1-30-12

 Dear everyone who reads this email,
     This week was exciting. I think Mostly because we had exchanges with the District Leader. So I was able to go down to the Waterloo Branch for two days. It was only supossed to be one day but They ran out of miles and we could not get a ride back up until the next day. So it was nice to get a break from my area for two days and be in an area where there is not a burned down home every three houses. This place takes a toll on you just because it is so depressing being here. Most people here are in poverty. Hence why there are so many projects here. So down in Waterloo it is a small town. Very Small town out in the middle of no where. But it was really cool to meet and teach all these people that I have heard about in district meeting in stewardship reports. Plus it is awesome to be able to teach with another missionary and see how others go about doing misisonary work. I learned a lot from Elder Markarian. 
  Yesterday was a mess. Not everyone understand that we are not the welfare services still. We tell them over and over and over again that we are not supposed to deal with that stuff and that they need to go to the branch president. That is not just with nonmembers but also with the members. We know much more then we should here with peoples lives but oh well. Yesterday morning we had a ride for John who was baptized last week. He really needed to be at church so he could be confirmed yesterday in sacrament meeting. he ride could not find where he was at and since there is only like 4 people who have cars in the branch they were all busy picking up a bunch of other people. So the ride for him came to church without him. We were worried. But thank goodness we had a miracle. John just caught the bus and got there right in time for the sacrament. And he was confirmed right after that.It was awesoe because he has made a huge change in his life to be where he is at now. It is so awesome to see these people who were once part of Gangs to come and convert to the church. It is very special and a great blessing to be able to see this. But I learned a great lesson yesterday with everything. That I need to have more patience and trust in the Lord always for everything happens in his own time and is own way. We have to go with the Lords will on everything.
     This week we finally had an apponimnet with This part member/less active family. The Man of the house is a member. His wife is not, but they have a niece that lives with them and she is also. The man was shot many years ago and was paralyzed from the chest down. I guess he was shot in his spinal cord so it did that to him.He also had a leg cut off. He is such an awesome guy though.He would be at church every week if he could but he has many health problems that does not allow him too. The wife was never baptized because she always had work on sundays. But now she does not anymore. So we are starting to work with them. I have learned that working with part members is the best way to find solid investigators. We started teaching this guy Chico. We taught him the first lesson at mcdonalds. That was interesting. haha But it worked very well. It blows my mind with people believing in the trinity... There is not doctrine to support it. I am not gonna lie I kind of enjoy proving people wrong on that using the Bible against them. But I know it is not good to bash. Which we really try to stay away from. But sometimes you have to declare the Word to the people. They themselves will choose to accept it or reject it. Moneesha looks like she will be another couple weeks till she is baptized. It is coming to the point where she can not keep putting it off. She knows it is true and she knows she needs to be baptized. But we will keep working with her to progress. The longer she waits the harder it will be from her. She needs the blessings now of being a member of the church.
    I hope everyone is doing well. Please read your scriptures and pray. It will make your day so much better. I love you al very much and care for you all.

Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*

1-23-12

So this was a week full of a ton of things again. When is there not a lot that things that happens? We went and taught Bro. Falk for the second time. The Jewish part member who has multiple sclerosis. When we went to teach them week he had just come back from the hospital earlier that day. When we walked in the door of the nursing home of where him and his wife lives he was lying on his bed naked with a couple nurses around him. The member with us walked straight in and started talking to him like nothing was going on. My companion and I turned around and waited in the hall until they covered him up. Once he was covered, we went ahead and went inside. We taught the Plan of Salvation with him. It was awesome all until he said that he does not accept Jesus as his savior. So that is the biggest challenge to get over. He thinks everything is beautiful and he loves it. It is just that one thing... This is a different challenge for us with everyone we teach mostly has problems with the Word of Wisdom. 
   On Wednesday we went over to Moneeshas to check up on her. Since she was to be baptized on Sunday we wanted to be there every day to make sure everything was going well. She was having a very very very hard day. After talking she admitted to us that she smoked the day before because of stress. At that time we told her that she could not be baptized that Sunday because she has to be clean for at least a week before she gets baptized. It was heart breaking when she told us that. But I was so glad she did though because it would not be right if she was baptized knowing she smoked that week. She learned a great lesson with this though. She learned a great lesson about personal revelation and how it works with all this. So I think it was a good thing it happened and she learned this life long lesson. So now she will be baptized in a week or two.
  Yesterday John was baptized. We had the service right after church. He has a great desire to follow the commandments and continue on the bath and get the priesthood and prepare to go to the temple in a year and be sealed with his fiance who is a member. He did not get baptized for her but for himself. We know that because earlier this week they got in a fight and he did not care what happened with them two that he was determined to be baptized anyways. I have learned that on a week of someone being baptized a ton of stuff goes down. And it goes down hard because Satan works his hardest to keep people from making this step and entering onto the path that heads towards Eternal Life. So he was Baptized. I had to put him down in the water three times before he was fully under. He kept kicking is legs up. We practiced before the service telling him you have to be completely under water and do not kick up your legs. haha But he kinda forgot once we were in the water. haha. But the third time I put him down in the water he was baptized. I knew before it all happened that it would take mulitple times so nothing was  a surprise. You would think that the first time I baptized someone that it would be a mess up but nope it happened on the second person I Baptized. haha But it was funny and such a great experience though. I love being able to Baptize. And just see the person and how different they are when they come out of the water. So next week he will be confirmed in Sacrament Meeting. Then the week after that he will be Ordained a Priest then the week after that he will be able to bless and pass the Sacrament. And also get him to go do Proxie Baptisms. So Hopefully everything goes as planned for him. So please pray everything goes well with him and then also with Monessha. She has been ready for a while now but she just needs to drop that smoking... I hope everything is well. Have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*

1-17-12

So what a week it was. I feel like I say that every week when I email... Oh well things just never get old to me. So this past week we had Transfers. Monday and Tuesday we were fed a ton by members. Which never happens here... It was nice. We had like 3 meals in those two days. It was nice. Wednesday morning Sister Lehr, the official driver who is the only sister who can drive missionarys by herself came a picked us up and took us to St. Louis for the transfer meeting. It was awesome to be there because I got to see a bunch of missionaries who I came out with there and saw others who I have become good friends with. After I got my New companion Elder Anderson who was in my district before so I already knew him very well. He is from Collegedale Utah which is up right next to Logan Utah. He is a cool guy. We have fun together because he is a little bit more immature like me. He is taller than me so it is weird for me to be the short one... oh well. haha He is also good at cutting hair so I had him do that this week too. After the transfer meeting where I got my new Comp sister Lehr took us out to LottaWatta. My favorite place to go eat at. haha It was a great welcoming for him to the branch. That night we had a scripture study class. We did what they call the Church tour. But basically it it not a tour of the church we are teaching the Restoration by walking through different rooms. It is really cool how we have it set up. Everyone really enjoyed especially our Investigator who came. 
    This Sunday John Johnson and Moneesha will be getting Baptized. They have asked me both to Baptized them. It is such an honor to be asked to perform both Baptisms. So pray for us that they will go through with it. They both had there Interviews for Baptism last night and both passed. They are both going to make great additions to the branch and bring much strength to this branch (more like twig how the branch prez calls it)
   So in the first few days of having my comp he got to experience a lot of different things really fast. I have taught the law of chasity so many times that is is not awkward to talk about anymore to people and telling them what it is. We were teaching it to an investigator and he could not believe that we have this commandment. That was all together interesting and kind of bizare. One thing about this place is that everyone hugs here. In the mission handbook it does not have any rules against hugging anymore. Even though I always go to shake peoples hands they still go for the hug so we just hug them back. But new My comp got his first hug that he has had in a year and a half from a woman. It was hilarious because he was puzzled and totally did not look like he knew how to hug. It was awesome though. The whole past week we have really focussed on John and Moneesha to make sure they can be baptized. They both have strong testimonies. I never thought a investigator could have as great of a testimonies as they have. They are really touching and real. I know they are not fake because the Holy Ghost testifies of the truth when they give them.
     Yesterday was a great day. we had part of our pday yesterday then part of it today to email because everything was closed that was near us to email. So we were told to email today. We went to the Scott Air Force Base with other missionaries and we bowled. It was a blast and we also went played Basketball after at the stake center with missionaries and members. I have to admit I am really sore from all of it because we have not had hours of physical activity like that in a long time. Last night we had exchanges because the district leader performs the interviews for baptism. SO my comp got to be with his old comp for the night and elder ashley went out with me. We went with our EQP to a couple places. One was to see Judy. She speaks English and Spanish fluently. Josh the EQP went to Honduras on his mission so he speaks Spanish well. She was offended by spanish missionaries months ago because they were dumb and did something very stupid to her. But now since spanish missionaries are not in this zone anymore we got her back because she lives in our area. We have been just trying to build trust in her again. SO we visit her at the store she works at all the time. Which is where we saw her last night. She loved that Josh could speak spanish and really opened up to us last night. So she by herself said that she wants to come to church again. It was great progress we made with her. We also saw Markiesha and her family last night and taught them. They committed to praying to know if what we are teaching is true. 
   Thank you all so much for all you do for me and your support. I love you all.
Love, 
Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*

