Monday, December 28, 2015

happy new years!!

this last week was great!! even though a lot happened with exchanges to Christmas eve and Christmas day, to interviews with the mission president sister redford and I somehow got a lot done and we are leading the zone out right now!!:) yaaay!!

this coming Saturday jan.2nd josh will be getting baptized!! he is 19 years old and my goal in life is to get this man on a mission!! haha so we will see but he is progressing so well!! and he understands that the next stage after baptism is going to the temple:)

this week I had the privilege of being able to really focus Christmas on jesus Christ and his birth. And let me just say, I love jesus! I mean don't we all? he loved us before we loved him so we have this natural love for him already. but once we start really studying on jesus and the nature and start understanding him more, our love grows and our desire increases to follow and to act! and so as I have been able to really study Christ and try to represent him my thoughts have changes and my desires have changed! I have been given a gift from my heavenly father to see the spiritual side of life and to understand why commandments are so important to follow, why we need to study the scriptures daily and pray daily and especially why we need to go to church. without jesus Christ birth you and I and everyone else in this world would not be able to move forward. we would have no direction and no way to find pure comfort. I am so grateful for my saviors birth and for his life long leadership and example. he is my best friend and someone that I can put full trust and faith in. and because of jesus Christ tis next year I will be able to do great and wonderful things with his help.

I would really invite all of you to ponder how jesus Christ can help you more and can be more in your life and then make plans and tell heavenly father your plans and goals because I know with god anything is possible.

I hope you all have a wonderful week, and don't forget to thank you heavenly father for the things you learned this last year, and how you grew because without him, none of this would have been possible. I love you and I will talk to you next week!!

love, sister turpin

Monday, December 21, 2015

merry Christmas!

hello everyone!! another week gone by, and let me say, it was a busy week but a wonderful week:)

this week I got to go on exchanges with sister pace, my last companion and she is now training:) how exiting!! and that was a joyful time:) then Wednesday was our Christmas conference with 176 missionaries, and it was so fun to see all of my old companions and take pictures with them all! and then to be able to actually talk to people this year!! hahah I remember last year at Christmas conference I knew like no one!! haha but his year I was like, I know everyone!! it was awesome!:) and the speakers were just fabulous! I truly was spiritual fed!

then Friday sister redford and I were able to get a mini missionary. her name was sister Larsen and she was the cutest girl ever!!

(spiritual thought) this week sister redford and I were able to teach this lady named elsa. she is the sweetest lady of 51 years old, and she has been catholic her whole life, we went to see her cause we haven't been able to see he the last couple of weeks. and we come to find out that she has been reading the book of Mormon and has been praying about it, and she told us that she hasn't gotten an answer yet but its probably because god already knows that she knows that it is true!!:) haha then she came to church yesterday and just loved it! she said as her daughter came to pick her up, she said "I love jesus Christ but this just makes me want to love im even more!!" hahah the only thing that is holding her back from getting baptized is she doesn't want to hurt her mom who is catholic as well. so we are going to work with that. then while I was at church on sunday the bishop had some people come up and bare their testimonies and they all said the samething but what I loved about that is that not only do I know that the bom is true and that this church and everything else about it is true but so does everyone else that bore their testimony and so it strengthened my testimony that if we all have the same answer that this is true then it must be true then!

(funny stuff) so this week sister redford let me taze her cause we have this awesome investigator named josh who is 19 years old who is getting baptized jan. 2nd who as a tazer and sister redford was like, "ive always wanted to be tazed!!" hahaah and so she let me taze her and it was the funest thing ever!! I will send the video and my mom will just have to send it out to all of you:) hahaha that literally was the best day of my life!!:) hahahahaaahhahahahahahahaahahahah  also sister edford and I had a contest with the elders this Monday to see who could make the best gramcracker temple....:) I think ours won:) I will send the pictures and once again my mom will have to send them out to everyone:) I love yall I hope you have a wonderful Christmas thinking about the birth of Christ!!

love, siter turpin

Monday, December 14, 2015

everyone






hello everyone!!,
sorry about last week!! hahaha anyways this week has been good:)it was nice cause I got to spend the whole week in my area without having to go on excanges!! yaaay!!:) but this week starts an exchange a week until I come home:( sad day, but that's alright because I get to go on exchanges with sister pace tonight!! yaaaay!!!:)

so something cool happened this week, there is this lady named Martinique that sister redford and I found this week, she was a referral and we found out when we went in that she had been attending the Baytown ward and that she was taught in Hawaii and then moved here, so we invited her to be baptized on dec. 19th which is this week end, an everything was going really good until Saturday night she texted us and told us that she was moving Monday and that her husband surprised her, and that she is no longer in our area, or even our mission I believe....:( happy but sad story, so no baptism this Saturday anymore:( but it was a testimony builder to e that the lord does prepare people an there are prepared people everywhere!! we just need to find them!!

this transfer is going to be so crazy though!! so many things to do with not a whole lot of time, please pray that sister redford and I will be able to have a baptism this transfer!! I have to go, love you all, keep trying to be like jesus and don't forget what Christmas is really about!!

love, sister turpin

Monday, December 7, 2015

BucEes



bucees, a big gas station in Texas

Hello everyone!
 
Let me tell you the mission life is going great!:) last week sister
Redford and I went to bucees. It's a big gas station in Texas that has
food and all of this GREAT STUFF!! hahaha so that is what this picture
is about:) anyways this week was pretty good!! Haha I would tell you
more about it but my companion is thing to teach this guy right now
and I need to go help her.... Haha I will talk to y'all next week!!:)
love ya!
 
