3-26-13

Hello everyone. Everything was closed down yesterday and we were snowed in for a good amount of the day. It stunk but oh well. But hey here I am. And they have now just announced to us that us missionaries can now email not just family but also friends! And we can also email or recent converts too now! This is awesome though! It made me so excited to read that! So if you want to email me now because I know it is hard for a lot of you to write me just go ahead and send me an email! Go ahead and send me an email and tell me how you are doing!!! I could not believe it when they told us this! But hey it happened:) And we had some exciting things happen this week like we had Baptism! and This week I turn 21 on Wednesday March 27th! So here is how the week went!
          Monday was a good day. We played racquetball like we always do just about. We were so supposed to have a lesson with the Perkins family but it did not happen. Not yet at least. Then we had a lesson at the Bochicio home. It went well. We picked up a new gator there also. We have a couple more to get that are in that house. 
     Tuesday was good also. We had many of appointments. But I was not in my own area because I had my exchange with E. Campbell because I am the DL. It was alright. We went up to Clinton for the day with a member to go see many different pm families. It was good. We were up there for most of the day. I actually have to go find an apartment up there for missionaries who will be opening that area next transfer. But that should be easy. I had to do it once before. It will be fun to do because it is interesting doing that whole process. We had some good work there though that day. We then went to Texas Roadhouse with the Clawsons whose family is moving into my ward back home! I got to meet one of the kids when he was visiting his family out here.
      Wednesday we switched back. We had a good appointment with Dustin and Andrea. We reset a date for Dustin to be baptized! May 11th. We then had one of our last lessons with Mary before she was baptized. We then had another good appointment with another pm family.
       Thursday was fun because the ZLs came to do there exchange with me and my comp. I was with E. Anderson. They just blitzed our area for the day which was cool because we got to set up 9 different appointments for that day for us split and go to. For a good part of the day though we had to go up to Clinton to look for a place for the opening area.There is nothing really up there to choose from though. Then we came back and went to go by to a couple of our appointments  We went to visit a random pm family and we ended up talking to two of the neighbors and picked them up as new gators also! It was awesome! Then we had a good appointment with the Rice family which finished off our day. It was awesome. All command and conquer. 
                Friday we had a good lesson with the another pm family that went well. Then we had a lesson with Andrew young and his mother. He has been hared to teach because he can not be controlled. But he was well behaved this time and we had a really good lesson! And we also taught his friend who was there too who asked his parents if he could take the lessons!
              Saturday was good. We had weekly planning. Oh yeah so much fun. But then we got prepare for Marys Baptism! It was awesome! One of my favorite services I have attended yet. Bro. Van Orden baptized her. My comp had to dress in white also and be in the water and assist in bring her out of the water because she is an bigger lady in her 70's so It helped to have that. It was good though. My comp and I performed a musical number also on the Uke and guitar and sung. My comp forgot an extra change of underwear and stuff so he was wet in his suit after the baptism... It was kinda funny though. That night we then had a lesson and Basketball!!!
           Sunday was good. In Sacrament meeting Mary was confirmed. She asked me to confirm her so I got to do that which was way awesome to be able to do. I love confirming people! It was a great honor.  That day after we got back from church all cars were grounded because the snow storm came it. It snowed a foot here! It was terrible! Plus Kyle who takes us out in his truck was not here in Decatur so we could not get out. It stunk because we had to miss out on a couple of appointments that day... 
          Monday was good. We were stuck shoveling snow all morning... We ended up being able to get out at night and shop and have a couple different appointments with the Banks and Irelands. 
        Today we will be going to Springfield for a zone conference. Yeah. Hope you all have good week!!! Bye!!!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*
    

