Hello beautiful family and friends!
Well I'm here in Pasadena California and I love it so much! I have sooooooooo much to tell you and I was also going to send you pictures but I forgot my camera cord, I will have to remember next time.
I saw my first palm tree and can't get over how tall they are. It's so beautiful here. A little colder then I imaged going to California but it's still warmer then Utah :)
My new companion is Sister Fleming from Minnesota, she is very nice and I'm really happy that she is excited about the work as well. She keeps saying that she has never been so busy so I'm glad that the business of Temple Square has continued to stay with me. We've been contacting a lot of people and teaching everyone we talk to, it's so much fun! One thing that I really, really love is entering someone's home and noticing a difference as we testify and share scriptures. For example we stopped by a house last night that was on the ward list. The family of 5 haven't been to church in years so we thought it would be nice to go over and share a short message with the family. When we got there everyone was a little busy, on the computer or doing their own thing. The little girl (2 years old) who ran away when we got there ended up giving us hugs as we left. It was an amazing experience seeing the family all gather around as we read scriptures and prayed with them. The father told us his testimony of how he really knows this is the true church. It's so funny to me that I can be so happy and so filled with the Spirit as a little girl throws toys at my face yet as soon as we opened the Book of Mormon she came and sat still right beside us. I am so super happy and I love sharing the gospel with others. We are going to go over later in the week and hold a Family Home Evening with the family.
We also found a new investigator this week. Peter from Barbados, both his parents are members and he has seen a change in them as they found the church. He is going through a hard time right now moving to a new place and so he is very willing to learn more about the gospel. We did a church tour with him the other night and it was so good. The tours at the church building are conducted quite a bit different from Temple Square so I'm not sure if I threw in to many "new things" but Sister Fleming was happy and Peter and the members we brought with us felt the Spirit so it was good. He came to church this week too.
I wish I had time to tell you about all the miracles we've seen this week and the many ways the Heavenly Father is blessing us for our obedience and diligence. Sister Fleming keeps saying she's never seen so many miracles in a week so I'm really looking forward to next week to see what is in store. I'm happy that I don't know a difference and all I see is the constant need to engaged in a good cause.
I haven't met the mission President yet. I met Sister Becerra though and she is really nice. She was the one that picked up Sister Yoon and I from the airport. She took us out to lunch and got to know us a little better. Everyone had TONS of questions about Temple Square so I hope I am doing an okay job of representing the mission well. I forgot how before being a missionary on Temple Square how little I knew about what the missionaries did there. I feel like I have two homes B.C and Temple Square and I can't talk about where I'm from without mentioning the other.
The people here are really nice and we have a dinner appointment almost every day which I love! We share short lessons and scriptures with members all the time on Temple Square but there is something really special about being in someone's home, being able to take a bit of time to get to know them better and then really teach according to their needs.
There was one dinner appointment we had the other day where the wife is a member but the husband is not but he has a lot of questions that we can answer for him. We are going to go back and teach him this week, all he needed was someone to ask him if he wanted to learn more. I know that he can come to know that these things are true for himself. I love that as missionaries we don't convert people but that they come converted to Heavenly Father and that we are the guides to help them know how they can come to know that the things we teach are true for themselves.
Excerpt from my letter to the mission president-
"...This has been a fantastic week and I'm so happy that I get a chance to be a part of this mission for a few months. I've heard only good things about you from my companion so I am looking forward to getting a chance to meet you. I feel I am adjusting well to the few changes that come from being in a new mission and I'm grateful for the kind and loving companion I have to help me transition well. We have seen a lot of miracles this week, I know that Heavenly Father blesses his missionaries as long as we remain obedient and strive to do better each day. My goal while I am here is to make the most of it, to have faith and to "work, work, work because there is no satisfactory substitute especially in missionary work"(Preach My Gospel)...."
Oh by the way. If you have sent me a letter to Temple Square it will get forwarded to me but I don't get to check the mail every day. like on Temple Square, it's about every week or sometimes every 2 weeks the mail gets checked so if you don't hear back from me in a while that's why.
I love you all soooooooooooo MUCH also...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN
Much love;
Sister Turner
First announcement of the day... Next time I email you I will be in the CALIFORNIA ARCADIA MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited :) I leave very early tomorrow morning. I don't know when my next p-day is but it's probably going to be on Monday or Tuesday of next week. It's going to be very different and a big change but it's going to be so great!