Love, sister Turpin

Monday, November 30, 2015

December!!!

hello everyone!!:)

this week was awesome! not a lot of time to work but we got a lot of work done with the time that we did have. sister redford and I are starting to teach this kid named josh. he used to live in Alaska where one of my companions sister Burgoyne lives and he has been down in texas for about a month now. he just turned 19 years old and has a date of  jan. 2nd. my hopes is that he will get baptized and then go on a mission and be like this elder here named elder bond!! elder bond is a convert and was only a convert of about a year and then he came on his mission and he came out with me. anyways josh is was awesome and is progressing so well!!! then Diana barnes who is married to a member is progressing just as well:) she is totally going to get baptized!!:) marissa who is 16 is doing good as well:) everything is just starting to move forward and I am so grateful that I get to be apart of heavenly fathers amazing work:)

this week for thanksgiving sister redford and I ate at 3 members houses!! we were stuffed and I think I probably gained 5 pounds that day!! hahaah we then did service by helping cook thanksgiving food for Diana since she just got out of the hospital and then did a little planning since Thursday is our planning day. then later on that night sister redford wasn't feeling good and so she threw up and the next day we had to go on exchanges with a group of sisters and I felt so bad!!:(

sister redford and I are teaching this less active named terry and terry has 2 pet raccoons so I got to hold them this week!!! hahaha the coolest thing ever!! actually I think it tried to attack me!! hahaah

then sunday I got to give a talk on missionary work. and it actually turned out better then I thought! I think people got the point that this work isn't about us, and that this is Christ church.... hopefully! a lot of people came up to me afterwards and thanked me for my words!! I guess prayers do come true because I was praying that the holy ghost would work through me:) its amazing to be apart of gods work!! I love it! but with that I have to go!!! but I love you all!! keep working on doing missionary work!! it can always be done! I love you!!

love, sister turpin

Sister Redford's letter

Hello Y'all:)

This last week in the mission has been incredibly testimony building.  We as a zone were able to get the highest amount of  lessons ever recorded for this area which absolutely amazing!  We all have been working so hard to do everything possible to get our numbers up.  It has taken a lot of sacrifice but really what is work without sacrifice?  It makes it all worth it when we are able to see the miracles that come out of it. This week one of the miracles happened in District meeting. So as a whole we set a goal of how many people we want to have with a baptism date, so individually we go off and pray and receive revelation about what we think that number should be.  We have 12 people in our district and when we were saying what number we received from our heavenly Father 10 of us got the number 15.  What a miracle to see that through us individually we were able to listen to the Holy Ghost and get direction for the district as a whole.  On my mission I have had no greater experiences with prayer and being guided right then and there what I should do or say.  I go into a lot of lessons with a prayer in my heart and keep it with me through the whole lesson.  I can not tell you how much of a difference I have seen it make in my teaching abilities and the things that I am able to convey to help them understand and come to Christ.

This Thanksgiving was absolutely awesome!  We met with some amazing member and ate some really great food.  We had three appointments so we were fed three times, portion control is such a huge thing down here but so hard to do when the food is so good.  But the members are so kind and most if not all of them are converts and all of their stories are incredible. We shared this thing we called the restoration of the cup song, it is pretty awesome I will have to send a video of what it looks like sometime.  Everyone we do it for absolutely loves it!  We were also able to help our investigator Diana cook her Thanksgiving dinner.  She is the one who just got out of the hospital.  She is really doing well and we are starting to teach her and she is really progressing!

I had Exchanges again this week which was awesome.  I love learning different ways to do things and different ways to teach.  I was on exchanges with Sister Powluk, She is absolutely awesome.  She is a convert and is so knowledgeable about the scriptures.  I learned a lot from her in such a short amount of time.  We met this guy named Adam.  He was 6'10.  He towered over both of us.  We asked if he was named after the first man on earth and he just laughed at us and then pulled out the three bibles that he had in his truck.  We hard a really good descusion with him and then asked him if he ever thought there could be more scriptures.  We were so surprised when he said he has always wonder that.  Perfect time to bring up the Book of Mormon!  He accepted and hopefully he will start reading it.  He did try to give us pork skins.. Let me tell you I don't think there is anything worse on this planet then those things.  So being the kind person I am I pretended to pull one out like I was going to eat it and promply put nothing in my mouth.  He thought I had eaten one and 5 min later asked me to eat another one. So I did the same thing again.  I put my hand in the bag made it look like I had one and put nothing in my mouth.  He did this 6 or 7 times and finally we had to go home so we wouldn't be late but me and sister Powluk were laughing so hard the whole way home.  We are surprised he didn't notice.

We taught Charlotte a lot this week.  The most moving lesson was when we sat down and prayed with her about a baptismal date for her and her husband.  When we first asked her to do it she was very hesitant and did not like the idea.  She thought that she should be doing in it private.  But we promised her that if we all put our faith together that she would receive an answer from Heavenly Father about when they would be ready.  So we knelt in prayer and when she asked God I had a strong feeling of the month of April which is 5 months away.. But we are talking about when they both will be ready and Jeramy her significant other has not taken the lessons before.  She started to cry as she felt the love and guidance of our Heavenly Father. When she was done praying she said that she felt him tell her that they will be ready by her birthday which is April 6th. HOW CRAZY!!!!  The member that was there said she had an impression about her dad and low and behold her dads birthday is on April 6th as well.  And sister Turpin felt the month of April as well.  What a miracle prayer is.  My testimony on prayer is so strong.  He does listen and he does answer.  Sometimes right then and other times it takes a while but he still answers. 

