Big News !!!!

Okay so this email is going to be crazy. Are you ready? Are you sitting down? 

I guess I'll start by saying that this week I was sick again! Well, my whole apartment actually. We all had the flu and literally looked like death and felt worse. I slept for like 3 days straight and took a bunch of medicine and prayed for a recovery. Luckily I feel a lot better now! I really feel like the motto of my mission will be "the flesh is weak but the spirit is willing" haha oh man I just want to be HEALTHY!!!! 

On Saturday we dragged ourselves out to attend the baptism of Marvin Magallona!! He is 14 years old and basically the coolest kid ever. It's really neat because he is the son of Annie, my first baptism here in Daraga 6 months ago. It has been such a blessing to see them both grow and progress in so many ways. Marvin is probably my favorite person to teach because he is always so prepared. He really studies his assignments and prays and does his part to know for himself what we teach is true. That's why his testimony is so rock solid. He is a very shy kid but he has gotten really involved with the young men at church and is coming out of his shell a lot. He has such great potential. I just know one day he will serve a mission! His mom is so excited for him and now their goal is to prepare to go to the temple so they can do the temple work for Marvin's Dad who passed away last year. The spirit was so strong at this baptism, I was so grateful to be a part of it. I know this is just the beginning of a wonderful life in the gospel for him! After the baptism we rushed home to an Family Home evening we had with our neighbors and one of the sweet families we teach. We all had such a great time together and sister Vi and I sang the hymn "Love at home" in English,Tongan and Tagalog. It was so cool! I think my Tongan may have progressed more than my Tagalog the last 12 weeks with my Tongan companion haha. 

Anyways Saturday night after the family home evening we received our transfer announcement text. 

I have been here in Daraga my whole mission which is about 6 months now. I've already been here much longer than normal for a first area plus my companion will be going home soon so we all thought I would be leaving and she would stay here and end her mission BUT I guess the Lord had something different in mind for me because I just found out I will be staying here in Daraga another 3 months and TRAINING a new missionary!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. When I found out that I was all kinds of shocked. For one, I will stay in my first area for over half my mission and second, I will now become a senior companion and trainer who will instruct the new missionary on how to be a good missionary and speak Tagalog and LAHAT. hahahah I think the thing I'm really coming to see on my mission is the Lord has a sense of humor! To be completely honest, when I first found out I was a little upset because I was wanting to leave and transfer to a new area(not because I don't love it here but because I felt ready to move on) and I didn't want to be left to deal with all the problems here on my own, and I don't really know Tagalog and all these negative things were running through my head and I'm just like I don't want to do this! This isn't what I want! And then I heard the spirit whisper to me among the loudness of all my thoughts and gently say "Journey, It's not about what you want." Dang. That sure humbled me real quick. It's so true. I did not come half way across the world on a mission to do what I wanted to do. I'm here because I am seeking to do the will of my Father in Heaven. Now I'm actually really excited for the opportunity to train! My game plan is to do my very best and have a lot of faith and pray ALL THE TIME and hopefully if I teach her anything, I can show my new companion how amazing missions are and how I really do know and believe that no matter what our trial or circumstance may be, if we have faith in our Heavenly Father and trust in him, ALL things will work out. Even the hard things. The Lord never promised us he will take away all of our problems or hard times, but he promises that if we are faithful and continue to persevere, one day he will deliver us and all the things in our life will be for our good and give us experience. He also promises that along the way, even if we are having a hard time, he can strengthen us to be able to endure it well. I think I am maybe most grateful for that. Jeffery Holland once said "The Atonement of Jesus Christ will carry the missionary much more than the investigator" and I have come to have a testimony of the truthfulness of that. 

I'll keep you updated on all the new changes that will be happening! I'm sure it's going to be an interesting next few months! 

I love you all and am excited to email you next week as an official 20 year old!!! 

(also just to put it out there I am trying really hard to not have a quarter life crisis about getting so old. yucks talaga.)

Mahal ko kayo. Palagi manalangin ko para sa inyo lahat. Sana parahis kayo sa akin haha. Ingat kayo palagi. Dapat kakain kayo lahat ang birthday cake sa honor ko sa sabado kasi special na special ang pecheng na ito. 

Sister Turner:) 

Still Small Voice

Hello po!

