Week 54

Hello family. happy Monday!

here are the highlights of the week -- 

1. last exchange of the transfer: i got to spend the day with one of my favorite sisters, sister hudson!! she got baptized a couple years ago, is the only member in her family, and is now on a mission. get it girl! missionaries like her are such an inspiration to me. we stopped by to see patrick and he told us that his neighbors were giving him a hard time and saying bad things about mormons. so we went over to their house with him to clear things up. we told them that we believed in Jesus Christ and the bible but we also believe in the book of mormon. we offered them copies and they wouldn't take one. they told us that they knew it wasn't true. we asked if they had ever read from it and they said no, but they knew it wasn't true. it makes me so sad that people are so hard in their hearts that they won't even read a book that is another testament of Jesus Christ. the only way to know if the book of mormon is the word of God or not is to read it and pray and ask God. i can promise that anyone who does those two things will come to know for themselves that the book of mormon is true. 

2. teaching new people: finding people to teach is something we do all the time as missionaries. sometimes it's harder to find, but we were able to start teaching a 12 year old boy, Justin. his mom Jamie is a less active member. they moved here a couple months ago and she said we could start teaching him the lessons. he's come to a couple youth activities and loved it! we taught him the restoration and invited him to baptism and he said yes. woooo! 

3. Allison called us her best friends: i don't know what it is, something about being a missionary, i just love everyone i meet so much and connect with them in such a short amount of time. charity is a real thing! we stopped by to visit a member who lives right across the street from Allison, when we were about to get out of the car Allison pulled up in the driveway and said "girls! i'm so happy you're here. come inside!" we went in and talked with her and she opened up to us a lot. she told us how she was nervous to go to church by herself and what others would think and she felt bad for not coming on Sunday. we shared some scriptures with her and helped her feel loved and she says "you know, you two are my best friends." awhhhh. it was so tender. WE LOVE HER. God always blesses me with the best people in my life. 

4. Heavenly Father answers prayers: okay so Thursday our phone stopped working and usually we wouldn't care because nobody calls/texts us anyways.... but we needed to get a hold of the Missouri river elders to get the stop smoking workshop from them because we were doing it with a member that night. anyways, we didn't know what to do. so we decided to say a prayer and head over to their apartment and hope that we would run into them on the way there. it was a huge leap of faith and the odds were slim that they would actually be home, but we did it anyways! so we got to their apartment and parked the car and waited for a couple minutes. after a while we looked at our phone and saw that it was working. so we called them and they told us that their back door was unlocked and everything we needed was right there by the door. we got the stuff and got back in the car and our phone was back to being broken for the rest of the night. so even though God didn't answer our prayer the way we thought, he still answered it. he is always listening! 

alright, that's all!

I hope you all have a fabulous week.

XOXO

Sister Turpin 

We love this girl, Allison!

Allison, baby Carl and Abbie. The cutest family :)

Sister Hudson taught me how to be a thug!

Sister exchanges, Sister Hudson, Hulme, Arch and me

Sister Reed sent me a cheetah head band....so obviously I needed to get in all my cheetah gear!

Week 53

HAPPY MONDAY FAMILY.

it's nice and sunny and HOT today here in Missouri. 

This week we....

1. taught a new couple! Paul and Sarah. Sarah just had a brand new baby 2 weeks ago, he's the cutest little thing. We met them a few weeks back and gave them a BOM and they told us we could come back. We finally got to meet with them and teach them the restoration. Every time we share the account of the 1st vision I feel the spirit so strongly. After we taught it, Paul goes, "Wow. That feels good." I am so grateful for the spirit that testifies to people of truth. We are excited to keep teaching them! 

2. went on exchanges. WOO. I got to be with Sister Kikkert for the day! We exchanged back at the St. Peter's sisters district meeting. It's fun to get to go to other district meetings. One of the Elders gave a training on developing the faith to find. One of the things that stuck out to me was that God is always preparing people to accept the gospel so that is why we should share it with everyone we know. You never know who is ready or prepared to hear the gospel!

