That filippino Life

Hello!!!

I feel like I haven't written in so long and so many awesome crazy different things have occurred and I only have a few minutes to write this and then write my mission president so I will just type way fast and hope that my stories make sense. Sorry! I'll repent and time manage better next week. 

Manilla MTC:

So I loved my time at the MTC here but it was so crazy different from Provo. Like you wouldn't even believe. For example, we wake up at 6 and do a military style line up outside and then we have workout time. The military life really isn't for me BUT the spirit was super strong while we were there and it was neat to experience another MTC's style. Also they had the best food of life. Our district decided to play badminton for gym time and we killed it. Professional over here. haha jokes. It was really fun to try though. 

One cool thing we do at the MTC there is go out proselyting in the nearby cities  So we got to practice some of our Tagalog and it was just the coolest thing. We taught lessons on floors and met the COOLEST people. Gosh I just love everyone so much.  

Okay so moving onto my time in the mission field. 

My companion/trainer is Sister McCord from Provo,Utah. She has been out in her mission for 11 months and it literally the coolest person ever. She is helping me so much and i love her. She reminds me of my sister Zera who is also the coolest person ever so that's pretty neat. (I miss you Zera!) It's funny because sister W's comp is from Georgia and was sister mccord's comp in the MTC so we kind of switched. I am assigned in Daraga which is a big city about 15 minutes from Legazpi. It's way cool because it is where all the ZL's,STL's,AP's and mission president are so we get to see them a lot. In our apartment is me, sister Mccord, and the two Sister training leaders. I think it's funny how I am always roomies with the Sister Training Leaders. Guess they gotta keep an eye on me or something. I can't send pictures this week but i'll try next time. Our apartment is pretty nice. My bed is all cute and filippino and on the floor and it feels like a cloud. It is my favorite thing ever. During the Typhoon our house was alittle damaged so the bathroom door flew off and we don't have one but we have toilet paper so I'm in no position to complain. haha It's funny because right after I got here there was a typhoon(little one, like we could walk through it) but i guess it messed up some wires so we didn't have power or water for a few days. I am learning how to be a pioneer. All the roomies felt bad that I didn't get a "nice week in the Philippines  before everything went crazy" but I'm really fine with it. I told them sorry and it's probably my fault because I skipped out on that one trek like 4 years ago and now God is just giving me a chance to experience it. Gosh the people here are just the best. haha Every single person I meet tells me I'm beautiful.Like literally to my face just that.Also that I am huge. My favorite occurance was when i was teaching my first family and the teenage boy asks me how old I am and we were both 19 and he goes "wow! you're overgrown!" hahaha it was so funny because i am way taller than everyone here. I don't get offended when every person I meet basically calls me fat to my face because they are just so sweet. It's weird how height is associated with age here. Like if you're tall they expect you to be like 30 which makes no sense to me because none of the old people here are tall haha oh well.  silly comments like that just make me love them more. The boy followed the "overgrown" comment by telling me I look like a hollywood movie star so he was easy to love after that. haha I swear nothing boosts your self estem like people telling you how gorgeous you are when you are gross and sweaty and wearing no makeup. I'm always just like Salamat!! Also people call me barbie. Which is funny because that's not me at all but I guess it just means doll face. (throwback to the procaine doll joke).

Oh man I know I'm forgetting so many things but I'll tell at least one experience I had. So when the power was out we still went to teach because we are awesome woman warrior filippino sister missionaries and that's what we do. Anyways, so we were in these little cute houses teaching by candle light and one of them we were reading the book of mormon with the kids and the family and it was basically the best moment of my life! Also funny how the little 3 year old could read the tagalog scriptures better than me but that's okay because she's had 3 years and I've only had like 8 weeks. Oh man so many things i wish i could say but no time. 

