August 29, 2016

Two months down! Only 22 months left to go! On Tuesday, Elder Davis went to Richmond for something we call mid mission. You go back to the mission home halfway through your mission and they basically get you pumped for the last half of your mission. But while he was there, I did an exchange with Elder Cole from Harrisonburg Spanish. Not much really happened, like, we didn't teach anybody. I guess no one happened to be home. Oh well, those days come and go. 

Then on Friday, I did another exchange with Staunton. I went up there and they have some pretty rich neighborhoods. We tracted into a neighborhood that had a BMW i8, Ferrari Italia, and Maserati GranTurismo. Too bad I didn't get any pictures. 

I've been really bored lately, so I just learned how to solve the Rubiks Cube. On Saturday, an exed member gave
me a pretty sweet necklace. Too bad I can't wear it around in public. Transfer calls also came in on Saturday and we are staying here in Waynesboro for another 6 weeks, but now Elder Davis is the district leader. 

Anyways, nothing too exciting happened this week. Love and miss you all so much!

August 22, 2016

Hey y'all! Nothing really exciting happened this week. Sorry if I don't write as much anymore, but just know that everything is going well. If something exciting happens, I'll tell y'all. 

Last P day, me and the rest of my district went to the arcade and played pinball for about an hour. A less active member owns the arcade and let us play for free. It was fun. 

On the 18th, I hit my one month mark being here in Virginia! This month went by super fast! I hope the rest of my mission goes by this fast. But I also hope I can do as much work for the Lord as I can in these two years. 

Anyways, on Friday, it was bring your own cup day at 7/11. So of course, we went in with gallon jugs and got a gallon of slurpie each. It was amazing. Haha. 

Then yesterday after church, this guy, Keith Graham, came up to me and he said he knows my mom! Apparently they were in the same ward back when my mom lived out in Texas! That was pretty cool that I got to meet one of my mom's friends out here! 

Anyways, love and miss you all

August 15, 2016

Hey guys!! Y'all shouldn't hate Monday's so much. They are the best days in the week. But anyways, this week wasn't really anything special. Wednesday was pretty eventful. First, we had district meeting. There's only four people in my district including me. I gave a lesson about chapter 4 in Preach my Gospel. That talks about recognizing the Spirit. It talks about how everybody is born with the Light of Christ and that is what lets people know between right and wrong. It also tells the difference between the power of the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The power of the Holy Ghost is like the Light of Christ; everyone can feel its influence. It is what manifests to people the truthfulness of what we teach. But the gift of the Holy Ghost is like that same feeling, but we can have that feeling constantly as long as we are living worthily. 

Anyways, after district meeting, we did an exchange. Elder Shupe from the Staunton ward switched with Elder Davis, so that meant I could finally drive!! Then the two of us went and picked up a member that is a little older than me and he is putting in his papers next month. Then the three of us went to teach a lady that was referred to us by the hermanas because she doesn't speak Spanish, so it should be us teaching her. Anyways, we had a big long hour and a half lesson in which we taught both the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. She seemed very interested and said she'll pray about a baptism date, but I'm pretty sure she'll get baptized pretty soon. Later in the week, we taught a less active older couple that was from Poland. They got the accent and everything! It's so awesome! And then the next day, we went and did service basically the entire day. I think this was Saturday. But first, we went to the food bank and helped out there for a few hours. Then we did lots of yard work for a single lady in the ward. Then right after that we went over to that Polish couple and did the same thing there. But while we were there, they ordered pizza and fed us. It was nice. Then we finally got home at like 7. But I love doing service for people. Not only because I don't have to wear church clothes, but when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God. 

Anyways, I hope y'all are doin' well and keepin' safe. Love and miss y'all so much!!!

-Elder Turner

August 8, 2016

Don't let go!

Wow this week went by super fast! So, last P day was a zone P day.  That's just when the
entire zone gets together and does stuff together for P day. Pretty self explanatory. But
anyways, we hiked the "mountain" again. Then later, we played a game called umpa.
Umpa has the same rules as ultimate frisbee. But instead of a frisbee, it's a football. But
you also gotta shoot it into a basketball hoop. It's pretty fun, even though I suck at it.

And Liam's wearing the cat shirt, again.

Then on Tuesday, we did an exchange with the area next to us, Staunton. I was with a guy
named Elder Gehring. He's been out for 19 months. But during the day, we went by to
check in on an investigator that we haven't seen in a while. She finally answered the door
and told us that her husband forbade her from answering the door all the other times.
He's just been lying to us that she was gone each time. But I guess we came at a time that
he was gone. Anyways, she said she'd have to stop meeting with us, but she was still really
interested. She said she really wanted to keep the Book of Mormon, even though we weren't
gonna take it back. No one takes it back without the investigator willingly gives it back to us.
It was sad, but maybe future missionaries here will get back in contact with her.

