THE HARVEST

Hello Everyone!

​So this was a really great week! In missionary work, you often hear the phrase "planting or harvesting". It usually refers to whether or not you are visually seeing the fruits of your labors. In baptisms or in the progress of the people you teach. Sometimes you feel like a planter and not so much a harvester because you don't see a lot of results right away. But this work is not about immediate gratification and even in the planting times, we can be happy because we know there is no effort wasted in the Lord's work. But with that being said, it's still really nice when every once in while, you get the wonderful opportunity to see the individuals you are teaching, make the decisions and changes to come unto the savior. My companion and I have both been in a season of planting the past months so this past week, when we had two baptisms, it was a really really sweet harvest. The baptism of sister Liza and Apple was so amazing! They were baptized with another sister who is an investigator of the Elders, Sister ginalyn. When we got to the church about an hour before the baptism we found that there were some complications such as: there were no people, there was no program and there was no water in the font. Luckily, everything came together and even the things we didnt have, didnt matter much because the spirit was very strong and I came to learn that when you have truly prepared converts who are there to make sacred covenants to the Lord they dont care much about flashy programs or lots of attendance, What matters is they are ready. Even though the church needs a new water pump, and when the font did fill up, it was super dirty and gross(like dark green coming out of the tap and they couldnt even see the bottom), they didn't care. I felt kind of embarrassed at first that the water was so dirty and I thought "oh man, i don't know if I would be excited to get in that" but my recent converts really taught me a lesson. They didn't even complain, they were just grateful for the opportunity to be baptized into Christ's church. They understood what their baptism was really about. Also the best part of the baptism is how Apple's dad came to support her! I don't have time to tell the whole story but basically we had invited him and he was super against it and said he wouldn't come and we testified to him how important it was and that it would mean so much to his daughter to have them there. Anyways, he ended up showing up and surprising us all and it turned out he was friends with our branch president and he got some great fellowship! Opening doors!!! Miracles all around:)

This week my kasama and I have seen alot of miracles in the work. We really help motivate each other to do our very best and I hope we are together a long time because I think some major miracles can happen with the way things have been going. One thing we have decided is we are going to "fear no man". We talk to EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE about our message and it's so fun. And we work HARD. One new thing we did this week was a "jeepney oym". When we rode the jeepney to ligao for exchanges, we waited for the jeepney to get all full (around 30 people) and then once it started rolling, we like started preaching to the whole jeepney and testified of our message, of the restoration, and invited them to meet with us, then we passed out pass along cards and got referrals. It was AWESOME. To be honest,we were both super scared because I have never seen anyone do something like that and I definitely haven't done it myself but we practiced and were really praying hard that we would have to courage to open our mouths to everyone. I'm really grateful my kasama is willing to do crazy stuff like that with me. This week for my one year mark we have some awesome book of mormon themed tracting and oym'ing stuff planned so I'm super excited!!:)

Of yeah and speaking of exchanges, I had my first exchanges as an STL this past week. I was back in Ligao with sister Eneja. She is my batch coming in the mission and she is so sweet. We had so much fun and saw a lot of miracles. She told me it was her favorite exchanges she's had her whole mission except for her first one. I really love being an STL. It basically just means I can love and help the sisters around me even more. I was super grateful because the sisters really opened up about their needs/ things they were struggling with and we made goals together on how they could improve and I committed them to do it and promised chocolate if they did the changes haha when we followed up last night, they had done all their commitments and almost every single one of their key indicators had gone up and they had seen lots of miracles and they seemed so happy. And it made me so happy! I'm so invested in the areas/work/lives of the sisters in my zone. I literally get so excited when things go good for them. It's all up from here:) We have another exchanges tomorrow and i'll be in my old area with my old kasama so i'm excited to see everyone again. This week i realized how ignorant I had been of two things: that i'm a good missionary despite my weaknesses and that there is a heck ton of disobedience in the mission. BUT Everything will fine. We just gotta be the example first and pray for ways to help others(and ourselves) in this work. We can't do it by ourselves, we need others. 