My first sunday in church was crazy and terrifying and I walked in the door and they asked me to give a 7 minute talk in Tagalog like 5 minutes before it started but it was fine and i have no idea what i said but I didn't pass out from fear so that's a start. I literally don't think I've ever been that afraid of speaking in my life. God definitely helped me out. Oh yeah, it's the craziest thing. As soon as I got here, Tagalog has been so much better for me.Don't get me wrong, it is still way hard and frustrating at times and I'm no pro at all but it's way better than in the MTC. Everyone says I speak like I've been in the field for 4 months which is crazy because i'm really not that good. But i teach lessons and OYM and go up to random people and houses and talk to them first and I love it. I'm choosing faith over fear and it's so great. Nothing scares me anymore! (except for church haha). I feel the spirit helping me so much every day it is amazing. I know that the language will come especially with my awesome trainer and the lord on my side. I'm excited when I can really speak to these people. We were at the old bishops' house last night for dinner and he told me that I would be fluent in Tagalog in 3 months(at the end of my training). I told him I hoped he still had the gift of revelation from being bishop haha. I'm not really pushing time at all though, I'm just going to push myself every single day and work crazy hard and everything will come in the Lord's time. Oh also no time now but remind me to tell you about when I accidentally tracked some Cathloic nuns.

Oh man it is so different here and really hard sometimes but it's weird because in a way I really feel Like I'm coming home here. Like somehow I belong. I love it here. 

Love you all! sorry this was so scatterbrained and I left abunch out. 

Muhal Kita!

Sister Turner

SA Philippines!

Kumusta!

Sister Turner tuning in from the Manilla Philippines Missionary Training Center!

That's right, I have been admitted to the Tagalog graduate program here. haha That's what everyone is calling us here:) Just some MTC graduates. We are here mostly for visa and immigration things. I will be here 5 days (until wednesday when i will fly out to Legzpi). The philippines is so beautiful and not even as hot as I thought it would be but I haven't seen a hot afternoon yet so we will see. The flight was not too bad. We were traveling for about 30 hours. It was ahoot and a half. I was so confused because i would fall asleep and 20 minutes later they would bring us drinks or snack or food and i felt like all i did for 20 hours of flying was sleep and eat. It was really weird. We had cute little airplane meals. Sorry can't go into too much detail because we are only online for like 20 minutes. This is primarily a "made it across the ocean alive informatory email" kind of thing. Got some cool keepsakes in Tokyo and in a few hours we get to go proselyting on splits with missionaries in downtown Manilla!! 

I AM SO EXCITED. Everyone is so kind. I love this MTC even though it's 100% different from the Provo MTC. It's super chill here and calm. I am so jet lagged but everything is great.Also apparently when you fly so long you blow up and your hands and feet swell and your ears pop so we are all just walking around huge and unable to hear and confused but we are happy. 

They tell me it is Saturday but i lost my watch and am generally just confused haha it's great.  I take little mini naps. I had my first Philippines bug encounter last night but it was only a coackroach so i don't know if that counts. I'll let you know when i see something crazy like a 3 headed spider. We get to go to immigration monday for passports and then the Manilla Temple(which is across the street)on tuesday so i'm really excited for that! The humidity isn't bad at all. feel like Georgia summers and really nice. It's so beautiful i wish i would show you all! I'll try to send pictures from the trip when i get to my area next week! Also I understand native Tagalog better than my mtc tagalog so praise the lord! It is going to be the best 18 months and i can't wait. Till next time!

Love you!

Mahal kita!

Sister Turner

Last Email From The MTC

Well. The time has finally come. I am in my last few days here at the MTC and to say that typing that is surreal is an understatement. I guess the best way I can describe it is when you are about to graduate high school and all you think about for months is leaving and being done but when the time actually comes it is SO HARD to say goodbye to all the people you have come to know and love and to say goodbye to life as you currently know it. This will be my last email from the good old USA. I'm not sure when my p-day(email day) will be in the Philippines, but hopefully not too long because I'm sure i'll have so much to say just from the 18 hour flight, not even considering the whole being in a new country for the first time thing. Don't get me wrong, I really am so excited but it's also so crazy and nerve-racking to actually really START my mission. I just need to find some cute Filipino family to help out once I get there and I'm sure I will feel fine!:)

This past week has flown by faster than any other. We had one of the best devotionals we have had since I've been here on Sunday. I don't have my notes so I'm not sure his name but he was one of the 70 and he talked about how we need to set goals and follow them and all this motivational missionary stuff. (sorry like no detail wish I had my notebook.) One point I really liked was that he said missionaries need to do three things. SMILE SMILE SMILE. That was my favorite point because I don't have to know another language to do that. I've had a lot of practice loving people so at least that is universal and I can do that even if I am 9,000 miles away from home. :)

Sunday night we watched the Joseph Smith movie they play in the Salt lake center. I LOVE THAT MOVIE. I'm not sure if that's on LDS.org but if so you all need to go buy some oreos and popcorn and have a movie night. It is seriously so great. Plus I love watching movies here at the MTC with all these 18 year old elders because if there is any sort of slight romantic things in a movie like holding hands or something they will GO CRAZY. We are so deprived. It's okay though,I'm not complaining haha:) 

THEN that movie happened to be playing in the gym a couple times we went this week so of course I watched it another 2 times. I wonder what people thought when they saw me like crying on the elliptical. Like, HEY! I'm not THAT out of shape, this is just a really great movie. haha oh well. 