Sister Emily Turner
California Arcadia Mission
170 West, Duarte Road,
Arcadia California
USA 91007
We just had a meeting with all 27 sisters who will be going outbound so at the moment I'm super excited! President and Sister Gillette spoke with the assistants and got all of us very excited about where we are going and to remind us to be exactly obedient (just like we are on Temple Square) also to help us make the most out of our experience. A couple notes I took at the meeting
- Bloom where you are planted
- Appreciate the differences
- Learn how to bridge to anything around you (you probably won't have a temple to bridge off of at a door step)
- D&C 58:27-28
- Do good and Be good
- Be a strength and a light to all those around you!
I'm very excited to go and find out exactly where I will be in the mission. I just got my map and it's a pretty big area, although I think anything would look big after having a 35 acre mission :) I return to Temple Square March 20th. I mailed all my big heavy winter clothes to Sarah's house. It was sad to not be able to wear them any more because I love them but I'm also happy to leave the freezing snowy Utah and go to the sunshine in California! It will still be a little cold there 16-18 on some days but when I checked the weather the average was 20's. No more -8!
Did everyone have a good Christmas? It was so nice to be able to talk to some of you the other day. Day family I'm sad I didn't get a chance to talk to you but maybe on mothers day we can figure out a way to talk. Oh by the way mom and dad I'll be calling you tonight around 6 or 7 for 5 minutes to tell you about outbound. So we get to talk AGAIN!
Happy NEW YEARS!!! What did everyone do? I've been set apart as a missionary for exactly one year today :) Feels great! I still have a whole half a year left :) Last night the mission got together and we watched a video of some of the sisters being interviewed and pictures for the year. We all counted down (at 10pm :) and drank Martinelli's (sp?). It was fun but I was so super tired because we had woken up really early for transfer conference, which was in the Conference Center by the way. So much fun. I'm going to send you a couple pictures now before I forget.
I will miss Temple Square and the sisters here a lot. I know this is where the Lord wants me to go at this time and I will have many opportunities for growth and to help others to come closer to Christ. I feel so blessed to have the priesthood authority again on the earth.
I will miss Monica and Enoch and our other investigators so much. Two of the Bishop Family (Bishop being the last name) got baptized on Saturday. We got to talk to them and it was wonderful to hear of their experience. It brings me so much joy to see the positive change in the lives of others as they accept the Atonement and work towards enduring (well) to the end! Mosiah 2:41
Oh I forgot to tell you what Sister Hinton is doing next transfer, she was called to be the next assistant to the president and I know she will do such a great job these last two transfers she is here. I'm excited for her to be able to serve the mission and continue to teach our investigators I know she will do amazing! It was so fun to serve with her, especially at Christmas time. I don't think I've ever met anyone who loves Christmas and taking pictures quite as much as I do : )It was so fun being a ZL with her.
I have a really good quote from one of the Canadian sisters who will be going home this transfer " The harder the task is the greater potential for joy". I love it because it reminds me of this great work and how we are able to experience joy. I'm just so excited to give my all and serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind and strength this year and all the years to come. Goals start at a one step at a time process and I know that as we all continue to strive to give our BEST each and every day that is where true joy is found. It has been so great to understand how we use the Atonement for much more then just sin but for strength and I'm looking forward to continuing to study and apply all that I learn.
I love you all so much! I look forward to telling you all about California :)
Love Sister Turner
MERRY CHRISTMAS Family and Friends
I hope you are all having a really wonderful day! It's Christmas! Thank you for all your love and support and presents and cards and love! I've been having the BEST couple of days! The mission had a big Christmas party last night - We watched 'Miracle on 34th Street', ate Cafe Rio :), sang carols and played the bells, made aprons with signatures from the sisters, some of the sister put on a real nativity and it was ALL so much FUN!!!!! I will send you pictures. I will also send you pictures of a member dinner we went to on Thursday. It was the first member dinner I've been to as a missionary and it was so great because we got to share a spiritual thought and we sang them a Christmas song!
There are sisters all around me talking so I'm a little distracted but I will do my best to focus. We are having another Christmas party today!
I'm so happy and I'm excited to talk to you on the 30th to thank you better for alllllllllllllllll the gifts! I love you all very much! Friends THANK YOU for the cards and presents I feel soooooooooooo much love!
I just took a break from writing to send you a million pictures and I still have a whole bunch more! Oh I love all the pictures you sent today! I feel like it's been so long since I've seen pictures of you mom and dad! You are both so lovely! I really like all the pictures!
It's so tempting to call you all right now but at the same time I really want the Days to be there. I will call you at 3pm your time on the 30th. I figured you'd for sure be home from church by then, even if you missed the 1:30 ferry. Oh speaking of church. So many people from our ward at home sent me Christmas cards! They are so nice! I love them!
