4-30-12

So this past week has been probably the best week I have had in Fenton Missiouri since I have been here. We Set a Baptismal Date!!! I have been praying for this ever since I got here. And now my prayers have been answered. It feels so good after all the work we have done here going from this place having nothing going on to starting to get a lot going. It has taken a while to turn it around but now it is starting to be a whole new place. I am starting to really love it here.

      Monday goes as it always does. Laundry, email, hang out with other missionaries. We just hung out with other missionaries at a members place.

      Tuesday we had d-meet. It went well. Then after we had an appointment with Steve. We are probably going to drop him. Things are not progressing there. Then we our appointment with Hester and Lorin. They ended up not being into it as much as we thought. So we dropped them. We had our scripture study class that night. No one came. Our members are kinda failing with that. But oh well. So if we do not get a decent turnout within a month from now we will stop doing it. They work well when the members really take an active role and bring friends and stuff like how it happened in my last area. But I guess people have more of lives here. But we gained a new investigator that day from one of our potentials. That was cool. Her names is Victoria. She is 30 but a way cool person. She is a pretty solid person like Nicke.

       Wednesday was a great busy day. It was awesome. We had service then we went out checking up on potentials and such. Visiting part members. We had dinner with members then after dinner they came with us to an appointment at Nicke's. Her boyfriend Tony was there. We taught the PoS. It went so awesome. She loved it. We set a baptismal date with her for May 26. We would of set it for May 19 but she will be out of town with Tony in Utah going to Temple Square and seeing church history stuff out there:) I was so happy to hear that. This has been one of the most perfect situations I have ever been in. Just please pray for her and that she will remain strong and be Baptized on May 26. Things are going so great with her. We then had an appointment with Shane that night that we toke another member too. It did not go as well. oh well.

       Thursday was a way jammed packed day also. We had President interviews. Those went really well. It was good. We then had to leave there and had three apointments that night not including our dinner appoitment. We went with a member to a couple appoinments with a less active and Linda an investigator. Then we went with our ward mission leader to a lesson with Cameron Lunt who would of been baptized already but her non member father is the problem there. The mother is a member. We then had dinner and coordination with our ward mission leader.

        Friday we saw some people the Relief Society prez gave us to see. Just a bunch of part members and stuff. We had dinner fall through that night. So we just showed up at our Less actives place and they fed us dinner. It was awesome. We have started to work well with this partmember family who at first the non member wife did not like us. But now she is totally cool with us and we have developed her trust to now where she has invited us over for dinner. It was awesome. It is nice to have these member referals now to see.

         Saturday we went to a comuntiy service project that the ward was going to. It went well we got to to talk to a few people but they ended up not being interested to much. OH well. That day we had a crazy hail storm. Luckly it did not hit us. But there were 7 cars at the mission office parking lot waiting to be saled and they were all totalled because the hail was baseball size. It broke all the windows and did a lot of damage. The day before they finally got the last new cars out to whatever missionaries were getting them. That was a real blessing. Car dealerships and just almost every car damamged in the area where the hail fell. It was intense. There was a tornado warning right when were in an appointment. Craziness. But we are safe.

         Sunday was great. We got to see some investigators after church who did not make it there. Dinner that night at our members place was one of the best meals I have had yet. It was Mexican food. So good. I miss good Mexican food... Oh well. Part of the Sacrafice I guess. haha But I am so thankful for all of you. Even if you do not write me at all:) I would love for you to write me though! Have a great week. Remember Jesus Loves you more then you can ever know.

