Hey everyone!!! This was another fun week! I hope you all had a great happy thanksgiving and remembered all the many blessings you recieve. I am so grateful for the chance to be out here on a mission and be able to preach the gospel to these people. I know it is making a difference in their lives and my own also. I am so grateful for all of your prayers and thoughts. They really do make a difference.
So this week was very exciting. Thursday morning at 8 we went up to Edwardsville to go play football. A couple of the wards up there were doing a joint Turkeybowl. It was a ton of fun to be able to go play football with members and other missionaries. We had a total of 14 missionaries there. It reminded me of turkeybowl back at home but just a little different.
After that we headed down to Dupo which used to be in our area before we were condensed down into a branch. We ate lunch with the waterloo missionaries at a members house down there. It was a full on Thanksgiving meal we had. So after that we went back up to the church and our Branch president, President Oniel was holding a huge thanksgiving/birthday party for his 94 year old father. It was all their family. 8 of the 11 kids from his father were there. Including all there kids and grand kids. So there was over 100 people there. It was awesome. My companion and I were the only two white guys in the building and the only ones who were not family. President Oniel is the only member in his family so this was a perfect oppurtunity for us indeed. We talked to everyone and We ended up teaching a lesson with one of Pres. Oneil's brothers who is a pastor at another church. It was pretty cool he really liked it. But were very happy with the whole thing. So there we had a turkey again.
Then after that we went to President Hair's home which is in the zone leaders area. Since my comp. served there and is very musically inclined they had us over to sing and and for dessert with them. President Hair is the 2nd counsler to our mission president. It was fun! I had talked to pres. Hair before not to long after getting out of the mtc because one of the fake investigators I had there was one of his good friends. The fake investigator knew I was going to STL mission so they talked about me. President Hair also has family that used to live in Temecula and stuff. It was fun to be there with the zone leaders and Presidents family including his sister in laws family. After that day I have never felt so full in my life before.... hahaha
The day before thanksgiving we also had a thanksgiving dinner with a member. We had a appointment right before that at our investigators who were are pushing to set a baptismal date with right now. We did not succeed though... After while waiting at the bus stop to go to our dinner appointment a car pulled up to us. It was an undercover cop. He asked us what are you two doing down here?! We just said we are missionaries. He asked you two are going in soon right? We replied yes we are going to another appointment. He then drove off. But I had a feeling he was going to be watching us. So a minute later I saw him staked out watching us. Then after few mins he pulled up to us again. He signaled for us to come over again. He had a picture of this white girl and said have either of you seen this girl in the past week down here. We said uh actually yes we think we did. We saw a white girl a few days ago. It was so odd to us because you never see any white people at all in East St. Louis. We told him where we saw her. She ran away from a near by city. I do not know why she ran away to East STL. She was staying at some projects that one of our members lives at. We had not been down there to those projects in weeks so we had no info to confirm she was down there. While talking to him we missed our bus. So he said jump in I will give you a ride. So we both jumped in the back of the Undercover Cop car. He gave us his phone number so we could call him if we saw the girl again. He told us that he is actually a U.S. Marshall. We were like oh wow this guy is the real deal. We figured that is why it was so hard to tell he was undercover it looked like just any other car in East STL. So yes I got to ride in the back of as U.S. Marshalls car this week:) He asked us if we carry weapons on us we said no. He was suprised at the notion. haha but it was a sweet experience.
Friday night we had sister Lehr the only lady who can drive missionaries by herself in our mission take us around a few places. She asked if we would go out to dinner with her and her family and their friends. We said sure! Everyone there were nonmembers except us, sister Lehr, and her daughter who is inactive. It was really cool because it made sister Lehr feel like a real missionary having us with her. Mostly everyone was drinking too which made her feel better also that we were there with her. It was really cool because we got a referal out of it which is not even in our area but it is cool because we may get to teach the guy.