Being a missionary is so great! It's so fun to be here. The Gillette's are so nice and they make sure that all us sisters have so much fun all the time. It feels like a big family with lots of sisters :)
I spent more time sending pictures then writing today because I knew I would be able to talk to you all in a couple days.
Excerpts from my letter to President this week-
"Thank you for all you, Sister Gillette and all the presidency have done for us this Christmas time to help us feel so much love. I'm so happy. Temple Square Mission is the best and I feel very blessed to be here!"
"This week has been great. Sister Hinton and I have been able to help our new investigators turn into progressing investigators and I love seeing all the positive changes those we have been talking to have been making. I hope and pray that they will continue to progress as they feel the Spirit testify to them that the Book of Mormon is true. Two of our investigators will be baptized this week."
"The zone is great. Each sister has her individual challenges but with love miracles happen. I'm especially happy with ..."
"I've been studying about The Atonement a lot this week. Because as I take time to remember the Saviors birth it always brings me to think about his life and his sacrifice for each of us. Heavenly Father loves us so he sent his son. I found these few scriptures in my studies the other day that I really like - Mosiah 3: 8, 13, 17 and 20. I know the Savior lives and loves us and that it only through him we can receive a remission of our sins and enter in the Kingdom of God."
I love you alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll VERY VERY MUCH!!!!! HUGS AND KISSES!! So excited to talk to you!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!
LOVE Sister Emily Turner
Hello Family and Friends!!
I'm very full of sugar right now :) We just finished our Zone activity for the transfer! Sister Hinton and I planned it and it was so much fun! We made gingerbread houses and watched "It's a wonderful life". It was so fun but I ate toooooooooooooo much sugar. Zone activities are only once a transfer so it will be okay.
Can you believe it's only 1 week till Christmas!!!!! I'm so excited that we have p-day on Christmas. So even though I'm waiting until the 30th to talk to you all I still get to write you on the 25th. Speaking of the 25th I've been having sooooooooooooooooooooo MUCH fun with the "Santa Baby I Only Want to Make you Happy" advent. I love it sooooo much. We love doing the challenges and it's really fun, we as in Sister Hinton and I and we (Haha family can you tell I'm a little sleepy right now, I need to wake up we are teaching a lesson in 1 hour!) Anyway really it's like Christmas morning every morning. I have been taking pictures of the different things I've been doing but a lot of them are on Sister Hinton's camera, I just sent you the ones I do have.
Unfortunately I can't fulfill the request of getting pictures with the nativities, we are only allowed to take pictures before 7am and Sister Hinton and I already did that once this transfer. Maybe if we have an early morning meeting I'll try to get one quick. Have you set up your nativity yet?
Mom thank you for all the emails this week :) Hey when you get this letter you'll be home on Quadra!! Give everyone a hug for me, and ask someone to give you a hug for me too. Are you going to get a Christmas tree at home? Dad thanks for the email. I love getting your emails. When do you get to go home for Christmas?
We got to go see the Christmas Concert! IT WAS AMAZING!! They told the story of Gale Halverson The Candy Bomber (you'll have to look him up) and they had little parachutes of candy falling from the ceiling of the conference center! It was SO cool. It was especially neat because we were right underneath them. We originally had our seats on the balcony but when we were walking in the doors one of the hosts pulled two tickets out of his pocket and told us these were better seats so we were like 30 rows from the stage in the middle of the theater! It was so fun.
Enoch got baptized on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was baptized, got confirmed and received the Holy Ghost, received the Aaronic priesthood and got his temple recommend to do baptisms for the dead and this was all in one weekend!! Talk about enduring to the end! We are so excited for him, he's awesome. When we talked to him on Sunday we was just glowing through the phone. His joy is great and our joy is great! Our other investigators are doing well, there is a family we are teaching in Louisiana and Monica continues to do great! I love the gospel. Tonight we are teaching one of our new investigators from Salt Lake. We are also teaching someone we met in the beehive house the other day. Every night this week we go home at 10pm instead of 9pm because lots of people come to the square this week. So great being on Temple Square.
We had a zone meeting on Sunday. Sister Hinton and I felt that the zone needed reminders about how great they are doing but also what it means to rely on the Atonement through times of difficulty. We talked about "forgetting yourself and going to work" we also talked about making a choice between being happy and focusing on trials. It was so great because then the sisters bore their testimonies of how the Atonement had helped them put off the natural man and become more like the savior when they are struggling. It went really well.
Family and friends you are so great! I feel so blessed because I have so much support and love coming from home. Thank you for the Christmas cards and parcels :)
I love you so much! You are all AMAZING!! MERRY CHRISTMAS! Merry Christmas eve! Lots of love and hugs to everyone!
Love Sister Turner
Hi Family and friends!
