8 MONTHS!!!

Hello! Okay so today marks 8 months on my mission and that is basically insane to think about. Time is flying SO FAST!

This week just sped by and was full of so many events. We had to go redo our housing contract and try to sweet talk our landlord so we weren't kicked out because I guess the missionaries before us didn't pay the rent..ever.. and it's just now coming up in the records but luckily it all worked out and our AWESOME mission finance Elder helped us out and now we are relieved to know we will have a place to sleep at night:) Then on Tuesday we had a zone training workshop on "How to approach tatay's". Or basically how to teach families and show respect to Fathers so they can help their family progress in the gospel. It was really good and we have already been able to apply some of the principles in our area and have seen miracles in teach families and gaining the trust of Fathers, which is sometimes especially hard for us sister missionaries because they think it's like "girl bible study" but as we explain that our message is for everyone and can help his family gain joy and happiness in the life it usually goes pretty well.

Tuesday night we went to visit our recent converts Annie and Marvin. They were having a hard time because Annie's husband was murdered last July and the court case happened this week to see if the murderers would be sent to jail or let free. As she shared with us her worries and concerns, I was flipping through my mind trying to know what scriptures we could share with her because I knew the original plan wasn't what she needed. Then the spirit brought to my mind a scripture verse my Dear sister missionary Friend Sister Lynette Jex had sent me in a letter I had recieved earlier in the week.I shared it with Annie and it was really able to help her and I was grateful that the Lord's plan is literally perfect and that he uses ALL WAYS to accomplish his work, including friends letters. Isn't that cool?

On Wednesday we had trainer's training which is a time 4 weeks into training we all get together again and share our experiences and try to get advice on how to improve, help our trainees more. It was really great. I learned so much! Then afterwards we all got to watch Meet the Mormons and it was so great! I loved it! The bit from Atlanta Georgia made me a little homesick but it was really cool to see back home again and to tell all the Filipinos about where I'm from and what it's like. (They all want to come BBQ in the south)haha

Thursday was crazy because my housemate had something happen and tried to run away/go back home. She is on a short term mission which is where missionaries come out into the feild without going to the MTC first and they serve in the mission they are from. She came to our room saying sorry but she was leaving and she had all her bags packed and was crying and oh man. Luckily she agreed to talk with us all as a house and we stopped everything to have a house inventory and try to help one another. It was so crazy but it was really able to help her I think and she is okay now to stay form the rest of her 6 week mission.

The next day, Friday, we had exchanges with the STL's and it was so fun. I learned so much and really enjoyed being with Sister Dizon, a native who just moved to Legazpi area. I learned a lot from her and we saw so many miracles in our day together. I also was re-motivated to work harder on my Tagalog to become less white girl and more Filipino. haha

Saturday we had miracle lessons in the morning and DOIS DADO WAS FINALLY BAPTIZED. He had to be pushed back from Feb 14 but he was finally ready and was baptized and it was so wonderful. I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to see him grow and change so much. He told us that he had wanted to commit suicide by hanging himself but when he met us and heard about the Gospel and about Jesus Christ, he saw hope and now he was baptized and received the priesthood. He said if he didn't hear our message, he would not be in this world still. THAT is the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ:) The Elder's even donated a white shirt and tie for him and he was so excited.

It was overall a crazy, unexpected, eventful wonderful week.

Only 10 more months I get to serve the Lord as a full time missionary here in the Philippines! I don't want to waste a minute, being a missionary is the very best thing in the world. It may be one of the HARDEST things but it's also the best!

I love you all

Sister Turner:)

We bought a huge blue fish at the meat market so we can try to learn how to cook filipino food on our own:)

Dois Dado's baptism

  And we ate the Mac and cheese from my birthday package and it was absolutely delicious!

The Breakup

Hello Everyone!

  I don't remember if I mentioned it last week but we had an earthquake last Sunday and it was really tiny and not that big of a deal but now I can officially say I have lived through a volcano eruption, earthquake, and 2 typhoons on my mission. Woohoo! Missionary protection!

  This week my companion was sick. HAVE I EVER MENTIONED HOW MUCH SICKNESS ON THE MISSION IS THE WORST? So we couldn't work for a couple days. But the cool thing was that my trainer, Sister Mccoard came back for one day and we went on exchanges for one lesson together. We went to Annie and Marvin, the recent converts that we had started teaching together a while back and it was so surreal to be together again teaching them. It was like flashback except this time they were members and I could speak Tagalog (kind of) haha it was cool. I miss my trainer! The whole time walking back I was asking advice on how she did everything back when she was training me! 