3. watched a movie with Allison. don't worry it was a church approved movie;) we went over to her house and she said, "girls, I'm not gonna be able to be baptized in July." we were like oh no.. where is she going with this? but she told us that her husband is gone right now and won't be back until october and when she told him she wanted to get baptized he said that he wanted to get baptized with her! so she is excited. even though we have to wait a little bit longer for everything, i know it will all work out. we watched the restoration dvd with her and she loved it. She told us that every time we go over she just feels good and happy. we told her it's not us, it's the spirit!! 

4. went to temple tours. My new favorite part of the month! This month we brought Sister Calderon and her cute daughter Nancy to the temple. Sister Calderon is working to get to the temple so we wanted to take her to the tour. We drove down with the two of them and as soon as we pulled into the parking lots she says, "Welcome to Heaven." AMEN SISTER. I love the temple. Even just being on the grounds, I feel the spirit so strongly.

5. went to temple tours AGAIN: We also took the Carrillos later that day. They are hoping to get sealed in the temple by the end of this year. I CAN'T WAIT. They let us take the people we brought into the front foyer of the entrance of the temple just so they can peek inside. It was so awesome. We were standing in there with the Carrillos and this family walked in with some other Elders and the husband looked over at his wife and said, "Do you feel that? It feels different. It feels good." It was so great to watch them experience the spirit you feel in the temple. once again, I LOVE THE TEMPLE.

and...

I LOVE YOU ALL.

have a fabulous week.

XOXO

Sister Turpin 

p.s. here is the link to our rap from the talent show. ENJOY:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py34typIqm0 

Exchanges with the St. Peters Sisters, Sister Mainord and Kikkert

With Sister Calderon and her daughter Nancy

The Carrillos!

We are such posers, I love Sister Arch!

Week 52

Hey family!!

It was another great week here in the MSLM. 

Sister Arch and I were finally able to have a lesson with Allison this week. Our mission has been focusing on inviting to baptism and setting dates so we were hoping to set a baptismal date with Allison. During the lesson her kids kept walking in and distracting us and then we tried to watch a DVD with her and we had so many technical difficulties and we were about to give up on inviting her to be baptized. But at the end of the lesson the spirit came in and we extended the baptismal invitation and set a date for July 30th! GO ALLISON. it's amazing what happens when we invite people.

We had our zone conference this week. I wish that everyone could go to a zone conference because they are the best meetings ever! The spirit is always so strong and you learn so much. Sister Arch and I gave a training on preparation. We shared the story of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25 and how we never know at what moment we will need to be prepared so we should be prepared ALWAYS. Sister Morgan talked to us about trials and how we shouldn't pray for our lives to be easier but we should pray for the strength to handle the trials we have been given. I love this. This was our last zone conference with the Morgans so there were a few tears shed but Sister Morgan reminded us, "The best is yet to come." We have the rest of our missions and lives ahead of us and should be looking forward to it. I can't wait to see what's in store these next six months!

Also since it was the Morgan's last zone conference, Sister Morgan talked President into letting us do a talent show. YEAAAHHHH. Everyone knows how much I love talent shows;) hahah so we have been prepping for this for a few weeks and my district AKA the squad, as we like to call ourselves, decided to make a rap. So Elders Lindsay and Handley made a sick beat and wrote a rap and we performed it. The office Sisters, Sister Kroupa and Gore loved it so much that they came down to O'fallon and made us re record it so they can post it on youtube. hahahahah. when they send the link I will send it in my email. Don't worry... I'll remember you all when I'm famous;) 

We have miracles happen every single day as we are doing the Lord's work, but here is my favorite miracle of the week. We were looking at the ward list picking names that we should go and visit and people we hadn't met yet. And we picked one name, Michelle Griffin. We knew nothing about her so we didn't know what to expect when we knocked on her door. She answered it and was super friendly and nice and then told us she had joined the church in Vegas but she hasn't gone to church since she moved out here 3 years ago. She told us that she was just talking with her daughter the day before about going back to church and then we showed up. GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS. and His timing is always PERFECT. She told us we could come back when they get home from vacation in a few weeks and her boyfriend and kids are willing to listen to the lessons too. YAY!

