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:)
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