Here's a fun fact about the MTC, you can be here for 6 weeks and they won''t tell you anything about the culture of where you are going until a few days before you leave. And even now they won't tell us some things. Like apparently they don't tell you about the TP or bucket shower situation until you get there. Coincidence? I think not! haha they don't want people backing out before they even get there. I did learn something this week about my future home though. Apparently they don't have seats in some of the homes and they have muddy dirt floors so instead of sitting criss-cross apple sauce to teach a lesson, you will just do a squat. In a skirt. For like 30 minutes. All I have to say about that is I am so grateful for the following: long,flowy comfy skirts, my byu zumba instructor who insisted on doing 4 minute segments of straight squats every class to build up our endurance, and my byu contemporary dance teacher who had us work forever on gaining and improving balance. I am a little out of practice but those things will definitely help me in the next 16 months! haha :) The best part of learning about the squats was watching the Elders try to keep their balance. Imagine a game of rolly-polly that like 5 year olds play but with huge Elders and you might begin to understand how hilarious the situation was! One of the Elders even rolled into a desk and knocked everything over. Don't worry, he was fine but their attempts and commentary were the funniest thing. 

Yesterday we had in-field orientation which is a 7 hour training for all the missionaries leaving this week. It was so great! Kind of weird to hear all English for a day but I learned so much and am so so so excited to get out to the Philippines and start meeting everyone and try and help every single person I meet.

I just want to say that I love you all so much. Thank you so much for all the love and support the past 6 weeks! My testimony of prayer has grown so much in the last 6 weeks and I know without a doubt that God answers every single prayer. He loves us so much. Please go to him if you are having a hard time, or a good time, or anytime. He just wants to hear from you and help you. How blessed are we to have a way to communicate with our loving heavenly father through prayer!

Have a wonderful week! 

I will write to you soon from the Philippines!!

-Sister Turner:)

Pictures

Pictures of Sister Journey Turner at the MTC   in Provo Utah.

I'm Going To The Philippines!

Family and Friends. 

I am going to the Philippines. Okay so I know we have all known that for a while but yesterday I got my FLIGHT PLANS. So it's actually official now and I am so excited i can not even explain. I will be leaving the MTC and AMERICA on September 4th(that's less that 2 weeks!!!!!!) and then flying to Tokyo Japan and then to the Philippines. Sister W, Elder W and I are flying together because we are going to the same mission. I cannot wait for an 18 hour flight with Elder Winkler. hahaa I will laugh all the way there:) The other people in my district are on a different flight to Japan but we are all arriving there at the same time and then are on the same flight to Phili. So we feel pretty cool and are excited for our "district reunion in Tokyo." What is my life. THIS IS SO COOL.  

Any who, So you can probably tell from my extensive use of caps and exclamation points, getting our flight plans was pretty exciting but I guess I will try to remember the other things that happened as well!

This was just a really fantastic week. Well every week is great but this was especially wonderful. One of my goals this week was to think less about myself and turn outward to pay more attention to those around me and what needs they might have even if they aren't openly advertising about needing help. I have been blessed this week for God to place me in the right place at the right time and was able to help out some people when they were having a tough time. I can't really get to much into it because I know this email is seen by a lot of people and I don't want to say personal things about other people but basically I was able to help comfort and assist several people this week when they were going through some tough times. I feel so blessed that I was able to help them and pray with them and for them and be a part of the overwhelming spirit that comes from Heavenly Father through prayer. I know without a doubt that God loves every single person and he has all the love in the world to give us and if we will just turn to him we can feel that love! Helping these people this week has allowed me to also feel that overwhelming power that comes through prayer as well as the true joy that comes through earnestly praying and seeking for the benefit of others. I realized that even if I can't speak Tagalog perfectly or teach lessons in the best way, being a missionary is more about loving the people around me as Christ would. I have this opportunity to be God's hands to reach out to his children when they are having a hard time. But That's not just me or the fact that I happen to be a full time missionary. We ALL can find true joy in helping others around us if we just try. I testify that you will never feel God's love for you more than you will as you seek to help others. So I have a challenge for you if you are reading this! Go find someone who seems like they are having a hard time and sincerely look to help them in any way you can. Don't just serve them but REALLY try to love them as God does and understand them. I promise you your life will never be the same and you will be happier than you ever have before if you turn outward instead of thinking about yourself or worrying about your problems. Try it, I dare you. Then tell me about what happened:)