1-9-12

Hola,

 Today is the start of the new transfer. I can not believe I am about to start my third Tranfer. Saturday night we had transfer calls. And Guess where I am being transfered to! Drum ROll Please.................................................................................................... I am staying in East Saint Louis actually!!!!! YES! But my comp is being transfered to Jefferson City. So My new comp is Elder Anderson. Funny thing I know him well already because we have been in the same district the past two transfers.Kind of Funny. I am so excited for hm because he is a great missionary and we will be getting so much done. We have so much work going on here. Right now we have16 investigators.It is crazy. We are so blessed to have so many. Three of them are being baptized on the 22nd. There names are John, Tj, and Moneesha. Please pray for them that they will be baptized then!!! It is kind of funny because at first I did not wantto ever go here. Thiswas the last place I wanted to go to in the mission because it isnot just the Ghetto but the Super Ghetto. But I have really come to love this placein the past few months and love the people here. I would not mind staying here for another 3 months because I have learned so much here.And there is much more to learn. Plus there is a ton of missionary work here. All that struggles is the support from the Branch. Wehave a couple of people who take care of us really well but it is so hard for us to get places in a timely manner because we are all bus. The is the only thing that bugs me about the area. If We had a car then we would have even more potential and get more done. Today for Pday our Zone recieved permission to makea work out video for the mission.  Every companionship has a dvd player here to watch training videos and many have asked about using work out videos so then we just decided to do our own and havehte office distribute it out to the mission because some of the work out videos missionarys use are innapropiate because of how women are dressed on them. It was pretty funny to make it though! At church we had a miracle that came out of no where. Some man who the missionaries tracted into 6 months ago or so. He told them that he would come to church sometime. So he came to church. I know for a fact that it was divine and that the spirit told him to come to church. Because he showed up to church 5 mins. before it started. It was so perfect. When we talked to him after he told us that his wife is a memeber of the reorganized church. And when the missionarys came by that he thought it was them who invited him. So the whole time he thought he was going to the reorganzied church. Until he arrived and noticed of wait this is the Not the reorginized but the orginal one. He really enjoyed church though. He committed to coming again and we have a set appoitment with him in a week from now.This will be interesting when the wife learns that her husband is investigating our church. Maybe we can convert her from the reorginized church also:) haha

      This past week when we went to teach Moneesha and her family we had such a solid appoinment.  Marlin her husband layed out alot of stuff that he is going through right now. He was a little Tipsy though.But we had a seperate lesson with him though so that he would not affectthe lesson with Tj and Moneesha. We talked to him after telling him that he has to stop drinking because his father died from drinking... When the lesson was over Monica the mother of Moneesha walked in. Last week we committed her to come up with a date that she would like to be baptized on. She came up to me and started talking to me.She saidthat she wants to be baptized on Feb. 29th and that she will only be baptized if I do it. We did not count that date into our numbers though because she was waisted (super drunk) at the moment of time when she told me that. She wants to be better and live all the commandments she just sometimes getsinto these slumps and gets drunk. But we have a big couple of weeks ahead of us with preparing the 3 for baptism:) I have learned that we can rely on God so much more then we think is possible. Once we have done everything on our part God will fill in the gaps. I hope you all have a great week!!! Follow the Spirit:)