I had a great week! I love doing the little service acts on my advent calender each day! Sister Hinton and I had soooooooooooooooo much fun at the Garden resturant! We had deep fried pickles for an appetizer and they were so yummy, at first I was reluctant to try but Sister Hinton was on her outbound in the South so she knew they would be good and they were! I've also sung a few people Christmas songs, given lots of hugs and I gave my companion a foot message last night :) I just opened the final # 7 last night so we will go out for a piece of cheesecake tomorrow during our lunch hour and think of how awesome Sarah is because it was her birthday on the 7th! HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY by the way! I've been having so much fun doing all the activities thank you!
So many sisters in our zone have been sick this transfer so I wanted to thank you mom for the awesome first-aid kit! Now half our zone knows what slippery elm is and it has been helping them get better. Especially the international sisters are very grateful for some medicine that is herbal instead of a medication that they have never taken before in their lives. So thanks again they are very appreciative and much healthier now!
Oh we had an awesome mission meeting this past week! Elder Evans http://www.lds.org/church/leader/david-f-evans?lang=eng came and spoke to us about missionary work and it was so wonderful! I love the church and the leaders that God calls to lead and guide us and to help us fulfill our potential on this earth. Elder Evans talked a lot about the missionary age change and how it was more then just an announcement but that it was a revelation from God. He is the in charge of the missionary dept along with a few other general authorities including Elder Holland and so we explained to us how the age change was made and the reasons why. It was so neat to hear. He told us about our mission and how we got our mission calls here to Temple Square and why. He promised us blessings and we remain faithful missionaries and members of the church. Sister Hinton and I left feeling like we just went to the Temple, it's a great experience to have a general authority stand up and promise you blessings. He also told us something that I found comforting, he told us that our mission will not be the greatest thing we will do in this life but that is to complete our covenants and get married in the Temple. It made me feel a bit better about only having 6 months left to serve. I knew that the mission wouldn't be the greatest thing but I think at some point I forgot and thought that nothing could be better then serving the Lord 24/7. But there is and as long as I serve faithfully to the end of my mission and continue to serve throughout my life all the righteous desires that I have will be granted to me.
Sister Evans also briefly spoke to us. She didn't talk for very long but something that she did say that really stuck out to me was that we have a precious gift from our Heavenly Father (the gospel) and it's up to us and missionaries and members of the church to give that gift to someone else. I liked it because she told us a Christmas story about when Elder Evans and her were young. They had dated before he left on his mission to serve in Japan just before Christmas. She had worked endlessly on knitting a white cable knit sweater for him to wear during the cold winter days in Japan. She had taken every spare minute she had to knit the sweater so that she could be sure he got it before Christmas and then packed it up and shipped it off in plenty of time to get there. Then she waited for what might be coming from him, she waited, and waited, and waited until it was Christmas eve and nothing came (she added at this point in his defense he had just got to Japan about a week before). The morning of Christmas eve she woke up still hoping the mailman would have something for her that day however when she looked out the window it had started to snow and continued to snow so much that the busy road she lived on eventually had to be closed and there was no cars going down the road including the mailman. She still stayed up until about midnight hoping that somehow her Christmas parcel would come, but it never did. Christmas morning came and her teenage brothers tried to cheer up their disappointed sister but she said that nothing helped she was sad and sad was all she could be. She was sitting in her bed that morning when her dad came in her room after shoveling the walk and told her softly that there was a parcel sitting on the doorstep that had her name on it. She said she leaped out of bed and ran downstairs to see, sure enough, her Christmas parcel from Japan! It had a beautiful little Japanese doll that she still has to this day. After her story Sister Evans went on to say that for years she had always thought of Elder Evans as being the hero in this story, making her Christmas wonderful and getting the parcel sent right on time, it wasn't until one day as she was thinking about it that she realized it was the mailman who was the hero. She didn't know who he was but he had spent his night, well past mid night, delivering Christmas parcels. He could have been home with his family enjoying a Christmas eve together nice and warm in his home but instead he was out in the cold delivering parcels to strangers. He didn't know what that box meant to her but he was willing to still walk through the cold snow to make sure she got it. As missionaries we have the opportunity to change someones life for eternity by sharing with them the Saviors message. That is what we are called to do and it brings us great joy!
Lately as I've been writing emails I've been trying to figure out what to say so today I brought my journal and it's so much easier remembering all the things I learned this week that I wanted to share with you!