Love,

Elder Derek Turner

*Serving in Zion*

4-23-12

Hi, so we had another great week. Best week we have had since I have been here in Fenton Missouri! We have dropped 3 investigators but it is ok because we gained 7 new investigators this week:) That was really cool. We finally got things really moving and rolling here. Training so far has been a lot of fun and a great learning experience for me. My greenie is cool so it makes it way easier for me I have to say.
  Monday we hung out with other missionaries up in St. Louis. It was fun. We went to Ted Drewes the famous Frozen Custard place they have here. It is pretty good. I have to say. We then had to do service for a less active member that night then we went to dinner.
   Tuesday we had D-meet then saw a couple people. Then We helped this non-member family move there stuff into a storage unit. They are living with a family in our ward for the time being. Both are very small families to a decent sized house. The non-member family is living there until they move into their apartment next Month. We picked up the three as new Investigators:) We had dinner and taught a lesson. Then that night was our first Scripture Study Class we had. Only one person showed up to that. But it is ok. I was not expecting very many people to come. Oh well. We will get more next time! I hope... The ward just have not been very trusting with the missionaries for a while because the missionaries who have been here for the past year have done nothing and members could tell that they were not working. So I am still building back up the trust here. Ever since I have gotten here that was my first goal here. And now it is starting to work. We have been meeting with memebers getting referals for part members in the ward and for there friends. It is way awesome!
     Wednesday was the day I was excited for because we had many appointments set up for that day. After service we had lunch and then had appointments with steve, and then with Sarah and her family. Then we went with the Bishops son to our first appointment with Nicke whose boyfriend is a member. Her BF Tony took her to the open house in Kansas City a couple weeks ago. She requested the missionaries there. So then we got her referal. This was such a Tender Mercy of the Lord to get the referal to teach her. We taught her the first lesson. It went very amazing. It was honestly one of the most sacred parts of my mission so far. She was so ready to hear the Gospel and Loved everything we taught her. The Spirit was so strong becasue the lord has really prepared her to recieve the Gospel. We got a soft baptismal commitment. We will get a Baptismal Date for her this next week I hope. Please pray for her. This next week she is going to dinner with us at a members and we are teaching her a lesson there. After that we had an appointment with Shane. We watched Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration. It went really well. He loved the movie because he is a very logical person and likes to see things. He is really starting to have more of a change of heart. He is hard to work with sometimes but in the end I know it will make a difference.
      Thursday at service I got talking to this lady and her husband. We found out that all of there kids, Grandkids and Great Grandkids are all mormon and that some are serving missions right now. They are not senile like half of the people in that nursing home so we picked them as new investigators that day. It was really cool though.
      Friday we had an appointment with Hester and her husband the new investigators. It was also nice because we showed up to our part members home at the perfect time. We have been working with them for a little while now. THey needed help moving a bunch of stuff so we did just that. It was cool to help them out with stuff then teach a lesson after.
      Saturday was another busy day. We had a lot going on that day. We had a lesson with our recent convert and with The Lyod family We having been working for a while to get an appointment with them and we finally got it! Oh yes. It was nice. We saw Some of our other investigators also. That night dinner ended at 6:30 so we went to Faith Church to go contacting. We got some potentials there. After the service they have people at the front who you can have them pray for you. So my comp kinda dared me to go up to the front and ask them to pray for our missionary success and finding new peple to teach. So I did just that and this lady prayed for me right there. It was very interesting. I did not expect them to do it and pray for our success. It was cool though. Getting people at another church to pray for our succes.
     Sunday was awesome! Nicke came to church with Tony. We sat with them. It was also ward conference so the speakers were amazing. Right after the opening prayer Clarkson and Tasha came in! so we got three investigators at church. It was awesome. They all really enjoyed it. Nicke said she feels very comfortable there. It was sucyh a blessing. Everything that was talked about in church in the lessons and stuff were perfect.  Best Sunday yet since I have been here. I am so grateful for everyones prayers. We have been working hard since I have been here and now things are starting to come together. I love you all. Please write me guys! I do not hear from many of you anymore...
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*

4-16-12

  Dear whoever reads these anymore, how is life everybody? This was an awesome week! This has been a hard but rewarding week. We dropped more investigators because no one comes every foolows up there commitment of coming to church.

     Monday we played some bball at the stake center down here in south stake. It was nice to go play some bball and get a good work out.

     Tuesday we had d-meet. The assistants showed up there. It was awesome to see Elder Ditto who was my zone leader the last zone I was in. We went on exchanges when my comp was DL so I know him pretty well. After the D-meet we went out to lunch then after that they had DLZL conference at our buliding. So all the DL's companions helped us blitz our area for a couple of hours. I toke Elder Wardle and Fagar and My Greenie with with Elder Luke who had served here before. We had success with finding new investitors on that exchange. Good things always happen on exchanges even if they are really short.

