve and invite others to come unto Christ not to figure out my future. There will be enough time for that when I get home. Right now I'm in California, I have a great companion who is very sweet and loving with everyone and I can learn a lot from her. She has great charity for people, more than I've probably seen in anyone before I want to learn to develop that kind of Christlike love. I want to truly love people before I even meet them and when I do meet them I want to still be able to love as the Savior would and does. I don't want to judge or think negativity of anyone. I've never been one to enjoy gossiping or saying bad things about others to people but it doesn't mean I don't mentally judge people when they do and say things differently then I would. I know I can change and become more like Christ as I strive to develop this kind of love. I can change because that is what this life is for, we are always changing that is the process of life, if I let my will become the Lords will I will be able to change for the better. 

We had a miracle this week! One of the less-active women in the ward who hasn't come to church in 6 months came to church this past Sunday after we visited her. It was so nice to see that our efforts as missionaries continue to progress. We have been really focusing on the less-active ward members and helping them understand the importance of coming out to church and partaking of the sacrament and going to other Sunday meetings. 

Sarah thank you for the letter and delicious chocolate :) I was going to send a happy picture with it but it's already all gone. Hope your enjoying your new house. Happy (late) Birthday to Benjamin! I hope he gets my card soon. I wasn't able to mail it on Monday because our mailbox locks too and we don't have the key to it. What did you do for the party?

Lyra your birthday is coming up! What are you going to do? 

I love you all sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo MUCH! I wish I could send you some sunshine but hopefully your February hasn't been too cold. 

Love, Sister Turner 
 
Family and Friends!!

Sorry I didn't email yesterday, it was a holiday and the library was closed.

Guess what! Yesterday was transfer day and I was transferred! I was so surprised, I'm excited that I will be able to learn a lot more from a new area but I also know I will miss all the wonderful people I've grown to love in Pasadena. I am in La Canada (said La Can-yad-a) with Sister Fogavai from American Samoa. She will be my second international companion, it's funny I had to leave Temple Square to get a international companion. She's awesome and very sweet I'm excited to learn a lot from her. 

We have tons to do in our new area because the Sisters that used to be in the area were both pulled out because they used to be covering two areas and now they are just covering the other one. It's a little overwhelming being in an area where you and your companion both don't know anyone especially since I still feel like I don't completely understand what is going on outbound. I know I will learn a lot though and I hope that I will be able to help others in the process. One of the Sisters that used to be in this area came over this morning and explained a little bit about the people her and her companion were teaching, that helped a lot and it made me more excited about the area. There is a family that we get to meet this coming week and few other less active families they've been working with. 

We live in the most FANTASTIC house! We actually live in a back pool house that is so beautiful. I forgot my camera today but I will have to send you the pictures soon. It's spoiled me for all other missionary houses. The members that live in the house in front are wonderful. We had dinner with them last night they have four children ages 11, 9, 7 and 4 which are so cute! I know I will learn many things from their family they have a very sweet spirit it their home and they are so excited about missionary work. I also live up the street from an actress but I forget her name. California is sooooooooooooooo BEAUTIFUL!

I was sick this last week but I got a blessing and I'm feeling much better now. I was a little worried because I couldn't breathe out of my nose and I had to go get the second root canal. But right after the blessing I felt so much better and the dentist went well. I still have 3 appointments left with the dentist which seems like a lot but it's not that bad once they put the freezing in. I drink tons of water and the freezing seems to come out pretty quick. 

I had a great last week with Sister Fleming. She is so much fun and we will be friends forever! It's different being transferred in this area. On Temple Square you know you will see the Sister you left even that same day because the mission is SO small. She gets home like 2 weeks after I do though so it will be easy to stay in contact with her.

Love Sister Turner 


Hi!!

2/11/2013

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Hi!!!

We had a really good week and the best part about it was that Peter is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! It was a wonderful day and a great experience to see him get baptized and hear his testimony after his baptism. A lot of people came out to support him and it was a really wonderful weekend. I had a realization while I was sitting watching him get baptized of the importance of giving him the continued support he needs in his Gospel progression. In Preach my Gospel it talks about those we teach and how we need to always remain worthy of their trust and that each convert is a serious and important responsibility. Leaving Temple Square I had been really hoping for an opportunity to see someone get baptized and see their conversion from start to finish. Meeting Peter and teaching him with Sister Fleming continues to be a great experience and an honor. I've learned a lot from him about trusting the Spirit and trusting God. 

 
I'm a bit sick today but I've been drinking lots of emergen-c and grapefruit seed extract. I guess my body has decided to just get all my illnesses over with before I return to Temple Square, not too much fun now but I am grateful that I'm not at Temple Square because it is not as convenient to 'take it easy' there. I hope this little cold is the last of my aliments. Good news that my tooth hasn't been hurting at all though!!! I did what you said a tampered off the ibuprofen and I haven't needed to take it at all this week. I go to the dentist again on Wednesday which I'm not necessarily looking forward to but I'm also grateful for the results it will have so that I don't need to be in pain anymore.


