6-17-13

So I was writing my email and it all erased. dang it. oh well. Everything will be ok. It just will be a little shorter then before.

         Monday we went to the zoo. When I saw the elephants swimming it made me trunky. Get it because they got trunks? maybe not as funny as a I thought It was great because the zoo is free so it was a blast to be there!

      Tuesday we taught a couple of lessons. One with Rick and Teresa. We almost dropped them but then they said they want to move forward. So we will give them another chance at it. Then we taught our neighbors. It was good.

       Wednesday we had d meet which was fun. then after we had a lesson where we picked up a couple of new gators. Then we went to East St. Louis at the church there for a dinner thing they were doing for a missionary who is serving there who is going home this week. It was so cool to see the branch again! I miss them. They all remembered me also right when I walked in. Most of them were screaming with joy. haha it was classic. Got to love those people.

       Thursday was a good busy day. We first went on base to get our passes to go on. Then we taught the Andrew. He will be baptized very soon! Then we went to have dinner and a lesson with the Lockamy families. One of my favorite families here. Then we had an appointment with the Pyles. Then with Jessica. It was a good day.

        Friday was great! We went to the Temple that morning. We have a new gator Tangula. She is way awesome. She is a bus driver and we taught her and hopefully we can see some awesome things happen very soon with her. We had another appointment with Rick and his family. It went a bit better this time. We started exchanges that night and it went well. It was a lot of fun.

      Saturday was a slower day. We had to bus a ton and what not. We only got a lesson in that day. But it was still good.

    Sunday we had two gators come to church! It was amazing! Things are going well here. This week ended up being pulled all together in the end. We had a lesson with Terrion and his wife and picked the wife up as a new gator. it was good. have a great week!

Love,

Elder Derek Turner

*Serving in Zion*

6-10-13

This week has been interesting. It was very rewarding once we hit Sunday though!

       Monday, fun day, pday. We emailed that morning and went to the Stake Center for zone pday. It was a good one except for one missionary who is mentally ill who had a freak out there while we were playing basketball. He wasnt even playing. He just walked in and was crazy. Now I am pretty sure he heading home. So that was kinda sad. We have more and more missionaries go home since this age change. Just some people can not take the stress of a mission. That night we had dinner with the Penet family who is aweosme and now is fellowshiping one our of new gator families!

        Tuesday was a busy day for us traveling around and seeing everyone and our appointments. But it stunk. We had 3 appointments fall through that day. We rode the buses forever also. But whatever. We did pick up two new gators which was awesome. We were coming back for dinner and then we had a couple of people stop us while we were walking home. We taught them then and there. There names were Jessica and Jeremy. They were cool. They even have a member of the church who is living with them  who is inactive with them also. So it is cool. That night we went with President Goodrich in our ward. He is in the Temple Presidency. He is way awesome. We had fun with him also. He used to be a mission President also in California. So he knows his stuff. He took us to some awesome ice cream after.

         Wednesday we had d-meet. We had some fun role plays that meeting. After we went to the worst pizza buffet though... After that we went to have an appointment with Rick and Teresa which went well. The rest of the day we spent trying to see many different people. It was good.

       Thursday we had an appointment with the Miller family. First we did some yard work there. He had us fish with him for a bit behind his house. He lives on a lake. I caught a bass. It was cool. We had a good lesson with his family and also had dinner there too!

       Friday we had an appointment with Ryan and Anna that went well. It was good. Then we saw a pm family the Pyles. Then had dinner with the Rebers that night. They are one of my fav families here. We also had weekly planning that day. It was fun.

         Saturday we had another appointment with Rick and Treesa. It went good. They did come to church again though... It is a struggle with them. That night we went to a Rodeo with the Goodrichs and there non member in laws! It was awesome. My comp was way excited because he is a high school national champ in calf roping. He is way good with a rope. It was great though. We got along great with the non members. It was awesome because this guy was bull riding and got bucked off then the bull lifted him up in the air hitting his butt. It was classic. He is ok though so no worries. Just a broken tailbone maybe.

         Sunday we had church. We had the one gator there which was awesome. Then a part member family came to church also. The son who is 9 wants to be baptized and the mom wants him baptized too so we will have a batpism in a couple of weeks or maybe even three weeks. Depending on how fast he learns! That was a miracle!

Hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Derek Turner

*Serving in Zion*

6-3-13

This week has been awesome!!! A lot of great cool stuff has happened this week!

        Since I emailed you last Tuesday I will update from that day!

     Tuesday was fun. We had a couple of appointments. One with our neighbors which was ok. One of them was a little tipsy. He kept throwing everything off until we just said that we would come back another time when he was not like that. We then had a great dinner appointment where the member had his non member mother there. Then we had a great appointment with Antawn. He is progressing well except he did not come to church...