Last night we had dinner at a members house who is an import up in Granite City. When they took us home they had to drop off some other people who were there with us who live right in the heart of East STL. Right as we turned onto the street the tire went flat. We were so blessed that it did not go flat on the highway. But it was already around 9:30 by that time. We went to the trunk of the van the jack and all that stuff was not there. So we had to call someone else to come with the stuff. It was a big mess and took forever so we did not get home until 11. It was way cold last night so all the gangsters were inside so we had no problems:) Even though we do not get bothered at all anyways, well except drunk or high people. Or mentally ill people. But I am so blessed for everything and all the good things happening here. Hope you all have a great week!!!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*SERVING IN ZION*
Monday, November 28, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
11-21-11
Hello Everyone!!!
It has been a wonderful week!!! Two of our investigators were baptized on Sunday!!!!! Angel and her daughter Nanieyia were baptized. The father Ray still has to quit smoking before he can be. We are planning on getting him an interview this week though. It was amazing because Nanieyia asked me to baptize her and Elder Hart the Missionary who found them was asked to baptize Angel. It was pretty cool because this was a first time Elder Hart or I have ever baptized anyone. I thought I was going to be nervous when I baptized her yesterday. But I felt the spirit so strong while I performed the Ordinance. It was a big testimony builder to me. I am so blessed to be able to baptize someone after only being out in the field for a month. The funny part about everything is that more people showed up to the baptism then they did to church... Oh well it was perfectly fine though:) We were happy because we had investigators there and everything. We also had many other missionaries there because it was a big deal for these two to get baptized. Many of the other missionaries who taught them came to it. Including the assistants, and 2 other people and their companions. We had a total of 9 missionaries there. It was awesome! This week we are planning on setting 6 baptismal dates for Moni, Monisha, John, Marlin, TJ, and Ray. Please pray for them and that they can commit to a date! But we have a lot of great things happening here. This week we had another zone pday where we all played football together. Then the next day we had interviews President Clark. He took us out to eat after at Lotta Watta. Best place ever. I love going there.
Saturday we went to the Temple with the our Zone Leaders and The Assistants. Since my trainer was a zone leader before and is good friends with one of the assistants we get some special treatment. It is a great blessing because we rode with the zone leaders on the metro link to the other side of the river in St. Louis and the Assistants just picked us up then took us to the temple. Then they took us back home afterwards. I am very grateful for my trainer with all his sweet hook ups and also for everything I learn from him. But I have also been able to become pretty good friends with the assistants and the zone leaders. They are great men who are such a great example to me. I really look up to them.
So today, on the way here on the Metro Link, I was trying to teach a street lesson so I started talking to this guy sitting across from me and a few rows down. I was not close enough to smell the alcohol that he smelled of. After 10 seconds of talking I knew he was drunk. He started talking about when he goes home he is going to go make food read the scriptures and drink a beer. He admitted to me that he was a drunk and has been like that because his wife committed suicide 3 years before. He was messed up. So I started to talk about commandments and told him to stop drinking and that he would be happier if he did not. He did not know how to react. So he started talking about the knights templar. It was very interesting conversation. Half of the time drunk people are easy to teach and love it, one quarter will be like him and just talk about random stuff or the last quarter will try to tell you God is black. And we have had many tell us that... But it is fun sometimes. We always try to stay away from drunk people though when we know they are. But I am so grateful for all the prayers for me and my investigators. I really see them make a difference and I feel the power of it. Prayer is an amazing thing and will take us a long way. I love you all. Have an awesome week!!!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*SERVING IN ZION*
It has been a wonderful week!!! Two of our investigators were baptized on Sunday!!!!! Angel and her daughter Nanieyia were baptized. The father Ray still has to quit smoking before he can be. We are planning on getting him an interview this week though. It was amazing because Nanieyia asked me to baptize her and Elder Hart the Missionary who found them was asked to baptize Angel. It was pretty cool because this was a first time Elder Hart or I have ever baptized anyone. I thought I was going to be nervous when I baptized her yesterday. But I felt the spirit so strong while I performed the Ordinance. It was a big testimony builder to me. I am so blessed to be able to baptize someone after only being out in the field for a month. The funny part about everything is that more people showed up to the baptism then they did to church... Oh well it was perfectly fine though:) We were happy because we had investigators there and everything. We also had many other missionaries there because it was a big deal for these two to get baptized. Many of the other missionaries who taught them came to it. Including the assistants, and 2 other people and their companions. We had a total of 9 missionaries there. It was awesome! This week we are planning on setting 6 baptismal dates for Moni, Monisha, John, Marlin, TJ, and Ray. Please pray for them and that they can commit to a date! But we have a lot of great things happening here. This week we had another zone pday where we all played football together. Then the next day we had interviews President Clark. He took us out to eat after at Lotta Watta. Best place ever. I love going there.