I am serving in the best area and with the best missionary.  I am so blessed to be a missionary at this time to be part of Gods army to bring the work forth.  I love being a representative of Christ and always strive my best to do all the things I can to become more like him.  This week has been a week of many miracles and I know it is because the Lord is on my side.  I have started marking the work Lord, Redeemer, Messiah and such in a new book of Mormon and high lighting the things that he does or says.  I want to get to know him better and I already feel like I have a stronger connection and I just started this week.  It is really cool to see how much he is actually talked about and the things that he emulates as he speaks, directs, or comforts those in the BoM.  I love this gospel and the people that I am teaching.  I am learning and getting better everyday at expressing the importance of this gospel to others.  The spirit is the head of conversion.  I can not convert.  Only the spirit can do that, I can bring the spirit but unless these people have open hearts they will not let that seed be planted.  Like the parable of the sewer.

Love you all and have a great week:)  Have a happy Holidays, give thanks daily

Sister Redford

Monday, November 23, 2015

Sister Redford's letter: Raccoons... and Miracles!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING :)

Well this week has been pretty interesting.  I have met a lot of new people, taught a lot more and went on my second exchange!  Last P day we went and saw this awesome battle ship in Texas it was way cool and super huge!  It was three floor and the guns on this thing was incredible.  We went as a whole zone so it was fun to be with all the missionaries.  Tuesday was a pretty hectic day.  We were suppose to do service but the lady that we were doing service for wasn't home.. It happens too often out here when people just forget and aren't home when they have asked us to come over.  Anyways the storm on Tuesday was insane!  It was pouring buckets from the sky, the rain here is nothing like the rain home.  We also had our investigator Charlotte meet with Elder Swank to talk about the stop smoking program!  Her husband has been in the hospital and just barely got home this Sunday.  She has been really stressed to we try to go over everyday and just read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with her just to let her know of the importance of scripture reading and how it can help you it times of heart ace, stress, discomfort and really anything you are feeling.  She says that she is very thankful for our love towards her and her family!  I love her so much, she is truly grown so much since the first time I have met her an even stands up for the beliefs of Mormons when she is talking to her family!!!  She is GOLDEN.  Dinner with the Guevaras was amazing homemade tamales an Mexican hot chocolate and Mexican pastries!  The food here is amazing! 
New missionary training was Wednesday!!!  It was the best time ever, I got to see all my MTC friends!  We were like kids on Christmas morning.  It was great to see how much they have grown in just 4 1/2 short weeks.  The saddest moment of that day was hearing that my MTC companion went home.  I was really hard for me because I could really see how much potential she had and I know that she touched numerous lives while she was out here.  I just hope she doesn't regret going home.  We had a lot of different people speak to us and really I just had a new view  on the work that I have been called to do.  My attitude was completely different.  All the new missionaries were asked to give their testimony at the end.  Such a empowering moment to share with my fellow missionaries, leaders and President how much this gospel has changed my life and how I know it will change others lives.  I have learned so much and have grown as not only a person but as a disciple of Christ.  I have been called of him to declare his word among his people that they might have everlasting life. This mission has been the most challenging, frustrating, joyful time of my life.  I am so grateful for this opportunity and strive everyday to be more consecrated missionary. I also had gumbo for the first time!  It was actually way way good!  We got our I pads and our driving licenses that day as well, what a great day to be alive I tell you:) after we went and knocked on some doors we found a family that we have been searching for  for a long long time!  His name is Michael Dimick, Lori Adams, and we met Lori's daughter Marissa.  We started teaching Marissa and she was loving it just absorbing the spirit like none other.  We invited her to be baptized and she accepted!!! She came to church and loved it, the work is progressing and it feel amazing!  I will tell you a little bit about Lori she has no hands and still does EVERYTHING! and I mean everything.  Cooks, cleans, writes, puts on makeup, drives, she is even a nurse.  Nothing can stop that women.  She is amazing.  I recited the whole Joseph Smith Vision to her and she sat there in awe, we asked her how she felt after and all she could muster up was nothing cut peaceful.  The spirit was so strong. 
  We also do a Book of Mormon class on Wednesday for anyone who would like to come and lately our numbers are quite sad.  We are trying to figure out a way for this class to be something that people enjoy and want to bring their friends to, it is going to take some time but we are going to get there no matter what it takes!  Hour of Power this week was amazing!  We didn't have the full hour but we found this amazing lady named Riva, she has three kids and really is interested in family history, she is black so she says it is harder for her to find her lineage because of the slave trades and everything.  I wish that I would have been more interested in Family History because I didn't really have much to say.  We did teach her the Restoration and she was very interested and invited us to come back!  oh yeah and her daughters name is Michaela so I guess it us just meant to be :)  
Exchanges were also this week so I was leading out with Hermana Bushman she came in with me so we are both greenies and we are still new to all of this so it was quite cazy at times.  But we met with a Less active named Terri Stepanski.  You will never guess what kind of pets he has..... Raccoons.  How awesome is that? I don't think it is really legal to have them as a pet.... but it was way cool!  I even go to hold one of them (pic below)  he was so sweet and really wants to come back to church because he misses it but he doesn't want to feel like a hypocrite because he doesn't follow the commandment exactly.  But church is for everyone and he agreed to come!  He even told us that we were exactly what he needed because he has been wondering what he should be doing.  Crazy how God always answers prayers no matter what form he might answer tem in.  He invited us back over for dinner on Tuesday so we are really excited to get to know him more and to help him get back on the right path!
Friday we exchanged back and one of our investigators Diana is in the hospital she had brain surgery, so we went to go see her and make sure everything had been going good.  She is married to a member Brother Barns.  He is so funny, when he introduced me to the doctor he said do you see her last name?  She is related to the real Robert Redford.  He does this every time he introduces me, he is such a sweet man and really wants is wife to be baptized!  Here is the cool part at the thanksgiving social we had last week Diana talked to the bishop and said as soon as she is healed from her surgery she wants to enter the waters of baptism!!!!!!!!   How exciting is that?!  She will be fully healed by January 4th so we are going to make sure we do everything in our power to make sure she is ready as soon as she is well enough to go into the water.