Oh we also had interviews with President Guanzon this week. It was the best interviews yet. I love the mission president! He always has the best advice. I learn so much. And I didn't even cry int his interview, we just laughed. So yeah, progressing! 

I love you all! I hope you are all safe, happy, and able to see how much our Heavenly Father loves you.

Ingat kayo. Mahal Kita. Namimiss kita

Sister Turner:)

p.s- we cut down some yummy sugar cane from our member presents yard on exchanges

Leadership

Okay I'm going to try to write this fast and detailed because my weekly emails have been slacking lately. But I only have like 15 minutes so we'll see how this goes. 

This was a pretty good week. It was super crazy and went by sooo fast but it was good.Life is kind of crazier as an STL but mostly the same i guess. On Tuesday I had my first MLC or missionary Leadership Council which is where all the ZL's and STL's in the mission get together and have a workshop by president and the apes and then we go back and do a zone training for the other missionaries in our zones coming from their workshop. The MLC was really great and I learned a ton. Even though I was really nervous to report(all leaders stand up in front of everyone and report on their zones numbers and struggles and strengths and stuff) it went pretty well and we didnt get publicly chastised by president guanzon like what used to happen alot before daw so i was really grateful ahha. On the way home we stopped in daraga to go to the mission office and i saw some of the members there from my old ward and we had a really great 5 minute reunion . It's nice to know they miss me as much as I miss them:) On Wednesday we had a SUPER AWESOME DAY and taught 10 lessons and committed two long term investigators to being baptized next satuday One of them is Liza and she has a super strong testimony but she was nervous to get baptized because she is 7 months pregnant and the doctor said it could be bad for her baby but we taught about the power of priesthood blessings and how i knew if she had the faith to be baptized, heavenly father would protect her baby and i shared the story about mom getting the priesthood blessing when she was pregnant with me and how I was safe after that and it totally eased her fear to hear that experience of my mom and she committed and i thought how amazing it is that god puts us right where we need to be to help the people who will be benefited by the experiences we have had in our lives. his plan really is so perfect. 

Thursday we had a ton a meetings with area realignments and planning our zone training with the Zone leaders but it was good. Then we found out president guanzon and his wife would be attending our zone training and that kinda freaked us out because he has never attended one in the history of our mission but it went really well and he said we did a good job. I was so scared to present the workshop and i didnt know what to say to help the missionaries. I was so terrified. My companion and I decided to fast and I had a very good testimony building experience of the lord giving us the things we need in the moment we need them because I had studied so hard and nothing felt right, i couldn't think what to say but then when i stood up and started talking, it came out perfectly and the spirit was super strong. I was so grateful for his help. On Saturday we had two baptismal interviews for Liza and one for Apple(she is a 19 year old investigator who is so sweet and awesome. She has a strong faith!) I'm so excited for both of them. They will be baptized on Friday at one sa hapon:)

Anyways, sorry this is super rushed, I think that's all. I love you all and hope you are doing well! 

Thanks for the love and support. Sorry if i dont reply right away. Time really is short. 

Sister Turner

Polangui Plague

Hello Everyone!

So there's alot of changes that happened this week. I don't have much time so I'll try to sum it up and hopefully I do it justice. So I was transferred to Polangui. It's about 30 minute jeepney ride from Ligao and I was called as the new Sister Training Leader for Ligao zone which basically means my companion and I are responsible for all the sisters in our zone. I was super excited when I found out my area because I had already been there on exchanges and loved the people and also becaus it means I can go on exchanges in ligao again with sister siilata. And my new kasama is sister Pascua who is my batch coming in the mission and she is awesome and my official first native companion.  WIN WIN WIN. This week has been alittle crazy but we're making the most of it. Halimbawa, I became an Sister Training Leader then found out we will be running our area while also opening a new area that was closed by other sisters. So our are is HUGE. The biggest in the zone. And we don't know where anything is. (So we get lost in the work of the Lord alot) and my companion has a upper respiratory infection so we have been to the hospital and in the house alot. Then our zone leader was hospitalized for a week and then one of our sisters got pnuemonia. Then I got a cold. So I've started calling this weird sickness the "Polangui Plague" but they work of salvation must go on and we are all basically fine now:)

I really love this area, everyone is very kind. Even though it's been alittle hard to catch my bearing haha it's hard to transfer and then transfer again 6 weeks later and try to make good first impressions and remember a million and one names when you have a cold and no sleep but the Lord is helping me out so it's all good:) I'm really excited to work hard and try to help my area get the very best it and be and also I'm so excited to serve and help the sisters in my zone. I can honestly say I love them all so much! Basically I love being a missionary and things are going great(even when they seem to go all wrong) haha. 