Sight seeing news: This week at the MTC I saw my friend Krista Ek from BYU, Paige Newman from Georgia who is a teacher here and walked by me while on the phone with her mom so i said hi to both of them and it was awesome. Also Elder Max Sultan! It was so awesome to see him because I don't think I've seen him since seminary graduation! He is doing great and will be a fantastic missionary in Arizona I can tell:)

Oh and I got 3 packages in 3 days this week. 3 FOR 3!!!!! IT WAS AN MTC MIRACLE!!! 

Thank you so much Mom,Dad and Jazzy Jay. Love you all. 

On Sunday Jenny Oaks Baker came for our Devotional. She is a professional violinist and the daughter of Elder Dallin H Oaks. It was a really neat little concert of her playing her favorite songs with her cute musical children and telling stories of her dad growing up. 

Okay so before I tell the next story, I want to let everyone know that I enjoyed a few very nice days of good health after my last cold. However, one of the Elders in my district had this super bad cough that he finally went to the doctor to have checked out. He came back to announce to us that he had a "highly contagious upper respiratory infection". Thanks so much Elder. Since we literally spend 10+ hours with him a day in one tiny little classroom one by one we have been getting sick. I was one of the first to go but I thought it was fine and just a cold like last time. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. I started off with a really bad cold and cough which got progressively worse until it climaxed on Wednesday night when I woke up in the middle of the night with probably the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life in my right ear. I thought my ear drum had shattered. I just took some extra strength Tylenol (which didn't help at all. false advertising) and prayed and sat in my bed all night not being able to sleep. It was probably the worst night of my life so far. The next morning we had 6:30 service. I was feeling pretty bad but some funny moments happened! First, we were vacuuming the floors of one of the buildings and I couldn't hear out of my right ear at that point but I could vaguely hear sounds so the vacuum noise sounded like dub step and it was hilarious. Oh and also Some Elders walked in on me and Sister W in the bathroom so they could clean the mirrors. It was pretty awkward. Here's kind of what happened *elders walk in talking and laughing and sister W and I freeze* "ummm... is anyone in here" and then Sister W responds in the best not laughing voice she can "Yes. there are people in here" The Elders then proceed to leave and stand outside the door so we had to walk past them to leave.haha it was awful but hilarious. I am sure they learned their lesson and will knock from now on. 

Anyways, Thursday afternoon my sickness was not any better, I couldn't hear out of my right ear and my eyes were so painful I couldn't keep them open. At that point I made the executive decision to go to the Health Clinic here at the MTC and was told I had a severe ear infection, eye infection and upper respiratory cough. So I guess it's a good thing I didn't try to tough that out. haha Luckily I was able to go to the pharmacy (off campus adventures!). The main reason I tell this story is to express my EXTREME gratitude for modern medicine because I feel so much better now! Also shout out to my awesome companion who helps me do eye drops 4 times a day. Also didn't want my parents to freak out when they saw a bunch of medical charges on my debit card. Don't worry! I am totally A-okay! No matter how bad I have felt, I have been able to do everything so I haven't gotten behind and I am really grateful for that. 

One thing that was kind of hard this week was saying goodbye to all the Elders I have grown to love so much! Everyone left for the Philippines and now my district is the oldest here. I can't believe that! I will miss them so much but I'm so happy they got to start their adventure in the Philippines! It's crazy how you can love people so much and they really do become your family after a short time. After all those Elders left, we had a group of 27 Elders and sisters come in. Sister W and I along with the Zone leaders were able to do an orientation their first night and it was really fun. I love helping out and getting to know all the new people. It's so crazy because I feel like I just got here but looking back I guess I have come a long way since my first day here. 