Over all it has been an amazing week and the work has really progressed.  Goes to show you that really anything is possible with doing Gods will.  I love La Porte and the people here.  Sister Turpin is amazing and I have learned so much from her.  This gospel is the true gospel and I know that as we strive to be obedient and do everything we can to align our will with Gods will everything will be ok :)  I Love being a missionary with all my heart :)  Be safe and have a good Thanksgiving.  Thank you for all your support and I love you all.  Don't forget to count your blessing everyday!

Sister Redford

happy thanksgiving!!












hello everyone!!

this week was awesome! I love it when we get to work hard! even though things kept popping up like having to drive to kingwood and get our car inspected or new missionary training for sister redford, or doing exchanges with the hermanas and not knowing what anyone is saying, to having to go to the hospital because one of our investigators had surgery, anyways over all it was a good week and we got a lot done:) speaking of some cool things!!

    first off sister redford got her driving privileges so now I don't have to drive everyday!! yaaaay!!!:) to when we went to the hospital to see this lady named Diana, her husband who is a member said that Diana told the bishop that when she gets back on her feet from her surery that she wants to go down into the waters and get baptized!! and she should be back on her feet jan. 4th!! yaaay! and then this guy that sister redford and I met 2 weeks ago, who lives in San Diego is meeting with the missionaries there, anyways he loves it so much that he got our number and then he told his family about us and they wanted us to start teaching them and so we met them last night and they are the coolest people ever!! theres the mom named elsa and then a daughter named elsa and another daughter named debanie! they are so cool!!! and tehn we found this girl named marissa who came to church on sunday who has a baptismal date and she is just on fire!! she is 16 years old and her mom is investigating as well, so we will see where things go:) her mom has no hands and is the coolest woman ever!! her name is lori and lori is dating a less active member so we will see where things go:)

I have learned this past week about how wonderful and how important setting goals are, as you set meaning full goals having the mind set to accomplish them god is able to help you! everything we have is for our benefit!! heavenly father is amazing and just loves us all so much!! I love you all, wish me good luck because I will be giving a talk at sacrament meeting this coming sunday!! ahhhh!! I love you all! look for what god has given you! you will see that he blessed you in more ways then you know:)

love, sister turpin:) 

Monday, November 16, 2015

Sister Redford's letter

Well hello y'all!  If you didn't know I hit my one month mark on Saturday and it is crazy to think that I have already been out here for a month!  It has been the most amazing, spiritual, testimony growing, exhausting, joyful times of my life!  Really nothing could compare to the missionary life.  When we tell people about it they think we are in the arm or something which is completely correct!  We are Gods army and there is not a better place to be.
This week has been a tough one we had 3 investigators drop us.  Let me tell you I have never felt so upset or rejected in my whole life.  It is a terrible feeling knowing that there is nothing you can really do but still love them and hope that you brought them closer to Christ in the times you were able to talk to and teach them!  But life goes on and the work is progressing.  The area of La Porte is the place everyone calls the Dead zone.... It is actually really sad when people refer to it as that because it is my area and I don't see it as that.  Me and Sister Turpin are working our hardest to make sure we are getting things to move and the work is progressing slowly but surly.  It takes time and that is the hardest part.  A lot of the times we wish that we would just one day wake up and find all these miracles but if we want miracles we have to work for them.  The more we work the more we see.  Obedience is really key to all of this, and its not always easy but it will always be worth it!
We got a new investigator Norma this week she used to be taught by the missionaries but then something happened between her and the missionaries and she decided that she did not want to be taught anymore.  But she agreed to let us come over and teach her. She is pregnant with twins and has a little boy.  She knows she needs God in her life but doesn't really know where to find him.  PERFECT!  We will show her.  She has been really sick so tomorrow she agreed to let us come over and clean her house for her!  Here in La Porte we don't really get a lot of service because the service opportunities are like giving people rides and massaging peoples feet which we cant do either of those... We were able to go to a members house and paint her brick wall for her.

So exchanges were on Tuesday for the first time and I lead out the area because my companion is an STL (sister Training Leader) but it wasn't actually all that bad we saw a lot of success and were able to meet some good potentials and teach a couple lessons.  It was weird not being with Sister Turpin but it makes me appreciate her more then ever!  Also this week we had Zone conference!  It was amazing President Drake and sister Drake were there and spoke to us on the importance of improving our personal skills to teach.  It is so true how important the way you sit or the way you talk of the way you make eye contact can show how much you care about the person you are teaching.  I still get kind of shy in front of people but my interaction and finding ways to bring the gospel into conversations is getting a lot better from day one.  We met these two old men who retired from the Army and they were the funniest men I have ever met.  He kept calling us Jesus lovers and the other one called us Satan lovers.  They were arguing more then we could actually talk to them but it was great.

This Saturday we were picking up a package and we ran into these three men who had just smoked briscut and ribs, they invited us over and we pretty much indulged a little to much!  BBQ is so much better down here! (sorry dad) but anyways we got a return appointment with them!  After we had our Thanksgiving social with the ward and there we also ate too much!  They make some seriously good food here!  But the deserts are to die for!  Homemade pies.... yum.
Sunday the elders had their first baptism in this area!  It was a wonderful and such a spiritual experience.  But the funny thing is she didn't bring a towel and the church didn't have any.  They are now going to invest in some because this incident has happened more then once sadly.  Her testimony was amazing and she could feel the weight of all the guilt and pain she had felt before be taken from her.  I hope that she will continue to follow in the footsteps of her savior and begin to see a whole new light as she is confirmed on Sunday next week!