We had a great day on Saturday. We went to go find some former investigators that were in the area book and one of the doors we knocked on the man we were looking for didn't live there anymore but a really nice girl lives at the house now. Her son was so happy to see us and brought out the cutest puppies for us to see. They were so little and cute they just barely had their eyes open. Both Sister Fleming and I love puppies and so we had so much fun talking to Meggy and her son and playing with the puppies. We taught her a little bit about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she said that she hasn't found a religion that fits her right but that she would like to have guidance in her life. She has gone through some tough things in her life and it is her faith in God that helped her overcome. We are going to go back and teach her and her son more on Saturday. 


Oh I have a cool story about being in the right place at the right time the other day. We were driving to an appointment to teach one of the little girls in our ward who will be getting baptized next month. Normally we wouldn't teach her because she is 8 but her family is a part member family and so her mom asked us if we can teach her. I love her and it's so fun to hear her pure testimony about God and prayer. I learn so much from children and their example. Her name is Ruby and she is so much fun. I feel very blessed to be given the opportunity to teach her, it's so important to teach the children and youth of the church because they are the future missionaries and leaders of the church. Alright I'm getting side tracked. So we were heading to our appointment to teach her and there was a women on the side of the road with a sign that said "Help I need a jump start" right after we passed her both Sister Fleming and I felt like we needed to go back and help her. We called Ruby's mom and asked if it would be okay if we were a bit late. She was okay with it so we looped around and went back to help the lady. She said she had been stuck for over 2 hours and no one had stopped by to help! She said she was reading the Bible and praying that someone would come help her. It was a wonderful moment for me to realize that God hears each of us and guides his willing children to help those in need. It reminded me of when President Monson talks about never disregarding a prompting and how we need to always be instruments in Gods hands. It was a blessing to be able to help her. 


I just sent you some pictures from last couple weeks. I love you all so much. Thanks for your prayers and love :)


Love Sister Turner

 
Hello Family and Friends,
I love you all so much!!!! Mom it was so nice to talk with you these past couple days. I was praying so much that somehow I would be able to get advice from you because you always know what to do and I was so relieved to hear your voice give me the exact council I needed. It was such a miracle to have you call me. I am feeling much better today, exhausted but I can think a lot clearer. I don't think I realized how bad the pain really was because it came on so slowly and so powerfully. It feels so good to be on the upside to my pain. I'm not close to 100% better but I'm getting there. 


I learned a lot from this experience and I am grateful to have trials so that I can profit Spiritually from them. Something that I was just thinking about that I learned was that I stress too much. There are a lot of things that are easy to stress about as a missionary and as I went through the normal morning routine today I realized how much I already would have been stressed had I not been able to consciously notice myself and my thoughts. I've decided I need to find the balance between calmly dealing with challenges and  taking initiative and dealing with problems that arise. 


Oh I have some wonderful news. Peter bore his testimony at church on Sunday. It was one of the greatest moments on my mission. I'm so grateful that I have been able to witness a change in someone from the first contact to their baptism. It's so neat being here, I love Temple Square but you don't really get to see a change in someone as clear as you can when you look them in the eye. Hearing his testimony was also really neat because right when we met him I had asked him what was something he really wanted to gain out of our visits and he said that he wants to be able to say, like others he has heard that he "knows these things are true". As he got up to bare his testimony one of the first things he said was that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and that he has come to know that the things he has been learning are true. We had asked him just the night before if he has come to know the Book of Mormon is the word of God he said that he had because of the way he feels when he reads it. Seeing his courage as he got up in front of the ward to bare his testimony was wonderful to see and a great experience for me. His baptism is Saturday. Please keep him in your prayers. 

Oh another thing I realized from my study this morning was how important it is that we do missionary work and make it a priority in our lives. It is is the Abrahamic covenant that we need to spread the gospel to all the world. I have been born into a covenant and I know that if I live my life in such a way I will be greatly blessed for eternity. I need to be a better missionary and I need to be an ever greater missionary the rest of my life because this is just the start of my eternal progression. I don't know if this makes perfect sense because I have a lot of thoughts floating around in my mind today. I felt like I should share it with you today so I hope you were able to take something out of it.


Speaking of missionary work how has that been going for you this week? I always forget to ask but I would always love to hear any missionary moments you've had in the week. There is an amazing talk in the Ensign this month about missionary work and how it is in even the smallest acts. The gospel should spread throughout our countenances, we can radiate the light of Christ. I think the talk was written by Elder Uchtdorf and I think it's the first article in the Ensign. 


I feel your prayers and your love continues to help me every day of my life. Thank you for your example and advice you've given me and continue to give me. I love you very much.


Love Sister Turner