6-30-14

Dear Everyone,

 

This week was good and some interesting things happened. The last couple weeks we have been getting 3 new investigators a week. The only problem is many of them are busy during the summer and leave for vacation and other things. One of our top investigators is almost ready to be baptized but he really needs to come to church. One of our new investigators that we just taught on Saturday came to church yesterday. She is the only one to come since I have been here. She is planning on coming next week too and we have an appointment with her later in the day. I am hoping that she reads everyday. I know she prays and has a sincere desire to come unto Christ but she needs to build her testimony to know the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

An investigator from Napal wanted us to eat napaly food which is like indian food. He gave us noodles and it had a bunch of other stuff in it that I didn't know what it was. It also had peppers in it. It was hot. I finished a whole bowl of it and I was glad it was over. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. It was just hot. But of course when he saw we finished our first bowl he gave us even more then the first time. I ate all of it and my mouth was on fire. I was sweating a little bit. When we prayed over the food I said a prayer in my heart asking Heavenly Father to help me eat all of it. It was no problem. I was just sad I didn't have milk afterwards. He also gave us a drink that we had no idea what it was. It is hard to understand them since they don't speak english very well. Hardly anyone we teach does it seems like. I thought I heard him say tea. I told my comp not to drink it and I made it clear when asking them what was in it. They said coffee and tea and other stuff. They showed us the coffee beans and all of that. I don't think my comp wanted to teach them the word of wisdom right then and there but I did. It was a great opportunity too. They weren't offended and they just drank it themselves. I don't think they are too interested. One of them is but his parents won't even let him read the bible because they believe in the hindu gods.

We taught a less active from africa and she had her friend over. Her friend wants to be baptized but doesn't understand english at all so we can't teach her. She speaks Bobo. Look it up. I don't know what language the less active speaks but I know it is not the same as her friend yet they can communicate. It seems that none of the africans speak the same language but yet they still understand each other. I wish africa was united and spoke one language and didn't have 1,000,000 different tribal languages. My hope is that we can convert a couple africans that way when investigators come to church they will have someone there that speaks their language. Then they could even come out with us to teach and maybe translate for us.

Another one of our new investigators said she is from Riverside county and it was funny when we got her number because she had a 951 area code. It is weird to see that out here. She has a tiny dog that weighs 3 pounds. We took pictures with it. I'd send you them today but it is rainy outside and I don't want to risk getting my camera messed up. She has been reading the BOM and has been asking questions about it which is awesome. I feel like I have learned a lot about the Book of Mormon but haven't been able to talk about its contents. Everyone here focuses so much on the bible especially the new testiment and I need to study up on that more so I can answer their questions.

I love all of you! I am excited for the 4th of July. We are going to an unofficial ward party at the dutson's. I think they will have fireworks and I know they will have plenty of food. On average I have been fed just under 3 meals a week which is nice. I am very thankful for how awesome of a ward we are in. We have three sets of missionaries and not nearly as many people in the ward yet we still get fed and we get members out to lessons. Its tough because we have had many appointments set up and we have members take us then the investigator flakes out on us. Pray that we will have solid investigators. We try to help them understand the importance of why we are there by setting expectations but it just doesn't work too well.

My favorite scripture this week is Enos verses 5 and 6. He prays and God speaks to him and forgives him of his sins. I'd tell you all about it but it is better when you read it yourself;)

Elder Turner