This week I have been very grateful for repentance.  I feel like when we think of repentance we always think of the bad things that we are doing so repentance becomes something we dread.  Repentance is for us, it is not for our Heavenly Father, it is not for our family, it is simple and depends on us.  It is a five step process.  1. Accept what you have done. 2. Be sorry for what you have done. 3. Confess to our Father in Heaven what you have done. 4. Don't do it again.  If we truly repent it is a complete change of attitude, heart, and mind.  5. Endure to the end.  You will continue this process for the rest of your life because we are human and we make mistakes and that is ok but always strive for better.  There have been times on my mission with out repentance I don't know how I would have been able to help my investigators because I had held on feelings that were not the best or at times when me and my companion have got into little arguments that really should have been nothing that those feeling of uneasiness between us effects the way we are able to teach with each other!  In Alma 13: 27 it talks about do not procrastinate the day of your repentance.... It is true people!!! Stop holding on to those feelings that are not of God and give them to him.  Our savior already atoned for them so why are you still holding on to them.  You are creating your own weight that you are carrying around.  So I invite you all to start repenting of the little things.  It doesn't matter what It may be stop feeling guilty and shameful for things that shouldn't be holing you back.  You can become fully healed through the atonement of our Savior.  I know that this is the True church here on this earth and that with out it I would be lost.  I love my Heavenly Father and Savior.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God and was written for us.  It was written for these later days, the last dispensation before the coming of our Savior and Redeemer.  Prayer is important and scripture study will help you through anything you might be going through.  We are all brothers and sister and the love God has for us is endless.   I am thankful to know that I have an eternal family and that is because of this gospel.  This gospel is for everyone because it is the church that Jesus set up when he came to earth.  We have a living prophet and his name is Thomas S. Monson.  He leads and guides us as well as his apostles.  This gospel is about joy and love and finding eternal happiness in this world and in the next.

I love y'all so much!  Have a great week:)

Sister Redford

November 16, 2015

We did an object lesson for Charlotte about baptism this week and i
tried it out on sister Redford:) this was the outcome
hey everyone!,

let me tell you, the mission is the best, the learning experience can be hard but they are life changing, and are the best! and my companion is the best!:)haha

so this week charlotte was supposed to have elder swank come and do the stop smoking program with her on Wednesday and it was going to be right after zone conference, but then she had to cancel because she had to take her boyfriend to the hospital. speaking of zone conference It was amazing! they went back to the basics of missionary work and had us role play a lot. then at the end president drake, had all of the departing missionaries that are leaving this transfer and next transfer get up and bare their testimonies. I just started crying when he called my name to go up. it was like reality just hit me. I got up and just started crying. i never thought that i would have to go up and give my departing testimony, i don't want to go home! the mission is my life and i love it more than anything! but this is the time for me to give my all! to lay it all on the line. after zone conference was over one of the assisants came up to me and said the nicest thing. he said "out of everyones testimonies yours was my favorite because i felt it in your heart, i can just tell that you were the 4th missionary" literally that is one of the nicest complements i have ever gotten. hahaha anyways

charlotte is doing so good though. we taught her the law of chasity, which went pretty well, now we just got to get her boyfriend on board with getting married, and elder swank is coming tomorrow to do the stop smoking with charlotte. and this week is new missionary training for sister redford, and im excited because I always love going and learning on what to improve on. and sister redford and I are really excited about this week because we feel like we are going to make some miracles happen with heavenly fathers help!:)

but I would just like to bare my testimony on this gospel. this gospel is everything to me. to know that we can repent each day, and to strengthen our faith by reading praying and being obedient is just amazing to me. I love knowing that heavenly father is always there for me no matter how bad I mess up and it just blows my mind that he would do something like that for a person like me. I know with every fiber in my being that joseph smith was and is a prophet of god, that through him we have this restored gospel, and what a blessing it is for us to be apart of it! I love our prophet Thomas S. Monson, he is truly called by god to share of gods love and guidance for us. we need to be heeding his council daily! I know that the book of Mormon is from god to use. I have seen how it has answered so many of my questions and concerns and I know that it is for us in these last days. I am grateful for the priesthood, because without it we would never be able to return to live with our heavenly father again. this gospel is a gospel of peace and comfort. it is a place of refugee and safety! and all we have to do is be obedient to these things that heavenly father has given us and safety, peace, happiness, hope, guidance, and understanding will come into our lives. this gospel is a gospel of miracles, and freedom. of change, and of a better life!. or heavenly father loves us so much that he sent his son and because of jesus Christ literally ALL things are possible. without jesus Christ we would be nothing. and I totally believe that. I love you and I love this gospel with every fiber of my being. thank you for everything! yall are the best!

love, sister turpin

Monday, November 9, 2015

November, Week 2!!!


 Look at the sign!!

 This was Charlotte and her daughter jasmine yesterday after church!!!:)

We had dragon fruit today!!

