Friday, December 27, 2013

Feliz Natal!!

Yes it is almost Christmas I can't believe it!! We will be talking so soon!
December has flown by and the working is flying by with it! We are loving our area in mount vermelho, by the way maybe trying loo!king up palmarejo? mount vermelho is a smaller area within palmarejo. But yeah this week we are excited a couple named vivi and joao are getting married and baptized this weekend so that should be really great! They are an older couple that are super sweet. Also we are teaching a woman named maria who i just love. She is taking big steps towards baptism (like moving so she can keep the law of chastity!!) and I can't wait she is going to get baptized in a couple weeks! I have to say that I really love the members in this ward they are so great. Always wanting to help and teach with us, it is awesome!

The family christmas party looked great! Sounds like it was fun and as always the food looked to die for. Send everyone my love and tell them i said Feliz Natal para todos! I hope you guys are watching lots of hallmark movies and maybe a doctor who christmas special too ;)

Haha I sent some pictures of the christmas decorations, I look a little crazy but thats okay!

also a picture of my hairs that sister valenzuela braided :)

and a picture of our table in our room where we study and eat lunch, we have a nice view!


This time of year is so special to remember our Savior. I hope everyone has a spirit filled christmas and shares the love He has for us. Sorry this isn't very long but we will talk soon!


I love you all, I love this gospel and I am ever grateful for the opportunity to be here in Cabo Verde!!

FELIZ NATAL!!

Love,
Sister Turner

p.s. congrats Brittani and Jacob on your mission calls! That is so awesome you guys are going to serve!!

Monday, December 16, 2013

First week in Mount Vermelho!

Ola!!
9 days till Christmas!! Which means that this week we had our Christmas party with all the missionaries on the island of Santiago. It was soooo great, I loved it! We got listen to President Monson's talk, and had an amazing devotional from President Oliveira where he talked about giving gifts of eternal value. The Spirit was so strong also when we sang. As districts we went out and caroled in Praia and brought a little Christmas joy to some people here. It was a little strange to carol with no snow but it was a cool experience! We also had a delicious lunch (haha but sister Barros said that my turkey was better ;). And I got to see so many of the sisters that I love that are serving in other areas and visit with them for a little bit so it was awesome!
And just to top everything off my package was under the little Christmas tree at the party!! Thank you sooooo much!!! I loved everything in it! I'm glad I didn't wait to open it because then we got to decorate our apartment with the stuff you sent. :) Those papers were so cute I just had to take of picture while making the chain.
 We are also really enjoying the treats and I am enjoying the clothes! And thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa for the gift too! Haha I didn't wait to open it either. :) But good news we get to talk on Christmas! I don't know what time yet but I am so excited!! I hope everyone will be able to be there and Grandma and Grandpa too! 

So we started working this week in our new area and it is almost too good to be true! We are loving it here. There are great leaders, great members who are so willing to help, and we have some great investigators too. We are just blessed to be here. Mostly this week we worked on getting to know the area, the members, and the people who were being taught before since this area was whitewashed and we don't know anyone. It has been good and we have received a ton of help from the members. Sister Valenzuela and I have a good time working together and I am really looking forward to the rest of this transfer!

I always have so much I want to tell you guys and the time to write just flies. But for now I have to leave you with a photo of dog we call shaggy who lives on our street. He has a lot of bald spots. The look on his face always makes us smile.
Ta bom. I love you all! I hope everyone has a great week and stays warm there in the cold! We are still sweating like crazy. Mostly Sister Valenzuela's upper lip. Hahaha! Okay she doesn't want me to send that... too late :)

Feliz Natal!  -com amor,
Sister Turner

p.s. we hit our 7 month mark! yay! 

Monday, December 9, 2013

Transfers again!

Boa tarde!