    Wednesday we were called early in the morning to go help the Zone Leaders with a service project for a lady who has a brain tumor and who is going to pass from it soon. That took us four hours to complete of just a ton of yard work on this big house. That kind of messed us up for that day though. But the sacrafice was worth it. Our appointment with Shane that night went well. We are just having a hard time getting him to church... Earlier that day we went to Sarahs place unplanned. We had a feeling to go by and see her. When we got there one of her daughters were siiting on a chair in the front. We pulled up and Sarah said please help me!!! My car is wont start and my daughter just got home from school and has lice! Run to the Walgreens for me!!! So we did exactly that and pucked up some liceMD for her. It was a miracle for her. Hopefully this whole experince will open her heart up more to what we share with her.

   Thursday we had a less active make our fliers for us for our scripture study class we are starting on Tuesday nights. We had one in my last area that worked well for us in helping our investigators progress to baptism and getting less actives to come. I hope this does the same thing here. We have had many people show interest in it. One door we knocked on to hand out a flier we found out that she used to go to the reorganized church. We picked her up as a new investigator. We dropped a couple of people that day out of our teaching pool. If people do not keep commitments then we do not keep wasiting time with them. So a big focus has been finding. And we have found a hand full of people to teach. We have got people to commit coming to our scripture study. It is just a good tool to finding new people to teach. Plus it is a less intimidating way to get people to come inside our church.

    Friday we spent very much of the day handing out fliers. We found some more people who we set appointments to go back and teach. I hope those all go well. We found a former investigator who investigated a while back. Some people were getting mad at us because we were tracting around when the Cardinals home opener was going. We could of picked a better time to hand out the fliers. But oh well.... haha

    Saturday was an amazing day. During our studies we recieved two referals via txt message from church headquaters. I was so excited to get them! We never get HQ referals!!! We had a few appointments planned that day already so it just ended up being a way busy day where we did not even get a full time to eat lunch. But I did not care about lunch with everything we had going on! We had a memeber take us to the first referal and firse couple of appointments. The first referal was from her friend refering her. She was not home but her husband was! we got to talking to them. He agreed to take the discussions. We had an appointment with Charile who we had not seen in a long time because he has been in the hospital. After our dinner appointment that night we went out with the member to go see the other referal. She was not home.

    Sunday morning before church we had ward council. We also went and saw a part member before church trying to get her to go to church. That did not work... Elder and Sister Nash the senior couple assigned to ESTL my last area came and visited for church! They told me when I left they would come and visit me here in Fenton. So they did! It was awsome seeing them because I felt like I was at home. It made me realize how much I miss the Ghetto. I had so much fun in ESTL. The coolest stories I have happened there. After church we went with a member to try contact the other referal again. When we pulled up to the appartments she lives in I saw a girl and a guy outside saying goodbye to eachother. I knew that was her when we pulled up. So we talked to her and her BF. THe boyfriend is a member who lives up in St. Charles. She is a non member of course. They went to the Kansas City open house this past week. She filled out a thing there to have the missionaries come over. So we set up an appointment for this up coming week. She is golden! Especially having the member bf. I am very excited to start teaching her! But things are really starting to change around even more. We drop people but gain much more solid investigators. All part of the sifting I guess. Well remember everyone, Jesus Loves you. Use the Atonement in your lives. It will change your life. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Derek Turner

*Serving in ZIon*

4-9-12

Good day everybody! Another transfer already. Can not believe it.

    Monday we hung out at a members place all day. Someone who my comp was really close too. We played some Basketball too.  It was nice to relax for most of the day and hang out with other missionaries.

    Tuesday we had D-meet in the monring. It was good. It was our DL's last D-meet in the mission. He is was way trunky. But now he is home. haha We spent the day going by investigators so that Elder Hall could say goodbye to them since he was leaving.  We got to team up with the Spanish Missionaries and go Blitz a couple areas with them that have some spanish speakers in them. It was helpful for them and also us because not everyone in theose areas speak spanish. So we help them and they help us. It works out really great. That night Elder Hall was up way late trying to get things packed up for transfer meeting the next day.