I am running short on time today but I just want to share one experience with you from Sunday evening. We went on splits with members and my group had gone to at least 6 houses to meet only ayaw, drunk investigators, or walang tao. But of course missionaries press forward and a little change in our schedule won't hold us back! I wasn't sure where to go, so I stopped for a second and said a little prayer in my head and this thought came to me to check back on a former investigator. So we followed the idea and when we got there, the people weren't home but once we were there, I thought of another investigator we had not been to in a long time who lived nearby so we went to her house and as we began to "tao po" ,her neighbor looked out her window and so I started talking to her. She hurried down to open the door and let us in almost immediately. As we began sharing our message with her, I could tell she was very prepared by the Lord and she had a sweet spirit about her. She opened up to us that her boyfriend had died of cancer last September and the grief and pains he felt was almost too much for her to bare. The spirit led me to share a part of the plan of salvation with her and give her that pamphlet. I felt the spirit so strongly as I testified to her of God's plan of happiness for us all and that I knew she could have hope to see him again! As we were closing she said "I was upstairs crying because my heart hurt so bad and I was just asking for help and then I heard your voices calling and I thought it was probably for my neighbor but you ended up talking to me!" How great is our calling! How amazing is the spirit that by small and simple promptings followed, he can lead us exactly where we need to be ,when we need to be there! I'm so grateful he prepared Sister Jessalyn to hear our message. I love being a missionary, I really do!

Sister Turner:)

Feelin' The Love

Hello po pamiliya at mga kaibigan, 

   

 First off, Happy Valentines Day everyone!!!!!!! I am so excited to type up this email to you because so many amazing things have happened this week!! 

     On Tuesday, I was able to work half a day and it was so great but I was limping pretty bad and it was sad because the only shoes I had just got holes in them AGAIN. (seriously, these things need a mile warranty like tires or something) On Wednesday we had exchanges with the STL's and I was so worried because I really wanted to be able to walk and work the whole day but my leg was hurting so bad from just one day cause i had to walk all weird to cater my foot. Anyways, My prayer was totally answered because during exchanges I was able to work the whole day and my foot didn't hurt and i wasn't even limping! We were climbing up mountains in the woods and everything and I was fine! see? BLESSINGS. My STL's area is where the mall is so after dinner we went to the mall to try and find better shoes for me because holey shoes are actually really annoying,especially when you need to cater your foot. It ended up the only shoes they had in my size were vans. I ended up getting them and they are AWESOME. So much better to have actual support walking a million miles a day! haha:) I definitely never thought I would be wearing vans with skirts on my mission, but "it's more fun in the Philippines" right? :)

     On Thursday, we headed back to my area to meet up with our companions again and I definitely felt like I had been hit by a bus after all the hiking in their area the day before after being on "bedrest"  but when we got home I heard the best news!!!

  .....Our investigator, Brother Dois Dado came back from his work trip to manila. He had been gone a month and a half and we hadn't been able to contact him because he has no phone and the work didn't say how long he would be there. So last transfer he was all set to be baptized and so excited and then he had to leave  for work so we just gave him the address to the church in manila and hoped and prayed he would be alright and progress up there. Anyways, he came back this week and since he had no one to contact us, he just went and waited outside the church for like 2 days(he is very dedicated!) until a member saw him and then contacted us to say he was there because he "wanted to be baptized!" We set up an appointment that night to teach him and when I first saw him, it was like the most joy I've ever felt. Dois Dado is this cute little 52 year old man who has no family and was adopted so he really is on his own now. His story is so special and long I can't really do it justice in this email but I'll settle to say that I love this guy so much. I have learned the most from him than any other investigator and we have helped him through so many things, I love him so much. His faith is so strong it inspires me so much. Anyways, when we taught him he told us he tried to go to the address of the church but it was actually the temple and he said "the security guard said i couldn't go in because I needed an I.D (temple recommendation) but it was so clean and beautiful on the outside, I can't wait to go back!!" haha So at least now he really wants to go to the temple after he is baptized! He is so awesome though, he was on his own all that time and he kept reading the Book of Mormon on his own and abstaining from alcohol and cigars which he  was addicted to before. So the miracles is that he came home Tuesday, we taught him Thursday, he was interviewed for his baptism on Saturday and he is all set to be baptized on February 14! I told him it was a great way to show his love to our heavenly father on valentines day and he would never forget the day! I am literally so happy for him. He has come so far and I have really seen in him how the gospel can change people's lives for the better. It can change our very nature. He told us that in 2008 the first missionaries came to him but he was drunk and not ready to change his life yet so nothing came of it but he said  basically "I used to be so lost but then you found me and I found this church and now I'm not lost anymore." THAT is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that is the atonement. Because Jesus Christ loved us enough to take on our sins and our mistakes and die for us, we have a chance to repent or in other words to change. We always can be "found" if we just know where to look. I am so grateful to my heavenly father for the opportunity I have to tell all the people here in the Philippines that Jesus Christ is "the light and the way" and all we need to be saved, or find happiness in this life is turn to him and choose to take the steps to follow him. 

The Lord has really blessed us this week. I really believe that the blessings and miracles we receive will always come after a trial of our faith. Sometimes the blessings don't come immediately but they will always come if we have faith. The Lord amazes me SO MUCH. Like I mean all the time. I am constantly happy that he is the one in charge and not me. I like his perfect plan. 