It is hard to believe that today I am starting my 5th transfer! Yesterday night was transfer calls and I am going back to the island of Santiago! I am going to serve in the area of Mount Vermelho with Sister Valenzuela who was in the MTC at the same time as me! Also from when we lived together in the same apartment in Assomada, I know that she loves kru. So we are going to work really hard, have a really good transfer and hopefully eat a lot of raw tuna. :) Sister Barros is also getting transferred to an area on Santiago so we are excited to be traveling together! Our flight leaves in about 4 hours, so we will just have the rest of our p-day and head out. We have a family night planned tonight with our investigators John and Artemisia. They are the parents of some of my favorite members Rosi and Jailson and they are such a nice couple! But with our flight we are only going to be able to stop by for a second and say bye, drop off the pudim de leite I promised I would make and then it is off to the airport!

Thank you all for the emails. Your words strengthen me, I really appreciate them and love reading them! And it is good to know that Tim Tim is getting to eat some good cheese. Okay so I LOVED the photos of the Christmas decorations!!! Mom the house looks SOOO CUTE!! The garland above the pictures in the living room is so pretty, you are a pro! And the tree too! That is a proper Christmas tree. Most of the trees here are only 2 feet tall... its just not the same. Oh yeah and speaking of Christmas I actually didn't get my package yet. BUT... since I am going to Praia tonight I will hopefully be able to get it from the mission office soon. I am really excited! :)

Good news about Teresa (the woman with us in the picture) - So we couldn't get permission to go out to Palmeira where she lives because it is too far. But we told her she could come to Espargos and we could teach her in the chapel. And she came! We reviewed the first lesson with her and sister Barros invited her to be baptized and her reply was ´ka tem problema!´ which is creole for ´no problem!´ Hahaha it was great! She was taught by the missionaries in the past and has such a sweet, genuine spirit with desire to follow Jesus Christ. We marked appointments for her to come to Espargos more this week and if everything goes well she will be baptized on the 21st of December. It is a bummer that we won´t be her to keep teaching her but the next missionaries coming to Sal will keep working with her!

Sorry but I still don't know about when we get to call or skype. Hopefully by next Monday I will know and can tell you guys the details!

Also a cool piece of news- The island of Sao Nicolau is opening to missionaries! Maio opened a month or so ago I forgot to mention but that means now all the inhabited islands have missionaries now! The work is going forth and it is so exciting!

Okay so that's all I think? Everyone have a good week and try to stay warm! I think the Christmas devotional is coming up so I hope you enjoy that. Sempre eu sou grata pelas oracoes and pelo apoio eu estou a receber. Muito obrigada estou a enviar meu amor!! Tchau!

-Sister Turner


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Good things!!!

Hello hello!

Today is December 2 and it is a HOT! Today I do not feel I am in Cabo Verde. It is so hot but not humid, and we were walking around in down town Espargos today and there were lots of white people (turistas) and there are paved roads, and street signs and palm trees and things like SUV´s and I just feel like I am in Arizona or Nevada or something.  Weird! Haha that sentence has all sorts or problems but that is okay.

So in other news- I GOT A PACKAGE!!! kind of. The zone leader went to Praia for the leadership counsel and he told me there is a package for me in the mission office! I was so excited there were almost tears! then there really were almost tears when he said he couldn't bring it back to Sal with him. BUT the presidents assistants are coming to Sal this week and they are bringing it and I am so excited!!! Thank you so much I can't wait to open it!!

A cool thing happened at church yesterday- we met a woman named Teresa. haha reminds me of aunt Tess. Anywho she is so sweet and she told us multiply time that she doesn't want to be in the darkness anymore, she wants to stay in the light. She has already come to church a few times in the past couple months we just never met her! This week we are going to find her house which is in further part of our area and start teaching her. It is always so excited to encounter those people searching for the truth!

So the pictures this week are a little random but-
When Sister Barros bag broke right when we were walking down the street, I was dying laughing.
This morning we walked up the trail to the airport tower and the view was gorgeous!
A sign that I really like, and I think is funny because all it means is ´hot meal´ and not specific at all to what kind of food they serve...

The pictures from Thanksgiving looked awesome! Everybody and all the food looked great! Oh and the craft fair too! Tenho saudades! The turkey trot looked fun, I remember when Tim and I ran it last year and it WAS SO COLD! In a few years I hope me and Tim-Tim and maybe Dad run it together again! I can´t believe it is December and in just a few weeks we will get to skype! I don't know what day yet but as soon as I find out I will let you guys know!