  The highlight of my week was probably church because the Losantos family finally came to church after like 7 months teaching them off and on! Brother has been recovering from a foot injury and this week he recovered and said " Well, God healed me so I have no excuse not to go to church. We'll be there Sunday". We went to pick them up and they were all ready and wearing church clothes! Even baby! and they were so great at church and made lots of friends, they are so excited for their baptism now and of course we are way excited for them too! 

  The hard part of this week was that we had to drop investigators or "breakup" with them. As missionaries, we invite people to act or make changes in their lives to come closer to Christ but sometimes. people just never want to do anything or act to know the truth. In those cases we do our best to help them progress (towards baptism, towards Christ,etc) pero sometimes they just aren't willing and that's when the breakup comes. Missionary work really is a lot like dating. We have the expectation of baptism and they know our expectation but eventually if they decide that they don't want that goal either they will break up with us(hiding, yelling,politely saying they aren't interested) or we have to break up with them for a time so we can focus our time and efforts on people who are willing and ready to make the changes in their life to come closer to Christ. Last week we realized we had 86 investigators and only 6 who were progressing. So this week we did a lot of commitment extending, reexplaining of our purpose and sadly, "breakups". IT IS SO HARD. I have such a hard time giving up on people because I know that heavenly Father never ever gives up on me but I know that ultimately it's not giving up on them, it's just giving them some time until they are ready to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and then we can go back to them. I was studying this week about the apostasy and I realized that Heavenly Father did kind of the same thing with us people. He had given us the gospel of Jesus Christ but obviously people chose to reject that truth, they killed Jesus Christ himself and his apostles and the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ was lost. There was a time Heavenly Father allowed us to live in a sort of "spiritual darkness" because we were not yet ready to accept the truth but when he knew the time was right, he restored ALL the truth through a living prophet again. I know that there is a time and a season for everything and that's what I tell myself even when things don't go my way or people won't act  on their faith or times are really hard. I just have to trust Heavenly Father and his timing. He knows it all. I'm really grateful he is in charge. I can't believe how much he has already changed me on my mission. It's like I can't even describe how I changed or pinpoint what it is but I know that I am forever different and much better than before. 

I love you all! Keep the faith.

Sister Turner:)

Is It Really March??

Hello Hello Hello!

How is everyone doing? Oh man the time is just flying by. I feel like I literally just emailing yesterday. I don't know if missionary time is exceptionally fast or what but I can't believe it. This was a pretty good week. We have seen so many miracles and my testimony of prayer, exact obedience and patience have really grown a lot this week! We have also had a lot of laughs. Training a new missionary really does try you but it's such a great experience because I have been able to feel the reality of Heavenly Father's helping hand in all things as I rely on him more and more through prayer and fasting. I can't even describe how much I love being a missionary. It is the very best thing I have ever done in my life and I know the things I have done the last 7 months have changed me into such a better person and will affect everything in my future for the positive. I have learned SO MUCH! This week I will just copy and paste part of my letter to the mission president because I'm a little short on time.: "The Lord has shown us a lot of miracles this week and we were able to find some amazing new investigators. I think my testimony has really grown on trying to be more exactly obedient. One thing I noticed this week was that as we strived to be exactly obedient to the schedule (especially eating 5-6 dinner) the Lord provided so many opportunities to find new investigators and families! I know that these people truly are a blessing because if we had not been actively trying to following the dinner 5-6 rule, we would not have found then because they are only home the other times! ah It was so cool. Testimony strengthened talaga. Another really amazing thing I learned this week was the reality of the power of prayer. I think sometimes I forget how powerful our prayers really are and I miss out on the blessings of prayer because I'm not as sincere as I should be. This week, one night we were working with a member and I felt so overwhelmed because we had so many appointments and things to do but everything was just falling apart and my Tagalog seemed to be completely caught on my tongue and so hard. I felt like I couldn't deal with everything so I asked if we could stop and pray off to the side of the road. I prayed for help and courage and the strength to do what he wanted us to do and for the spirit to lead us where to go. After that I strongly felt the Lord strengthening me and my mind was clear about what we should do. I thought of a family who was less active who Sister Mccoard and I used to teach when I was in training. I knew the mom was not a fan of the missionaries and had told her kids to ask us to not come back before. But this voice kept telling me to go to them. So we headed there and I saw the little girl outside. I asked if her mom were home and she said yes and I asked if I could talk to her. We ended up talking to her mom and she invited us all into their home. Even though she was so tired and preparing to leave for manila for work in the morning, she talked to us for a while and let us share a message with her and the family. It was totally by the spirit because we hadn't planned for them but I felt prompted to share about the atonement and it was such a great lesson. The spirit was so strong and the mom really opened up to us about the problems she was having and her desire to come back into the church. She said normally she didn't like the missionaries coming before but that night she felt she should let us in and she thanked us for our message and for bringing the spirit in her home again. It was such a neat experience for me to see that if I will simply seek the Lord's guidance and follow his will, he will make sure we are where we need to be with his children who need us the very most at that time. "

