Ok, that is what I figured! I honestly would rather just come home anyway. I have done enough traveling of the mission. :) I am glad to hear Amanda has had her surgery and is doing okay. How long does she have to wait to recover? It was also good to hear that you and Cody's parents went to lunch. That made me really happy! I am excited to see them again too. Yes, Sept 7th is right around the corner! 8 more weeks from Wednesday and I will be home. It started to hit me when I got your note about getting my release date letter and when Elder Christenesen called about flight plans! We have two weeks left of the transfer and then it will be my last.
We did have Tony's baptism this weekend! It went so great. They invited us to come over for dinner tonight for some spaghetti! We got to eat at this cute older couple's house too this week. Their house looks like a little log cabin, they dont have air conditioning and they even have a copper bathtub! She made us this homade bread and fried chicken and corn on the cob and fresh garden vegetables. Oh is was so good! Sis Walker reminds me of grandma Wilson actually! They showed us around their little piece of property and their garden. It is probably a house you'd like to stay at just for the experience. I took some pictures but I will just have to show it when I get home. Another really cool thing that has happened is that one of the girls we have been working with in Morgantown has gotten the okay to get rebaptized!
It is so cool to see the atonement in action in people's lives. i think that is my number one favorite thing! To watch someone who has been through so much and be rebellious come around and see the changes in their life. I really have come to know that the Lord is merciful and he provides a way back the minute someone chooses to follow. We also met a new investigator this week and taught him the restoration. His brother is a member in another town and he has taken the discussions before but he wasn't open to it at the time. But I guess he read some of the apocrypha, and the book of enoch and he got thinking about the priesthood. Apparently he started connecting the dots and he told us he knows it is true now so we set a date for him to get baptized on August 16! We have had a really great week, probably one of the busiest so far!
To answer your question about facebook, yeah we kind of just do things when we have time now which isn't often. So once or twice a week is about all we get. But it's alright! I feel like I am running out of blog ideas anyway. Sunday we went to church in Tompkinsville, KY and it might be the most hick ward I have been to. I loved it though! We tried to sit by this lady and she told us to go away because missionaries make her uncomfortable.. she told us her husband was in the bishopric and she didn't need us to talk to her. She must have had some pretty awful experience with missionaries because that was the first time we have ever had a member not want to talk to us!
haha, we stopped at this old lady's house one night on our way home and sis cosper went to go knock on the door ond there was a HUGE spider right by the door. So when we knocked we told the lady to be careful because there was a huge spider and she was like okay, i will be right back. She came back with a scrunched wrapping paper and told us to point where it was so she could smash it. She couldn't see! She tried to get about 5 times and then she said, "Its okay, dont worry sisters. I got it!" Haha, but it was just right there next to her head. It was pretty funny.
Yeah I am senior for right now, but it really doesn't feel much like it. Which is how I feel like it should be anyway. Sis Cosper is a great missionary! We get along great for the most part. i think spending so many hours in the car gets us a little aggravated sometimes, but thats life. She goes home after I do. I am actually the oldest sister in the mission right now. Sister taratieru goes home with me I think.
I am looking forward to coming home and going to Tuahchan! i think that sounds like fun! I had a dream the other night that I was home and i got on the computer and I realized i could browse i-tunes. Haha, I don't think i ever felt so thrilled to listen to something other than Mo-tab. haha, I guess my brain is trying to prepare me for the future. :)
I love you!