Something else I experienced this week was that I was able to strengthen my testimony of the importance of planning. As missionaries every week we have a weekly planning with our companion. We plan for investigators and set plans of how we will help them continue to progress towards baptism and lasting conversion. Sister Hinton and I have some amazing investigators right now who we love so much! Anyway we also set plans to find new investigators and it's something that we decided to really work on this week. So first we had a desire, then we set plans that was something that WE could do to increase our ability to find new investigators and the rest was left up to the Lord. That day we found 2 new investigators in the Beehive house! I love Heavenly Father and I love that we have the opportunity to always be learning and improving!
Speaking of our investigators Enoch is getting baptized this Saturday!!! Please keep him in your prayers! I am so happy for him and this decision he has made that will bless his life for eternity!
Sarah thank you for your letter this week! It was great to hear from you! Also I got a few Christmas cards this week from dear friends thank you! Mom it was nice to talk to you for a couple of minutes the other day! I think it will be okay that I will call on Dec 30th so that I can talk to EVERYONE! I hope you are all happy and safe.
I love you all so very much!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS! Mosiah 3:5-8.
Love Sister Turner
Hello beautiful family and friends!
How are you all this beautiful day? I love being a missionary and everyday is wonderful :)
OH first and foremost you have to tell Raven CONGRATULATIONS! For me and that her darling daughter is soooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful and that I'm so happy her for and Keenan! Anyway I love the picture and I love her name Kaydence, so beautiful!
OHHHHHHHHHH I have news!!! So you know how the change in missionary age reduced the MTC times, well if you didn't hear about it they've changed the MTC time to 2 weeks instead of 3 so that means that everyone's release dates have been changed. So I'm not longer getting released on the 19th of June, it will most likely be the 12th June. I will let you know next week but I wanted to give you a heads up so you can change your vacation dates at work. So guess what that means... We will be together for my birthday!
Sarah and Mom and anyone else who was involved with the Christmas parcel THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Sister Hinton and I are soooooooooooooo excited to go to the Garden restaurant! We are going to go on Thursday so we can open up number 3 as soon as possible! I loved the name of the advent too "Santa Baby I only want to make you happy" I explained where the name came from to Sister Hinton and she thought that was so cute! I love Matthias, I love all my wonderful nieces and nephews you are all so amazing! I love all my family! I will let you know what else I've opened next week :)
This has been a great week! We got to go the First Presidency Christmas devotional on Sunday! It was so amazing. Did you all get to watch it? I loved Dieter F Uchtdorfs talk about not just being a good giver but also about being a good receiver. It was great to hear and I think much needed for the world today. I also really liked what President Monson said about giving service and that's the gift we remember. What did you like about it? Did you find me in the crowd of 21,000 people? :)
Our investigators are doing so great! We have been busy finding new investigators this week which has been good. Sister Hinton works hard and I love it because it really helps us fulfill our purpose as missionaries every minute of the day. We have been setting a lot of goals together and we know that Heavenly Father will help us achieve our worthy goals when we rely on him for help. Enoch is doing so great and will be getting baptized on the 15th of December! I wish you were a little closer to Vancouver and then you could go and support him! Sister Hinton and I wish we could go but we know he will have a great support there because the YSA there are awesome! Monica continues to do well and is excited for her baptismal date in January! We have been teaching a really nice woman from New York who we met at the Beehive house and that is going well. Also tonight we have a first teaching appointment from a member referral that Sister Hinton called, he is interested in different religions so we will call and teach him the restoration and help him see how the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth. I'm excited I love teaching!
Sarah HAPPY (early) BIRTHDAY!!!!! What are you going to do for your birthday?
Dad thanks for the email! It's interesting that you've been teaching about the fall of the Jaredites and the pride they had because just this morning Sister Hinton and I were discussing pride and how that was what got a hold of the Nephites in 4th Nephi. Also yesterday I was reading in Mosiah 26 about how many of the people that had heard the words of King Benjamin in their youth had fallen away because they "did not believe the tradition of their fathers" and I was thinking about that and relating in to missionary work and how sometimes people don't believe because they haven't tried to gain the personal witness for themselves because they rely more on the things of the world than the things of God. What I really liked was how Alma responded to these people. He wanted to help them but he didn't know what to do, it says in verse 13-15 of chapter 26 that he poured out his WHOLE soul unto God and then God was able to help him know what to do to help these people. Alma was so humble and so willing to be taught by God. Sometimes I expect immediate results and answers to prayers but I need to be more like Alma and take the time to pour out my whole soul unto God and then he will lead me to what I need to do to help others. Anyway thank you for sharing with me what you were learning and teaching, that is a little but about what I've been studying lately.
Mom I loved getting your emails too and I hope I was able to answer your questions in this email :) And I'm so glad you are enjoying your calling. I hope for a chance to work with the youth soon after my mission. I've been able to teach a lot of youth on my mission and it's so great. I love you so much! And once again I'm really excited about my Christmas advent adventure!