Transfers are coming up soon, we find out on the 21st if one of us will be leaving. That thought is terrifying to me. I have been here 6 months and I really feel like I have given my heart to these people. There is no way I can leave them without leaving a bit of my heart here too! But like I said, I know the Lord has a much better plan than I do. So I will just keep working and loving and doing all I can here until it is my turn to move on and love and work somewhere else. 

Mahal ko kayo lahat talaga! Ingat kayo at plagi remember you are loved and known by a perfect ama sa langit:)

Sister Turner

Surgery and being tough like Kolipoki

Hello Everyone!

  So you can probably tell from the title of this email I have had a pretty interesting week. Honestly, I feel like I have been tested and tried in every way imaginable but I am grateful because I have learned a lot and like a great man once was told "all these things shall be for your own good and give thee experience"(Joseph smith history). So I've been thinking of that a lot. But anyways, this week was cool because my trainer here in the mission, sister mccoard came back for a day to do some paperwork and we got to work together again! We spent the morning going around to old investigators of hers and surprising them, it was so fun. Then Wednesday afternoon, we worked with Sister whannga,who will be going home this transfer. She is from New Zealand and has an awesome accent and an even cooler personality. I really enjoyed working with her and we laughed a lot and had some great lessons. Wednesday night, we went on splits where I worked with a member and sister vi and sis.w worked together so we could get to more appointments. It was a neat experience to work with just a member but also weird to be the "only missionary" and teach it all yourself. I was able to see how far I have come in teaching,language and just being a missionary in general. It was cool. I'm glad there is progress!haha:) It was especially nice we were able to have those splits so we could get to more of our investigators because on Thursday I had surgery on my sad little foot.

 If having a surgery in a foreign country on your foot as a missionary(your feet are kind of the most important thing!) sounds terrifying to you, you've about got it right. I don't want to get into too much detail in this email but I will say that I was awake for it and I felt it even though I had numbing shots (which by the way ouch) I could feel it all and it was a very unpleasant and weird experience. haha I kept telling myself "Don't cry, be tough like Kolipoki from the other side of heaven" but Sometimes it's hard to be tough! There may or may not have been tears shed. I may or may not have really wished my mom was there. It's crazy the feeling you have laying on an operating table in the Philippines by yourself with a bunch of nurses and doctors cutting into your body. It's really lonely. It doesn't help when the sassy doctor says stuff like "Sister? does it hurt? You can just pray to your God to take away the pain. Or sing a hymn. or say the ten commandments" in a super condescending tone and then all the nurses laugh. Yeah. Sometimes it's really hard to be like Jesus and love people even when they are rude and hurting you. But if we had no mountains to climb in our lives we would never get any better or higher (closer to God) right? Anyways, the actual surgery was pretty short but afterwards the hospital saga continued when the doctor decided to demand double the amount of the operation for his own "personal fee". (Because he saw i was american and thought i was rich). Anyways, good thing  my parents taught me to stand up for myself and how to be smart. They looked pretty surprised when instead of forking over all my money, I started using legal terms and asked to speak to the legal representative for their hospital and then correlated the stuff between them and church legal. hahaha oh man. Talk about bizarre situations. Anyways, we ended up not having to pay and the APs came and picked us up which was so kind because I couldn't really walk and we were kind of far from the stop with all the buses and stuff. 

Once at the house a new kind of challenge began and I was officially a missionary on bed rest. What is there to do? Eat. sleep. take medicine. read the scriptures, read every ensign in the house, cry,pray, get over myself, laugh with your companion, learn how to braid hair, intense tagalog study, listen to every efy song you have 12 times over, organize your desk 20 times, miss your investigators, pray for your investigators, talk to your neighbors through the window...and many more. Basically life in the house is BORING and really hard to stay happy because you start to feel really worthless really fast. I was in the house for 4 days straight and it literally was driving me crazy! I understand fully now the meaning of "cabin fever". On Sunday, we weren't going to go to church because I still couldn't really walk but I felt very strongly we needed to go and I knew that if the Lord wanted me there, he would provide a way. So we made our way there and left after sacrament. Nothing crazy or significant really happened but I felt sure I was where the Lord wanted me in that moment and I knew I had followed the promptings of the spirit so I felt very happy:) I was supposed to be on bedrest for a week but am taking cheat breaks like church and emailing at the computer shop right now. I should be okay by Wednesday! I hope and pray because I think I will seriously go crazy if I am in the house much longer and I want to WORK!!!!!!!!!!!  I've had a lot of time to ponder this week and think about how to become a better missionary and better serve the people in my area so i'm excited to be able to get back out there and work. 

Anyways, I love you all and thanks for the emails and support. Please pray for our investigators that they will be alright even though we haven't been able to go to them for so long. 

Mahal ko kayo lahat palagi,

Sister Turner:)