That's all for this week. We are doing well here, I love serving with Sister Barros, we have a lot of funny times together! I am sending my love and my prayers and I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,
Sister Turner


Monday, November 25, 2013

Thanksgiving in Sal!!

Oi tudo bom?

Okay so this week a lot of things happened- including a baptism and transfers!
So the elders in our branch got transferred. That means we started teaching their investigators that were progressing and now we are working in the whole area of our branch. It has been a little hectic absorving their area but it has been good and we are receiving more elders in 2 weeks so it will be back to normal. The elders were preparing a man named Djack (just pronounced like jack) for baptism and so we were blessed to get to know him a little bit and help him prepare for his baptism this week. It was really good! haha sorry the pic is really blurry..


Also this week we had a visit from president and sister Oliveira and had interviews with president. It was great to see them and they always bring a great spirit to the missionaries and to the members.

So we also had a small transfer this week. Sister Barros is now serving with me in branch 2 and Sister Brock is serving with Sister Thembo in branch 1! It was great to get to train Sister Brock for 8 weeks, she is an awesome missionary and is going to do so much good. Sister Barros entered the mission the same time as me, but she went to the Brazil mtc so I didn't know her. We have a good time teaching together and she is helping me with my language (Portuguese & Creole) since she is from Cabo Verde!

So today we had a little p-day Thanksgiving with the missionaries in our area. Guess what mom?? I did a make shift brine (as close as I could remember) for the turkey and it actually turned out good! It was a little bit of a struggle because we got locked out of the house and the turkey got over cooked ... but then when we get back in the house to finish some things like the gravy (which I did just like you do = soooo good) we had no more gas to cook!! haha the sisters bought more gas and we just cooked the peach cobbler at the senior couples apartment. Oh yeah, I think I forgot to mention we received a senior couple, the Smarts, 2 weeks ago and they are so sweet and good to us! Enfim ...the lunch was a success and we have leftover turkey :)


That was just some things from this week. I just want to share Mosiah 2:41, and say that I am not a perfect missionary. I have a lot of weaknesses and things I need to improve. I know though that when we are obedient we are happy and blessed. We are truly so blessed in the gospel. I love you all. The family Thanksgiving party looked great and I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving on Thursday too! Eat lots of cranberry surprise for me!

Ate mais logo!
Love, Sister Turner


Monday, November 18, 2013

Letter from the island of Sal!

Tudo dret?

Oh goodness this is going to be short because we are having serious computer struggles! The man named Jai at the foto place fixed my memory card and I only lost like 50 fotos so it wasn't bad compared to loosing all 1500 of them. But JUST NOW this computer I am only deleted all the photos on my other memory card. serio. por favor pai celestial da-me paciencia.

But also not that much happened this week ...

So the baptismal font had no water on Saturday so we all got in a Hiace and went and had the baptism in the ocean! IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL. I mean I am pretty sure if they have beaches in Heaven they look a little something like this. I had more pictures I wanted to send but they got deleted ... but yeah. The baptism was super cool and the spirit was so strong like it always is when a children of God makes their first covenant with their Heavenly Father. 
Analy didn't get baptized. We worked super hard so that was a bummer. 

Also my emails were great this morning, I really needed them! So thanks Mom, Dad, Kade and gare!
Who is the new doctor???????

Brandon´s farewell sounded like it was great! The photos looked great too! He is going to be an awesome missionary. I am going to email him! I want to talk to him about Africa! 

But today I got my ears pierced! Haha it was great! Just a slit pinch and 500 escudos. Sorry the picture isn't great I had another that also got deleted ... 
Also, I read the conference talks and they are so good. Well that's all for this week, I will have more time next week. I love you all immensely and hope you have a great week!

com muito amor,
Sister Turner

Pictures from baptisms on the beach Saturday

SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!


Monday, November 11, 2013

6 month mark this week!!

Oi!

Happy Veterans day Grandpa. Thank you for your example of service to our country. I love you!