3-18-13

Hello, greetings from the great smelling place of Decatur. Where it smells so bad but the work is going so very well. Every week my comp and I have made a goal to raise the bar. Every week so this transfer we have gotten one more lesson with a member present then the week before. This last week we got 17. It was awesome and a lot of hard work. Here is how the week went everybody!
    Monday was a good day. After emailing I got to go do some ceramics here at Richland. We know a member who goes here and takes ceramics. So I got to get on the wheel and throw a bowl. It was way fun. I was surprised that I still could do it. I took Ceramics my senior year of high school. Then after we went shopping and played raquetball! oh yes.  We had dinner with the Banks who is a pm family so had a lesson with them. Then we went to teach Dustin and his family.
       Tuesday we had a district meeting. It was good. I did a training on having faith to find investigators and such. Which is not always easy. But it is so important in the work because if you are not finding then you are not teaching. We then had another appointment with Dustin that day. It is a struggle for him to quit smoking... But soon his mother is coming close to the end and that will help him because it is stressful for him to see his mother suffer. A man we gave a blessing to last week just passed away this week. I had a feeling that he would pass on during the blessing. But I know it still gave him comfort. Then we saw Andrea which was good. Then we had an appointment with Mary. It was awesome! We taught her the Word of Wisdom and also the Law of Chasity. It is kinda funny teaching the Law of Chasity especially to a 70 year old women. She got a little awkward at first but we have to teach it anyways unless if they are a kid. So it still ended up good though. Then after had a lesson with another part member family at the Mooths home. Then that night we taught Olivia whose brother was baptized a few weeks ago. We picked her up as a new gator. It was great!
      Wednesday we had another lesson with Mary. It is getting down to clutch time because she will be baptized this Saturday so we had to meet with her a lot to go through the commandments. We went over tithing which was good. Then after we met with Shatonia. We never even got to the planned lesson with her again. oh well. Then that nice we saw the Rices and taught them. Then also gave the mother a blessing because she was not feeling well being in and out of the hospital.
      Thursday was good also. We had a few dropped appointments but still got a few lessons. We first taught Savanah and Ali at the church with Bro Vogel who is awesome. It was a good lesson with them. One of them used to be a former gator. We will see how it goes with them. Then after we went to teach Kristen. She dropped us in the lesson. That was sad. The has happened very little on my mission with people dropping us compared to us dropping others. OH well. Then that night we finished with having dinner at Dustins and a lesson.
        Friday was good. We had weekly planning that morning. It was good. Then I had a mini exchange with Elder Cambell in his own area. They have been struggling. It was good. They had no one to see or contact so then he could not come up with anything else to do so we started knocking doors. Then second person we talked to invited us right in and we picked up a new gator for them. It was awesome! They have been really having trouble in there area and having faith to find. So it was cool because I told him we would get a new gator that day. And we did within 15 mins. The Speers a pm family we are teaching just got two ducklings because there kids wanted ducks. Then named on duck Elder Turner and the other Elder Woodbury. It was awesome for them to name there two ducks to name there ducks after us. The kids love us though.
        Saturday we started the day by helping a family move out of the ward. Then we had two appointments fall through but we made some others unplanned to happen. That night we had a lesson with the Carsons and there friends at the church and then played basketball. It was a lot of fun. Our classic Saturday night activity.
          Sunday we had church. It was good. After church we had a lesson with Joel and his family. Then we taught the Banks again. Then we ended the night by teaching Mary. She only has one more lesson until she will have her interview for baptism! It is way exciting!!!! 
       Today we will go play some raquetball and just hang out at the Ison mansion. It will be fun! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*

3-11-13

Hello everyone! this has been a great week! we have had a ton going on! \
      On Monday we hung out at the our place with the other missionaries here in Decatur. It was fun. Played ping pong and what not. Nothing to special. Then after that we had dinner at Olive Garden with the Stoddard family. It was good. After that we had some good time to go and try to see some people because we did not set any appointments that night.
     The next day Tuesday was good. We had D-meet. I had to train like I have to at every d-meet as DL. It was good. It was all on finding people to teach and what not and how to approach them. It turned out to be good. That day it started to snow a lot which was not so fun. So we had Kyle drive us around in the truck. So we went and saw Mark and Sheila. Sheila was in a ton of pain from her hurt hurt leg. So we had to do the lesson around her bed. it was still good. Then we went to contact a member ref. up in Oreana. Her name was Brenda. She let us right in and we taught her. That was awesome! we will go back a week from today to teach her and the rest of her family! Then we came back and had a lesson with Shantonia. It was interesting lesson I have to say. It can be hard to teach her at times though but she made a lot of progress this time!!! Then after that we had dinner at the Halseys. They are on of my favorite families here. They are a young couple with one kid who all just graduated not to long ago from BYU.
       Wednesday was a god busy day We taught Mary that day and finished the 3rd Lesson. So now we are starting to get into the commandments with her in preparation for her Baptism a week from this Saturday. Then we went and taught a new part member family the Duncans and picked up a new gator there. Then we had an appointment with the Toberman family. It was hard because Dustin had a date to be baptized but now he is kinda stuck taking care of his mother who is very close to death from cancer. He can never get to church because that is when he watches her. It is all a hard situation. Then we met with the Rices for the first time and picked up the father as a new gator which was all really good.
        Thursday I started my exchange with E. Willhite in his area. We were able to get a new gator that day which was good because they are struggling right now. Then we also gave a couple of blessings. One to a gator and then another one to a man in there ward who was in the hospital dieing also. That was very different to give that blessing in the fact that the man was in critical condition. It was a good exchange though. That day we also found out that Mary went to the hospital in the middle of the night because she was having heart trouble. They said she was going into a diabetic coma. My comp and E. Willhites comp gave her a blessing.
      Friday we switched back and we taught Joel and his friends Terry and George and we picked up there friend Allan who was there as a new gator also which was cool. Then after we visited Mary in the Hospital. She was preparing to go into surgery to have a stent put in her heart. Then that night we taught Olivia for the first time. She is the Bocchicos 13 year old kid who is now finally opened to taking the lessons. It was a good lesson. We also gave her a blessing becasue she was sick too.
      Saturday we got a call from Mary. We were going to see her in the Hospital again that day. But she told us that she had already been discharged! She was at home telling us that she would be at church the next day! It was a miracle. We had to do our weekly planning that day which we ended not being able to do it all that day because other things came up such as us having to help a family move. It was fun moving the Piano! Then we had a good lesson and dinner with the Banks. It was great! Then we went to the church to play bball with some gators and what not.
      Sunday we had a visiting area seventy there. It was awesome. His name is Elder Real. It was a miracle with having Mary at church there. The ward really loves her. Elder Real taught a combined 3rd hour which was amazing. People from the other ward showed up to hear him. We had to finish more planning that day also. Had a good lesson with another part member family. Are other appointments fell through. But we still ended up teaching 18 lessons to gators this week. 16 of them having members at them which is so awesome.
    Today we will play raquetball. yes.
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*