Love you all!

I hope things are going well! 

Sister Turner:)

Leaving Ligao

So I have some news! I'm transferring again, after only six weeks here in Ligao! I'm very sad because I truly love it here but I know that this is what the Lord needs me to do so I'll go where he needs me to go:) 

The Elders told us we had to move apartments so we were dealing with all that drama before finding out I would be leaving anyways. This week is was sick for about 3 days. I had to go to the hospital and was pretty bad. They said I had food allergies, stress and tension headache, dehydration, and over fatigue. So that was fun. But We were able to work on the third day so it's fine. I got two priesthood blessings this week and it really seemed to help.

This morning we went to kawa kawa known as the "hill without a hilltop." you can google it. It's the most famous site in ligao and i hadnt been there yet so we went and hiked that and i thought I would die haha Because i've been in bed sick most of the week and i'm not that fit to begin with. But the view was so worth it. Then I did a couple hours of laundry outside and got super sunburned in an awkward pattern on my legs. So that was fun. And then I packed. Even though I feel like I just unpacked.haha Sorry I'm not really sure what to write. This whole week has been such a blur. It feels so weird to be in your first area 9 months and second one just six weeks.  I will really miss it here. But mostly I will miss the people because I love them so much. I'll write next week from my new area and give you all the details. 

Mahal Kita!

Sister Turner:)

Baby Snakes

So if the title of this alarms you. It should. Because I literally found baby snakes in my bedroom this week. And I testify that missions change people because I literally didn't even freak out I just texted the elders "What is the best way to kill baby snakes and how do we keep them out of our apartment?" and then they called us and asked the situation and took a 30 minute jeepney ride from their area to come check out house for us because on the phone call I said "yes elders, they are only babies now but where do babies come from??" and Elder Cameron says "a mom" and I go "yes exactly. there is a mama snake hiding in our walls somewhere like in harry potter!!!!!!" so after that they came real quick and our whole neighborhood got worked up about it and it was crazy. They didn't find anything but they said they thought it was in the attic. So I basically live in fear every night when i go to sleep. But don't worry about me, i'll be fine. It mostly was just a funny story because my last apartment has rats and this one has snakes and i don't want to know what the next one will have haha. 

After that experience, the week went pretty normal. Life is really good here in Ligao. I'm super happy. I love the people I teach, the members, my companion and the scenery. I love getting lost in the work here even if that means getting lost in some random rice field. I love being a missionary. I feel happy all the time now! The spirit is so amazing. It can turn any situation into a good one. We had exchanges with the STL's this week and I was companions again with my followup sister Vi! Oh man it was so fun we had the best day. I miss her and she goes home next week! Tomorrow is my 11 month mark and that is freaking me out but I just want to keep working my hardest and trying to be a good representative of Jesus Christ here while I can. The time goes so fast. I sure don't want it to end. 

I love you all and I hope all is well! Thanks to everyone who emailed me! And thanks for the prayers because I can feel them all the way over here. 

Have a great week!

Sister Turner:)

The Emerald City

So this week we had zone training, and zone cluster conference with a bunch of missionaries. It was in Legazpi and I always refer to legazpi as the emerald city because they have a mall and the sisters apartment there is 100% green. it was good to see all the missionaries and learn from the presentations.

I'm just going to send some pictures this week. we had some amazing miracles in finind and teaching this week but i dont really have time to write it all. 

These are pictures from:

1. Branch service project where i found this HUGE CRICKET.

2. holding cricket

3. sister siilata and i waiting when we went to legazpi for the hospital when she had a tissue infection in her arm(dont remember if i told you about that. it was a few weeks ago)

4. my district plus the zone leaders. please ignore how awkwardly close i am sitting to that elder hhaa

5. saw my child sister snyder again! i miss her:)

6. the family history training in legazpi with the apes, and some other crazy elders i know.

