Fast week!

Hello! I am glad that dad and grandpa had a good birthday! Tucanos sounds amazing.
Oh goodness this week just flew right by. I can hardly believe it is time to email again!

Sorry about the house! That is crazy I can't believe it! I hope it all gets fixed okay and doesn't cost too much. Before I forget for the 3rd week in a row- I got my haircut. Yeah this Brazilian woman cut it and she did a good job I like it. She cut a few inches and did layers.

Anywho the important stuff that happened this week- Ney, Gerson and Eva were baptized!!!
(Eva is technically a baptism of the ward because she is 8, but we passed by and taught her the lessons and helped prepare her- she is such a little cutie!)

We were super excited about the baptisms of Ney and Gerson because when we started teaching them last transfer they were not progressing...

The very first day we taught in Monte Vermelho we were trying to contact an investigator the sisters before us were teaching. Well she wasn't home. But her neighbor this random man called at to us so we went up to his house. And that was how we met Ney. He lives in just one room, all alone, has a bed, a table, a couple of old tvs and thats about it. He speaks THICK creole and at first didn't seem very intelligent. But we started teaching him and we more than pleasantly surprised! He totally understands the doctrine and he had already read the whole bible cover to cover. But like I said at first he wasn't progressing he wasn't coming to church, and he was still drinking alcohol. We ran into him muliple times when he was drunk which is always disheartening as a missionary. But then a miracle happened. On the first sunday of the year he came to church! And every sunday after that! And since the 1st of January he stopped drinking! He told us his friends will offer him drinks and he said he tells them no because he remembers his body is a temple and the spirit of God can't dwell with him if he is drinking. Yes! He gets it!! So yeah he is doing great and just loved his baptism. He was so excited he walked all the way there and was an hour early!

Gerson's sister Andrea is a member and he had been taught a ton in the past and was really close to baptism. Well we taught him in the beginning of last transfers and he basically wouldn't talk to us anymore. At all. We marked another appointment but something came up and we didn't make it. So we kind of just gave him some space because he didn't seem interested. But THEN also on the 1st sunday of the month he came to church! Haha what we were so surprised?? Well turns out a member invited him so he came! We marked another appointment and after that he really opened up to us and showed his desire to be baptized. He is the only boy in his family and has I think 6 sisters- even though he was so quiet at first he is actually this hilarious kid! After his baptism we asked him how was it?? hahaha his response was COLD! Oh man he and Ney are both great!

But yeah that was most of our week we had other good lessons and stuff too of course! It is still surprisingly chilly here. I hope everyone is doing well and is happy! We are just here and the Lord is working miracles in the lives of these people. This really is the best work there is and we all have our part to do! I love you guys so much and am always praying for you and am blessed by your prayers. Okay until next week-

Love from cabo verde,
Sister Turner


p.s...more pictures next week the internet is struggling today.

YES!

First things first- Happy Birthday today to Dad and Grandpa my two favorite guys! Thank you for your examples and the priesthood you hold for our famiy. I hope you both have a great day and enjoy the pie! I love you!

So yesterday was transfers and guess who did not receive a phone call??
US!
Guess who is super excited to have another transfer in Monte Vermelho??
US!
We love this area, and we love the members and the people and are so pumped to have atleast six more weeks here. Also it means we will spend our 7th, 8th, 9th month marks, christmas, new years, my birthday, and valentines together. woo hoo lots of holidays with a chilean!

On Saturday Ailton got baptised! For lack of a better word, Ailton is a BOSS! His girlfriend Ro who is in the picture was baptised like 6 months ago. In December Ro told us he wanted to start talking to the sisters after the holiday because he was really busy. So on Jan. 1st we taught him and it was just great from there on out! He just said so many times- This year I am going to change my life. And he knew the gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was the way he was going to make the changes he needed to. We taught him the commandments and the lessons and in a total of 3 weeks he was baptized. We just couldn´t believe how ready, how humble (and super smart he understands everything) Ailton was. The baptism went super smooth and he bore a sweet, simple testimony after. They are such a cute little family and we are hoping they will marry sometime soon this year! Oh man I love these people.

