It is Monday again! What a week!

Hello! How is everyone doing today?? It was good to get you emails and we are both wearing blue skirts today! We love you little cooper! And congrats Kade! Sissy loves you and I can´t hardly wait to meet Kayan!

This week there was a death on Boa Vista. Bum, bum, buuumm. Sister Turley is dead now and we sure do miss her! But before she got back to America, last week we had a great p-day eating ´lagosta´ and getting real "cabo verdian", doing a fresh aloe vera hair treatment. Sorry no pictures of that, it was pretty messy. But really it was such a blessing to serve with Sister Turley. She was a wonderful companion and we had so many laughs as we worked through being the first sisters to white wash Boa Vista. It definetly wasn´t easy but we learned and grew so much and received innumerable blessings from the Lord. Jaime if you read this cause you are creeping on my blog, thanks again for everything! God bless America!

 And now this is exciting because we begin a new chapter in Boa Vista, my new comp is Sister Goss! She is from Alpine, Utah and is a great sister who is in her third transfer. I definetly teased her when she got here- I told her the number of transfers she has in the mission, is the number that I have left! oops, it is true!! But we are already having a good time together and realized we crossed paths before. Sister Goss is my old roommate Maddie´s sister´s best friend..!?! I hope that made sense. Either way we were both there when Maddie opened her mission call, small world! **note from Mom (There is a picture of Michelle and Maddie in the Mtc together in 2nd post" First week in the mtc", in May 2013)!

Today I showed her around all the tourist shops and we were being silly with all the fake Ray Bans they try and sell us. I just have to tell them one hundred times that we live here and are not tourists and to give us a small, small price!

Speaking of starting a new chapter in Boa Vista... this week was pretty rough with some of our investigators. Two of our most progressing investigators fell hard, breaking the commandments. It is so hard to see because you are working so much trying to help them, and you know the potential they have and they choose to use their agency otherwise. But this week at district meeting we gave a training about two Christ-like attributes: hope and patience. And as it says in preach my gospel these are two attributes that are related to one another. We must have hope that something will happen and believe that the Lord will keep his promises. And we must be patient and not become frustrated, angry, or discouraged while we wait for those blessings. Even when we are going through hard times I know the Lord is mindful of us and is giving us the opportunity to rely on him and develop these eternal attributes. That kind of made the week sound bad... it had good parts too I promise!
Well until next week which I am sure will feel like tomorrow! I love you and hope everyone has a blessing filled week!

-Sister Turner

**Note from Mom: 

These two pictures had no description but I am guessing it is the free Live Lobster that was given to her by a member that she had asked me how to cook.

                        Looks like it turned out pretty good!

I feel like I went on trek too!

JUNE 23, 2014

Boa Tarde!

Happy Birthday on the 18th Grandma! There is a letter in the mail for you!

It is very hot and windy here these days and when we are walking (sometimes for a long time if all of our appointments fall) I think "hey this is probably the same thing as you all were doing on trek!" Haha just teasing, but it sounds like trek was a great experience. I am so glad it was and that you all had many wonderful experiences there! I realize so much that the legacy of the church really is a legacy of sacrifice like you said Mom. We all have to decide, What we are willing to sacrifice for the Lord? And the gospel really does strengthen us so that we can make any sacrifice that is necessary. Trek looked like it was fun and that all of you felt the spirit a lot too. I enjoyed seeing those pictures and remembering the times that I trekked those trails too, such a special place. Also I LOVED the family pictures of everyone! Did Jamie and Kalynn and the kids move out to Utah or are they just visiting?? I hope they moved so that I can see them too! :) Oh man all the kids are so grown and Wyatt is not even a baby anymore! Crazy!

The woman with the fruit is our friend Mima ´badia´. Haha oh man she always yells ´amiga bem fazi compra!´ She also said her name is mima, and her profession is badia. But that doesn't make a whole lot of sense because badia is just her ethnicity because she is from Praia! She just cracks us up and will usually give us a decent deal on produce.

We did a little service and helped one of the young women Ionica take out her weave! Haha it was weird. We took out a ton of tiny braids that are made out of fake hair. At the end she only had about an inch of hair on her head. She said she has a friend that could do it to fine hair like ours... I just said no thanks!

After we spent 3 hours cleaning our church (now that the construction is all done) we went to lunch with the elders. One of the plus sides on living on a tourist island is that there are some good restaurants! This place is right in the praza and is pretty cheap and tasty!