Last night we had an awesome opportunity to serve the sisters in our zone! Two of our brand new sisters knocked on our door in towels and explained how all four sisters in their room had been locked out. Sister W and I then rushed to the front desk in our PJ's past curfew in the rain and we were literally the only ones on campus. We went and got their key and then ran back. I was grateful for the opportunity to pay it forward since the exact same thing happened to me last week haha. 

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week! Look for someone having a hard time and help them out. 

MAHAL,

Sister Turner:)

Half Way There

Kumusta Everyone! 

Okay so my thoughts are so scrambled this week. I cannot believe it's been an entire week since last time I wrote. I don't have anything with me and I haven't really journaled this week because we have been so busy but I will try my best to remember all the adventures! Also all the missionaries in this computer lab are funny and distracting and talking to me so I hope I don't  do that thing where you type what you are saying not what you are trying to type. haa

I can't believe I have hit my half way mark at the MTC! I have survived three weeks speaking tagalog and not having hidden valley ranch dressing. I've sure come along way. (Sidenote- mom and dad can you actually send me some Hidden valley before I leave to take to the Philippines?? Thank you!)

One exciting adventure to happen this week was that in the afternoon during gym time sister W and I did a companion exchange so that she and another sister from our district could practice for a musical performance that they will be doing tomorrow. The first day we switched, the other sisters in the district and I  decided to go up to the sand volleyball court by the temple to play with the elders. Now if you know me, you're probably shocked at the improvements I have made in my life and the fact that I even tried to play volleyball after years of near death hit in the head during recreational sports moments. But It's important to support my zone so I will go and do! Anyways, it was actually the most fun I've had playing sports with boys. Excuse me, Elders. Because They were so nice and encouraging even though with the sisters playing their game was pretty much ruined. haha And there was a lot more screaming and laughter than before. One of the comments I really appreciated from an Elder giving me advice on how to hit the ball. He said "You've just gotta punch it! You don't have to be gentle! It's not burping a baby." haha Now I know. Thanks Elder!:)

Then on Thursday we were doing another companion exchange and after our workout, I went to take a shower. It wasn't until after my shower that I realized I had locked myself out of my room with ONLY a towel and shampoo and my companion (who has the other key) was gone and wouldn't be coming back because I was supposed to meet her at lunch. It made it even funnier because as I stood outside my room and contemplated a way out for this predicament, Sister Read and her companion walked by. haha some things never change. (Got locked out my my BYU dorm too.) When I knocked on the door of the other sisters in my district and luckily one of then was awake so we used the literal huge red phone hanging on the wall of our lobby (think, Emergency super hero phone) to call the front desk to tell them the situation. They said sister falcon could come get the key if she had a companion to walk with her but since I had no clothes and Sister Falcon is 5'3 her dresses were a little too short haha and by that I mean a lot. I couldn't go. So Sister Falcon and another random sister walking down the hall walked up and got my extra key for me so I could get in. God Bless sister Falcon! 

Now for a few funny moments from Sister W and I's lessons sa Tagalog this week:

One of the lessons we walked in and Sister W was wearing a necklace with the temple on it and our investigator comments about how pretty it is and asked what it is. We answered "Templo". Which is the extend of our vocabulary for temples. Then Leticia asked what a temple was. In English I probably would have said "A house of the Lord where we go to made promises with God". But In Tagalog I don't know any of those words so we tried to charades a "house ng Diyos". Then she said "Oh! a temple is a simbahan.(Church)." Then we end up said "yes a temple is a mabuti mabuti simbahan. (good good church) haha then we just tried to move on as fast as possible so she wouldn't ask more questions. 

Later this week with that same investigator, Sister W was trying to explain Baptism by immersion and how we are baptized when we are 8 years old and up. She wasn't sure how to say "and up" so she just said up to a hundred. So at the end of our lesson, she asked Leticia if she would prepare to follow Christ by being baptized and she seemed really hesitant but said she would pray about it. Anywho. Afterwards we find out that Instead of saying "We are baptized when are 8 and up" Sister W actually said "We are baptized by going under water 800 times." hahahhaha SO BAD. No wonder she was hesitant about answering us. Who would want to do that?? 

Also another funny shoutout. In class one of the ELders and I were doing sentence practices and I asked the question sa tagalog. "Will I become more heavy if I continue to drink chocolate milk every day?" and he responded "Hindi! (No) You will become more happy if you drink chocolate milk every day.' AGREED. I like the way this kid thinks! haha 

Also sidenote but sorry. I feel like my funny moment stories probably aren't that funny to read and I think everything is funny after so many straight hours of studying but I figure I will share regardless because it's little moments like that that are my favorite.

