December 26, 2016

Liam's first baptism, Annalee

Liam found this family while out tracting

Zone Christmas Party

Liam with his first 2 companions, Elder Davis and Elder Wilkinson, at the Mission Christmas Conference

Hey guys! This week was the best week so far on the mission!!! So last P day, we had our zone Christmas party. We were at the stake center playing sports when we are told that someone is outside. So we go outside and we find Timothy. Timothy is that crazy guy we are teaching that is homeless. So he joined us in the party. It was pretty awkward. He went caroling with us and played the games and was part of the gift exchange. Good thing I brought two presents. He ended up with a blanket, so that is good. 

On Tuesday, we had Christmas Conference. That is where the whole mission gets together in Richmond. I got to see my past comps, Elders Maedgen, Davis, and Wilkinson! It was so awesome! I'll try to get the pictures from that soon. But what happened there were just a lot of musical numbers from other missionaries. 

On Wednesday, I went on an exchange with Elder Cox up in Fredericksburg. Not much really happened. Lots of lessons fell through. 

On Friday, I finally got my Hex Tie! It is so awesome! 

Saturday was probably the best day. Not only because it was Christmas Eve, but I baptized Annalee!!!! It's the best feeling ever to baptize someone that you found! Later, we went to our bishop's house for dinner. Then we had a white elephant gift exchange. But for this one, we ended up with like 8 things. I got a bunch of random puzzles and cheap games from Five Below. Five Below is a store that sells things for $5 or less, obviously. Then I opened my presents before I went to bed, because I couldn't wait. I got lots of cookies and clothes and Taco Bell gift cards. Thank you to everybody who sent me something! 

Sunday might also have been the best day. Since it was Christmas, I got to Skype home!!! It was such an awesome experience! But it did get me a little trunky, but I'll be fine. So that was my week. 

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I love and miss you all so much!

-Elder Turner

December 19, 2016

They did a 6 hour service project raking leaves for a family this week. 

They have quite a pile here.

I've been wanting to see Liam's apartment and today I finally got to! I know that many missionaries in other parts of the world live in VERY humble housing. I'm glad Liam is in a nice, safe place. Every mission has it's perks and challenges I guess. Here's the video he sent today.

December 12, 2016

Liam didn't send a picture this week,
so I decided to post the Christmas package that I just sent out to him

Hello everybody! 

This week was an alright week. Last P day, we played more umpa. I'm starting to get pretty good at it. Then later, we got Brother Strowmatt to come out with us to teach Jesus and Maria Cepeda. They have 8 kids. They are pretty solid and love how our church is set up. Brother Strowmatt gave them a ton of toys to give to their kids for Christmas. 

On Tuesday, the Spotsylvania elder have started coming with us to the food bank. We taught the Strowmatts later in the day. Annalee wants me to baptize her!!! She is for sure getting baptized on December 24 at 1 pm. We will be baptizing Sister Strowmatt some other day, but we don't know exactly what day. We also taught Jesus again and we took him on a church tour. That went pretty well. 

On Wednesday, we taught Jesus for a third day in a row. We took him to the church building again, but this time mutual was going on, so he got to meet a lot of the ward leaders and the bishop. Then he had us over for dinner after that. 

On Friday, we had interviews with President Smith. He told me that I can Skype home using my iPad!!! But he hinted that I will be leaving this area next transfer. I don't want to go. I love this area and want to stay with the Strowmatts! Later, we took bishop to go teach the Hamiltons. We haven't heard from the Hamiltons in a while because she just changed her phone and she didn't have our number. The lesson went pretty well. 

On Saturday morning, our ward had a ward find. A ward find is when a bunch of random ward members get together in companionships and find the inactive members in our ward roster and see what we can do to help them. I went with Brother Bair in his modded out Mazda RX-8. It was pretty fun. We didn't get ahold of anybody really. We found out that one member has started goi to another church now. 

On Sunday, we were supposed to have 16 investigators at church, but only 2 came. And that basically is a summary of what missionary work is like. Anyways, all is well here in Massaponax. 

I hope all goes well this week. I love and miss you all so much!


(sorry no pictures, I'll try to get some today)


-Elder Turner

December 6, 2016

Breaking Water Jugs....

Mom note - So, the first part of this letter again shows that these missionaries are young.  I have to keep reminding myself that he's only 18 and that sometimes 18 year olds make stupid choices.  I mean, who in the world thinks a $109 hard metal, gold tie is a good idea to buy on a mission?!?!  Seriously.  And he can't wear that tie there. He's always been so good at telling on himself.  Poor Liam got a not happy mom email this week.  It's hard to stop being a mom.  There are also wonderful things in the letter.  I really am proud of him for all he's doing.  

Hey everybody!!

This week was a little exciting. Last P day was my 5 month mark. To celebrate, I bought a $109 Hex Tie online. Hopefully it gets here soon. 

On Wednesday, it was super warm. It got up to 73 degrees. Then we got kicked out of a townhome complex by the sheriff. The complex manager thought we were tracting, but we really had some set appointments there that we were going to. But they fell through, so it looked like we were tracting random houses. 

On Thursday, we had dinner at the Strowmatts. Then we had a lesson with them on the ten commandments. Then we got Brother Strowmatt to come out with us to go try by some people. All those people fell through, but it was super awesome that he was willing to come out with us to teach people. Sometimes I wonder what the Strowmatts would be doing if I didn't follow the prompting to knock their door late at night. We are going to have to rebaptize Sister Strowmatt because the ward clerks can't find her records anywhere. And Elizabeth, the foster child, won't be able to get baptized, because her biological parents said no. So she will have to wait 4 years until she is 18 to get baptized. 

Elder Cox and I were on exchanges here from Thursday night until Saturday morning. We had the ward Christmas party Saturday morning, but we could only stay for 30 minutes because we had zone meeting that morning. The Strowmatts came to that and donated a bunch of toys to the angel tree thing that they did. Zone meeting was pretty fun. Got to meet a bunch more missionaries. Elder Shupe from Staunton is in my zone now. 

Then last night, we went over to the Strowmatt's house to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. That was super cool. So that was my week. I hope all goes well with you guys this week. I love and miss you all so much!

November 28, 2016

Happy late Thanksgiving, everybody! 

Last P day, we didn't really do anything fun. The other elders gave blood, which took forever. Not much happened until Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving, we went over to the Palomino's for breakfast. Then we helped do service at his house for a good while. Me and Elder Morris raked leaves with their 4 young girls, which just turned into us playing in the leaves. It was really fun. Then I took a nap instead of eat lunch. Then we had our weekly planning. Then we went to the bishop's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was super good. 

On Friday, we were riding bikes around in a trailer park looking for people to talk to. Then we found the Spanish elders. Then we started riding more until we found the YSA sister missionaries in there, too! So that was pretty crazy finding two other companionships of missionaries in the same few blocks. Then we had another Thanksgiving dinner at the Strowmatts. We starting talking a little bit more about their baptism, then we came up with the idea of them getting baptized on Christmas Eve. That way they can get confirmed on Christmas day. It would be cool because it's like Heavenly Father is giving them a Christmas present: the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

On Saturday, Suri Palomino got baptized. We went there to see her get baptized, even though she is a child of record. We had to give a little talk about the Holy Ghost. So that was fun. 

Anyways, that is all the exciting stuff that happened this past week. I hope all went well for you guys on Thanksgiving. I love and miss you all! ✌️️