Saturday we went to the Temple with the our Zone Leaders and The Assistants. Since my trainer was a zone leader before and is good friends with one of the assistants we get some special treatment. It is a great blessing because we rode with the zone leaders on the metro link to the other side of the river in St. Louis and the Assistants just picked us up then took us to the temple. Then they took us back home afterwards. I am very grateful for my trainer with all his sweet hook ups and also for everything I learn from him. But I have also been able to become pretty good friends with the assistants and the zone leaders. They are great men who are such a great example to me. I really look up to them.
So today, on the way here on the Metro Link, I was trying to teach a street lesson so I started talking to this guy sitting across from me and a few rows down. I was not close enough to smell the alcohol that he smelled of. After 10 seconds of talking I knew he was drunk. He started talking about when he goes home he is going to go make food read the scriptures and drink a beer. He admitted to me that he was a drunk and has been like that because his wife committed suicide 3 years before. He was messed up. So I started to talk about commandments and told him to stop drinking and that he would be happier if he did not. He did not know how to react. So he started talking about the knights templar. It was very interesting conversation. Half of the time drunk people are easy to teach and love it, one quarter will be like him and just talk about random stuff or the last quarter will try to tell you God is black. And we have had many tell us that... But it is fun sometimes. We always try to stay away from drunk people though when we know they are. But I am so grateful for all the prayers for me and my investigators. I really see them make a difference and I feel the power of it. Prayer is an amazing thing and will take us a long way. I love you all. Have an awesome week!!!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*SERVING IN ZION*
Monday, November 14, 2011
11-14-11
Hello Everyone!!!
What a week it has been!!! I had a team up with the spanish Elders for a couple of days. It was nice to get a switch up and be with someone besides my Companion. It was cool doing spanish for a day, even though everyone we talked to spoke english as well so we did not speak any spanish. I think they did that for a reason so that I would be able to understand everything instead not understanding anything because I only speak a little spanish. Not enough to get in a deep conversation about the gospel. hahaha. We teach like an institute class every Wednesday to everyone at the branch. It is nice because many of our investigators came to that and really enjoyed. We taught very simple priniciples so that they would understand. And also it is nice to teach and go over basics and stuff with the members because they are mostly all converts and do not understand very much. It was awesome this week because we had many member present lessons with the investigators. It is always a blessing to have that because it is a good way to fellowshiping and making that friendship between member and investigator. So John is hard to get a hold of because his phone never has mins. But we finally taught him wednesday before institute and he stayed for it also. We are going to have to help plan a wedding for them now because we told him if he wants to get baptized that he has to either has to stop living with this lady or marry her. They are engaged now so we might be having a wedding a few weeks from now then a baptism not to long after that. Naniah and Angel are being interviewed this week for baptism. The father Ray has to wait a bit longer for his interview. Saturday we met this lady and her sister at a mcdonalds. We went by there house the day before with no answer and left them a note. They called us back and said to meet them there because they do not want anyone going into there house because it is a mess. They are two very old ladies. So we got to know them in a mcdondalds which they bought us lunch which was way nice. We discussed a few scriptures with them. Left them with some BOM's and a restoration video. We should be getting another time to meet with them soon. They had me say a prayer for them before we left. I folded my arms and started saying the prayer. Everyone was holding hands but me they just put there arms on my shoulders. They were repeating a lot of things I say I were making noises and saying amen! praise Jesus! oh Lord! etc. I started kind of laughing because it was hilarious these two old black ladies really getting into it. My first experince like that so far. They are baptist so that explains a little. Saturday night we had a phone call with the 1st counselor asking if my companion and I could give talks the next day. We were the only ones to speak so we both spoke for 20 mins. Which probably was the longest talk I have ever given. It was nice though. We had only like 10 mins. to prepare it but still cool:) We have to do everything in our branch on sundays. I gave a talk, passed the sacrament, played the organ (I did not really play it, it was eletric with all the hymns on it and just had to tap the keys for it to play... lol)and helped teach sunday school for the youth. All three of the youth... haha. So Sundays are very busy for us. But it is fun doing all of that. We never get bored. My companion and I are expected to do a musical number very soon also...( I can not sing). But oh well it is still fun because we only have like 35 people at church anyways. hahah. Today we have another Zone pday so we will all be playing football. It is our own little turkey bowl. I am so excited for it because the last time I played flag football I split my eye open and had to get stiches! yeah! haha But I love the sport so much though I would never give it up even just playing around with missionaries. Thank you for all your prayers for me and my investigators. It really means a lot to me. I love you all!!! Have a great week, choose the right, and remember the Atonement in everything. Without it we would be lost. It helps us out a lot to be able to repent and become clean of our sins because none of us are perfect and all need to be using it constantly.