    Wednesday was delievery day (the day when I got my greeny). We had a less active members take us up to the transfer meeting which is in frotenac like one of the next areas over from us. It was supposed to be a small transfer meeting. But it was HUGE! Whenever President says it will be small we know it will be big. haha So it was fun seeing All my friends from my last zone and from all other places in the mission. I was so very nerovous when the meeting started because after we recite a few things like the Mission moto and some scriptures is when they have each new missionary go up to the pulpit and introduce themselves and then annouce where they are going and who they were training. I called the guy I was training from when we saw them all jump out of the big van in the parking lot. I also called another missionaries trainee. It was kinda funny. But I was more nervous to see who I was training then I was when I came out and annouced where I was going. So when my greenie annouced that I was his trainer I stood right up said come here and gave him a hug welcoming him. Most missionaries do that. So now I am training Elder Besendorfer. He is from Spanish Fork Utah. Yes my comp is a Utahn. haha He is acts like he is totally from Utah but he is still awesome haha. It was funny to see how shocked he is being out here in the field and how lost he looks. It made me wonder what was going through my trainers head when he got me. But he is starting to adjust. He will do just fine out here. He copies everything I do but I think I did that to my trainer also. It takes a while before you can start thinking for yourself out here. haha But it is way awesome training. Not easy, but very fun. We have a lot of fun and we work way hard. I put him right to work so he has those good habits now that will be with him for his whole mission.

    Thursday wehad some appointments with Less-actives and with part members. Our appointment with Shane fell through. Which is he the most progressing right now. We were about to drop Sarah but then she started keeping commitments! Our first teaching appointment together was her. My greenie was way nervous but he will learn. It takes a little bit until the nerves go away. It is very easy to relate to him because I have only been out  6 months. So it was not very long ago when I was in his shoes.

     Friday we went to a members to help him move three cut down trees. Which took a few hours to do. It was hard work. But he fed us lunch so we can not complain:) That night we went to a Catholic Good Friday Service with an investigator and her family. That was a whole new different experience....... haha I had some ill feeling during it. I only had the ill feeling when they were performing priestcraft and practicing idolatry. It was a lot of stand up sit down stuff. We did not take part in anything. We just sat there and observed. We stood when everyone else did to be repectful but we never knelt down. Just sat back down. But it was cool becase after I got to talk to one of the Priests who is only 27. He was really nice. He actually refered to me as Elder Turner. Most pastors refuse to call us Elder. He was really cool. I asked him a few questions. He asked me a few questions about my faith. It was a really good conversation. I had to ask the question if he had to be Celebate. That was an interesting convo. haha It just stinks that he has to go his whole life without being married or anything. No relationships with Women at all. He can not even date. I got to share a lot about our church with him which was awesome. The whole experience really started to soften the heart of our investigator Sarah though.

     Saturday morning we went to the ward party. It was good for my new comop to meet the memebers and stuff. He really likes the ward. We had a couple part member lessons. It was a really good day for that. We went to a Eagle Court of Honor that night for this non-member kid who was in the troop. We had a request to be there. Which it was way awsome because we gave a tour of the church with a non member family. It went so well. The felt the spirit. I hope something comes from it but we found out they do not live in our area....

     Sunday was of course a great day. We had an awesome fast and testimony meeting. No investigators came to church though... We had dinner at a members place with a couple other families. They did an Easter Egg Hunt and everything.  We then went out checking up on potentials we have and tracting to. That day I was fasting to find a new investigator because we had not found one that week yet. So after all the searching we did that last person we talked to before who was just a potential turned into a new investigator. It was a miracle to us.

    Today we are going to play some bball and have some fun. Anways I love you all. You are all awesome!!!

Love,

Elder Derek Turner

*Serving in Zion*

4-2-12

Yo, yo, yo what up. This was an awesome week. Full of adventure. Monday after emailing we went to the City Muesum. It is not really even a muesum. It is a huge playground. That place was so much fun! They have slides, tunnels, caves, and much more. We played missionary sardines for hours because it was so much fun in there. the had this huge 10 story slide that is a blast. You get going so fast on it. We had 20 missionaries there and the member who got us in for cheap. By far one of the best Pdays yet. That night a memeber took us out to eat at Applebees. oh yeah.