Basically just this- we are working hard here and the Lord is working even harder to help His children receive salvation. This work is so stinking amazing. On huge thing I have learned is that obedience to the little things is what makes the biggest difference. The people that progress and gain real testimonies are the ones who pray, read and go to church! I am so grateful for these little things that make such big difference in our lives.

I love you guys so much! Thank you for all the prayers and support, they are making a difference! Until next week!

Com meu amor,
Sister Turner

Another great week here in Monte Vermelho!

Boa Tarde,
This week was so good! It went by so fast, actually this whole transfer has gone by fast.

I hope everyone is doing well back home! Dad a letter is in the mail for you, I hope it gets there before your birthday ...Today I have a feeling this is going to be a little bit of a random email.

First things first- JUVENIA got baptized!! She is so great! Her sister Danizia has been a member for a lot of years and helped her sister a lot to get baptized. She was being taught by the sisters before us & we continued teaching her the first week we got her. She had TONS of doubts, but she would pray and read and is so smart and she gained a simple testimony of the church and was baptized yesterday. She works everyday except Sunday (we taught her everyday this week during her lunch break) so she couldn't be baptized on Saturday in the stake center in Praia. Well yesterday they had already emptied the font so she had to get baptized in the ocean! Haha we were pumped but she wasn't cause she is a little afraid of the water. Calu the ward mission leader (who is AMAZING) baptized her at Prainha. It all went and was super pretty there!

Also one of my trainers Sister Graca finished her mission this week. She had to come to Praia to have her final interview and so I got to see her for a minute!

GREAT news. We found a CHINESE restaurant! YES. Chinese. There is pretty much no diversity in food here. Probably due to a lack of diversity in the population... Anyway there are actually a lot of Chinese people here who have stores that sell cheap cheap cheap stuff from china. SOO apparently some of them got together and decided to open a restaurant so their Chinese friends could have somewhere to eat. I don't know the exact history, I just know they sell dumplings for only 15 escudos :)

After like 2 weeks we taught our investigator Yolando again. Last time we left Mosiah 18 for him to read because he was like mais or menos about baptism. The lesson was a miracle, he was so happy and you could just see in his face he had felt something when he read. He even talked to his girlfriend about it! I know it was by the power of the Book of Mormon that he decided he wants to be baptized. Him and his girlfriend just need to get married and he accepted baptism for the 29th of March! The people here are so prepared. It just blows my mind.

One last thing! Stake conference is in a couple weeks, and it is going to be a broadcast from the first presidency of the church directed for the saints in Cabo Verde. WHAT!!!! Yeah I am a little excited.

Okay so I love everyone so much and know that I am doing well and I am happy here and me and my companion are having a great time! Until next week-

LOVE,
Sister Turner

Great start to 2014

Hello hello to everyone one!?

New Years sounds like it was good! Here it just meant that people went to parties till 6 or 8 in the morning. And there were 30 seconds of fireworks at midnight. It was a bigger deal than Christmas, stores were actually closed on new years day.

Thanks for the emails and the kind words of encouragement they mean so much to me. And I am excited for my package whenever it will come. :) Also that is great that the missionaries were over! That is awesome that you guys are helping them. If you meet a sister from Canada who's last name i forget ... I knew her in the mtc! haha I  know that is a far stretch! :)

So the pictures I sent are from Cidade Velha where we went this morning. Our district went and it was way cool! I got to see the church and fort I was studying for my art history class before I came. I loved it. But then it got SO HOT and I was dying. It was a super cute little city there that was so quaint. And part of it was like a jungle.