We had a greenie breakfast for my little baby girl!!! Ahhhhhhhhhh how cute!!:)


hello everyone!!,

 this week went so good! sister redford got to invite someone to be baptized for the first time ever this last week and he said yes!! so we will see how all of this goes!:) haha she was freaking out so much it was the cutest thing ever!! then charlotte, one of our investigators had this awesome thing happen to her this week!! we invited her to read the testimonies of the book of Mormon, and she had been having a hard time with the word of wisdom. anyways the next day we met with her, she said, "I read the book like you asked, and I know its true! I was reading it and every feeling I had our thought I had was wiped away! I just kept hearing heavenly father keep saying, charlotte, you know this is true" my mouth just dropped!! hahaha she then said "i know this is true and i will do whatever it takes!" so she is meeting with this man named elder swank this week to go over a stop smoking program and she came to church on sunday and just loved it! even though it was just a stake conference broadcast!! ahahah she is don't so good and hopefully will be ready to be baptized on the 28th of this month!!:) now we just have to get her married;) now that's the tricky part:) haha but everything in la porte is going great!! i feel like a lot more stuff happened but i just cant remember!! sorry!! Allison and Jordan are still doing good, they still haven't received an answer yet or anything like that but i think they will come around sooner or later!

i love the mission!! the things you learn each day are just incredible! I know this is pretty short but literally everything is just starting to blend together!! hahaa but I want everyone to know that I DO know that the church is true, I have a love and testimony for the church and especially for the commandments that god has given us. I know that jesus Christ lives, and that heavenly father has a great love for us. he know us and he knows what we need. I know joseph smith was and is a prophet of god. the gospel is amazing because each day we can grow in faith and repent and try to do better! its amazing!! I love you all! hope you all have a fantastic week!!! god be with you till we meet again!

love, sister turpin 

Monday, November 2, 2015

Sick


They awesome investigator came to church yesterday and his name is brother (spicy) Mohammed! Hahaha here is a picture of him and sister Redford and I
here is a picture of sister Redford and I together!
Greetings! From your favorite sister missionary! So you all know that
I am training 1 more time before I go home which is always exciting,
that means that I am kill training! Her name is sister Redford, she is
from santaquin utah, yep! Finally someone that lives pretty close to
me:) and she is 5'11 she's soooo tall!!! Hahaha I feel like a
midget.... Hahaha but she's so cute!!! She loves playing basketball,
volleyball, and softball. She likes fishing, and anything outdoors:)
 
This week was so crazy!!! First off we started in a trio with another
sister. And trios can always be hard and sister Redford didn't have
her privileges to drive yet and the other sister didn't have a drivers
license and so they gave my privileges back and I am now driving!!!!
Haha so my fist day driving I got pulled over because I was driving in
a school zone of 30 when I should have been going 25 but I didn't know
I was in a school zone!!! I literally just started crying my eyes
out!!! It was awful but I just got a citation... So I have to go to
court on the 18th.... Yikes!!!! The. The sister that sister Redford
and I were in a trio with got sent home because of some disobedient
things that she had done but what she did really doesn't matter, but
that hit sister Redford pretty hard, 😔 then on top of all of that
sister Redford was sick and then I got sick from her, I had a meeting
the the zone leaders for zone meeting and that took a while and then
later on the assistance to the president called and wanted to meet
with me to see how a sister training leader should be, and so we
figured out this plan and we are going to talk about it tomorrow at
MLC. Talk about how nerve racking that is!!! Hahaha but it will be
good:) then it has been raining all week long and sister Redford had
her first ever investigator drop us!!! Hahaha man! What a crazy week
for her! Plus her first day we taught the word of wisdom.... Hahahah I
just can't stop laughing at how crazy this last week was for her!
 
But still the week went pretty good, and we are excited to just get to
work his week and see some awesome miracles!!! Sister Redford is the
best and she is so funny and whitti  and I think we are going to do
some great work!!! They awesome investigator came to church yesterday
and his name is brother (spicy) Mohammed! Hahaha here is a picture of
him and sister Redford and I and then here is a picture of sister
Redford and I together!
 
Love, sister Turpin

Monday, October 26, 2015

transfers









hey everyone!

well, as you know today are transfers, and sister pace is getting transferred and i get the lucky chance again to train for the last time:) we are up here in huffman, my first area just getting ready to head up to kingwood, and i feel this over whelming feeling of joy and excitement for what lays ahead in these next 3 months that i have left to serve. its comforting to know that la porte will be my last area! ahahah but a little bit about this week.

this week was awesome! tuesday was interviews with the mission president which is always fun and then i got to go on exchanges with the wonderful sister named sister pawluk who i love so dearly and we got to go teach allison about the law of Chasity.... ahaha that was exciting! i don't know how well allison took to it all but she said she would fast and pray about it. she is progressing so well she just needs to recognize that she has received her answer. so please pray that she will recognize her answer please!!sister pace and i found 2 new awesome investigators, so i am excited to see where they will go.  ones name is charlotte, we taught her L.1 and then we went back later that week, and she said she had a dream where she saw, Joseph smith receiving the priesthood, and she knows that it is true!! now all we need to do, is get her married, and live the word of wisdom!! hahaha but it will come. then this week was full of rain which was so fun and i loved every min. of it!! we went tracting in it. and biking in it!! it was awesome!! anyways. 

this week was awesome! and i am excited to see what will happen this coming week!! the mission is wonderful, life is great, god is real, and he loves us. thank you for oyur prayers!! keep them up they are working!! i love yall and i will talk to you next week!!

love, sister turpin

Monday, October 19, 2015

Pumpkin!!


here are some fun pictures of our adventures of eating our pumpkin oreos and wearing our Halloween socks:)enjoy!


ahhh!!! this week was awesome!! sister pace and I are getting things running up here in la porte texas!! we are still teaching Allison and Jordan and they are progressing really well!! they came to church on sunday, only for sacrament meeting because then Jordan had to go to work, but it still, it was good:) and this week we are teaching the about the law of chastity and the word of wisdom so pray that they well take well to it all!! hahaha

then do you remember sunshine from vidor!! well she got baptized this Saturday!! how exciting! the only thing though was that the missionaries didn't let me know she was getting baptized until 2 hours before so I didn't get the chance to go down and be apart of it, unfortunately....:( but whats done is done.