True story this Friday the 15th of November the year 201, I will hit my 6th month mark in the mission! WHAT! That means 6 months has gone by? Who knew! This time next year I will be home with you guys and eating so much good food! (p.s. as soon as I saw the picture of the pho that Dad sent, I knew exactly what it was and I was so excited to find out it is in Saratoga!) And to put in perspective how quickly a year goes by- this time last year I will filling out my mission papers. Weird.

So I will get the bad news out of the way ... I think my memory card AND my jump drive have a virus. the computers here don´t really have firewalls or spyware. I can still see the pictures of the camera just not in the computer. but its okay my card is full and i just started using another one so hopefully it won´t get a virus on it. But since that one is not working it means the only picture I have to send home is one of cake and cachupa from sister Barro´s birthday this week. I will see if i brought my camera cord and can use it to send pictures next week...

Haha quick funny story- in Relief Society the lesson was in the teachings of the prophet Lorenzo Snow book. It was telling a story about someone who lived in Hull, England. And I did a double take, Hull. Hull? and the next words that automatically popped into my head was ´stop saying Hull!´ hahaha I remembered that Doctor Who line off of the episode Blink! Are you guys enjoying a new season? Is there a new season or did they stop making it so they could wait for their most faithful fan to return?

This week we taught Leila the plan of salvation. First for starters I am so grateful for the plan of salvation, the truths that it holds and the comfort we receive from knowing our purpose in life. The Spirit was so strong in the lesson, all of us could feel it and Leila was crying. When we asked her how she felt she just kept saying that if she had known this before she would not have lived the life she did, and that she knows this is the right path and that the church is true. It was an amazing lesson.

Okay so just to close I want to explain the difference between buying fish in america and buying fish in Cabo Verde.
America- 1. go to Macey´s or Smiths or whatever large grocery place you want.
2. Go to the fish counter and be greet the clean apron wearing employee.
3. Choose which fillet of fish you would like, have it weighed and packaged for you to pay for at the register.
Okay that's all.... now for our we do it here... Cabo Verde- 
1. go out in the street.
2. look for the 12 year old and the random man with a wheel barrow.
3. ask in creole- if under the piece of card board covering the wheel barrow they have tuna.
4. if the answer is yes tell them how many kilos you want and he will take the knife out of his pocket and cut a chunk out of the fish and put it into a grocery bag.
Yep.
I love you all! Have a great week! Thank you for the love, prayers and support!
Sister Turner
cake & cachupa from Sister Barro´s
birthday this past week

Monday, November 4, 2013

Already November!

I can´t believe it is November! I really can´t.

so a few quick things- this computer is bad so this letter with have little to no capitalization, will be short and i will have to send the photos in multiple emails, disculpa!

oh my goodness what even happened this week... it was a pretty normal. the weather will cool down one day and the next be hot again so i really have no idea what season it is!

sister alvarado and her companion sister barbosa arrived because they are opening the area of santa maria! haha and today sister alvarado made me wear her floral jacket beause it reminds her of my floral carpet jacket i bought at d.i., its fun!

oh also i received the poster from the primary! it was so cute i loved it! i loved all the little pictures and note the kids drew it was so fun to get it! thank you primary kids so much!

this week i was feeling pretty stressed and inadequate. we have a lot of work to do in our area, and with training we just have so much and it doesn't seem like there is enough time! but some scriptures and some counsel that helped me were ether 12:27, and to try and realize what the lord is teaching me is these moments that are a little more difficult. even though there are hard days i am always still so grateful to be here and having these learning experiences. the joy that comes from this work makes everything worth it! like yesterday leila's son ienike received his baby blessing during sacrament and it was such a neat experience and the spirit was so strong!

well that really wasn't very much, but we are happy and doing well and i hope every one back home is too!

ate mais logo! tchau!

love, sister p. michelle turner
poster from the KV3 primary

Transfers again!

