Stormy week in Fogo!

Boa tarde from Fogo!

I don't know where this week went! We are just teaching and working and the days are flying by so fast in this transfer. And it has been raining and windy crazy so much this week!! But today the weather is nice :)

Oh yeah and congrats to Brandon!! That is so awesome South Africa!! I am so excited for him and that we will have two Africa missionaries in the family!!

Mom do you remember when we saw on that show when they made cru?? When the fish gets cooked in the acid of lemon juice? I guess they eat that in the Philipines a lot and Sis. Llano made it this week and I sent a picture! It was surprisingly soo tastey! I will pay close attention next time so I can make it for you! :)

This week we had a great family night at Tuta's house! Tuta and Linda are recent converts and it was their mom Maria's birthday so we had family night/birthday party for irma Maria. Haha it turned out pretty funny... because we asked Tuta how old irma maria was turning and she said 54. So when we made cake we put a '54' on it in sprinkles. Yep we go there and she is turning 56. Oops! Haha at least we didn't put too big of a number! But yeah it was fine she was just happy we were there. So we are going to watch the film Finding Faith in Christ with their family who mostly are not members and with our other investigator Nelson. They have a TV and a DVD player which is rare to find in our area. So we start the film and a little bit into it the power goes out because it is raining so much. Sooo then we all shared the things we learned thus far in the film and finished the spiritual thought. And by the light of one oil lamp we sang happy birthday to irma maria and ate birthday cake. :) She was so happy and kept saying 'obrigada sisters, obrigada!' which is saying thank you. Like I said she was turning 56, she told us this was the first time she had a birthday party. I was so surprised! We were so grateful that we were there with them and we had a great time. :)

Also this weekend it was the District Conference for Fogo/Brava. So the sisters of Brava have been here with us and we had some awesome meetings! Elder Timothy J. Dyches of the Seventy came to Fogo to speak!! Members from all over the island of Fogo and Brava came to the Sao Filipe to attend the adult session Saturday night and the general session Sunday We got to here from Pres. and Sister Oliveira also which was great too! The temple was definitely a huge focus in the meetings and how temple worship needs to be one of our highest priorities. I miss going to the temple and I just think about how blessed we are to have so many temples around the world. The Lord really does want to bless His children through the covenants and ordinances of the temple. A group of around 100 Cabo Verdianos just got back from going to the temple in Recify. And when they bear their testimony or you even just talk to them you can see the difference in the joy the temple has brought them!

We did have another hard time this week though with church attendance... It is hard because we will work so hard during the week, and have great lessons and great experiences with them and then it comes to Sunday and nobody will come to church. But we are learning patience. Lots of patience. And also how we need to better help these people understand the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy and partaking of the sacrament. And not being preguicas. (lazy)

I'll end with a good bit of news though. We found a family! Zelina has 3 kids- jovanni, Deori, Keori. Haha and I will keep guessing on how to spell their names until I find out what the spelling really is ... all the names here are so hard to spell! But any who they are a great little family who are new to Sao Filipe and they are humble and want to follow the Savior and be baptised! So we are going to keep teaching them and helping them become converted to the gospel and be baptised! This work really is amazing. It has its ups and downs but I know it is the Lord's work and I am so happy to be able to be apart of it!

I love you all so much and will write again next week!! Have a great week and remember to rely on the Lord in all things. I found this quote in my scriptures and it helped me a lot- 'Prayer is the secret to a happy and productive life.'

Looove,
Sister Turner

Bom dia!!

So the power didn't go out today so we get to email, that is always nice! Speaking of email- I could seriously sit here and type for days talking about everything and everyone here but we only have one hour to email including our weekly letter\report to President Oliveria. Also these computers are old, and I type slow. Mix those together and it's not good. I really want to tell you all everything but I just don't have time. :(

So this past week was week 1 of transfer 2. Transfers last 5 or 6 weeks depending on what President feels. And the Branch we are serving in is São Filipe 2, there is also São Filipe 1 and Congresso that are branches here in São Filipe. São Filipe used to be a ward before I was here but they split it into two branches so they can grow and become two wards eventually! Also that is great to hear that they have a patriarch now I didn't know! haha it is probably easier for you guys to find out about stuff in Cabo Verde than it is for me. Here on this Island we are a little bit isolated!

This first week with Sister Llano was great! We had a lot of powerful lessons. Like this couple Adi and Eloide. We taught Adi the word of wisdom and learned that he needs to quit smoking, drinking coffee, drinking alcohol and using drugs. Yeah just a few things. . . Last transfer Sis Graca and I were trying sooo hard to watch the Restauration film with them. We felt we should watch the film because we tried to teach the first lesson one time and didnt even get past prophets because Adi had so many questions and doubts! But everytime we would try and go there seriously Satan was working to try and prevent it from happening. Either the power would go out or Adi would leave or the DVD player would break or something. BUT FINALLY we got to watch it and it was SO POWERFUL! And the member we brought with us irmão Pai bore an inspired testimony. I felt strongly prompted to invite them to get married this month even though sister Llano and I hadn't talked about it. We are going to teach them again tomorrow and hopefully be preparing their marriage papers this week or next!

Also this week Sis Pitts got here safe and sound so we are happy about that! And yesterday we had a TWO HOUR lesson where we taught this less active couple Lucilinho and Tete and their two friends about the Law of Chastity. By the end of the two hours they had taken out 8 piercings in total! It was a struggle but it was awesome!!

