Hola!!! I know I say this every week but when an awesome week this has been!!! Many interesting things have happened this last week. Well interesting things always happen here in East St. Louis. It is kinda expected because of what kind of an area it is... So this week one of our investigators, Marlin, dad died. He died from drinking to much alcohol. Do not drink people. It is not smart. But we are going to the funeral tonight. They told us that they want us to pray over the body and speak at the funeral tonight. SO we are going to bring our Branch president so he can do that for us:) We just find it better if he did it instead of us. We are just not used to how these people mourn and stuff. And after the last funeral we went to we were kinda shocked. It is way different. We set a baptismal date this week!!! Tj will be getting baptized on Christmas day!!! The night before we went over to teach him and his family he had a dream that he was being baptized! This was the first thing we heard from his mouth when we walked inside the home. This one is pretty solid. So we are very excited about that! Moneesha would be baptized with him but her husband is not ready to be baptized... And she said she wants to wait for him and be baptized at the same time. The whole thing is that I do now know how long that will take for Marlin. He has to give up a lot first. So pretty soon we will be pushing her to be Baptized sooner before her husband is ready. Because that family needs examples in it. And when I say examples I mean good ones at that. With the death of Marlins father is made it a perfect oppurtunity to teach about the temple and that Familys can be together forever. But only through being sealed for time and eternity in the Temple. It really brigthened their day when they heard this all. And they really want that.
Yesterday a Miracle happened. This is how the story goes... John Johnson came to church the first sunday I was out here in the field. He came to church with his Girlfriend who is a member. The first lesson we had with him we set a baptismal date with him. We taught him the second time and found out that he was living with his girlfriend. We told him that they either had to be married first before he could be baptized or move out. The sunday after that he dissapeared off the face of the planet. We could not get a hold of him. We went by his house many times finding no one to be there. We called his Girlfriend and she said she did not know where he was or anything. Acting like he did not live with her even though we know they do... He was just gone. So for over a month we had no contact with him. Trying every week to find him. At a point we just gave up kind of. But my companion and I had a spiritual impression that we needed to fast and pray for him so that we could get in contact with him again. Then finally after a very long time he walked into church yesterday. This was one of the biggest faith and testimony builders I have had on the mission so far. It was literally a miracle that he was there. At first it felt like a dream. I could not believe my eyes at first. We talked with him for an hour after church. He said that he went down to Memphis for a couple weeks and he was just having a lot of things going on. His phone had been shut off for a long time now. He told me that he felt like he needed us in his life again. He called us his Angels. It always touches my heart when someone says that. We asked if him And his girlfriend were still going to get married and he said yes they were. Then he asked me to be his best man. I am not sure if we are allowed to be something like that when we are on a mission but he is getting married at our Branches building. So I just said yes that I would be. Seeing that we are probably going to have to plan their wedding anyways. Oh well. This is the second time my comp has had to plan one since being on the mission. We said that we needed to get them married this month so that he could be Baptized before the month is up. But when I went to his girlfriend and talked to her and him about it she was like oh he has to be baptized first then we will be married. She is still trying to act like they do not live together. But we know that they do. So straight up told her that they needed to get married soon. But she tried to play it off. So that is our next big problem to overcome. Because John is ready for baptism. Just his girlfriend is holding everything back...
We have been finding new investigators this week and people that we feel solid about. Our lessons being taught are higher then ever before right now. We have many solid people in our teaching pool. Just pray that we can keep those people solid and start setting Baptismal dates with them! Pray that we find more people also and that we will be in saftey and protection out here. Thank you all so much. Good luck on finals this week!!! Remember prayer and that you can always commune with your Father in Heaven. He loves when you talk to him:) Anyways, I love you all! Merry Christmas!!!
Love, Elder Derek Turner
*SERVING IN ZION*
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