I want to talk about a woman named Lucia. So I think a week or two ago we were teaching her brother tetoy and she popped her head in the lesson for 1 second. The member with us Eugenio asked her 'Hey when are the sisters going to talk to you?' We marked an appointment for the following week to return to her Mom's house (Sylvania who is a member) to teach her. Well the day came and no one was home and we don't know where Lucia's house is. Lucky for us our area is small and almost everyone knows the other people here. So we just go up the street to a little shop and ask someone where she lives, and they say she lives more up the hill. Okay not super clear directions. Anyway we keep asking people and after about 20 or 30 minutes we find her house and she was home! (Normally she is working at this time) And her mom was there too! Purrrrfect. We teach the first lesson and it was awesome. It was so funny something she said. After we were testifying about the prophet Joseph Smith and the church she asked "you guys are confident your church is true?" Obviously we replied yes. She was just like wow, I have never actually had anyone tell me they believe their church is true! haha  I guess the other missionaries of other faiths who visited her never said that! Anyway jump forward a couple days and we taught her again. And she is sooooo prepared for the gospel. She accepted baptism and wants to get married to the father of her children and have them all be active in the church. YES. And in the lesson she was defending the church when she was arguing with her twin sister about the catholic church. What? okay! But THEN when we invited her to church she said she didn't know because she normally works on Sundays selling bananas. We told her if she comes God will bless her and that she should really try to go. Well on Sunday morning we didn't go to pick her up or anything and she goes to church! And in relief society (which is first for us) they invite her to stand and introduce herself. She talks about how it was her first time at church, and also how it was a miracle because her husband (who we never taught or invited and she said had no desire to go to any church) came too! WHAT?? Me and sister Valenzuela could not believe what we were hearing! She started tearing up with joy and was testifying how God answered her prayers, all the ladies in relief society were cheering and clapping so excited for her!!! Our investigator is 100% pure gold. Oh my goodness it was crazy. And also her brother Tetoy came and their mom Sylvania (who is so sweet and so humble) was just so very happy. It was an awesome Sunday. Hope everyone had a good first Sunday of 2014 too. :)

That was long but was just a few of the many miracles we are receiving. WE ARE SO BLESSED. I have no doubt at all that this is the work of the Lord. He LOVES His children and He just wants to bless us. When we are obedient the blessings will come.

Okay everyone have a good week and remember that I love you guys!! I heard Utah is receiving a ton a snow, so drive safe!

com meu amor,
Sister Turner

ps thanks for the gauze grandma & grandpa. I broke my toenail when I accidentally kicked a piece of tile on the ground. Anywho its all good now, and that gauze came in handy!

Christmas, wedding, and baptism!

Hello again!

Christmas was so good. :) It was so great to talk to you all and then we had lunch with our investigators Maria and Carlos! We didn't end up teaching a lot but it was still a really good day.

 It sounds like everyone had a good Christmas as well and I loved seeing the pictures and I am glad to hear it was good!

So this weekend Vivi and Joao got married and baptized! On Friday we went to the record office where they were and it was crazy. Between 11 am and 2 pm there were 8 weddings. It was a mad house in there! But it was good and they are so happy to be married now. Then on Saturday they got baptized and it was so sweet. After the baptism they bore their testimonies and Joao's was especially great. He said in his thick creole that it was the happiest day of his life. And they were baptized by this member named Eugenio who is just awesome too. Him and his wife, named mama, are these super cool members! They are old but still have so much energy and Eugenio told us how he pulled out his own tooth with a pair of pliers! OUCH! But yeah they helped so much with Vivi and Joao and are just awesome.

So that was great & we were so blessed this weekend & lots of investigators came to church. Like always the members in this ward here are helping us & giving us references so it the work is going good. We need to help more people mark baptism this week so please pray for us!

Last thing- today we ate as a zone at this cool restaurant in Praia. It was called Mirage and was so fancy! The seating area was right next to the sea and it was BEAUTIFUL! Oh and it was a buffet with really good desserts so me and sister valenzuela ate a lot in our matching dresses ... :)

Okay that's all for this week. We are happy and I know this is the Lord's work and I am so blessed to be here!

Love your sister,
Sister P. M. Turner