Boa tarde, oops bom dia. Haha I almost always say boa tarde no matter what time it is. Then I look at my watch say the correct greeting and then the people laugh at me! Seriously happens almost every single day.
So yesterday was transfers and we are staying right here! right here! Actually no sisters are leaving Sal so yeah. We are excited to be staying here and keep working with our investigators and our branch. Our branch is pretty small right now so its not easy but it is neat to see the progress. And I will keep training Sister Brock, but I mostly have no idea what I am doing. BUT with the Spirit she will turn out okay after these next 6 weeks. :)
Thank you for the emails and the pictures! The house is looking so cute, and those flowers you made are gorgeous mom! It looks so ´fally´ there it is kind of strange ... it still is just summer time here. It has been summer for me since May! hahaha speaking of Summer I hope everyone enjoys my tan line ... sim.
So I have not received a package yet, but I will let you know as soon as I do!!
Wow that was a really random email and not very long because I didn't decide what to write about before I came to the computer and this sentence was bad too. But I am sending letters today so those should come in a week or two! And I sent Tim one that should come this week! Things are picking up here, the Lord is blessing us! I will write a better email next week. Enjoy some photos and know that your missionary is always sending love and prayers!!

Ate proxima semana, Amo voces!!
-Sister Turner

Monday, October 21, 2013

My Body and my Brain are confused I think....

Boa Tarde, tudo dret?

Another week flew by here in Sal and it is almost Halloween but the weather feels like summer so my body and my brain are confused I think haha.

We did have a good week. Sister Abreu and Sister Varela were mini missionaries with us waiting for their visas to Brazil. They left this week so we are missing them! My brain is a little scattered right now so I have no promises about how this email will be! Oh but I don´t have my memory card with me so I will send pictures next week.

A neat experience happened on maybe Tuesday? or Wednesday. Well anywho we went to meet our investigator to go with her to the branch activity. But she was not home so then I said well maybe she went to the church for the activity. So we go to the church and the activity really was't that night and she was't there. Okay. So at the church we run into another member and ask him if he will go teaching with us to our next appointment, and he says yeah! Sweet. So we walk over there and our investigator isn't home. But then our Kuku asks the guy who answers the door if we can talk to him for 5 minutes, and he says yes! So that is how we met Elder. We talked to him and taught him about prayer. We found out that he really doesn't know if Jesus Christ is the son of God. We taught him how to pray and invited him to pray about Jesus Christ. It is such an amazing feeling being able to be apart of the process of someone coming to know their Savior. We are going to teach him Tuesday. I´m excited!

On a more shallow note- I found real butter this week. REAL BUTTER. I was pretty ridiculously excited about and the whole grain bread we bought also. I will send a picture next week. I like the food here in Sal, we also have a shwarma place. mmm shwarma. Also the little kids here call us ´touristas!´ and we are teaching them one by one ámi sister!´ haha!

To top off the week Saturday Leila got baptized She is awesome and her baptism was so neat. All weekend we had been praying so much that she would feel the spirit at her baptism. And when she got out of the font she just stood there for a moment with her face in her towel. She was crying and feeling the Spirit soooo much! We asked how she felt and was saying it was just the most amazing feeling and that she knows that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. And she knows this is the right path that she must follow. It was a sweet experience we were so happy for her. She is a strong lady. She has absolutely no family here in Sal and she is raising her son on her own. We know the gospel will bless her life. Also Sunday when she was confirmed it was really neat. :)

Hmm I think that is all for this week. But I will leave you all with my testimony that I know this is God´s work and He love´s each one of us individually. Ate next week!

Love,
Your missionary Sister Turner

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Still alive!

Boa tarde! Tudo bem? Espero que todas de voces estao bem e feliz!

So good news I can speak portuguese and mais ou menos understand creole! I don't even know how it happened but the gift of tongues is real and the Lord has blessed me so much with the language. I really do think it is strange because when I came here 3 months ago I distinctly remember not to being able to understanding a thing! Haha it is good that the language isn't my biggest worry anymore because there are so many other things to worry about!

I think that is the biggest difference with training/being the senior comp: responsibility. And lots of it! It is good because I am learning a lot but also it is definetly not easy. Sister Brock is awesome though so that helps a ton! We are doing work here in Sal branch 2. Ronisse was baptized on Saturday and she was so happy! Our area is pretty big, well compared to Assomada and Sao Filipe. Yesterday before church we walked all the way out to Alta Santa Cruz which is 30 minutes away out in the desert and is literally just little shanty huts. And realized how much of a twit I am and forgot my name tag! HOW EMBARRASSING! We then practically RAN back to the house and then to the church and got in right at ten o´clock! I was so grateful that the room where we have sacrament has air conditioning because I was sweating just a little bit....