Sister Turner
Monday, July 11, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
July 5, 2011
Happy 4th of July! We are going to Morgantown for the catfish festival today, and I am pretty excited about it. I have never had catfish before and I figured I may as well try it while I'm out here cuz I probably wont ever eat it again! Our past week was pretty long. We did ALOT of driving and not a whole lot of teaching it felt like. We had a hard time with set appointments this past week! But we did set 2 more dates! Tony Hale is getting baptized this weekend on the 9th and we set a date with Phylecia in Russellville. It is amazing how much the Lord has blessed us despite our struggles. This week should be pretty busy and things should pick up again. We have a lot of people from the wards calling us and wanting us to come teach people they know. It is amazing how much better missionary work goes when it all comes from the members. I remember before my mission I thought missionaries were the ones who found people to teach, but now I realize our efforts would be useless if we don't have the member's support. I am really grateful for the wonderful people out here who are willing to help, some people once or twice a week just for missionary work. Some of our branches are so small too and they cover big areas. Russellville is the smallest branch we have, the chapel doesn't even have any pews. Just chairs! And instead of a big pulpit, there is just a little wooden stand, and there are only about 10 active families. It breaks my heart because they are the sweetest people you'll ever meet and they work so hard just to keep people active. Things are going pretty great though. Somedays it is hard to stay focused with all the driving time we have, I keep thinking about home. I think this is the trunkiest I have ever been! Too much time to think I guess! I am starting to feel anxious and claustrophobic sitting in a car soooo much! We probably need to get out and run around more!
Anyways, I guess thats all I have for now! I got your letter in the mail finally! It sounds like girls camp was a lot of fun! Now you can rest. :)
I love you!
Sister Turner
Anyways, I guess thats all I have for now! I got your letter in the mail finally! It sounds like girls camp was a lot of fun! Now you can rest. :)
I love you!
Sister Turner
Monday, June 27, 2011
June 27, 2011
Thanks for all the pictures! It is so good to see them all! I miss home a lot! It was good to see pictures of the cabin! I am going to need a vacation there or something! :) This past week has been quite the adventure. Yes we are covering 7 wards still! From the furthest west we go to the furthest east is about a 5 hour drive. Last month we went about 5,800 miles, just to give you an idea of how much we drive. We may as well be truck drivers, seriously. Thats almost a drive across the US and back. You know how tired you feel after a long road trip drive? Yeah, that is how we feel every day! We drove out to tompkinsville for the first time and had some interesting experiences. Here is why a GPS is sometimes a bad idea. There we were trying to get to a LA members house and our GPS tells us to turn onto this gravel road off to the side. At first it looked fine (i mean 1/2 of these off roads are gravel anyway!), and we drove through a gate and thought to ourselves thats weird and kept driving. Then the gravel road turns and we see two barns close to each other, something normal. A man out by his truck, we wave and drive past right in between the barns. Suddenly the road turns into a grass field and we ran into a barbed wire fence hiding in all the tall grass. Yep, there we were on this man's private farm property trying to get to a different road our GPS said it was connected to. Needless to say we felt pretty stupid! We felt kind of like Michael in the office when he drives into a lake because thats where the GPS took him. The man wasn't too happy with us, but lucky he led us out before he locked us in. Oh the adventures we have! Saturday the Bishop in Fulton invited us to his son's cookout. He does competitions for barbequeing and there were ribs, pulled chicken, ham, hot wings, duck wrapped in bacon. And it was soooo good! Probably the best BBQ I have ever had in my life. I didn't feel too well afterward though...
We had our last zone conference with President Hutchings and it was a pretty sad day, and since then we've all been kinda down. He has been such a great leader of our mission. It was great to see him one last time.
No, i haven't gotten your letter yet. Honestly I haven't gotten ANY mail in about 4 weeks. It has been discouraging I have to admit.
I have been having issues with my digestive system lately. Remember what i had the week before I left? I started to feel the same way this past week. It felt like there was a rock hanging out in my intestines and it hurt pretty bad. i called the doctor and asked him what to do about it so he told me to drink more fluids and get more fiber, and so far I feel a little better. Anyway, i hope it doesn't keep reoccurring! We started doing a biggest loser competition in our apartment and so far its not going so well. Just because we made the goal and wrote it down, here comes opposition! It is annoying. I just need to eat healthier, I think I would start feeling a lot better if I did. We really have been trying to eat more fruits and vegetables but by the end of the month we run out of money and just have to eat what we have left. Anyways, I am looking forward to coming home! 10 weeks left. :)
I love you
Sister Turner
We had our last zone conference with President Hutchings and it was a pretty sad day, and since then we've all been kinda down. He has been such a great leader of our mission. It was great to see him one last time.