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*SERVING IN ZION*
What a week it has been!!! I had a team up with the spanish Elders for a couple of days. It was nice to get a switch up and be with someone besides my Companion. It was cool doing spanish for a day, even though everyone we talked to spoke english as well so we did not speak any spanish. I think they did that for a reason so that I would be able to understand everything instead not understanding anything because I only speak a little spanish. Not enough to get in a deep conversation about the gospel. hahaha. We teach like an institute class every Wednesday to everyone at the branch. It is nice because many of our investigators came to that and really enjoyed. We taught very simple priniciples so that they would understand. And also it is nice to teach and go over basics and stuff with the members because they are mostly all converts and do not understand very much. It was awesome this week because we had many member present lessons with the investigators. It is always a blessing to have that because it is a good way to fellowshiping and making that friendship between member and investigator. So John is hard to get a hold of because his phone never has mins. But we finally taught him wednesday before institute and he stayed for it also. We are going to have to help plan a wedding for them now because we told him if he wants to get baptized that he has to either has to stop living with this lady or marry her. They are engaged now so we might be having a wedding a few weeks from now then a baptism not to long after that. Naniah and Angel are being interviewed this week for baptism. The father Ray has to wait a bit longer for his interview. Saturday we met this lady and her sister at a mcdonalds. We went by there house the day before with no answer and left them a note. They called us back and said to meet them there because they do not want anyone going into there house because it is a mess. They are two very old ladies. So we got to know them in a mcdondalds which they bought us lunch which was way nice. We discussed a few scriptures with them. Left them with some BOM's and a restoration video. We should be getting another time to meet with them soon. They had me say a prayer for them before we left. I folded my arms and started saying the prayer. Everyone was holding hands but me they just put there arms on my shoulders. They were repeating a lot of things I say I were making noises and saying amen! praise Jesus! oh Lord! etc. I started kind of laughing because it was hilarious these two old black ladies really getting into it. My first experince like that so far. They are baptist so that explains a little. Saturday night we had a phone call with the 1st counselor asking if my companion and I could give talks the next day. We were the only ones to speak so we both spoke for 20 mins. Which probably was the longest talk I have ever given. It was nice though. We had only like 10 mins. to prepare it but still cool:) We have to do everything in our branch on sundays. I gave a talk, passed the sacrament, played the organ (I did not really play it, it was eletric with all the hymns on it and just had to tap the keys for it to play... lol)and helped teach sunday school for the youth. All three of the youth... haha. So Sundays are very busy for us. But it is fun doing all of that. We never get bored. My companion and I are expected to do a musical number very soon also...( I can not sing). But oh well it is still fun because we only have like 35 people at church anyways. hahah. Today we have another Zone pday so we will all be playing football. It is our own little turkey bowl. I am so excited for it because the last time I played flag football I split my eye open and had to get stiches! yeah! haha But I love the sport so much though I would never give it up even just playing around with missionaries. Thank you for all your prayers for me and my investigators. It really means a lot to me. I love you all!!! Have a great week, choose the right, and remember the Atonement in everything. Without it we would be lost. It helps us out a lot to be able to repent and become clean of our sins because none of us are perfect and all need to be using it constantly.