On Saturday we had an opportunity to "save the world" as Sister Arch described it:) There was a project set up by an organization, Kids Against Hunger. We got the opportunity to go and help pack bags of food to sent to children in Haiti. It was so awesome. There were lots of people there from the community of all different faiths. I love seeing how people can come together despite their differences and help those who really need it. 

We had Stake conference this weekend and it was all focused on the temple. It went perfectly with our MLC last week and our focus on eternal life. The Stake's theme this year is "All Things Temple." The Stake President said that if the stake focuses their efforts on the temple everything else will fall into place. It's so true!!! There was a young woman probably 13 years old who gave a talk and told everyone how her and her family had found 1000 names to take to the temple but they needed the help to do the work. I was amazed and so inspired by this young girl!! THE YOUTH OF THE CHURCH ARE AMAZING. way better than what I was when I was that age. We have youth in our ward who are family history workers and love indexing names. It's wonderful. Plus we got to see President and Sister Morgan again. <3

I hope everyone is enjoying summer!! I'm starting to get a nice watch tan line.

XOXO
Sister Turpin 

President and Sister Morgan - love them!

Helping Haiti kids against hunger

Sister Kroupa and Sister Gore - they work in the mission office.

The Squad #mormonrap

Sharing Idaho Spuds with all my Missouri Friends! Thanks mom 

Sister Bishop, Sister Williams - I love my MTC girls!

Week 51

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYONE.

we started our day off by running a 5K. lol. so the 3 wards that share our building with have a

 tri-memorial day picnic and 5K every year. the members told us that the missionaries always run it. so naturally we had to. we instantly regretted the decision 2 minutes into the run.... but we finished it in 39 minutes. not too shabby eh? after we cleaned up and showered we went back to the park for lunch and fun and games. we are a little exhausted from playing in the sun all day. but it was a good time! Hopefully every one else has enjoyed their day as well :)

This last week FLEW BY. 

There is a cute young woman, Katelyn, in the Missouri River ward who has been wanting to come out with us for a few weeks but our schedules just haven't work out. This week we FINALLY were able to take her out with us. I wish that I would have went out with missionaries before my mission. I mean 1. Missionaries are super cool and fun. am i right?;) hahah and 2. it totally prepares you to go on a mission. the youth out here are wonderful and always ask if they can come to lessons with us. we LOVE it! When we were with Katelyn we stopped by Allison's house who we haven't been able to get a hold of for a couple weeks. Allison was outside and told us she got a new phone and number so that's why we hadn't heard from her. It was a relief to hear that. She told us that she wanted to do another "jesus session" next week. hahah. 

okay the rest of my email is gonna be about MLC from last Friday so i'm sorry... but so much good stuff went down I have to tell you all about it.

So for MLC we got a text to meet at the temple at 9 in the morning. We usually meet at the Frontenac building at 10. The other sisters told us that they were gonna take the leaders on the temple tour so we could see what it was about and invite more people to come to it. Of course it was pouring rain in the morning. but we were all smiley and happy at the temple with our umbrellas. Sister Bishop and Kikkert took us on the tour. Even though the weather was not cooperating, you were still able to feel the spirit as they talked about the temple and being on the temple grounds. It was great!

After the tour we were all just kind of waiting around under some shelter from the rain. President Morgan was talking to us a little bit about the temple and what a blessing it is and the spirit that comes. Well then him and Sister Morgan told us that we were going to do a session RIGHT THEN. we were all freaking out!! like seriously we were so excited. and nobody knew about it! they had kept it a secret from every one, even the assistants. so we all ran in the pouring rain to our cars to grab our temple recommends and do a session. oh it was wonderful! I'm so grateful for the temple and the peace it brings. From this experience I learned that we ALWAYS need to be spiritually and physically prepared to attend the temple. You never know when your mission president is gonna surprise you with a temple session! 