I love you all very much! Take care! Thank you so much, I love hearing all about your lives and experiences. One thing I really love doing in lessons is sharing powerful real life experiences about the principles of the gospel. If you have any personally experiences about prayer, gospel blessing family, repentance, feeling god's love, or anything like that I would love to read about them! I will share them with my investigators and less active members who may be struggling with those same things! I know that as we share our testimonies about Christ and his gospel, that testimony grows and the Lord gives us ever more wonderful experiences! So even if you don't tell me, this week I challenge you all to share your testimony of something in the gospel to someone. It doesn't have to be some big awkward thing. Just share. I know the Lord will bless your life and theirs for it. 

Mahal ko kayo lahat!

Sister Turner:)

20 Years Old and Still Kicking….

Hello dear family and friends!

    First of all, thank you so much for all the birthday wishes! Honestly my birthday was just kind of weird. haha I wasn't going to tell anyone it was my birthday because I really wanted to just work really hard and that kind of be my gift to Heavenly Father this year but one of my housemates knew and she surprised us by decorating our kitchen! It was also way cool because my new housemate has the same birthday as me! Except she is 28 haha But we woke up and said happy birthday to one another and I was just like "wow! It's my first birthday I've had as a twin! This is so fun!" And at night our neighbors who are members gave us this awesome cake so we sang and blew out birthday candles and it was fun:) Also I got mom and dad's package!!! So now I have shoes! and mac and cheese! and other random things that I love SO MUCH! ahh that was the best. Thank you so much!

    This week was kind of crazy because we started off with transfers and my companion sister Vi became companions with my trainer sister mccoard! haha so crazy. On Tuesday we ended up going to Ligau about 30 minutes away to get one of the trainers clothes and stuff and then came back for a leadership trainers training thing. It was SO GOOD. The spirit was so strong and I learned so much. Then we went home and got our apartment all cleaned and ready for our little trainees to arrive! On Tuesday we headed to Legazpi for the orientation and to meet our new companions. So here's a little bit about my new comp! Her name is Sister Snyder from Hurricane,Utah. She is 22 years old and really awesome. When I met her I just loved her immediately. She is so great. She is super hardworking and wants to be exactly obedient and follow the spirit so I think we will get along just fine. I can already see how different it is to be senior companion. There are so many responsibilities and things to do, sometimes my brain is just in overdrive and like the last couple nights I keep having dreams where I'm teaching lessons to investigators in Tagalog and I can't sleep... I am so tired! haha But  The best part so far I think is just seeing how far I have come and recognizing the blessings the lord had given me. For example with the language. I never realized how far I have come in Tagalog until now when I am teaching entire lessons by myself in another language and also teaching my foreigner companion the language as well. The gift of tongues is SO REAL. It's funny because the people we have been teaching since I was in training here 6 months ago are all like "sister turner! she is JUST like you were! now you are like sister mccoard" and its so weird because it's true! I feel like every thought I have now​is just a constant prayer of how I can help my investigators and how I can help sister Snyder and for strength to know what the Lord wants me to do and then being able to do it. It's hard but I feel him giving me the strength I need each day. I know that our Father in Heaven lives and loves us and knows us perfectly. He gives us no trial we cannot conquer. I feel so blessed to know this and to be able to share it with everyone I meet!

I love you all!

Have a great week! 

Sister Turner:)

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