   Tuesday was my Birthday. It was an awesome day also. We had district meeting in the morning. Hillsboro who is in our district is in a tripanionship for the time being because of an E.T. So they surprised us when they showed up. After the meeting we went out to Steak n Shake for lunch. It is a decent place to eat. The shakes are way good though and it is cheap. haha We then went straight from there to the Temple. We are allowed to go once a transfer, and since this was the last week of the transfer we went. Plus it was my Bday so yeah. haha After that we had a dinner appointment then we had coorindation meeting that night with the ward mission leader. He was not feeling good so after being there for a little bit I told him that we would just do it another time. So we left and had to go to another appoinmtnet down in Eureka that we almost forgot about that ended up falling through. Some guy yelled at us when we knocked on the door. That was the second time I have ever been yelled at as a missionary. Oh well not a big deal. Then we returned that night. It was a great day. But then I got a call at 10 at night from the district leader telling me that I am going to be training a new missionary this next transfer.

    Wednesday was my 6 month mark. Another big mark in the mission. I can not believe I have been out that long. It was an awesome day because we taught a lot of lessons that day. It is nice having many appointments to go to. When we were at a lesson at recent convert/partmember, we went out to the back in the fire pit and I burned a tie... It was kinda exciting. I just burned a tie that the member gave me that was ripped. haha We had an appoinmtnet with Shane that night which was a little frustrating. After he commited to Baptism last week, he this week was just a little grumpy in the lesson. He does not want to change some beliefs he has that are not right. But we are working with him. He is the closest person we to baptism right now except Cameron and out of our 9 other investigators. We are trying though.

      Thursday morning I had to go up to Frontenac for a New Trainers Training Meeting. That went really well. It was a awesome training that I learned a lot from. That training is a real responibility that we have to really take care of our greenys. They went over the 12 training program. It is nice for me because compared to most of the other trainers they were not trained with this program because my group was the second group to ever have this program to be used on them. It is a very effective program that works. It helped prepare me a lot. Now I will be on the other side of it and be training a new missionary. I am just happy that I am no longer a greeny haha. I really am excited for this but so very nervous at the same time. We had a lesson with Steve that day. It not go as weel as we wanted it to either though. Oh well though.

      Friday was a long day at first. We had only a couple appointments that were for that night so all day we had to go try to find new investigators and tract. At first it was so long and hard but then we ended up finding a new investigator that day right before we left to go to a dinner appointment. That was really cool. While tracting we saw some guy working on Indy racing car in his garage. He let us sit in it and take pictures. At first he did nto want to hear what we had to say but then let us share a message with him. I love how the Holy Ghost works with people.

    Saturday was of course conference. We went up to Chesterfield to watch the first session because in between Rockwood 2nd Missionaries were having a baptism that day. The Guy getting baptized is moving into our ward this week so we ahd to be there for the transistion and also of his wife who is not baptized but will be another new investigator:) So things are looking up. We having been dropping people to so it helps to get more new people to teach. haha After the Baptism which was in between sessions we went to a members place to watch the Afternoon Session then Went to priesthood session. It was amazing Saturday. I love that they focused on Priesthood Authority and telling everyone to fullfull their Priesthood responsibility and duty. It was awesome. We got transfer calls that night after Priesthood session. I already knew that I was going to be training so my comp and I kinda figured that I would be training here in Fenton unless if I was white wash training which I was white washed trained. But when we got the call they said I would be staying here in Fenton training and Elder Hall is going to Lake St. Louis. Elder Hall has been awesome I am giong to miss him. I do not know which new missionary I am getting. President will interview them Tuesday after they fly into St. Louis. He will then decide that night where each one will be going to and who they will be with. So Wednesday at trasnfer meeting each greeny will go up to the pulpit, introduce themselves and say where they will be going to and who they will be serving with. Very Exciting.

   Sunday we watched conference with a member again who had a bbq between sessions which was awesome. There has been a lot of talks on the Family. I really enjoyed it. It is defiantly what the world needs to hear right now. It is hard with Conference to get much missionary work done but it was a good break to just sit and watch and listen. We were supposed to watch al these different sessions with Investigators but many of them fell through.... oh well. Today we will be hanging with other missionaries at a members place having fun. Oh yes. Thank you for all the birthday wishes and everything you have given me everyone. God Bless You All.

Love,

Elder Derek Turner

*Serving in Zion*