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*SERVING IN ZION*
Thursday, November 10, 2011
11-7-11
Family and Friends,
I have to say that I was a little concerned when I didn’t get an email earlier in the day. You know us Moms. I guess my lesson for the week is try to not worry and know that Derek is where he is supposed to be at this time in his life. He seems to be learning so much so quickly. I’m so grateful for his optimistic attitude. He really is learning to love the people where he is serving and feels for them under the conditions in which they live. He says that the people there love the missionaries. I am so grateful to all of the people of that area that my sons feels that way. I know that there are places in Derek’s area that even the police are reluctant to enter that the missionaries go into. Crazy huh! Derek would love to hear from you. He wants to keep up with the happenings in everyone’s lives. If you don’t want to hand write your letter then you can still go to dearelder.com and type your letter. They will print it, put it into an envelope and mail it for the price of a stamp. Just put that he is in the St. Louis Missouri Mission and make sure that you include his first name Elder Derek Turner. Good chance of more than one Turner in the mission. I hope you all have a great week!
Doreena Turner
Hello Everyone!!!
Another crazy week! So much happens in a week and how fast the week goes by!!! Last week we met two ladies out in front of a church. My companion and I both had the feeling that we needed to talk to them. So we did. They invited us to come to some chili cook off there church was doing. Many missionaries in our mission do that kind of stuff to show that we are nice people and makes it easier for people to talk to us. So we helped the church set up for there chili cook off and left to an apointment when it started because we did not want to stay for it. But we are hoping this lady there will let us start teaching her soon because she loves us. But we want her to ask us to teach her because if we ask her we will make the pastor mad and all will go bad. But we really feel this lady will take the lessons because she is very lost in what she believes. We are teaching a whole new family now. They started coming to church a month ago with Ray and his family. They say our church is there church. So we started teaching them, we think it should be easy to get them baptized. A daughter in that family actually was married by our branch president in our building last month. The second wedding that has been there in the last few months. The three baptisms that were supposed to happen Sunday fell through... but they still come to church we just had to push off the date for another few weeks because they have some serious issues that I can not tell... But we have a baptismal date for this guy John this week. But one problem. We are pretty sure that he is living with this lady in the ward. So we are thinking that we will have to plan a wedding for them so we can get him baptized! This would be the second time my comp had to plan a wedding in this branch to get someone baptized. So drunk people are hilarious here. I have never really experinced drunk people as much as I have here. They are mostly really nice suprisingly. Like we street contacted a guy the other night and he was so cool and loving what we were saying he was just super drunk though. Then at the Metro Link station this drunk guy came up to us and asked,"What is God's name?"
I replied, "God." I said that to not make him mad by saying another name for him.
He said, " God's name is Jehovah! What color is Jehovah?"
We replied he is a Jew. Then He yelled NOOOO GOD is Black!!! God is Black!!! Thank goodness our train came up as soon as he started yelling that. The Train was packed full of people. We ran on with him yelling God is black! God is black! so everyone on the train heard that. Some people we laughing asking what the heck was that and we said he was drunk. It was really funny though just because the guy looked really bad saying that. Even a black guy on the train said to us everyone knows Jesus is a Jew. But this has not been the first guy to tell us that Jesus is Black. We just usually walk away and avoid all confrontation. When we were on the bus the other day two old black grandmas almost got in a fight. They were cussing each other out and two men were holding them down so that they would not harm one another. For a split second I wanted to see the two grandmas throw it down... But then I thought it would not be a good if that happened because my companion and I were sitting very close to them and we did not want to be involved. Today we had to go to a funeral for someone in our branch this morning. Hence why we are emailing so late today. The man was only 21 years old. He had been inactive for many years now though. He has two brothers who are members but only one of them is active. We orginally thought that the funeral would be at our building but the mother who is not a member decided to do it at a funeral home so that she could drink and smoke. It was a mess though. The son was found dead on Halloween I believe off the side of a road near a freeway. He was shot in the back of the head in a drive by. Well that is supposedly the correct story. Many newspapers have been putting out different stories then what the police report says. It was very sad being at the viewing and funeral. We were there for support as was most of the branch. At first my comp and I were the only two white guys there until people from the branch got there. Half the people there were wearing grills and everything. It was sad to watch because people were really having a hard time. We left right after the funeral started though because we felt like we needed to go. So most of the people of the branch left then. I really wish we had the funeral at our church. The whole thing would of went a whole lot better. But many people were saying that is what happens when you hang out with the wrong crowd. The man who died had gotten into stuff and owed a ton of people money and he was killed. His brother who is active in the church bore his testimony Sunday saying I stopped all the gang stuff so that something like that would not happen. He had walked away from that life many years ago. But he is now very excited to do the temple work for his brother in a year from now. He was the only one in the family who had himself under control because he knows the Plan of Salvation and knows where he is right now and knows work can be done for him now because he was only baptized. I am so grateful for the Plan of Happiness. This plan would not be anyways possible if we did not have the Atonement. It is completely centered around it. The second half of the day has been fine though because a member took us to Lottawata. (or something like that) That place has the best burgers ever! They are huge!!! Well I look forward to hearing from you. Do not be afraid to write! I want updates in peoples lives because now I feel so distant. But anyways I know this is the true church. And if we use the Atonement in our lives always we will start to be more Christ like. Because that is our goal is to be like him. None of us our perfect but through praying and reading the scriptures everyday much more is able to be accomplished because the spirit will be with us to lead and guide us through the big and small things. I love you all.