No, i haven't gotten your letter yet. Honestly I haven't gotten ANY mail in about 4 weeks. It has been discouraging I have to admit.
I have been having issues with my digestive system lately. Remember what i had the week before I left? I started to feel the same way this past week. It felt like there was a rock hanging out in my intestines and it hurt pretty bad. i called the doctor and asked him what to do about it so he told me to drink more fluids and get more fiber, and so far I feel a little better. Anyway, i hope it doesn't keep reoccurring! We started doing a biggest loser competition in our apartment and so far its not going so well. Just because we made the goal and wrote it down, here comes opposition! It is annoying. I just need to eat healthier, I think I would start feeling a lot better if I did. We really have been trying to eat more fruits and vegetables but by the end of the month we run out of money and just have to eat what we have left. Anyways, I am looking forward to coming home! 10 weeks left. :)
I love you
Sister Turner
June 20, 2011
Hello! We had two baptisms this week! They went so good. Baptisms are always so stressful but so worth the effort! Jailyn Oaks and Ladonna Tidwell. Jailyn is 17 and she is the first in her family to come back to church. the rest are members but not active. It was pretty amazing to see all of the young women supporting her. There are 8 young women now and I think of those 8, 6 of them are converts! The miracles happening in that Morgantown ward are amazing! Ladonna is the first in her family to join, she is going to marry a member in July. She is super sweet! We had such a great lesson with Sister Larsen and her family at the Browns. We talked about the importance of families and getting to the temple and having her parents there to testify was so amazing! Then we glued pictures of the temple to a poster and had the kids and the parents trace their hands and sign it so that they could remember their goal of getting to the temple. there are so many wonderful experiences that happen on a mission and bringing families closer together is by far one of the best!
On Monday we all got to go to a baseball game on monday night in Nashville because we sang the national anthem. It was so much fun! It was great to feel like a normal person for a second. Pres hutchings got to throw the first pitch too. Its cool because it was the night all the new missionaries had come in! So on their first day in the mission field they went to a baseball game! And we were told not to proselyte, haha. They all looked pretty shell shocked coming from the MTC lol. Pres hutchings said their e-mail home will be interesting, all their parents will wonder if he went crazy taking us all to a baseball game, haha.
I wanted to send dad a Father's Day card but I just didn't get to it. I love you dad! Happy Fathers Day! We are down to the last week and a half left with President Hutchings. it's pretty weird! He has been such a good mission president! Well we don't have much time today either. I will be looking forward to your letters! I miss them!
I love you!
Love Sister Turner
i tried to send some pics of the baptism but it didn't work so I will just post them on facebook
On Monday we all got to go to a baseball game on monday night in Nashville because we sang the national anthem. It was so much fun! It was great to feel like a normal person for a second. Pres hutchings got to throw the first pitch too. Its cool because it was the night all the new missionaries had come in! So on their first day in the mission field they went to a baseball game! And we were told not to proselyte, haha. They all looked pretty shell shocked coming from the MTC lol. Pres hutchings said their e-mail home will be interesting, all their parents will wonder if he went crazy taking us all to a baseball game, haha.
I wanted to send dad a Father's Day card but I just didn't get to it. I love you dad! Happy Fathers Day! We are down to the last week and a half left with President Hutchings. it's pretty weird! He has been such a good mission president! Well we don't have much time today either. I will be looking forward to your letters! I miss them!
I love you!
Love Sister Turner
i tried to send some pics of the baptism but it didn't work so I will just post them on facebook
June 13, 2011
hello!
week one of my last two transfers has started! i am still traveling and Sister Cosper will be joining me. I am way excited to serve with her again! Pres hutchings closed the traveling elder's area and opened some of them so we are taking on some of them which means we have 7 areas to cover now. We lost Eldorado, but they are getting fulltime missionaries there! we will be gaining Thompkinsville, KY which is i don't even know how far away and also Whitehouse, TN. It's gonna be a busy transfer! Tonight we are going to a Sounds Baseball game and 50 of the missionaries are singing the opening anthem. That should be fun! We are taking a girl we are working with in Morgantown with us. We went to the temple this past week and it was awesome, I didn't want to leave! I can't believe how fast this last transfer came and went. The summer is here in pretty much full force already unfortunately, it makes me feel sluggish and want to stay inside. Its pretty awful, haha. I'll survive.
