Sister Breanne Turpin : Week 36

Hey Fam!
I hope that everyone enjoyed their valentine's day, or as us missionaries like to call it, "Valiant-tines Day" ;) hahahah. There was lots of love going on here in Danville this last week.

First things first, Shaniah, Za'Nyra, and Isiah go baptized!! WOOOO!! It was so awesome. I love these three kiddos SO MUCH. The sisters have been teaching them and their mom, Terisa, since last October. The kids decided that they were ready to get baptized even though their mom isn't quite ready yet. Terisa was really proud of their decision and it was awesome to see such young people make an important decision all on their own. Hopefully they will be able to set that good example for their mom so she can make the changes in her life that she needs to in order to be baptized.

Their baptism was on Friday night and they were confirmed Sunday at church. Saturday night we went over to their house and talked about how they felt at their baptism. They said they were all scared when they first got there and kind of nervous, but once they got in the water and after they were baptized they felt good and they weren't scared anymore. On Sunday after they were confirmed they all had the biggest smiles on their face, it was so cute! Shaniah gave me a little valentine's day note and signed it "From: baptized girl Shaniah" It was the best valentine's day gift I've ever gotten:)

We visit a less active, Sister White, every week and have been trying to get her to read the BOM more regularly. Last week we asked her if she knew of anybody that we could go and visit and she referred us to her neighbor Sherri. We went and visited Sherri and she agreed to meeting with us at Sister White's to learn more. We taught her about the BOM and Sister White started bearing her testimony about the BOM and it was super awesome! Member missionary work is the best!! and it's just as easy as telling the missionaries to go and visit your neighbor. So this week I hope that you all will tell the missionaries of a neighbor you have that they can go and visit;)

We taught Heather about the plan of salvation this week. We have pictures that we drew and cut out to help people be able to visualize it better. Heather really liked it and said that it all made sense. We started talking about prayer and Heather said she feels like her prayers aren't sincere as they could be. This was perfect because we just had district meeting that morning and talked about how we need to make our prayers more meaningful. Elder Benson taught us that ATTITUDE = 100%. If you number each letter for their place in the alphabet A(1)T(20)T(20)I(9)T(20)U(21)D(4)E(5) it adds up to 100. so whenever we pray we need to make sure that our attitude about prayer is 100%. We taught her ways that we can make our prayers more meaningful and she committed to pray sincerely every day this week!

Okay so our mission has really been pushing ward council the past few months and how we can work more effectively with ward council. I haven't gained a real testimony of the importance of ward council until this last Sunday. One of the bishopric members, Brother Strawser, talked about how his family was "rescued" by a ward council. He was able to be reactivated, his wife was baptized, and they are now sealed in the temple to their three kids. I felt the spirit so strongly as he shared his story and I know that the reason why God wants us to have ward council is that we can focus our efforts on rescuing those who are lost.

A year ago today I opened my mission call. I can't believe how much has happened in the past year. I always told people that I would never serve a mission but here I am. Looking back on that day I didn't know anything about Missouri or Illinois but I felt so much love in my heart for the people that I knew I would meet out here. I am able to feel that love every single day out here in the mission field. It's crazy how you can only know a person for a few weeks or days but you can come to truly love them. I know that is the gift of charity, the pure love of Christ. Because of my Savior I am able to love people more fully and I can see them for the who they can become and not who they are right now. I love each and every one of you and hope that everything is going well back at home!
XOXO Sister Turpin