Oct. 11, 2010

Hello!
My first week in Clarksville was pretty good! Basically everyone I talk to is either in the military or their spouse is in the military. There are so many good people here though. I am in the 2nd ward, and I met Matt's sister! She came up to me and introduced herself, haha. She was pretty excited! People come and go in this ward so fast it is almost crazy. We didn't have tha car last week and so we had to try and get around on foot. We were a little too nervous to ride bikes yet because the road by our house is hilly and curvy, people drive fast, there is no shoulder on the road, and there are ditches on both sides. I don't know, I guess we felt safer walking? My companion is Sister Cosper, she is from the Salt Lake area. She actually thinks she might know Brittany. She was looking at our family picture and said she looked familiar, and realized that she probably saw Britt at Utah State going to photography. I guess her classes were a floor above the photography room. She is pretty awesome! It is kinda weird being the oldest, realizing I am supposed to be the one who knows what to do! It has been good though. We met a lot of the members this last week, and people we didn't even know gave us rides every so often so it hasn't been too bad. I don't know what it will be like when it gets cold and dark earlier! Last night we had dinner at the Aliki's house. She is from New Zealand and her husband is from Samoa but they lived in Hawaii. They are a way good family! We went finding a couple of the days and both times we seemed to have found the ones who just want to debate.. We first ran into a minister of a non-denominational church who tried to tell us we didn't know the history of the church and that the mormon religion was "the most dangerous plot to lead people astray" he had ever researched. We tried to politely tell him to have a good day and we'd be on our way. We tried to shake his hand and he wouldn't even do that, he was pretty upset I guess. Then as we were walking down the street he pulled over in his car and apologized but mentioned he would still give his blood to change our beliefs. Then yesterday we talked to a pastor who was pentecostal, and told us she didn't need a prophet because she could know what God wants her to do for herself and that she held the same power that the preisthood hold. I am not sure why we found those two to talk to out of all the people here, but Sister Aliki mentioned it was a way to build our own testimonies of the gospel. So I thought that was a good way to look at it! One thing that is kind of hard about his ward is that there are SO MANY children, little ones, who are so cute and I can't hold them! So sacrament meeting is pretty loud, haha. I am excited to serve here though, I think it will be a great place to be. I feel like i have already gained a greater appreciation for those in the military. Their families give up so much for our freedom!

Anyway, things are good. We have the car this week! So we are going to use it to try and figure out our area as best as we can and to see people who live further away. Well we don't have as much time to e-mail today because we are going over to a family's house for lunch and games. There are quite a few missionaries in this area so we get to do fun stuff together! This morning we all went to the church to play basketball for exercise. There are some great elders in this area! Our district leader has 7 baptism dates! Sis Cosper and I have some catching up to do!

I love you all, I hope you are all doing well!

Love always
Sister Turner