Monday, February 28, 2011

This last week was a great week. I'm a proud to say that I am a servant of the Lord here in Guatemala. I know that this is His work and that I am an instrument in His hands. I have been so blessed to see this week three more of God's children enter into the waters of baptism, two of which were converts and the other counts as a ward baptism. We were able to help a man that has been receiving the missionaries off and on for more than 5 years to be baptized on Saturday. What joy that was to see that the fruits of so many efforts was finally able to open the door and begin down the path that leads to eternal life. Also we had been teaching a young girl whose mother is a member and she was baptized this Saturday along with her little sister. I got to baptize the man and the little girl. Oh and by the way me and my companion are getting along a lot better :)

The Lord has blessed us with agency. We are all free to chose how we will react and who we will follow. I am so grateful to know that you have taught me the gospel and have shown me the path I should take and that you allowed for me to choose for myself what path to follow.

Thank you all for your love and support.

Elder Turner

Monday, February 21, 2011

My birthday was great and I was so happy that I could spend the entire day in the service of the Lord. I know that the Lord blessed me so much. I was able to spend the day with Elder Forbush, my companion from the MTC because my companion had to interview people for baptisms. We had a great day and found a family to teach. :) We also went to eat dinner with the family of the cook who called you (Mom) this past week. They are such a great family and they support us as missionaries so much. We are working with some of their family to get them to be baptized. The food was great. Simple but great :) When you are a missionary, everything is delicious. I also got a hug "from Dad" that one of the sons gave me :)

Thank you so much for going to the temple for me mom. I felt the blessings as this week passed by. The temple is such a blessing and you are right, mother, that we are so blessed to have a temple so close to our house. There is only one temple right now in Guatemala that serves for most of Central America. There are people that travel for days to get to the temple and the people that live in the area I'm serving travel 2 hours to get to the temple. It's a sacrifice here but the people do it. Make sure that you take advantage of having a temple so close.

That's so great to hear that the stake was blessed to have the presence of a general authority. The authorities that help the church function properly are men called of God to do His work and His will. If we focus on the basics, we will always find success. Prayer is essential in our everyday life. If we don't pray, we are being disobedient, because God has commanded us to pray. It's a blessing to have commandments because the Lord blesses us if we obey them.

I want to let you all know that Satan is real. He has power and he uses it in many ways. Satan is very smart and he tries very hard to put stumbling blocks in our path no matter what it may be. He tries hard to get us down by allowing us to think that we are not good enough or that we are not worthy. I know that Satan is working hard to destroy the lives of many people including and especially those children of God who have made covenants or those children who are searching for the truth. Satan doesn't need to work hard on those who are in the bars drinking or those who are addicted to drugs because he has already got them. Satan is working very hard to bring down the righteous because he knows that once Zion is established he will be bound. We are working right now to establish Zion and establishing Zion is the last great revelation that needs to be accomplished before the Lord comes. Stay faithful and do not let Satan get a hold of you. Be strong and fight him with all of your strength and energy. If you have fallen there is a way out. Repentance is the way and Jesus Christ has prepared it through His sufferings so that we can all become the children of God that Christ knows we can become.

I love you all,
Elder Turner

Thursday, February 17, 2011

I can't express in words the joy I receive from reading the letters you send each week! It's amazing how it can lift one's spirit being able to communicate with those you love the most. I woke up Sunday morning and had a little prayer in my heart that Mackenzy would feel me and the joy that I had that it was her Birthday yesterday. I had written in my agenda that it was her birthday so that I wouldn't get thru that day and forget about it. That is insane that she is 11 already! :) Time is flying!

That's amazing that Corona finished wrestling how they finished, but with the loss of the 3 starters that were ranked, it was a big blow. I'm sad that I missed this season and that I still have one more to miss, but it's better for everyone that way. It will help the boys to learn the way I did. I wish I could have been there to help them out, but if they can figure it out on their own they will be stronger and they will understand better why Dad is so hard on them sometimes. I'm so grateful for all of the challenges that I had with wrestling and the struggle I had to understand why my father is the way he is because now that I'm in the mission I am able to apply what I have learned over these short (almost) 20 years. I'm so grateful that I wrestled and that I finished every single year. I will never regret wrestling. It's a man's sport.

That's so great to hear that you are going to be starting a new job mother. I know that the Lord is blessing you and the family with this new opportunity for work. The Lord knows all things and He blesses us with the things that we need so that we can grow not only physically but spiritually also. The Lord will support and sustain you in your new work if you remember to ask for His help. The key is asking. Just because the Lord knows what we need doesn't mean that He is always going to give it to us right away. We must be humble and show our spiritual strength by asking the Lord for the things we need. I'm so grateful to be on my mission and to have humbling experiences that teach me to rely on my Lord and Savior each and every day.

This week I will be turning 20 and will be done with 1/4 of my mission. That is weird and kinda sad to me to think that 1/4 of my mission is over with and I will never be able to get it back. I've learned a lot up to this point and plan on continuing to learn so much more. The mission has been such a blessing in my life and i wouldn't trade it for the world. The Lord is refining me. He is holding me in the fire and watching me carefully so that He can make me into the absolute best that I can be. I know that the Lord is doing the same with each and every one of you too. He is holding you in the refiner's fire of life and watching you carefully. He wants us all to become the best and most pure that we can become but only we can allow Him to do so because we have agency. Think before you act. Think of the eternal consequences before you make a decision and if you desire to be with Heavenly Father and feel that He will accept the decision you make, then you are making the right decision.

I love you all and I am so grateful for the love and support that you unceasingly send my way. The Lord is watching you and knows your needs. He will bless you if you are humble and faithful.

Love,
Elder Turner

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Do it better because that's what you deserve

I'm glad that my package came! :) I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to get my B-day package until March or so because today we had interviews and that's the last time I'll see President for the next 2 weeks at least :/ It's a bummer but that's how the mail works coming from the mission office. I'll make sure that it all gets its good use when the package arrives though even if it's late. :)

Well that's a bummer to hear that the boys are done with wrestling. I can't believe that I actually missed a wrestling season and that for sure I'm going to miss one more. Wrestling for me truly has been one of those things that you don't realize how much it means to you until you really can't have it. My aggressiveness has been withheld as far as wrestling goes for this season, but I can promise you that I'm finding ways to be "aggressive" with the work of the Lord. :) Kort and Zack let this season eat at you for a bit. Think about what you accomplished and the challenges you had. Now take those thoughts and learn from this season. You now have something to measure yourself for this upcoming year. I'm not talking just about wrestling, but about everything you do. Do it better. Do it better because that's what you deserve.

We must always have our sights on the future and take into perspective the decisions we make now or we will fall short and yield ourselves to the one who desires our captivity and misery like himself.

Wow that's crazy to think that the Super Bowl has passed but it's good to hear that the Packers took care of business. I miss good old American football. Futbol here is different but I'm starting to catch on to the fever a little bit. I actually bought some street soccer shoes because we play almost every pday. It's fun and a nice way to trim down this belly that I've gained.

Mom I love your faith. The Lord has always provided for His children as long as they do what is right. He is the same yesterday, today and forever and He will continue to bless His children and provide a way for them to escape temptation. A scripture that I have really come to love is D&C 29:34. The Lord blesses us by giving us commandments. All commandments have a spiritual base. We must learn to be obedient now so that when we get to heaven we will be obedient there also.

Well the work is still progressing and I am proud to be apart of it. Stay strong and true.

Elder Turner