I guess thats all for now! I love you all! Have fun at girl's camp!
Love Sister Turner
week one of my last two transfers has started! i am still traveling and Sister Cosper will be joining me. I am way excited to serve with her again! Pres hutchings closed the traveling elder's area and opened some of them so we are taking on some of them which means we have 7 areas to cover now. We lost Eldorado, but they are getting fulltime missionaries there! we will be gaining Thompkinsville, KY which is i don't even know how far away and also Whitehouse, TN. It's gonna be a busy transfer! Tonight we are going to a Sounds Baseball game and 50 of the missionaries are singing the opening anthem. That should be fun! We are taking a girl we are working with in Morgantown with us. We went to the temple this past week and it was awesome, I didn't want to leave! I can't believe how fast this last transfer came and went. The summer is here in pretty much full force already unfortunately, it makes me feel sluggish and want to stay inside. Its pretty awful, haha. I'll survive.
I guess thats all for now! I love you all! Have fun at girl's camp!
Love Sister Turner
June 6, 2011
Hello~
We had a great week. We had our baptisms in Fulton yesterday for Hannah and Sierra Brown. There is a story behind it cuz it was actually supposed to be on saturday! But when we called Bro Brown to see if they were still on schedule and he told us Hannah had just gotten out of the emergency room! She fell out of a kid pool and hit her head on a meter box and had a mild concussion. She was throwing up and not doing well. It was pretty sad! But some members gave her a blessing and she felt better the next day so we had it after church. It is amazing the tactics satan uses to keep people from doing such important things! It was cute, we have this rule that we tell investigators that they have to keep the word of wisdom for 7 days before their baptism. Well, Hannah likes her sweet tea, and right after she got baptized she yelled out, "yay I can have tea now!" I guess we didn't explain you have to keep it after being baptized too! She was a little bummed but she agreed, haha! They are awesome! We are working with the rest of the family to set a date for baptism now. It was an exhausting weekend! But well worth it! Well, we are on the last week of the transfer already! I can't believe it! So another sister is going home and I get to be the one to get her ready. Yep 3rd in a row! But atleast I wont have to worry about killing anyone else off! Only myself. :)
Oh homegrown vegetables sound so good! I have been craving them so much lately! I feel like store bought produce is getting worse and worse with all the pesticides and chemicals and steroids or whatever they use. What I would give for some homegrown tomatoes! I have been craving your rasberry peach jam too mom! There are acres and acres of corn fields growing out here and all I want is to have a bbq with corn! It is getting hot here too. The other day it reached 100 while we were out driving... add the humidity and it was probably more like 110. Yep. I have heard this summer is supposed to be worse than last years and it there is talk of a drought. Oh boy, I am not ready for it! I will count my blessings that we spend most of our time in an air conditioned car though. Atleast we don't have to be out on our bikes! (knock on wood!)
This week we get to go to the temple and I am way excited! It is something to look forward to, especially when we only get to go every 6 months. I realize now how much it strengthens me! Well, I think that is all I have for now. I love ya! Good luck with girls camp. It sounds like it will be a great time!