Also it is weird that it is mid october. And I am wearing sun block. And still getting sunburned. And my watch tan line is pretty spectacular. Other piece of good news- fresh tuna here is only 500 escudos a kilo. We are having cru tomorrow!

This week we had zone conference and it was amazing just like all of them are. Sister Benedict, Gretchen´s friend, gave a training about how commandments are how God shows His love for us and when we are obedient we show our love for God. It was so good we are so lucky to have the Benedict's with us here in Sal. The picture is super blurry but those are all the sisters from the island of Sal and Boa Vista!

Haha so about my arm ... I went to the hospital. But if Grandpa saw it he probably wouldn't call it a hospital at all really. It wasn't bad it is just not quite like the hospitals I knew and love back home. Well anywho I went because the bruise was still big and my arm was kind of yellow ish after over a week. So they prescribed an antibiotic, anti-inflamatory and some sort of cream to help with the bruise. So I have been doing that for a couple days and it is good! Almost all better!

All the construction is Grandma´s kitchen sure sounds like fun I am sad I am missing out! And I loved that it was crazy about the thunder I can't believe it shook the house and dished fell. Haha Mom! I hope you want to do a lot of weddings when I get back ... because I brag to all the sisters about your awesome flowers and they are all asking if you will do their weddings! :) I haven't gotten any packages yet ... but I still have hope! Hmm I will think of somethings and let you know next week! Thank you so so so much!

Mom thank you so much for doing the blog. I know that if anything ever happens to my journal or my camera I will still have the blog! The one hour we get every week to email is always so wonderful. I love hearing from everyone and getting pictures and knowing that normal life is still happening! Even though I am on this tiny little flat sandy island that is far away, I feel my love for you guys growing more and more. I am so blessed. And christmas is soon so we will talk on the phone in just over two months!
Eu amo voces mais que voces podem imaginar!!
Tchau!
-Sister Turner
 Ronisse was baptized on Saturday
All the Sisters from the island of Sal and Boa Vista!
 Almost all better! (haha, mom says not!)
Beautiful sunset


Monday, October 7, 2013

I don´t even know where to start with this week ...

Well bom dia!

I guess I will start at the begining-

Monday we saw a women cutting a fish down in the market. We ran down there and found the women and found the fish which turned out to be tuna! So we debated and bought some (800 escudos for one kilo) and we made half of it into cru (or kru) for lunch and it was DELICIOUS!! And Sis. Wilson and Sis. Anderson didn't like it that much, so basically sis. Valenzuela and I ate a whole pound of raw tuna between the two of us. It was marvelous mom! I will for sure make cru for you when I come home! :)

Tuesday we went to Praia for a training that Sis. Wilson was going to attend. So I got to do divisions with Sis. Biggs in Praia and it was so great!! I had never done divisions before in another city before so it was fun to get to know Praia a little bit and it was way fun to teach with Sis. Biggs!

Wednesday was when things started getting a little crazy. On our way back to Assomada we found out I was being transferred mid-transfer to Sal and that would be training Sis. Brock!! WHAT?!?! So yeah we had one more day in Assomada teaching and I said bye to our investigators and those sisters in Assomada that I grew to love so much in these 2 weeks. I know there was a purpose for me to be in Assomada even if it was just two weeks, I am so grateful for my time there. Then on Thursday we went back to Praia so I could fly to Sal.

So then on Thursday I get here and Sal pretty much looks like the desert planet of Tattoine off of star wars!! Haha it is crazy how different all of the islands are. So when you become a trainer in the mission, the missionary you train is called your child and so on Thursday I met minha filha (my daughter) Sister Brock! She is wonderful. She is from West Bountiful and is super sweet and so excited to do missionary work! She has been in Cabo Verde for 3 weeks and is doing great! We are going to have a great time together and I just hope I can help her become the missionary the Lord needs her to be.