7. me and my kasama she is from somoa and she is teaching me somoan.

8.  zone training with the whole ligao zone. we had a surprise birthday party with donuts and it was great:)

9. my two kasamas. sister vi and sister siilata. imma poly now:)

10. the sisters!

11. my trainee sister snyder and I:)

12.daraga sisters and us

13. always reach for the stars!

14. we were waiting for the zl's for a jeepney and we got one first so this was us leaving them on the curb as they waited. haha they are the best. 

15. when i got sick this week and had to come home early and literally pasted out on the floor and my companion freaked out and didnt know what to do so she texted sister guanzon and said "sister. i dont know what to do, sister turner is in a really bad mood. please help me" and the mission presidents wife responds " try to resolve this among yourselves. pray. forgive each other" because apparently in somoa "in a bad mood" means really really sick and once i explained it to my companion she was like "oh no!" and texted backand we were able to get the medicine i needed and stuff. haha its funny now but at the moment i was prett sure i was going to die. #culturaldifferences 

16. we met a challenge from the apes to read the entire white handbook in one week and we did it and we took silly hat pictures to document it. 

lov eyou all have a great week! 

Sister Turner:)

Holey Shoes

Hello! How's everybody doing?

This has been a kind of crazy week. I'll sum up the things that happened and some things I learned in bullet points.

1.My old companion sister Vi had to go to the MRC and they didnt think she would make it back so the Apes drove her to our apartment so i could say goodbye(i owe them bigtime because they are pretty kind to us). But then she did get cleared to come back and they brought her by for me to say hi again!

2. The apes called us randomly to say we were getting a new companion and would be a trisome

3. We were yelled at and almost run over by an angry trycee driver (he was cussing at us in tagalog daw)

4. Two of the sassy elders i am friends with from daraga came over to deliver supplies for our house and when they asked my companion where the fire alarm was she said they had taken it down because it went off when she curled her hair and was "annoying". (dont worry mom they got us a new one..)

5. I found out that our new companion sister Buban was getting another new companion who is sister Deguzman who if you don't remember was my first housemate and stl in my mission! She went home to help her family and came back to finish her mission. she is awesome! 

6.We had probably the worst and most brutal rejection of my whole mission this week. ALL DAY EVERY DAY. This is a hard job sometimes but it's still worth it.

7. Sometimes people(even other missionaries) will hate you for doing whats right but at least you know you are doing right in the Lord's eyes.

8. It's really hard to always be the Christlike example in a bad situation

9. Sometimes it's hard to love people like Jesus would when they lie straight to your face. But you should still do it anyways.

10.We had a really great Family History program in legazpi on saturday and i got to go back and see everyone and have sister snyder tell me all about my old area and it was so great!

11. Some elders in my district were emergency transferred and its sad:(

12. My shoes have holes again and the mud and water gets in now and it's super gross and there are no sizes here for me in ligao so it's a test of endurance now haha

12. There is one Recent Convert we have whose husband has never really listened to missionaries and he isnt super interested because everytime we invite him he just blows us off. But my mission has taught me the importance of diligence and never giving up on anyone so everytime we go there we still invite him to listen. Anyways, one night we had literally been punted ALL DAY and walked about 3 hours straight and we were just dead tired so we decided to visit this family and honestly I was just thinking how they would probably let us in the door and we could get some water but then once we were in the door I asked the little boy to invite his daddy again and he did and brother listened to our message for the first time and he accepted a date for baptism! It was such a miracle. And in retrospect, i realized that if we hadnt had so much rejection and had such a hard time that day I probably would not have gone there but the Lord knew he was ready that night so he prepared his missionaries and guided us there. Sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways but it always is for our best. 

I love you all so much!

Keep building your faith in Christ every single day little by little. I know true joy comes through personally knowing our savior Jesus Christ and he is here for all of us if we just choose to come unto him. How will you come unto him this week?

Mahal Kita,

Sister Turner:)