This week we had a four day long division with the sister training leaders from Sal. A division is when other missionaries come to your area and you swith companions for a couple days so that you teach with other missionaries, learn new things and help your area. It was good to have the sisters here and it was so great to see my friend Sister Garcia again! We lived in the same apartment back when we served in Praia a few months ago. We had a good division together and we found a bunch of new women to teach which was our goal! haha this is a silly picture of us making the face that Sister Alvarado always made. Good times!

Between the division and Sister Turley going home in a couple days, this week went by so fast. They seem to going by faster and faster! We are still working and encountering different types of struggles and the Lord is always there to help us. Something really neat now is Tchinha and Ima are teaching other investigators with us so that is great. Tchinha got called to be the branch librarian and was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood. He is the first man from this island of Boa Vista to receive the priesthood we were so excited for him! He is going to help so many people here, it is always amazing to see people grow and progress in living the gospel. It changes lives, I know this is true!! I love you All and will write again next week. Have a great week give Aunt Kalynn and family my love and I am sending lots of prayers your way!!

Love,
Sister Turner

Tchinha´s baptism!!

JUNE 16, 2014

Dad Happy Father´s Day yesterday! I love you! I did not forget I promise! I hope you had a good day and enjoyed Brandon´s Homecoming. Thank you for all that you do for our family and for holding and honoring the priesthood. I look forward to receiving a father´s blessing in a "few" more months! :)

You all are going on trek this week! The prepartion sounds like it is all done now you just need to get out and get trekking! All the family history and studying you are doing mom does sound so interesting. That is so fun to learn about our ancestors and remember the legacy of their sacrifice. What great examples they were to us and the memory of them will strengthen us in the battles we are fighting in our day. I hope you all have a wonderful time and I can´t wait to hear how it was!


Before I write about the baptism please enjoy this photo of the place we email at every week. It is literally the only one on the island as far as I know. haha this was last week when the power was out so they hooked up the gas generator so we could keep using the internet. haha one word- ghetto. BUT it solved the problem so we can´t complain. Also please note the four-wheeler that WAY too many people ride here. The europeans and the tourists just love them! They are so loud on the street though so I am less of a fan...

That is the brazil flag flying at the ´bar´ across the street from our house. The world cup is going on right now and EVERYBODY watches it. (and no one wants to talk to us) Even though cabo verde is not playing ... from our window we can see a brazilian flag, a french flag, a portuguese flag and an espanola flag. These people crack me up.

Okay, okay, okay so this week Tchinha was baptized and it was sooo great!! haha his real name is Aguinaldo if i never mentioned that. This man is honestly one of the most elect and prepared (by the Lord, not us) investigators I have had my entire mission. His motivation and desire to keep the commandments is just jaw dropping! He was willing to make all the changes necessary to become clean through baptism and become a member of the church. I don´t if you recognize him because he cut off his dreds! Here in cabo verde this is something so many people will NOT do. He made big changes and quit smoking too!! Everytime we visit with him he just has more and more fogo to live the gospel and learn more about it! He is anxious to be able to offer the prayer in church and give a talk and especially to help his children join the church. It is just inspiring. He was so at peace and happy with his baptism! Everything ran real smooth and he was excited to be baptized in the ocean which is his second home.

Tchinha is so great, we feel so blessed that the Lord led us to him and prepared him to receive the gospel. He scarcely lets go of the Book of Mormon, and has already read half way through it! He will be such a strong member and may be the first priesthood holder on Boa Vista who is from Boa Vista and not another island or country! We are excited to see the progress he will continue to make as he keeps living the gospel. That was the highlight of our week for sure, haha teaching him has been the highlight of our time in Boa Vista!

The church received it´s official sign on Saturday and we took this picture just moments after they placed it! haha literally you can see the scaffolding and power drill behind us!

Well I need to go now but I hope you All can hear my testimony ringing through the experiences that I share. I know the Holy Ghost touches hearts, and helps people change. And not just for people investigating the church but for anyone who will humbly call on God for help. I love the gospel and am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I hope you All have a great week and a great week on trek! As always thank you for the prayers and I can´t wait to hear from you next week!  Amo voces!!

-Sister Turner

First Baptism in Boa Vista

JUNE 9,2014

Yes, this weekend we had our first baptism here!!