really cool experience this week, sister pace and I were teaching Allison, Jordan, and derrick who is allisons boy friend and I ad an impression to read 2 nephi 31 with all of them and so we started reading, and stopped halfway through, to let them finish it on their own, but afterwards derrick was like, as he turned to Allison "I think im going to start read" the cool thing of it was, was that derrick really wasn't that interested before, but he would always just sit in and listen but when he said tat my heart just melted!! that night my testimony grew on the power of the book of Mormon and how the book of Mormon can change anything!! ahhh!!! it was awesome!! I wish all of you were there!! it was perfect! sometimes I feel like I am just to lazy to explain how wonderful all of my experiences are, but I also feel like they are just to amazing that I just cant put them into words!! but I know that the spirit was there, the spirit really did direct the lesson that night.

then a member gave us a 5 dollar gift card to target last week so sister pace and I decided because we love pumpkin we would get pumpkin oreos and Halloween socks and then today we are going to make pumpkin muffins!! haha so here are some fun pictures of our adventures of eating our pumpkin oreos and wearing our Halloween socks:)enjoy!


Monday, October 12, 2015

Spoke n peddle



sister pace and I
my neck got burnt!!!
Allison was so sweet to make sister pace and I
some homemade peanut butter pie things!!

Well hello everyone!! This week has once again been a pretty good
week:) this week was Mlc and I learned so much!! I was a meeting full
of revelation and joy and happiness, it was sad to see some people
bare there testimonies that are going home soon and it made me think
about how in the next couple of months I will be baring my testimony
in front of all of the wonderful leaders it made me sad but yet gave
me a burning fire to work as hard as I can these last couple of months
that I have.
 
This week sister pace and I got to teach these wonderful people named
Allison and Jordan and Allison was so sweet to make sister pace and I
some homemade peanut butter pie things!! They were so good, and at the
end of the lesson we invited both Jordan and Allison to be baptized on
now. 7th they both excepted and so we pray now that they will
recognize their answers and will follow through with being Baptized on
nov. 7th!!!! Then there is our neighbor who we are teaching named
Daniel. He's catholic and is the sweetest old man ever!! He gives us a
lot of food, he is just devouring the Book of Mormon!! 2 days after we
gave it to him we followed up to see how his reading was going and he
was already in Jacob!!! Isn't that crazy!!!:) hahaha it's awesome! We
will see where he goes so please pray for him!:)
 
Then this week we had spoken peddle which is where every other
Saturday we park the car for the day and bike or walk from10 till 5
haha so needless to say I was stupid and didn't put any sunblock on
and so my neck got burnt!!! And I didn't think about taking a picture
of it until now so you can really understand or see how bad it was but
it was bad!!! Hahaha
Then on Sunday we had stake conference and we had a new stake
president get called and so a general authority came and his name was
elder gay. He was an excellent speaker and I really enjoyed what he
said by "live life the lords way" it made me really ask myself... Am I
living the lords way? I would invite you all to ask yourself that. Am
I living the lords way? And if not, go repent and change so that you
can be and so that you can be a light in the world and receive
blessing for you and for those you love. I love you all! Keep trying
to be like Jesus!! And remember it's a great day to be a child of
God:)
 
Love, sister Turpin

Monday, October 5, 2015

conference weekend!

I loved this last week:) conference is just the best!! I had so many questions and some how almost all of them were answered!! the only one that I can say that wasn't answered was that sisters could now serve for 2 years.... dang it!! anyways

I felt like I learned so much at conference this year. we watched it a the church with all the other missionaries, and then some members were nice enough to feed us lunch in-between sessions. I think satudays session was my favorite though. I loved how they talked about not looking at to many things to work on at once our else you will start having feelings of despair! I then loved how they talked about how the spirit will always come in and correct and for us to listen to he spirit and take those corrections. I felt so much love for my fellow brothers and sisters that I serve with and who I am lucky to serve. gods work is so amazing and I have loved every min. of it so far.

this last week I got to go on exchanges with the Baytown sisters and they had some wonderful pumpkin brownies and so for conference sister pace and I decide to make some and we make homemade cream cheese frosting!! it was awesome and I am totally learning how to cook finally!! yaaay!!! you have no idea how wonderful it was:) we also got to start teaching these people that we met last week during hour of power, their names are Allison spoons and her son Jordan fello. they are amazing and they even talked about how Allison has a brother that lives in Utah who is a member!! anyways they came to sundays session of conference and they just loved it!! we are excited to see where things will go for them and we are going over to see them tomorrow to invite them to be baptized!! pray that they will feel the spirit and gain a testimony of the truthfulness of he restoration please!! I love you all and I love this gospel!!!
I love our prophet Thomas s Monson, and I love the new apostles that have been called and chosen, and of course all of the other apostle are amazing as well. I want you to know that the spirit is really, it leads and guides us to show us where we must go, what we need to do, and to teach us simple truths, may you always listen to the quiet whisperings of the spirit. the gospel is true the book of Mormon is blue. love you all!

love, sister turpin

Monday, September 28, 2015

September 28, 2015


Look this is a bridge that I get to drive over all the time:) it
reminds me of driving to McDonald's heaven because of all the
clouds... Hahahah the Golden Arches!!!!!!