But then Thursday gets even better- so then on Thursday night we were walking back to our apartment after a lesson and I got bit by a dog! My first night in Sal! It was a rottweiler and he jumped up and snapped at my arm and thank goodness it wasn't bad. Just a little scratch and a bruise. I talked to Sister Oliviera and she said there is no rabies in Cabo Verde so I will be fine! We got it all disinfected and it's good now. Haha it was quite the experience!

Then the rest of the weekend went well. The sisters here before were preparing a man named Tito to be baptized, so he got baptized on Saturday and it was good! We had conference all day Saturday and Sunday and I enjoyed it so much. It was all in Portuguese but I understood it so I was happy! I came at a good time where I had a couple months to learn Portuguese and so by the time it was conference I didn't have any problems. But seeing the conference center makes me think of when we went right before i went in the MTC and that was so nice. :)

We have a lot of work to do here in Sal and I am excited for the experiences we are going to have! I hope everyone is enjoying the weather in Utah, Mom what you described sounds absolutely lovely right now! and the photos you sent Dad look so good with the snow on the mountains! And yeah Sarah is in the MTC right now and I saw her in the broadcast last week! I have been able to email Shay a bit and she is doing good in Estonia where it is already freezing! Time is going by so fast here, this week I will have 5 months in the mission. I cannot believe it! But everyday I am so grateful to be here. To be doing the Lord´s work and seeing so many blessings and miracles.

Wow that was a little longer this week, maybe my typing is getting faster?! Anywho it is time to go but as always I am sending my love and my prayers and I am thankful to know you guys are too. I can feel it everyday. Have a great week!! I love you!
-Sister Turner





Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Almost conference!

Hello!

So things are going great here in Assomada! We went to zone conference in Praia and almost all the sisters from my MTC districts were there so it was fun to see them! We had great training's about using inspired questions and about teaching the apostasy more clearly so our investigators can understand a need for the Restoration. When we get the opportunity to hear from President Oliveira I am always so grateful to hear the revelation he receives for the mission and I am reminded that he really is called by President Monson to guide our mission.

So I have been liking Assomada more and more now that I am getting to know the members and our investigators better. We have great investigators and a lot of families we started teaching recently. Eurides and Alino are a couple that have 3 kids and they have accepted a date to get married and baptized so we are helping them get there paper work started so they can get married! Also Yuri is the man in that picture we are teaching him right now. Haha so he looks really intimidating but he really is awesome, and super humble and will hopefully be baptized this week. Please pray for him!

Also the weather improved this past week. It was not nearly as rainy (which made me happy to see the sun again) and in the morning it is super nice weather for when we go running sometimes. We usually will run to the soccer field on the other side of town where sister Wilson, who is more ambitious than me,
can run more laps and I can sit on the turf field and ... stretch :)

So I read a talk recently from last conference (I think it is called The blessings of the Sacrament). He explains in the talk about how we can get more out of taking the Sacrament every week and how it can be a more spiritual experience. These past two weeks I have been trying to apply the things that he taught and I have been having wonderful experiences. It really is such a blessing that we have the opportunity to remember our Savior every week and renew our baptismal covenants. When I have really spent that few minutes to think about my Savior and remember His sacrifice I have been so edified by the Spirit. I would highly reccommend reading that talk it was really good.

Yesterday we watched the Relief Society Broadcast with the women of the ward and it was so good! I mean it was translated into portuguese but even with the translators Brazilian accents I still could understand it. They just talk SO fast so it was hard to take notes. At the end in the last song I saw my friend Sarah Chestnut in the choir who is in the MTC right now! Haha I yelled ´minha amiga! minha amiga esta la na camisa verde!!´ Haha the ladies in the ward were laughing at me because I was so excited! Next week is general conference and I am soooo excited!! We are going to get to watch it in english!!! :) :) :) I am definitely going to miss all your good food mom but I think we are going to try to make some treats. I hope everyone enjoys conference and being so close to the conference center and the Prophet!

I love this work. I love our Savior Jesus Christ. And I love you guys at home and all the support and prayers.

Love,
Sister Turner
Me, Sister Wilson &Yuri
Zone conference in Praia