One really neat spiritual experience I had was that last minute we had to switch to teaching our hardest investigator because of a scheduling problem and we had literally an hour to prepare the entire lesson sa tagalog. And I was freaking out! But right before we went in to teach, I prayed to so so hard to be able to make it through that lesson and as I walked into the room I just knew that I was going to be okay. And I knew that I wasn't the one teaching that lesson, it was the spirit and everything would be alright. And it was one of the best lessons and more enjoyable ones I have taught. It was really neat to see the huge difference that the spirit can make between freaking out and having peace.

Every week I sing in the MTC choir during devotional and every time a bunch of people come up to me afterwards and say how my face was on the big screen. WHY DO THEY SAY THAT. We aren't allowed to look at the screen even though as the choir director says "It's the biggest temptation we will face our entire time at the MTC". So I never do and then I never know what I look like to the other 2,000 missionaries and general authority people watching. I wish i could just live in ignorance and not know that my face is blown up the size of the turner field stadium screen. Oh well. haha 

Anyways, at choir this week we sang the song "Nearer my God to thee". I really love this hymn but especially because we talked about how Heavenly Father has us go through a "refiner's fire" sometimes and that's how he makes us better. They talked about how refiner's fire makes silver better because the heat makes it moldable, purifies it and hardens it. I really liked how he went more into depth by saying Heavenly Father knows us and he knows our breaking point. He will put us through heat so that we can be purified and become better but he will never let us stay in that heat for too long that we will become brittle and break. A silversmith once said that the way he can tell that the silver is ready and purified completely is when he can see his own reflection in the silver. I love that! We can't control what happens to us in this life but we can always control how we respond to it, and we can choose to allow it to make us better and reflect christlike attributes in our response or we can choose to allow it to break us down. So far on my mission, I have realized that sometimes when we pray for help and that help doesn't seem to come, it's not because Heavenly Father isn't listening or because he has forgotten about us, but because his plan isn't the same as ours. I testify that the best way to find happiness is to change our prayers. To be willing to follow his plan for us. I think that that willingness to trust and blindly follow Heavenly Father as he leads our path is what truth faith is. I'm striving to have more of that:)

I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that God lives and loves us and listens to our prayers.ALWAYS. I know that Jesus Christ walked alone and went through the worst pain and suffering when he died on the cross for the sins of the world so that we never have to walk alone. I know that God loves all of his children equally and he wants his children in the Phillipines to know him and have the joy that living his gospel and following his son Jesus Christ can bring and that is why I am learning a language that is crazy hard. And that is why I am "giving up 18 months of my life". And that is why I am happier than I have ever been in my life. 

"Oh sweet, the joy this sentence gives: I KNOW that my redeemer lives."

I love you all!

Mahal Kita,

Sister Turner:)

p.s- Sorry I am out of time, thank you for writing me! I love hearing stories and encouragement from back home, it really helps, I'll try to respond to more emails next week!! Hope everyone has a wonderful Linggo(week)

4 And A Half Weeks Left

So Sister W and I had a great one week long run as district music coordinators until we were released on Sunday and called as the new sister coordinating leaders. It's basically the female equivalent of a zone leader. We are in charge of helping all the missionaries in our zone with any needs or questions especially all the sister missionaries. Basically my job is to be everyone's friend and so that means it's the best job in the world. I love my zone so much. As a leader, we have a ton of meetings and last Sunday i was literally in meetings or teaching classes from 8:30AM to 9:30PM. haha Shoutout to bishops who always work that hard every single Sunday (and more). Spiritual work is hard work and i really appreciate everyone who works so hard and is so dedicated to their callings. Thank you for being great examples to me!