We really need some prayers to help our investigators Menu, Lile, Andreia, Evandra, Rosa, Nene, Adi go to church. We need a miracle to happen to help these people prepare to be baptised. They can´t be baptised until they start going to church!

I love Reading your emails every week and I can't wait until next week! Sorry to hear about what happened with your foot and the car, I will send extra prayers!!
I love you all sooooo much!!! And I am already getting excited to talk to you guys on Christmas!

Love, Sister Turner

                         Here are some fotos from the past two weeks!

Power has been out!

Hi hi hi! I am in my second transfer!

Sooo sorry this is a day late! The power was out for 24 hours and so we weren't able to email on Monday. I am alive and I hope you all didn't worry too much! The power has been going out a lot actually so if my email ever doesn't come on monday it is SUPER high probability that the power was out and I will email as soon as possible.

Super lame news is that I don´t have my memory card with me to send pictures this week. Sad face :(

The last week of the transfer was good and went by super fast! Speaking of transfers ... I am staying in São Filipe 2 ! Haha I am happy because I like it here I don't want to leave yet! But Sis. Graça was transferred to the Island of Santo Antao so we were sad to see her leave yesterday. Sis. Llano got transferred from the area of São Filipe 1 to São Filipe 2 and is my new trainer! Haha it is fun because she has served here before and is just coming back again. And Sis. Alvarado is going to be training a sister coming from the MTC, and its one of the sisters I met before I left so that should be fun!

Mom kenz emailed me and sent me pictures of her flowers! They were gorgeous! She sent me a whole paragraph just going off about how much she loved them and how obsessed she was with them! Haha I wasn't surprised because I knew they would be awesome because you're a Rockstar!

This week we had a baptism! Deivon is 8 years old and the cutest little gentleman. When we would go teach him he would pull our chairs out for us and was always willing to say the prayer and start with `Deus` instead of `Pai Celestial´ it is so cute! He has 2 brothers and his sister Deborah are members too they are a funny family. I will send a picture next week!

Also we have 3 new investigators Lile, Andreia, and Patrique who we started teaching and working towards baptism with! There are awesome members in ramo 2 (our branch) who are willing to teach with us every single day, they are a big blessing.

I have so many things I am working on to improve and it is just one day at a time. Relying of the spirit and on the Lord is so important. I have been realizing how we need to be humble enough to rely on and recognize the Lord in all things. Studying in Preach my Gospel in the Christ-like attributes about humility has really helped me.

I hope Kade had a good birthday! Sister Graca and I looked at his picture and said Happy Birthday haha! I love you all so much and I really hope you are doing great and enjoying the blessings of the gospel! Until next week-

Com MUITO amor,
Sister Turner

Familia!

Can anyone else believe it is almost August?? Crazy! This is the last week of the transfer, so next Monday I will know if I have been transfered or not! But speaking of August, Kade I hope you have a great birthday this Sunday!! Love you! :)

This week we had zone conference! All the missionaries from Fogo and Brava came to our church in São Filipe for the conference. We got some training that was good and after some of us went to lunch at this restaurant called Afrikaans. It was fun we love seeing our sisters from Brava!

Haha guess what Tim-Tim?! I found Fiber 1 cereal!! Haha except here it is Fibre 1. Any who I bought it because I remembered how you always stressed the importance of fiber in the diet ;) It is okay but sis graca calls it bird food! And I figured out if I mix it with cocoa puffs it tastes better!

The picture of the kids washing clothes are irmã nela and irmão nene's kids. They have 5 kids so when it is time to do laundry all the kids help! They were doing so good and working hard! But I'm so glad we have a washer in our apartment!

Hmm also this week I got um pouco doente... sick. I don't know what it was probably a vírus because I just had a fever and some flu like symptoms. But I got a blessing (power of the Priesthood is awesome), drank lots of fluids, slept for the day, and was good to go the next! It was great!

On Saturday was Kaka and Livia's wedding! It was great, we sang Families can be together forever at the wedding. During lunch on Saturday we went to irmã Didjo's house so sister graca could get her hair done because she was a madrina. Well we took advantage of the straightner and sis. alvarado straightened my hair and did this cool fish tail braid! Irma didjo has a little salon in her house and so all the ladies for the wedding were getting their hair done there. Sandrini's hair looked so cool in the picture I sent! Also there is a picture of me and Tiago! His family are members and they help us a ton. He is one of my favorite kids! Everytime we come to their house he says 'sisters! senta!' haha which means sisters sit down. He is so cute!

We have this investigator Menu who has a sincere desire to change his life. It is so awesome to watch as people like Menu learn about God's commands and start living them! The Gospel is so true and if we just have Faith in our Savior Jesus Christ, repent, be batized, follow the holy ghost, and endure well to the end we will have lives of happiness here on the earth and eternal life. I love this gospel and this work.

I hope everyone is happy and doing well. I love you sooo much!

Com muito amor,
Sister Turner

Zone conference

Fiber 1 cereal!! 

Time to do laundry

Kaka and Livia's wedding

Dama de honra... Bridesmaids

Her hair looked so cool

 Me and Tiago! His family are members &
 they help us a ton. He is one of my favorite kids!

 Fish tail braid