It was interesting but went so well! I can´t remember how much I have written you guys about Ima. He talked to us in a bank near the end of last transfer so that was how we met him and started teaching him. He is a really calm little man that works in a auto body shop. Right from the begining he accepted the gospel and started living the commandments. He recognized that this is the right path or "bom caminho" as he always says. Haha speaking of what he says, he only speaks creole and understands almost no Portuguese... so lets just say if we didn't have a member with us ... we were trying real hard to speak creole. yeah. Anywho ,we all made it through and Ima started building his testimony and was baptized! Him and another woman Elsa (investigator of the elders) both have fear of water and did not want to be baptized in the ocean. So we piled everybody into the pickup truck taxis we have here in Boa Vista and went to a nearby hotel where elders  had arranged with and talked to. Sooo that means I have now had investigators baptized in-

1. the font inside the church
2. tank that is outside of the church
3. the ocean
4. hotel swimming pool

  

I don´t know what more we could add to that list. But I still have 5 months so we´ll see! The baptism went really well and it was so good to have so many members come to. Ima was so peaceful and happy afterwards. He bore a very simple testimony at the church that was so nice. We are very grateful we got to teach him and are so happy for him!

I am excited for everyone in the stake to go on trek soon! That should be lots of fun, a hard but spiritually edifying experience as it was for me. I am actually a bit jealous! haha but you everything will be great and especially everyone will love you  Mom and Dad for the food you will make them! The parade looked great everyone was looking good in their get-up! Haha especially Grandpa in his all black- that one is a classic. And Kayan is so cute! Every time I get pictures of him he gets cuter and cuter! I am so excited to meet him. :)

For integration night we did a spiritual thought about temples. It was so class because we showed some videos from the church website and made handouts with the little temple pictures you sent in my easter package. They loved them!

These are fishing boats, but we are fishers of men! Literally we have almost no female investigators... There are few women on this island!

Oops looks like someone started a garden! haha I found a little 2 lbs. bag of REAL potting soil that was super cheap. I couldn't help myself. :)

Oh, and our investigator Tchinha offered us some free live lobster!
Well I just have to say how blessed we are feeling. And as members of the church we should always try to count the bountiful blessings the Lord gives us. I am so grateful to be here. Through these emails I can barely express the experiences I am having, the amazing people here, and the way my testimony is being strengthened. But I hope that everyone can feel my love and see the way the Lord is blessing us. I love you all so much!

-Sister Turner

June is here! 5 Months to go!!

Boa Tarde tudo mundo!

How are you guys doing today?? The graduation pictures looked great and so did tim-tim´s announcement! That was cool how he was dancing and how there was the argyle that matched his socks, I liked that! That is a bummer though that he has been sick these days, I´m sorry. I hope he gets feeling better as soon as possible. Oh man I just still can´t believe it that he graduated that is crazy! I am glad you guys got my postcard and liked it. :)

So here are some random updates:
A couple weeks ago I put my tennis shoes on to excerise and much to my surprise they were 2 sizes too small! What?? How did that happen?! Haha well when I packed my stuff from Praia I accidently grabbed Sister Nelson´s nikes that look the exact same as mine and are just a different size. So when I realize this I call Nelsloth and she says "that is why my shoes felt so big when I was running!" hahah oops. So my shoes are in Fogo and her shoes are here in Boa Vista. Well I suppose that would only happen to us, hahha I just think it is too funny!

Today I printed the lyrics to the american patriotic hymns and am going to tape them into my portuguese hymnbook. Flag day is coming up and 4th of July too! Haha we have to sing the songs to honor our country! Some sisters think I am really patriotic, and I suppose I am. I love America.

Our apartment flooded. The water was out and we forgot that we tried to turn on the water. So while we were sleeping the water came back and the faucets were still open soooo it flooded. We only have one tiny baby mop and it was not doing the job. There was a lot of water. We both used our microfibere towels to sop up the water and then ring it our into a bucket. And that is totally worked and cleaned the flood in less than an hour!

And last but not least ... WE FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON! YESSSSS. It really was so great reading it this month. Yeah it took a TON of time but it was wonderful. My testimony grew and I learned so much. And now I am more excited to teach our investigators and less-actives about the importance of daily scripture study. It is seriously so vital to study God´s word every. single. day. Daily prayer and scripture study is what makes your breaks our ability to stay active in the gospel. I love the scriptures they are such a blessing to us.

This week we had a great lesson with Tchina (lobster fisherman with the dreds). The lesson previous we had invited him to start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning. When we came back a few days later and asked how it was going we could not believe the answer. He had read all the way to Jacob! That is 140 pages into the Book of Mormon! WHAT? But sure enough he said when he is out on the water fishing he is thinking about when he can come home to keep reading. Miracle. And we asked him how he is feeling when he reads and how he is feeling about the Book of Mormon and he responded that he know for sure that the book is true. How can that happen?? Only by the power of the Holy Ghost! Ah man it was such a great lesson and he is doing so well. He is going to get baptized in 2 weeks. I love this work and seeing the light of the gospel help people change their lives. Have a great week and I hope tim-tim gets better quick! Amo voces mais do que voces sabem!

 

Com amor,
Sister Turner