Love
Sister Turner
We had a great week. We had our baptisms in Fulton yesterday for Hannah and Sierra Brown. There is a story behind it cuz it was actually supposed to be on saturday! But when we called Bro Brown to see if they were still on schedule and he told us Hannah had just gotten out of the emergency room! She fell out of a kid pool and hit her head on a meter box and had a mild concussion. She was throwing up and not doing well. It was pretty sad! But some members gave her a blessing and she felt better the next day so we had it after church. It is amazing the tactics satan uses to keep people from doing such important things! It was cute, we have this rule that we tell investigators that they have to keep the word of wisdom for 7 days before their baptism. Well, Hannah likes her sweet tea, and right after she got baptized she yelled out, "yay I can have tea now!" I guess we didn't explain you have to keep it after being baptized too! She was a little bummed but she agreed, haha! They are awesome! We are working with the rest of the family to set a date for baptism now. It was an exhausting weekend! But well worth it! Well, we are on the last week of the transfer already! I can't believe it! So another sister is going home and I get to be the one to get her ready. Yep 3rd in a row! But atleast I wont have to worry about killing anyone else off! Only myself. :)
Oh homegrown vegetables sound so good! I have been craving them so much lately! I feel like store bought produce is getting worse and worse with all the pesticides and chemicals and steroids or whatever they use. What I would give for some homegrown tomatoes! I have been craving your rasberry peach jam too mom! There are acres and acres of corn fields growing out here and all I want is to have a bbq with corn! It is getting hot here too. The other day it reached 100 while we were out driving... add the humidity and it was probably more like 110. Yep. I have heard this summer is supposed to be worse than last years and it there is talk of a drought. Oh boy, I am not ready for it! I will count my blessings that we spend most of our time in an air conditioned car though. Atleast we don't have to be out on our bikes! (knock on wood!)
This week we get to go to the temple and I am way excited! It is something to look forward to, especially when we only get to go every 6 months. I realize now how much it strengthens me! Well, I think that is all I have for now. I love ya! Good luck with girls camp. It sounds like it will be a great time!
Love
Sister Turner
May 31, 2011
Hello! We had to switch our p-day to today because we had some appointments yesterday. Makayla! Its good to hear from you! That is pretty crazy about the bank... Is it doing a lot better now? Thats way crazy! Congrats on your associates. I just realized that I sent Amanda a graduation card but I didn't even think to send you and Britt one.. well, haha, sorry! Congrats though, thats awesome! What are you going to do after the fall? I am still trying to figure out what on earth I am going to do when I get home. I know I need a job, but I don't know where I want to work yet. I guess I will figure it out when I get there!
We have had a pretty good week. It was a little slower but we were still all over the place and so exhausted. We had more crazy weather, they kept saying it was going to be the worst Kentucky had ever had! But I guess the storm weakened by the time it got to us so all we got was a nice lightening show. Life is good! Cody is doing pretty good. He is a zone leader in west knoxville right now and he is liking it but I can tell he is beginning to be ready to come home, haha. But.. so am I, so thats fine. I only have 3 months left! A little over two transfers, and they go by so fast. I got my first speeding ticket this past week... that wasn't a highlight but I do need mom to make sure I have 75 dollars in my checking so I can pay it in the next 30 days. I don't usually speed, and I really haven't much at all. But this one time we were on a wide open country road, and well, I wasn't paying enough attention I guess! So, yeah.
Well, I can't really think of what else I had to say. I think that pretty much summed up the week. It was kinda rough for all the wards with school getting out and all that!
I love all of you! Hope everyone had a good time at the cabin. Its funny that you mentioned it because I was just telling Sis Larsen about it yesterday and how much I miss it!
Keep having fun. Enjoy the summer. It is starting to get hot here... :(
Love
Sister Turner
We have had a pretty good week. It was a little slower but we were still all over the place and so exhausted. We had more crazy weather, they kept saying it was going to be the worst Kentucky had ever had! But I guess the storm weakened by the time it got to us so all we got was a nice lightening show. Life is good! Cody is doing pretty good. He is a zone leader in west knoxville right now and he is liking it but I can tell he is beginning to be ready to come home, haha. But.. so am I, so thats fine. I only have 3 months left! A little over two transfers, and they go by so fast. I got my first speeding ticket this past week... that wasn't a highlight but I do need mom to make sure I have 75 dollars in my checking so I can pay it in the next 30 days. I don't usually speed, and I really haven't much at all. But this one time we were on a wide open country road, and well, I wasn't paying enough attention I guess! So, yeah.
Well, I can't really think of what else I had to say. I think that pretty much summed up the week. It was kinda rough for all the wards with school getting out and all that!
I love all of you! Hope everyone had a good time at the cabin. Its funny that you mentioned it because I was just telling Sis Larsen about it yesterday and how much I miss it!
Keep having fun. Enjoy the summer. It is starting to get hot here... :(
Love
Sister Turner
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