    Wednesday we had d-meet. It was fun. We have a good district here. We had a long day of walking and trying to contact many different referrals that we have. It got tiring walking so much. Its good though because I get to lose weight though! Which is great! We got to teach some random people on the front porches and picked up a couple new investigators which was cool. 

             Thursday was an interesting day. We were able to teach a couple of lessons that day. They were with some random people again that we picked up as new gators. most of our gators we got last week have been dropped because they will not keep appointments. People have been more flakey here then anywhere else. Oh well. By the end of the day we walked like 10 miles or something like that.

         Friday was an interesting day. We walked around trying to contact all these pm/la families all day. We talked to these three random guys who we picked up as new gators. It was awesome how it happened. That night we went and contacted a referral with a member. It was good because we caught them at the right time. It was the Miller family. We were able to teach and set up another return appointment. So more new gators! That night after we saw a little of the shriners parade that was held right next to where we live. During that the Tornado sirens started going off. First time they have ever gone off for a legit tornado besides just them testing them out since I have been out. It was crazy! So we started to walk to our place. Then started running. Right before we got in our bishop called us and said to get in the basement so we did. It got crazy lightening hitting down everywhere and so much rain and hail. It was insane. It was so windy. Our basement started flooding while we were down there. Not to much though. The carpet was just getting soaked. So we figured out that if we did not get killed by the tornado that we would drown to death. Thank goodness neither happened. It stormed the whole night. The Tornado missed us by like 15 miles or so. There where 3 that we spotted in St. Louis. But we were blessed and we were ok. But it was crazy!

           Saturday we had weekly planning which was fun. Then later we went out contacting around on the buses since we did not have anything till that night. That night we went to the BYU Folk Dance Ensemble performance here at Belleville East High School. It was awesome. We had to show up early because they used this as a missionary tool. Any non member who was there got in for free with the missionaries. So we had 20 non members with our members come which was awesome! We will teach some of them very soon! Before while holding the doors open I heard a girl yell Derek. I was shocked. I started looking around to see who said my first name. Then I saw who it was. It was Emma, a girl I knew from BYU Idaho. I had no clue she lived out here. She lives in the next ward over. She never told me before the mission that she lived out here. So it was weird seeing her for the first time in two years. I told her that she has to call me Elder Turner now but kept calling me Derek. OH well. haha it was cool seeing an old friend! It was way sweet because I got to see many people from my old areas there. It was there only show in the St. Louis area on there 3 week tour. Most of the Tour for the dance ensemble is up in Nauvoo. The stopped here because a girl on the team is from this stake. It was fun though. The performance was amazing! They were so good. The live band was great also. It made me get into Folk music a little more. haha

            Sunday was great at church. I bore my Testimony in church. no one did for like 3 mins or so. And I went up because no one was going up. At church this sister gave us a jar of pickles, famous daves to be exact. I used an analogy on that in my talk related o missionary work so she decided to buy some for us. it was awesome. I got some members here hooked on those now:) After church we went to and picked up two more new gators with a member who refereed these people. We have dinner with those gators this week now! After that we went to the stake center to go to the singles branch break the fast where the whole BYU dance Ensemble was at. We were invited because we were going to have practice right after to sing with them in the Fireside they were doing that night. It was awesome! So my and a couple other missionaries sat at a random table and some of the dancers came and sat with us. After talking to them I figured out that this one girl just got married to Daniel Sorenson like a month ago. Daniel Sorenson was in my ward back in Colton with his family back when I was a kid. So it was funny making that connection. We took some pics together and sent it to her husband and he still remembers me too! It was funny that my family is old friends of her husbands family. Then I got talking to this guy sitting next to her and found out that he is cousins with the Farnbachs who are in my ward back home also. It is such a small world in the Mormon world... haha But it was awesome. I took some pics with him also. After dinner we went and practiced with them the song the missionaries were singing with them. Then we had the fireside. It was awesome! We sang I am a child of God mashed up with another song. It was really cool. It was fun mingling with them before and afterward. It was just nice to talk to normal people. haha there are normal people out here too but they are even more normal. haha

          All in all it was way fun:) I hope you all have a good week! we have zone pday today. going to play some sports!

Love,

Elder Derek Turner

*Serving in Zion*

5-28-13

What a week it has been! I am not in my new area, Belleville in
Illinois! oh yeah! It is next to my first area. And it is funny
because I am seeing the same people that I saw when I was there on the
busses here. It is typically the same old drunk people. It is really
funny though becuase it is all dejavu. I think that is how you spell
that at least.

So Monday the whole district came up with us to Kaylas
place, and with Cami her member friend we all went and hiked to a
tunnel behind her house. It took close to 2 hours to get there. Then
like an hour and a half to get back. We took a different way back. It
was crazy! But a lot of fun! It was fun hanging out with everybody.
That night we had dinner at Kaylas place and did a lesson with her
also. It was fun.