I LOVE YOU ALL! And I just want you to know that I LOVE being a missionary there has been nothing else that has brought me so much peace and happiness! The work of the Lord truly is a great work.
Love Sister Turner
Hi Family and Friends!
I had the most amazing week! Sister Hinton is so great! I love her so much already and I'm learning a lot from her each day. She just came back from outbound so it's great to hear about her experiences and learn from them. We've been working hard together and seeing miracles already! We love being zone leaders and we love our zone (of 22 sisters) so much! I know this will continue to be a fantastic transfer full of Miracles!
Christmas is here!!! Temple Square is beautiful and there are soooooooooooooooooooooo MANY people here! I love it! From 5pm-10pm the lights are on and the square is packed! It's great because you just walk out the door and you don't get 5 feet before you've found someone to contact and teach. Then you move on and find someone else. The first night Sister Hinton and I were on the square we probably got 30 feet in an hour! It was so great! Sister Hinton is really good at finding and sharing just the perfect scripture with the people we talk to I love it! There are a lot of members who have friends they ask us to call so that we can share a message about Christ with and invite them to learn more. It's a great opportunity to share the gospel with people all over the world. What have you been doing to help bring The Savior into this Christmas season? One thing that Sister Gillette has given us is a paper chain with 24 references to the Savior each link has a different scripture to read each day :)
Oh Happy Thanksgiving! We had SO much fun. They closed the square at 1pm and we went to a place called "Noahs" (you could probably look it up online if your interested) and is was so great. I've never really seen anything quite like it, they had rented out the whole building and there was a big reception/dinning room, where they had a karaoke machine set up and then they had all these different rooms on 3 different levels with a arts and crafts room and 3 video rooms with different Disney movies playing and a games room with a ping-pong table they also had volleyball room. It was so fun! I really like it when all the sisters get together to do things President and Sister Gillette are so nice and help us know when to work hard and play hard.
We had zone leader council yesterday where discussed what the focus of the mission is going to be this transfer and what we (as zone leaders) need to help our sisters with. It was great I always learn so much in those meetings. We (Sister Hinton and I) will be teaching one of the topics at a leadership meeting tomorrow. We are going to be teaching about how to overcome fear and have faith when it comes to calling in the teaching center. The teaching center is what we do instead of tracting except better because we are calling member referrals. We are also going to help the sisters feel more comfortable because, as we know, if we are prepared we shall not fear! I'm excited, I love teaching! Oh we will also be explaining the importance of calling less actives because the mission wasn't really focused on that before and now we are making it more of a focus and I think that is great! There are so many people that need the gospel and there are also so many people that need to be reminded of the covenants they made at baptism so that they can happily endure to the end. Just like God told Joseph Smith in Liberty jail that we need to "endure it well and then God will exalt thee on high and triumph over all thy foes" Not just endure but be happy! God's plan is the plan of happiness! Rejoice and be glad that He has given us commandments because He so very much wants to bless us.
As you might have noticed I'm emailing a little earlier today and that is because during the Christmas season our p-day is 10-6 instead of 1-9 so I will email you in the mornings this transfer.
Our investigators are doing great! It is a privilege to get to know so many amazing people that are striving to change their lives to come closer to Heavenly Father. What a blessing it is to be a part in helping someone partake of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. There is nothing that brings me a greater happiness.
Well I love you allllllll soooooooooooooooooo MUCH!!!!! Lots of hugs and love :)
Love Sister Turner
HI Family and Friends :)
Well we had Transfer Conference and I am.... STAYING FOR CHRISTMAS :) I'm so happy. I didn't realize how much I wanted to stay for Christmas until I found out that I would be! So I will most likely be going outbound on January 2nd or February 13th, if not then never but I'm pretty sure it will be in January because then I will be gone for 2 transfers and come back for two transfers and that's usually how it works. Sister King is going outbound! She got called to the Washington DC South mission and she leaves tomorrow. My new companion is Sister Hinton from Arizona. She is coming back from outbound, she is so sweet and I'm looking forward to a great transfer! I know I will learn a lot from her. I've never had a companion who has been outbound already. I will continue to be a Zone Leader of the East 2 zone which includes Temple Square, The Teaching Center, Beehive House, Guest Services and West Gate. It will be so great! They've decorated the Beehive house with Christmas decorations and it's so fun to be in there. They turn the lights on the day after Thanksgiving, so Friday at 5pm. I'm excited there are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many lights! Did I tell you they started putting them up in August! Yesterday they put up another nativity on the reflecting pool, it's so beautiful.