2-25-13

This last week we had transfer calls. It was a 5 week transfer because everyones missions are being cut down by a week... Stay tuned to learn of what my new area is. And our new Mission President as been annouced also! Thomas Morgan from Farmington Utah! It sounds like him and his wife are pretty young because They have a daughter who is a Junior in High School right now and will do her senior year of hight school out here in St. Louis. That will be interesting but I will only be here for a couple of months for the new Mission President.

         So you heard about last monday last week and part of Tuesday. After Emailing Tuesday we had an appointment with the Stewarts that went well. They wanted to get into a huge discussion about Lent and why we do not celebrate it and a bunch of other things like that. It was interesting but It worked out well in the end. That night we decided to go by this random part member family in the ward and they were home when we got there. We picked up Mark the father as a new investigator. It was great!

         Wednesday was a crazy day. We had D meet that morning. It was god. We had a few appoitments fall through that day though. We had a great appoinment with the Carsons. We are making some pretty good progress with them. Baptism is in the plans! Especially since the divorce has been finalized and they are engaged to get married now! I can not wait for it all!

             Thursday we had service at the DMH thrift shop which was good. Around 3 it started snowing a ton. They grounded all the cars in the mission so we were not allowed to drive. They said for us to stay inside for the night but we had many appoinments to go to so we had a member drive us around in his truck. It was way awesome. We had to go help someone get unstuck in there mini van in the snow. It was great and a ton of fun getting the van unstuck. Then we went to go teach Kristen where we picked up her daughter Bri as a new gator also. It was a really good lesson teaching them the first lesson. After that we had a lesson with Charile. His last one before Baptism.

             Friday we had weekly planning. We had exchanges from after lunch time to after Charlies interview. It was good. So I went with Elder Cambell to his area. We had a good appointment with there gator. I forgot his name. Then we went to a dinner appiontment then switched after all of that. He passed!!!

          Saturday was awesome because it was so packed with awesome events. We started the day by going and shoveling the walk at the church then went to breakfast with the Novaks. Then we had an appointment with Jerry and Pauline. It was good appointment except for the fast that they are not completely wiling to do what is needed to come to know the truth of the church. After that we had a fast lunch then went to our appointment with Mary who will be baptized March 22nd. She is so prepared. We had our second lesson with her and watched the resto video. IT was good. Then we went to Dustin and Alishas wedding. We were the Ushers. It was fun to do. And it is way awesome because now they can get baptized! That is part of the reason why they got married! After that we went to the church to prepare for the Baptism. We ate some Pizza and practiced are musical number a little bit. We had a joint batpism of our ward and the ward next door. We had Charlie being baptized and they had Jill being baptized. Jill asked me to baptize her because i got to teach her a couple of times on exchanges. It was an honor to do so. She just had knee surgery so I thought it would be interesting on putting her down under the water. But we got it on the first try:) It was so awesome doing that. Then we preformed are musical number and it was really cool. We peformed come thou fount. I played the Uke and we had two guitars being played and we all sang. it was great! and a ton of fun! Then we played basketball with gators after the baptism. It was one of the best days on my mission! After the baptism service a lady in the other ward asked where I was from and told her and she said that she has a sister who is moving into my homeward. That was pretty cool hearing that. That night we got transfer calls. Both my comp and I are staying here in Decatur 2nd. But the only change is that I am the District Leader now.

          Sunday was great. We had Charlie confirmed. We had 5 gators there. So it was good. After church we taught the Banks. Then we taught George and Terry where we picked up 2 more gators with there kids. It was good. They are doing so well and progressing. They have been coming to church and it is awesome. Then we taught Shantonia to finish the night. It was a great end to the week! Today we will be having a ton of fun playing sports and music. Have a great week! And remember to write me!

Love,

Elder Derek Turner

*Serving in Zion*