Hello everyone, :)
This week was so exciting!!! One good thing about not really getting
fed by the members is that I get to eat heathy!!! Yaay!!! Hahaha
 
Anyways we got a couple of new investigators and 1 that I am really
excited about is this girl named Samantha! She's 18 years old works at
the Waffle House and is a senior in high school. She didn't really
believe in God but we started teaching her and we committed her to
pray and ask if there was a God and if he was her Heavenly Father, and
the awesome thing was that she did!! And she got an answer!! Totally
shows me that there is a God who loves us and is always here for us!:)
then there was a day where every single person we contacted was so
prepared it was awesome! The only sad thing about it though was that
not one of them where I. Our area... And we had to give them to the
other missionaries... Which stinks but that's alright because it shows
that God is hastening his work!!!:):):)
 
This week is general conference and I. So excited to figure out who
the next 3 apostles are going to be!:) I have been really thinking
about how I can prepare myself for this week so that I can be  ready
to hear what the prophet and the apostles say and one thing that came
to my mind is having about 5 to 10 mins a day of just silence, silence
in the car, or before bed or something, that way I can really focus on
the spirit and make sure my mind is ready for this wonderful weekend:)
 
I had the chance yesterday to go up and bare my testimony in
sacrament, and I would just like to share my testimony with all of
you, that I have a knowledge that this gospel is true. Probably not a
perfect knowledge but a knowledge to the point that I know that my
Heavenly Father loves me. A knowledge that my family can be together
forever. A knowledge that brings me more happiness than anything else
in this world. I know Jesus Christ lives and I know that the Book of
Mormon is true. And that we are all brothers and sisters. Family who
were sent here to earth to learn and grow. I love knowing that I can
repent daily and that I always have a friend there for me. Who leads
and guides me and that friend is the Holy Ghost. He is amazing and he
is always there to comfort me. To let me know what I should do, and
who guides me daily. I am grateful for prophets. Really what would we
do without them!? We would be lost! Lost in total darkness. I know
that the power of prayer really does work, I pray everyday and
everyday I receive an answer. It is amazing and I know as you are
praying and searching for your answers Heavenly Father will answer
your prayers too. I love this gospel and I love being able to go take
the sacrament weekly. Yall are awesome! And do you forget it!!! I love
yall!!
 
Love, sister Turpin

Sent from my iPad

Monday, September 21, 2015

la porte

hello everyone!!,

well I am now in a new area, im in a place called la porte, its totally in the city and its by the ocean side so every morning we go run to this dock kind of a thing and watch the sun rise. I love it!! my new companions name is sister pace, sister from Idaho falls and she has only been out for about 6 weeks so I get the privilege of finishing her training!! she is such a sweet girl and I can tell that we are really going to make a difference in this ward:) speaking of this ward. this ward is huge!!! there are about 1000 members but only about 200 to 300 people are active. I guess the ward was combined together with Pasadena and deer park? I don't know, its all confusing but I let me tell you there are so many missionaries that are serving so close together and I have never been in an area that is so small but there are a lot of people which I LOVE! there are 4 sets of missionaries in the ward and the ward members are seem pretty awesome!!

not too much happened this last week other than meetings after meetings. and then having to teach at zone meeting is aways stressful but im excited to get to work here in la porte texas and see this area, ward, members and non members and missionaries change!!!

I love the mission. I love teaching people and seeing there faces light up!! this work is just amazing and I know that what I get to share each day is true. I know that god loves us. I know that he is always here for us all and as we obey him with a willin heart god will bless us! im excited to see what will happen in5 weeks from now! just know that if your ever going through a hard time or you need some words of comfort that you can always go to the book of Mormon an there you will find all that you need to hear. the church is true. tell your friends!!

love, sister turpin

Monday, September 14, 2015

Transfers..... Boooo!!!


last night I came home with some homemade brownies and a
heart attracted door from this wonderful family named the hattons

I got to have dinner
yesterday with my cousin and his wife and kids, that was exciting
Sister Castaneda is training and so is sister Burgoyne so my posterity
line is getting big!!

Hello everyone! Well if you can't tell by my heading, I'm getting
transferred. Today are transfers and I'm getting transferred. I don't
know where but I do know that I will be finishing up training with who
ever my companion will be. It's a scary but yet exciting feeling. I am
so sad to be leaving vidor and my wonderful awesome companions, sister
tavoian and sister Castaneda. We truly did have so much fun and we saw
a lot of miracles too!!
 
Sister Castaneda is training and so is sister Burgoyne so my posterity
line is getting big!!
 
So many things happened this week!! First off I got to have dinner
yesterday with my cousin and his wife and kids, that was exciting, and
I have pictures:) then this week there is a member who's daughter
isn't a member and she got a priesthood blessing because her back has
been out for 7 weeks and that was given to her on Wednesday and then
Friday we went over for dinner and to our sunrise she was completely
healed!!' It was awsome! And so hopefully the missionaries will be
able to start teaching her soon! That right there just shows to me
though of how loving our Heavenly Father is, and how he still works
miracles today.
 
Then this week I had the privilege to go on exchanges back to lake
Charles with sister Thomason and while I was there I got sick so I had
a fever all week long with the worst runny nose ever! So with the
sickness and with transfer calls it was a pretty crazy week! But a
week well worth spent.
 
I am just so grateful that I was able to serve in this wonderful ward.
I got the chance to bare my testimony yesterday I sacrament and I just
couldn't stop crying I just love these people so much! And to my
surprise last night I came home with some homemade brownies and a
heart attracted door from this womderful family named the hatton.
Brother hatton used to be the bishop but now he is the ward mission
leader! There family is just the greatest!! And once again I have some
awesome picture.
 
But it's time to go pack everything in the car to head to transfer
meeting but I love you all and I want you to know how much I love this
church and the gospel. Without it I wouldn't be where I am today. I
know the church is true. And I know that the Book of Mormon is the
word of God. I love you and I will talk to yall next week!!!
 
Love, sister Turpin


Sent from my iPad