Elder Derek Turner
Serving in Zion
Another crazy week! So much happens in a week and how fast the week goes by!!! Last week we met two ladies out in front of a church. My companion and I both had the feeling that we needed to talk to them. So we did. They invited us to come to some chili cook off there church was doing. Many missionaries in our mission do that kind of stuff to show that we are nice people and makes it easier for people to talk to us. So we helped the church set up for there chili cook off and left to an apointment when it started because we did not want to stay for it. But we are hoping this lady there will let us start teaching her soon because she loves us. But we want her to ask us to teach her because if we ask her we will make the pastor mad and all will go bad. But we really feel this lady will take the lessons because she is very lost in what she believes. We are teaching a whole new family now. They started coming to church a month ago with Ray and his family. They say our church is there church. So we started teaching them, we think it should be easy to get them baptized. A daughter in that family actually was married by our branch president in our building last month. The second wedding that has been there in the last few months. The three baptisms that were supposed to happen Sunday fell through... but they still come to church we just had to push off the date for another few weeks because they have some serious issues that I can not tell... But we have a baptismal date for this guy John this week. But one problem. We are pretty sure that he is living with this lady in the ward. So we are thinking that we will have to plan a wedding for them so we can get him baptized! This would be the second time my comp had to plan a wedding in this branch to get someone baptized. So drunk people are hilarious here. I have never really experinced drunk people as much as I have here. They are mostly really nice suprisingly. Like we street contacted a guy the other night and he was so cool and loving what we were saying he was just super drunk though. Then at the Metro Link station this drunk guy came up to us and asked,"What is God's name?"
I replied, "God." I said that to not make him mad by saying another name for him.
He said, " God's name is Jehovah! What color is Jehovah?"
We replied he is a Jew. Then He yelled NOOOO GOD is Black!!! God is Black!!! Thank goodness our train came up as soon as he started yelling that. The Train was packed full of people. We ran on with him yelling God is black! God is black! so everyone on the train heard that. Some people we laughing asking what the heck was that and we said he was drunk. It was really funny though just because the guy looked really bad saying that. Even a black guy on the train said to us everyone knows Jesus is a Jew. But this has not been the first guy to tell us that Jesus is Black. We just usually walk away and avoid all confrontation. When we were on the bus the other day two old black grandmas almost got in a fight. They were cussing each other out and two men were holding them down so that they would not harm one another. For a split second I wanted to see the two grandmas throw it down... But then I thought it would not be a good if that happened because my companion and I were sitting very close to them and we did not want to be involved. Today we had to go to a funeral for someone in our branch this morning. Hence why we are emailing so late today. The man was only 21 years old. He had been inactive for many years now though. He has two brothers who are members but only one of them is active. We orginally thought that the funeral would be at our building but the mother who is not a member decided to do it at a funeral home so that she could drink and smoke. It was a mess though. The son was found dead on Halloween I believe off the side of a road near a freeway. He was shot in the back of the head in a drive by. Well that is supposedly the correct story. Many newspapers have been putting out different stories then what the police report says. It was very sad being at the viewing and funeral. We were there for support as was most of the branch. At first my comp and I were the only two white guys there until people from the branch got there. Half the people there were wearing grills and everything. It was sad to watch because people were really having a hard time. We left right after the funeral started though because we felt like we needed to go. So most of the people of the branch left then. I really wish we had the funeral at our church. The whole thing would of went a whole lot better. But many people were saying that is what happens when you hang out with the wrong crowd. The man who died had gotten into stuff and owed a ton of people money and he was killed. His brother who is active in the church bore his testimony Sunday saying I stopped all the gang stuff so that something like that would not happen. He had walked away from that life many years ago. But he is now very excited to do the temple work for his brother in a year from now. He was the only one in the family who had himself under control because he knows the Plan of Salvation and knows