Our zone now has 6 sisters and about 50 Elders so I feel a little outnumbered but mostly I just feel like I have 50 little brothers. The Elders are all so sweet and funny and I love talking and getting to know them. It's funny because the Elders always play this game at meals called "what are the odds" where they say something like "what are the odds I carry everyone's trays for them" and then they say between one and something else and if they say the number at the same time they have to do it. It's really silly and they get pretty creative after being at the MTC a while. haha They say the orange juice here makes you sick and you shouldn't drink it but I think the real culprit probably the bugs and napkins and spoonfuls of salt they eat from that game. haha:)

Also the Elders in my district are so awesome and Elder W and I always laugh so hard whenever we are paired together. I honestly don't even know what it is but we DIE laughing like laugh-so- hard- your-stomach- hurts- and- you- can't- breathe. Probably because we are both so awful at speaking Tagalog and partially because he has the best laugh like those ones that are super contagious. Like I will go to work with the Elders and try and be super deadpan and serious as their investigator as they teach me and they will start laughing at me because apparently I have a funny face (rude.) and I will say 100% serious "This is anything but a joke. Do you think my eternal salvation is a joke" and then they just laugh even harder which makes me laugh and it's so great. and once we start laughing the whole class starts laughing which is bad because we distract class but good because the more you laugh the longer you live.(apparently) This week, I was feeling a little down and I think Brother Kaka could tell so he puts us all into pairs to work on vocab and he puts Elder W and i together because he says "You two always laugh" and I go "Then why would you put us together?" and he says "Because it's funny." haha We did laugh and so did our teacher and so did the class and I swear there is a power in laughter that can make any bad day 100% better. 

Also side note but I am totally moving to Australia after my mission. Just putting that out there. Everyone I meet from Australia or New Zealand are the coolest people in the world. I just want to be like them! haha

Oh and this week sister W and I were running at the gym and while you run you can watch mormon messages and it is my favorite thing ever. I actually like working out now haha go figure. And as I was watching the message, I saw the one with my friend Olivia Madsen! I was totally bragging about how i was friends with a mormon celebrity to all the people in the Gym and then the next day I got a package of delicious homemade brownies from her and her mom! They were so great and I shared them with my district and teachers and got some brownie points! haha see what I did there. Thank you so much! Lot you guys! Also got a package from my uncle rodger last week and it was so great! Thank you so much!:)

This week was really great in progressing in Tagalog, no matter how slow because I am starting to understand basically everything the people we teach say and answer their questions in my super broken Tagalog. It's so exciting. Don't get me wrong, I have a long way to go. Even our teacher starting laughing at Sister W and I this week because he said our Tagalog was just super super bad. BUT HEY! At least we are trying. We did this thing called TRC(teaching resource center) where we went and shared a little spiritual message and conversed with RM's acting as themselves sa Tagalog. It was so great, even though i messed up a lot. haha It was funny because the first guy we talked to, I accidentally asked "Ano ang what" which is essentially "What is what" or "how do you say what" As I said it I realized my mistake and we all cracked up. After that i came to find out that there are cameras in the rooms we teach in and our teachers watch it to critique. Do you know how awful that is as a super paranoid person to have your fears validated by being told that there are literally cameras you can't see watching you all the time. NOT COOL. NOT COOL AT ALL. 

The next girl we talked to told us about how on her mission she found out who she really was and she knows we will too. So far my mission has taught me that I cannot speak Tagalog and I don't really know anything in English either. It kind of feels like every single talent or skill i thought i had is actually a thing I have to change about myself and nothing is right. BUT The Lord has 18 months to make me better and what he wants me to be and so I'll try to just be patient. Makes me kind of think of how when you clean your room or reorganize it, it always gets worse and you see how bad everything is and it's so messy, even messier than before you started. But once you work at it for a while everything fits into place and it's much better than it was before. That's kind of what i feel like Heavenly Father is doing with me. He is showing me weaknesses i didn't even know I had and everything seems a bit of a mess now but i know that once he is done changing me i will be  better than I ever could have been on my own. 

I know the language is starting to come along though because some of the words I say often like hello, thank you, your welcome, etc. are starting to become first nature and I accidentally answer sa Tagalog first which is so AWESOME. Also this week, I was walking past an Elder and he says "Hi, how's it going" and I literally couldn't even answer him because what he said sounded familiar but i had no idea what language he was speaking. Someone hasn't said hello to me in English is way too long. haha So even if progressing a little bit in my language means I become a weirdo who can't respond to people when they say hello to me. i will GLADLY take that. Seriously! So happy for small improvements haha. 

This week I had a really neat experience that made me realize that Heavenly Father really does know and love me and that I am supposed to be here at this time with these people learning this language and going to the Philippines.

I also got to see my BYU friends sister read and sister rhodes so that was great. 

Better run, going to try to send pictures this week! 

Muhal kita!

Sister Turner

p.s- sorry if i didn't respond to you this week, i'll try to get back to you soon! Love ya!