Oh speaking of nativities the mission got to go see "Savior of the World" on Thursday! It was so amazing! I wish you could all see it! I loved it so much. One day you all have to come to Temple Square and watch it. It is a stage production but it's been created with the help of the First Presidency. They're practice for the show includes learning about how to be a missionary on the stage and to testify of the gospel through performance. It was the most beautiful play I have ever seen. I wish you could watch it! Maybe I will see if I can find a recording of it at Desert Book so you could get the general idea. It was seriously soooooooooo GOOD!
Mom Congratulations with your new calling! I'm so excited for you, I was looking at the new youth curriculum and it made me want to teach the youth when I get home, it's a lot like the way we teach our investigators. I didn't realize how amazing a mission was until I got here but I highly suggest it to anyone who is thinking about it. It will and can change your life, if you let it. Just like "the fourth missionary" talk, they should read that! Anyway enjoy your new calling, you'll do great!
Dad thanks for the email! I'm sure your lesson with the YSA went great! Heavenly Father always qualifies us for the work if we have a desire to serve Him which I know you do! Whenever I get nervous about a lesson I always feel those are the better lessons because I completely rely on the Spirit who is a better teacher than me anyway. What have you been teaching them lately? I miss going to Sunday school, on our mission here we just have a early morning sacrament meeting at 7:30am. It's great because the sisters who are going home give 8 minute talks and there is always a musical number, we have so many talented sisters in our mission. Sometimes we have special guests come and speak to us, that's always nice too.
This past transfer I decided to learn more about and apply the Christlike attribute "Charity and Love" (Preach my Gospel chapter 6) and I'm so grateful that we can constantly strive to become more like our Savior. I think sometimes in the past I've wanted to become like "that person over there" or "I wish I could be more like her" or "Why can't I be more like them" and then being disappointed because I never "became like them". The reason that never made me happy is because Heavenly Father wants me to be me but the BEST version of myself. The way I can become the best ME is to strive to become more like the Savior. I've known this my whole life but I only recently started to apply it. It brings you so much happiness to be just be you! Now I'm not saying that we can have the excuse of saying "oh that's just they way I am so that's fine" no we need to always be striving to fulfill our potential but be happy with our imperfections and be grateful that you noticed them so you can change. Does that make sense? All of the Christlike attributes go together, for example when you work on "Charity and Love" you also become more "Patient" and gain a greater "Faith" as you see yourself grow. I love chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel and if you haven't read it I highly recommend it!
I love you all! You are so amazing just remember how great YOU are! You are a divine being who your loving Heavenly Father has sent to the earth to learn and grow. Nothing is too difficult when we rely on the loving hand of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Love Sister Turner
Hi Lovely family and friends!
I got 3 beautiful letters yesterday from Sarah, mom and Suranyi nover! It's great to hear from her, her mission sounds amazing, I can't believe she comes home so soon already! April I think? Anyway thank you for your letters :) I met a return missionary from France yesterday and he said he knows Elder Ioannidis! Apparently EVERY missionary in France knows about Elder Ioannidis and how fantastic he is. You'll have to let Robert and Evelynn know, he had a lot of good things to say about him.
This morning I was thinking about how fun it will be when mom and dad visit. I love you both so much! It now feels like it's been quite a while since I've seen you! 7 more months and we will be in Salt Lake together. I love being a missionary and part of me wants to be a missionary forever but I'm also really excited to see everyone again! Mom and Dad do you want to go to the Manti pageant while you're here?
Next time I write you I will know what I'm doing next transfer, who my new companion will be and even if I will still be in Salt Lake! Isn't that crazy! This transfer has gone by so fast! I've been really busy so that is probably why. We have transfer conference on Monday morning and we transfer companions next Wednesday. I think Sister King will go outbound, she's one transfer ahead of me so she only has about 6 months left.
It's been snowing here! It really feels like Christmas time here. They haven''t turned on the lights yet but they've put them all up including the life size nativity set by the North Visitors Center! It's so beautiful especially all covered in snow. I took some snow pictures but I forgot my camera cord again. Oh guess what! Speaking of Christmas The whole mission gets to go the dress rehearsal for the "Savior of the World" performance! I'm so excited! Also another exciting thing we get to do is that every night after the show 3 companionship's will go and teach people and invite them to learn more or if they have any friends who want to learn more about the church. There are so many amazing opportunities to share the gospel here! I love it!
I forgot to thank you for "inviting us out to dinner:)" Sister King really wants to go to "Wingers" and I remember Ethan talking about it so we will go there after emailing. I'm so hungry thinking about it. I will try to remember to take a picture. We are walking there in the snow so I'm looking forward to it. It's not too fat away, just far enough to get a nice walk in. The snow is kind of melting today but it's really bright and beautiful!