where he is right now and knows work can be done for him now because he was only baptized. I am so grateful for the Plan of Happiness. This plan would not be anyways possible if we did not have the Atonement. It is completely centered around it. The second half of the day has been fine though because a member took us to Lottawata. (or something like that) That place has the best burgers ever! They are huge!!! Well I look forward to hearing from you. Do not be afraid to write! I want updates in peoples lives because now I feel so distant. But anyways I know this is the true church. And if we use the Atonement in our lives always we will start to be more Christ like. Because that is our goal is to be like him. None of us our perfect but through praying and reading the scriptures everyday much more is able to be accomplished because the spirit will be with us to lead and guide us through the big and small things. I love you all.
Elder Derek Turner
Serving in Zion
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
10-31-11
Hey everyone!
Happy Halloween!!! This last week was crazy!!! East Saint Louis is starting to get less scarey now that I am getting used to it. We just know where and what to avoid now. It is really funny because there is a rumor going around that some people think we are the FBI or Police undercover. So no wonder they do not mess with us... hahaha I laughed so hard when I heard that. One of the guys we are teaching told us that he had some friends ask about us. He knows everyone in this city so we get in on a lot of people. So Saturday we taught the first lesson to a guy who showed up to church with a friend. We didn't even have to give him the Baptismal challenge. He said after the lesson he wants to be Baptized. We now have 4 baptismal dates. 3 for this sunday and one for the sunday after. I am pretty excited. There is a whole other family that shows up to church who are not members. We are thinking we might be able to get them at least a few of them Baptized also. We are so blessed to have all these investigators. They almost found us. So we are very excited for this next few weeks. This last week we had a zone pday monday. That was awesome to see some friends there from the mtc. My zone leaders are awesome. I have started to become good friends with them. I look up to them a lot. I have also gotten to know that assistants pretty well because we have seen them a lot in the last week. Plus one of them served in this area so we talk a lot about it. But since my Trainer is good friends with one of them, they came out together, we have some special privileges. Like they give us rides and what not because we do not have a car. Tuesday we had a training meeting so we got to go back to St. Louis. It is nice being back on that side of the river where everything is so much nicer and safer. Wednesday we had to have exchanges because my Trainer had to go to another training meeting so Elder Wardle who has only been out one more transfer then me got put together for the day. We had to be here in East ST. Louis though instead of going to his area. It was a good day though. We found one person that day who is a potential. Saturday night was the chili cook off. We had many non members there. Actually probably more nonmembers then members... But hey that is a good thing for us! The family who is being baptized this week came. There names are Ray, Angel and Nania. Please pray for them that they will go through with it! It was a little weird because this other lady and baby was with them. Once I saw that babies face I knew that was Ray's baby and his babies Momma... Ray and his wife have only been married for a few months. But it was super duper awkward that his Babies Momma was with them. It really got weird when his wife held the baby. But hey that takes a lot of courage for Angel to not hate that lady or baby. But still why would a married man bring his babies momma with him to such an event. Its good that he cares for the baby though and takes care of her. But this is just one little taste of what goes on in the city. The people we deal with have so many different problems and things. It is like Jerry Springer but REAL. But that is why we try to help all these people and love them and share the gospel with them. But after knowing the situations people are in here it is truly become evident why it is such a bad place. But We love the people anyways. They are very humble and more accepting to the Gospel. Sunday my Trainer was asked to go Baptize someone back in Troy Missouri so we go to go to the Baptism out there. Some people from Hazelwood came and picked us up and toke us out there. My trainer was real close with them when he served in their area. On the way back they took us to their house and fed us:) We have special permission to go to their house again tonight because our area is so unsafe. Even though we live in Belville and it is way better then East STL. But our choice was either get out of our area or stay in our apartment the whole night. We are not even allowed to go to a members house in our area tonight. So we will be over on the other side of the river for the third time in a week. But I am loving the Mission a lot. I am so blessed to be out here. Miracles happen everyday and just helps build my testimony stronger and stronger. You all mean so much to me. I love you all! I sent out a few letters to some of you so I hope they got to you!!! or will get to you! Have a safe Halloween and do not do anything stupid!!!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