Love,

Elder Derek Turner

*Serving in Zion*

1-2-12

Sorry everyone but it has been two week since we emailed last. The library was closed these past two pdays. So we had to email today and I did not get the chance to last week. so much has happened these last two weeks that I do not know where to begin. Christmas Eve was awesome. We Caroled at Hoods Lot (flea market) in Washington Park with the zone leaders and another pair of missionaries. We set up a table with Book of Mormons and Dvds next to one of our friends who has a tent there and sang. It was really cool because very many people heard us and came and talked to us. They were very confused when they saw 6 white boys caroling in the middle of a flea market in the Ghetto. Seeing people in there unbelief was a funny sight because we sounded pretty good because many of the other missionaries are awesome at singing who were with us. That night we went with the ZL's to there dinner appointment. We got there and one of the kids was wearing a byui sweater. He look familiar so I was thinking he must have been in one of my classes up there. So I got to talking to him and I found out that we were in the same Science class during the winter semester. It is pretty cool seeing people that you have seen before out here. It makes you feel better. But I was not expecting that but hey in the Mormon world it is small. It made my day though for sure. 
    Christmas day we had church at 10. Harldy anyone came though. But the spirit felt there was so strong there. It defiantly was very special. Just about everyone there had a part in the program. Then after that we went to the city hall here in East St. Louis to do service. They were feeding people and giving out gifts. We had to take down everything because the chairs and tables used came from one of our buildings to no surprise. After that we had dinner at our branch Presidents home with him and his wife. It was so very nice to spend Christmas with them because they are amazing people and are so funny. They are both over 70 years old but they act just like kids together. Then I got to call home. That was amazing!!! It was so nice to talk with my family and to hear there voices. It was very special. After that we saw one of our members in the branch who is in the Hospital. It was a perfect ending to the day being able to carol to her with Prez Oniel and his wife.
    I went on a couple of exchanges in the past two weeks with my Comp being the new District leader. One I got to do with Elder Ditto who is a zone leader. I got to take him through our area. I love taking people through East St. Louis especially when they have never really been there before. We had a very awesome Lesson with Moneesha and TJ. He had never met them before but it was so special and sacred that lesson we taught them. It was a testimony builder to me. 
   New Years eve I was able to go on a exchange with Elder Woodbury one of my good friends out here who came out with me. It was so awesome to get the oppuritunity and do that while our comps were at dlzlc. That night we had to deep clean our apparment from 3-9 because we were not allowed to be out. New Years day again we had harldy anyone come to church. To many people partying up late. I was not able to fall asleep until after 12 that night because of fireworks and a ton of noise outside. We had a team up with our elders qourum president. We got to see many people because he was driving us around everywhere. We would not be able to do that unless if it was for him. Our Baptisms for New years eve fell through......... Moneesha is working on quiting smoking and TJ it is best for him to be baptized at the same time as his sister. 
    Yesterday for Pday was awesome. I got to see Samantha Gilbert and her family. She is one of my good friends from byui. They live in St. Louis so they called President Clark on recieved special permission to come pick my comp and I and take us to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. It was so awesome to see one of my good friends. It was funny because a few days ago we had a missed call and I listened to the voicemail and it was Sis. Gilbert saying Hey we got your number from president Clark and he said we can come take you out and hang out with you on Pday. The frozen custard was awesome but it was really cool to see them. Probably the best Pday I have had yet. It was weird because Sam told me of many people from school getting engaged and things. A lot has happened in the last 3 months since I have been out here. haha. The weirdest part was not being able to hug them but oh well. Enough people hug us here in East St. Louis. haha
   But I am really grateful for all of you who have sent me Packages and Cards. It really means a lot to me and helped me in my own work i knowing that many people are cheering and supporting me in this great work. I love you all so much. Jesus is the Christ. Only through him we are saved.
Love, Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*