Saturday, we had something called return and report. For that, all the trainers and trainees
that came out with me all went back to Richmond. We met with President Smith for a while,
then we were put in random companionships and then went through downtown Richmond
street contacting. It was funny because each person we talked to said that they met with other
missionaries like 5 minutes earlier. That was super scary, but the longer I did it, the less I cared
about what people thought of me. Then I was more willing to talk to everybody. Then yesterday,
during church, an internigator (someone who has been investigating for over a year) called us
up and asked us to come over and give her another Plan of Salvation pamphlet. She has already
been taught literally everything. But when we got there, she told us that she wants to change
her life and that she wants to get baptized. Except she is quite mentally unstable, so I don't
know how well this will work out. But I know that God can work miracles and help her out and
help her come to actually understand the gospel. I hope it works out. Right now, she is on date for September 3rd.

So that's how my week has been. I'm not really stressed that much. So many of you worry too
much about me, but know that I actually am doing perfectly fine here. I'm not just saying that.
I mean it.

But anyways, y'all better tell me 'bout how yer lives are goin'. Love and miss y'all so much!

August 1, 2016

Elder Turner with President and Sister Smith

It's Monday!!! The best day of the week!!!!! Sorry for some of the slang I'm using on here, but I'm starting to pick up this accent and their slang, and I think it's kinda fun, so I hope y'all forgive me. 

So, last Monday, after I sent my email, my district and I went up Blue Ridge Parkway and went on a hike to the top of the "mountain." Remember when I said that there's a ton of mosquitoes here? Well as of right now, I have 23 mosquito bites on my body. It's pretty fun. 

So yesterday I had to give a talk in church. And guess when I started planning my talk. That's right, I started Saturday night at 10. I actually had to cut some of my talk; I guess when you put in 8 scriptures to read, it takes up a lot of time. Hahaha, oh well. guess it went well for a talk that took 15 minutes to prepare. 

Also, Elder Davis hit his one year mark the other day. I guess that the missionaries out here do stupid videos for when they hit certain points in their mission. So in this video, I'm filming, and it starts with me going up the stairs. Then we walk into the bathroom, go over to the shower curtain, and open it. Elder Davis is in there in a suit with the shower on and water pouring all over him. Then he gets out, goes downstairs and makes a super sloppy bowl of cereal, then pours that down his face and neck. Then he gets on a bike, rides down the road, hits a curb, and biffs it. Then I run over and say, "Happy year mark, Elder Davis." Then he just smirks and then the video ends. It's super stupid and funny. I wonder what I'll do for my 3 month mark video. Idk. 

So the other day at Sharp Shopper, I bought 2 gallons of Naked Juice. And I only paid $8 for it. I think that once I come home, I'm gonna burn all my clothes and just fill my suitcase with Naked Juice. 

Ok, so, a lot of you have been asking what exactly goes on during a day in the life of a missionary. So here we go. 6:30 wake up. Run/bike 3 miles. Breakfast after that. 8:00 personal study. 9:00 companion study. 10:00 I have an additional hour of study called "12 week." 11:00 we either go tracting or potentialling. Maybe we'll have an appointment at that time, but about 75% of all appointments get cancelled or pushed back to another day. 12:00 is lunch. 1:00-5:00ish we go tracting, potentialling, or we watch some videos that I have to watch because I'm a greenie. We might also have appointments at a time in between 1:00-5:00. 5:00 or whatever time is set up by whoever we are going to, we have dinner. We usually have dinner over at a member's house, sometimes even lunch. But if not, we have so much food that people give us, that we just have some of that. Then after dinner, we go to our appointments or if we don't have one, we go teach less actives or recent converts (LARCs). then we go to the church at about 8:50 to sync our iPads because we need wifi to do that, but we don't have any at our apartment. I also usually check my emails at that time also. Yes, I can check emails whenever I have wifi, I just can't respond until Monday. 9:00 we go back to our apartment, get a little snack, call our district leader, then call our zone leader, then write in our journals, then we go to bed hopefully before 10:30. So that is a day in the life of me as a missionary. 

Some of you also asked about tracting. So, for tracting, you just choose a road you've never been to before, go from house to house knocking on the doors, and either drip from sweat or rain. 75% of houses that we knock, no one opens the door. 50% of those houses, I know someone is home, they just don't come open the door. For the other 25% of houses where someone does answer, 50% say no thanks, and close the door quickly. The other 50% will listen to us and 50% of those who listen accept a Book of Mormon. With those that listen to us, we put them in our area book as "potentials." When we go potentialling, we go back to the houses of potentials, and we try to have another discussion with them. Hardly ever do we have a second discussion. We hand out pass along cards with our phone number on the back a bit more often than we hand out Book of Mormons. But no one ever calls us or texts us. But yah, that's how it goes. 

The weather out here is crazy. One second, it's sunny, then the next thing you know, you're in the craziest rain storm of your life. The other day, we found a house that a giant tree fell on top of. It was crazy. But I love the storms here. Every time it rains, it's warm rain, which is the best kind of rain. 

But anyways, y'all should keep me updated with your lives, cause I love being able to read about what's going on at night once I download any emails I get. I love and miss you all!!! I'll email y'all again next Monday, or I'll try to respond to any replies throughout the day today. ✌️🙏