Serving in Zion
Ps. I am still debating about the Cardinals, If I will become a fan or not even though they won the World Series... ;)
Happy Halloween!!! This last week was crazy!!! East Saint Louis is starting to get less scarey now that I am getting used to it. We just know where and what to avoid now. It is really funny because there is a rumor going around that some people think we are the FBI or Police undercover. So no wonder they do not mess with us... hahaha I laughed so hard when I heard that. One of the guys we are teaching told us that he had some friends ask about us. He knows everyone in this city so we get in on a lot of people. So Saturday we taught the first lesson to a guy who showed up to church with a friend. We didn't even have to give him the Baptismal challenge. He said after the lesson he wants to be Baptized. We now have 4 baptismal dates. 3 for this sunday and one for the sunday after. I am pretty excited. There is a whole other family that shows up to church who are not members. We are thinking we might be able to get them at least a few of them Baptized also. We are so blessed to have all these investigators. They almost found us. So we are very excited for this next few weeks. This last week we had a zone pday monday. That was awesome to see some friends there from the mtc. My zone leaders are awesome. I have started to become good friends with them. I look up to them a lot. I have also gotten to know that assistants pretty well because we have seen them a lot in the last week. Plus one of them served in this area so we talk a lot about it. But since my Trainer is good friends with one of them, they came out together, we have some special privileges. Like they give us rides and what not because we do not have a car. Tuesday we had a training meeting so we got to go back to St. Louis. It is nice being back on that side of the river where everything is so much nicer and safer. Wednesday we had to have exchanges because my Trainer had to go to another training meeting so Elder Wardle who has only been out one more transfer then me got put together for the day. We had to be here in East ST. Louis though instead of going to his area. It was a good day though. We found one person that day who is a potential. Saturday night was the chili cook off. We had many non members there. Actually probably more nonmembers then members... But hey that is a good thing for us! The family who is being baptized this week came. There names are Ray, Angel and Nania. Please pray for them that they will go through with it! It was a little weird because this other lady and baby was with them. Once I saw that babies face I knew that was Ray's baby and his babies Momma... Ray and his wife have only been married for a few months. But it was super duper awkward that his Babies Momma was with them. It really got weird when his wife held the baby. But hey that takes a lot of courage for Angel to not hate that lady or baby. But still why would a married man bring his babies momma with him to such an event. Its good that he cares for the baby though and takes care of her. But this is just one little taste of what goes on in the city. The people we deal with have so many different problems and things. It is like Jerry Springer but REAL. But that is why we try to help all these people and love them and share the gospel with them. But after knowing the situations people are in here it is truly become evident why it is such a bad place. But We love the people anyways. They are very humble and more accepting to the Gospel. Sunday my Trainer was asked to go Baptize someone back in Troy Missouri so we go to go to the Baptism out there. Some people from Hazelwood came and picked us up and toke us out there. My trainer was real close with them when he served in their area. On the way back they took us to their house and fed us:) We have special permission to go to their house again tonight because our area is so unsafe. Even though we live in Belville and it is way better then East STL. But our choice was either get out of our area or stay in our apartment the whole night. We are not even allowed to go to a members house in our area tonight. So we will be over on the other side of the river for the third time in a week. But I am loving the Mission a lot. I am so blessed to be out here. Miracles happen everyday and just helps build my testimony stronger and stronger. You all mean so much to me. I love you all! I sent out a few letters to some of you so I hope they got to you!!! or will get to you! Have a safe Halloween and do not do anything stupid!!!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
Serving in Zion
Ps. I am still debating about the Cardinals, If I will become a fan or not even though they won the World Series... ;)
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