Tuesday we my comp was in bed for almost the whole day
because he was really sick. We almost went to the E. R. but then I
have him a blessing and he was alright. So we went to the Nashs that
night for a last lesson with them which was great! Then after we met
with Kayla for the last time at Camis place with her parents. She is
so awesome. After we went with them and others to ice cream.

Wednesday was cool because I got to be at transfer meeting
to see all my old friends I have not seen in a few months. It was a
fun. My new comp is Elder Cannon from St. George Utah. He is a cool
guy and defiantly a cowboy. He really likes to rope things. haha We
have a lot of fun together. It is a blast to serve with him! We are
both new to the area because we white washed it. It is fun though. I
know the area decently from serving right next to it. It is cool.

Thursday we went out exploring trying to find people to
teach here. We also had d-meet. We were succesful becuase the first
door we knocked on we picked up a new gator and taught a lesson. It
was pretty cool! Not going to Lie. Then that night we had a dinner
appointment with a pm family and picked up the non member husband as a
new gator. It was great. Because we need people to teach. There is
only like two gators left from the last nissionaries.

Friday was fun because we went out looking for more people
to teach. We taught Rick and Teresa who were left over from the last
misionaries. Then we met someone at the bus stop who we ended up
teaching ehr a lesson on the bench and prayed with her out in public
and picked her up as a new gator too. We are trying so hard to find
people to teach! We then Also saw Antwan who was taught by the
missionaries that were here a year and a half ago back when i was in
east st louis. I taught him the first lesson on exchanges way back
when. And now i am back and we picked him up as a new gator also. It
was a great day!

Saturday we finally got to weekly planning. I the whole ward
roster into the gps that i have. Most of the members are less active
in the ward or part member families so i just put it all in. It has
helped because we were able to go out and see some of those people.
Bussing takes forever though. That night we had a coor meet with the
wml and he is fired up ready to go!

Sunday in church they had me, my comp and the WML all
speak. We were told we would speak just a couple of days before that.
which i was cool with. I love speaking in church. It was cool to see
the Gross family at church. They were imported into the East St. Louis
branch while I was there and now are here back in their ward! We then
taught one of our neighbors that night and picked up 3 more new
gators. a total of 7 this week here!

Monday we went to one of the other wards parties. It was fun.
We also crashed a penecostal party and ate with them also and played
some softball with them and it started raining hard core while
playing. It was fun.

Today we had to email because everything was closed
yesterday. oh well. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*

5-20-13

So we got transfer calls this week and I am going to a new area! oh
yes! Stay tuned to find out where I am going next.
Monday was a cool day. We went to our gators place up in valley
mines to go hiking to a mine. But we kinda got lost so we did not make
it all the way there. We went with another set of missionaries and a
member and a gator. It was fun though. That night we taught Kayla and
had dinner with her family who are awesome! It was a fun day though.
We picked up the parents as new gators also which is cool.
Tuesday was a slow day. We only had a couple of lessons that
day. One of them being with the Nashs. It was our last lesson with
them before there baptism. It was really awesome.
Wednesday was cool. At lunch we exchanged. I was with Elder
Kimball. It was fun. All he had planned for his area was to go tracting.
So we did in his area and we picked up a couple new gators for them.
It was great. I hope they both work out. One of them was a guy who is
friends with many members down here.
Thursday we had d meet down in frederick town. It was good.
They have been struggling in there area so we blitzed there area for
like an hour and we picked them up a couple of new gators just in that
time. That night we had a lesson with kayla at camis place with her
parents. It was good. We had a great lesson with her that we set a
date with her for baptism. I will come back to baptize her. It was
funny that all 6 new gators that were picked up this week in our
district I was there for all those lessons.
Friday we had weekly planning that morning. We saw a few
different people which was good. We dropped a lot of people also. Then
we went and played basketball with some gators which was fun to do
that night.
Saturday was amazing! we had the Baptism of the Nashs! We had 3
baptisms!I got to baptize the daughter which was awesome. It was an
amazing service. My comp and i did a musical number. Then after we
went out to lunch with them. Then we had a lesson with kayla and her
family that night which was great. That night I found out that i am
being transfered to Bellville Illionois. Back to the Ghetto and city i
am going. It is right next door to my first area which was east st
louis. It is not as ghetto but it is. It will be fun! I love the city.
I kinda have finally accepted it that i am meant to serve there being
there my whole mission almost and having to bus around places. It is
fun though. I like it. I can not wait to see what kind of crazy stuff
i will see there. I will be white washing that place too. We live in a
house there which is pretty cool.
Sunday was church of course. It was great. I confirmed the son
Logan. It was awesome. We had Kayla there at church for the first
time! Then we went to go by a couple peoples places after church. Then
had another lesson with the Jaroubek family.
Today we will go hiking again and try to make it all the way to
the mine. we will see though. have a great week!
Love,
Elder Derek Turner
*Serving in Zion*