7-7-14

Dear Everyone,

 

I decided I need to start bringing my journal with me when I email so I can remember all of the good stories because I always forget to write a couple things.

 

Fourth of July was amazing. My mission president said we could stay out late and just watch fireworks. Our ward had an unofficial party. It started around 1 but my comp and I didn't get there till 7. Luckily they still had food there for us. I have a lot of bug bites from that day even though I used bug spray and from two days ago. We were tracting some older houses that looked like they were going to all fall apart. I'm pretty sure some were abandoned.

 

I think one of the hardest parts of being a missionary so far is getting the members to help us out. a couple of them do come out with us and help us out but we have to find rides for investigators to come to church and to come with us to appointments and it is difficult. Help the missionaries out in your area please. While I was at home from my junior year on even to just before I left I told the missionaries what my schedule was all the time and I offered to help out. They hardly ever used me. If you offer to help the missionaries and they don't accept they are just making things harder on themselves.

 

Back to the party. So a ton of ward members were there and we had hundreds of dollars of fireworks here but they seemed to be cheaper than California. *Side note* milk and cheese here is super expensive. Milk is almost $4 a gallon and yet gas is only $3.50. It was crazy. Little kids were lighting off small fireworks and I couldn't believe it. Bro. Owens had some pretty cool remote control plans. One of them can go up to 180 mph. He was flying them around and he was trying to blow up one of them in the air for everyone but it didn't work so he ended up just crash landing it which was still pretty awesome. I guess at one of the last ward activities they tried destroying it then too. They were shooting at it with a bunch of shotguns but they didn't take it down. It had a lot of holes in it yet it was fine. I saw fireflies for the first time that night. There were hundreds of them in the field and it a very unique sight. We had a lot of big fireworks which we ended with as soon as it was dark outside. They had a bunch of chickens so I just had to take a picture with them. They had a pheasant too. That was another first for me too. Pheasants don't really fly around in the city.

 

It seems like every other house we tract has a birds nest by the front door. The birds here are not very smart when it comes to avoiding cars. We haven't hit any birds yet but we come close all the time. I saw so much roadkill this week. It is pretty gross. I saw a deer dead on the side of the road too. That was really sadening. I have some pictures I took of a deer that was standing 20 feet away from me from last week. I love seeing all the wildlife here just not when they are dead.

 

Every time some dies of drunk driving they put a sign on the side of the road where the person died that says "Why Die?". It is sad but it probably has more of an impact on people.

 

We visited a less active family yesterday and they have a ten year old that hasn't been baptized and we set him on a date. He said he is willing to prepare himself for it and his mom was really happy about it and I know that if we push this family that they can come back to the church every week and do the things they should do. We want to get all of the to the temple. I want them to recieve all those blessings God has in store for them.

 

After that lesson Nate, a premissionary, asked if we could come over to his house and teach his friend. He has known him for years and knew that it was the right time to share the gospel with him. We taught him and Nate bore testimony and an amazing experience when Heavenly Father answered his familys prayers. I know that his friend felt the spirit. He was willing to read from the Book of Mormon and to pray to know if it is from God. He is a great guy and I am excited for him.

 

It makes such a difference when members ask us to teach their friends. That is the first time it has happened since I have been here and I know that missionaries can be 100% more successful if the members are willing to share the gospel with their friends.

 

I have my first exchange tomorrow and I am excited to see how other missionaries work and get a different perspective on missionary work. I love you all!

 

Elder Turner