Our investigators are doing so great! Monica has been reading gospel principles along with the Book of Mormon and Enoch has set a firm baptism date with his parents :) We have a couple new investigators who are just great! I'm looking forward to teaching them this coming week. I love studying for others it makes the time I have to study so much more effective. How is the Book of Mormon challenge been going? I have to admit I'm a bit behind. This transfer has been so busy. I need to take more time out of my lunch and dinner breaks to read it. Lately Sister King and I have been listening to John Bytheway when we go home for our meal breaks and it's fun but I need to catch up on the Book of Mormon. Now I've told you and you can follow up with me next week :)
Oh I think I told you about teaching the mission at the Zone Conference. Well if I didn't tell you about it before Sister King and I taught about how we receive revelation through church attendance to half the mission last week at a meeting. It went really well, but as always with my teaching I always feel I gain more studying about the topic then those who are listening. That is why we always give our investigators commitments and assignments I guess. It went well and to be honest I've never thought about going to church with a specific question or concern before. I always think about that going to the temple to receive revelation, I guess I just never thought about it in a church context before. I love how I learn something new everyday! I want to keep that up through the rest of my life.
Speaking of the Temple I got to go to Temple Service again! I love the Temple! It is so beautiful! We cleaned the baptistry area. The pioneers are such an amazing example of diligence and hard work and the blessings that come along with that. I have gained a great respect for the pioneers and for what they taught us about sacrifice.
I bought a new bag last p-day. Sister King helped me pick one out because my old one was very, very ripped, I actually saved the old one from a past companion who was about to throw it away. It kept falling off a random moments so I decided it was time for a new one that would stay on even if it was loaded with books and stuff. We went to Ross which is just like Winners except a little cheaper! You would like it mom, we'll have to go when you come :). I looked for boots but I couldn't find any comfortable ones my size. So far my black boots are fine so I will probably stick with them for the winter unless the rip gets bigger. So far they are keeping my toes nice and warm so I'm happy.
Thought I'd send you an exert from my letter to president:
"I've been continuing to work on Charity and Love this transfer and it has been going well. This past week I've been looking for positive things to say about others and it's really made me realize how blessed I am to be surrounded by so many amazing people who are children of a loving Heavenly Father. This coming week I will be looking for opportunities to serve an then acting! We've also committed one of our investigators to do the same thing. I'm looking forward to discussing this together with him next week.
I continue to learn so much every day and it is a blessing to be serving as a missionary! I want to take every opportunity to fulfill my potential as a missionary and become more like our Savior."
Well my time is up! I love you all, you continue to be in my prayers and I know Heavenly Father is watching over us all so I don't need to worry.
Love Sister Turner
Hi family,
I've discovered I dislike talking about ending my mission. I actually had a nightmare about my visa expiring and having to go home early. It was awful. Not that I don't want to see all of you. I love you so much. It's just hard to think I can never ever come back to what I am doing right now.
Oh I was going to tell you about the Haunted village we went to! It was so fun and so scary. It wasn't like gross scary because it was at Heritage Park but it was still scary enough to be fun! The person in charge is friends with President Gillette so we got to go for free and then do service a couple days later so that was really nice. I loved the service project as well. It was fairly difficult though because they had us pull re-bar out of very hard ground. We worked at it forever and had got about half of them out when someone who worked there came over to try and when he couldn't do it he have us another assignment :) So we took down the rest of the graveyard. I will send pictures if I can figure out how to send them on this computer.
Our investigators are doing well. They have their trials but as we continue to have faith in them we see their faith strengthened by their trials. I love them so much! I can't wait to meet them one day. I don't know how possible it will be but there are at least a couple I fully intend on visiting. Enoch will be easy because he lives in Vancouver.
This was a busy week. We have been making a motivation board for the mission. I don't know if that makes sense but I'll take a picture some time for you. Sister King is an art major so we got to paint a lot. It will help track the referrals, investigators and baptisms. It's hard to explain but it's exciting. When we teach it is so much more then a number, we are bring souls unto Christ. We also have goals to help us stay motivated. It's like a pendulum, on one side you have no goals and no focus and on the other all you care about is numbers. You need to be always in the middle with a perfect balance.
We have also been busy preparing a lesson for half the mission about the importance of receiving revelation through church attendance both for ourselves as missionaries and for those we are teaching. It's been going well. We are teaching tomorrow and I feel very prepared so I am happy. I love to teach.
Well I love you all soooooooooooooo MUCH!!!!
Love Sister Turner :)
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