November 29, 2010

It has been a crazy but good week for us! We had our baptism on Wednesday and it went really well. Of course there are always things that go wrong, the Bishop was out of town and I guess he keeps the baptismal clothes in his office. So we had to call the ward clerk to see if he could get them out, but we couldn't be at the church at the same time so he said he'd pull out what he could find and leave them out for us. Well we got there and they were all children sizes.. that wasn't going to work! Luckily the elder's ward mission leader let us borrow one of their jumpsuits! Tony's daughter, Hannah was baptized in January but kind of went less active said the opening prayer and she said one of the most humble prayers I have ever heard. She was so excited for her dad, and grateful that her family could now work toward going to the temple to be sealed! It was really cool!

Our thanksgiving was nice. We had an all day p-day! We had lunch with the Hefner family and dinner with the Ross' (the members we live with). The Hefner's are one of my favorite families in this ward. Most of the ward members here are pretty rich, but the Hefners actually struggle quite a bit but what I admire is how happy they are. She told us how some years they don't even have money for a Christmas tree, so they put lights around a little decorative tower they have and then she just laughed about it! I think it is good to be able to see families be grateful for the things that they have, even if it isn't much. They still find joy in it, and I realized I hope I could be like that if my family ever struggles. The only thing I ate that i never have before is chicken liver that was mixed in with the stuffing. It looked disgusting but it wasn't too bad mixed in. Oh and Sis Ross made a corn casserole that was so good! I'll have to get the recipe to give to you. It was delicious! Sister T complained about her stomach hurting for the next few days though, haha. It was her first time in her life to ever eat that much food!

Saturday we had a training meeting with President Hutchings and we talked alot about less active work. It seems to be a theme out here. In fact they are thinking of dedicating Tuesday, Wed, and Thurs strictly to helping the ward with less active members. They are really emphasizing reaching out to the less actives lately. It is definitely important. Our zone leader got up and told us that less active work is especially important to him because he used to be a name on a list. There are a lot of good people out there who just need a little love and a push to get back to church.

Well, Sister Taratieru is a pretty easy person to please as long as you don't send her sweets. She doesn't like sweet foods, which is weird! She loves jerky though! A scarf or hat or jewelry, whatever you want to send!

Well I hope you all have a good week! We get to go to the temple for most of the day on wednesday! Tomorrow I have to go down to the mission office to take a 4 hour defensive driving course.... and I am SO excited for that... ;) Well I love you all!

Love Sister Turner

oh, ps, can you put plenty of money in my account.. maybe like 150? I am probably going to do some christmas shopping today. i don't think I'll spend that much but, just in case! thank you!

The pictures:

Sister Taratieru and I getting ready to leave for the day!

Evelyn Billings and I! She is a very sweet/funny lady! We love her

Tony Goble's Baptism!

Winter and I at the Hefner's for Thanksgiving! She wanted to cook us a worm she caught for thanksgiving dinner.. haha! She's been watching a show called "Bizarre foods" :)

Sister Taratieru, Sister Nielsen, Sister Winder, and Sister Turner!