After our temple session we went to the mission home for lunch and then finished our meeting at the church building. The theme of this transfer is enduring to the end. A temple session was the perfect way to bring the spirit for the whole day. The temple is our ultimate goal, that is how we continue to endure to the end. We had some good trainings and will have our zone conference this upcoming week to give those trainings to the rest of our zones. 

This is President and Sister Morgan's last transfer #CRYING. I love these two so much. It's hard to explain the love you have for a mission president and his wife. And it's hard to think of having a new mission president and wife to love. The Morgan's both talked about leaving, and were emotional about it. President Morgan told us that he has talked to President Bateman, our new mission president, multiple times. He was in tears as he told us that we will be in good hands. I felt the spirit so strongly and know that both men have been called of God and are inspired to help me be the best missionary I can be. The Missouri St. Louis Mission and all the people I have met here are the reason why I love being a missionary. It will be hard to say bye to them, but good things will come from it as well! 

This week I hit my year mark... I can't believe how fast time has gone by. Hopefully it will go slower these next 6 months. 

I hope everyone is enjoying summer. make sure and get a nice tan for me;)

I LOVE YOU ALL.

XOXO

Sister Turpin 

I hit my 1 year mark on June 3. I love to see the temple.

We all came out together, hitting our 1 year mark.

We were so happy to be at the temple!

After running with the Elders!

After the ran.....so exhausted! This is Brielle the bishops daughter, she's a cutie!

Week 50

I feel like the transfer just started and just like that it's already over. 

I will start with transfer doctrine because that's always the most exciting part of the week! So Sister Arch and I will both be staying here in O'fallon. We were expecting that already, but we are excited! Our whole district is staying which we are happy about. Also.. My baby girl Sister Hill is training again. So that means I'm gonna have TWO grand babies in the mission now. #ProudMomma 

Anyways here's some highlights from the week....

1. Throw Down at Twin Oaks: We give service every Tuesday at an assisted living place, Twin Oaks. We paint the old ladies nails, it's so fun! They usually draw numbers and then we call the next number in line. Well this week some old ladies started getting into it because she wanted her nails painted first. Sister Arch and I were dying. no joke one of the ladies said to someone "I'm not afraid to fight you" LOL. dentures be flying!! No worries though, Sis Arch gave a good thought on patience and charity.

2. Picnics at the Park: It's been nice weather so we decided to pack a lunch one day and eat at the park. We ended up running into a member there, Sister Hernandez. She is the cutest! She's just a couple years older than us and has a cute 1 year old son. Anyways we sat and talked with her for a while and she told us her whole life story of how she found the church when she was in high school but then she stopped going a few years later. She realized that she needed the gospel again in her life and started coming back to church. She bore her testimony of the atonement and how she was able to change her life. Looking at her now you would never guess. She's happily married and sealed in the temple with the cutest family. That's what I love so much about the atonement. It can change us completely! 

3. I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON: Alright so we visit this less active, Sister Calderon, every week. She told us that she wanted us to come over every day this last week. Obviously we don't have time to see her every day, but we went over early in the week and read from the Book of Mormon with her and her 9 year old daughter Nancy. We came by a couple days later and Nancy ran up and answered the door and said "I've been reading the Book of Mormon" It was so cute! She was so excited to tell us and even though she is young she is exercising her faith by studying the scriptures. GO NANCY!

4. Member Missionaries: Shout out to Brother Rassmussen, our gospel principles teacher, for coming to Patrick's lesson with us. Patrick has been dealing with drug addictions ever since I have been here in O'fallon. Brother Rassmussen has overcome some addictions and goes to the addiction recovery meetings every week. We invited him to come to Patrick's lesson and it was great. They were able to relate to each other and some of the feelings they feel. Brother Rassmussen shared some of his story and the spirit was so strong. He talked about the atonement and how he knows how real it is because of the things he has been through. He said that true repentance is not only to stop sinning but when we change completely that we have no desire to sin anymore. That's what the addiction recovery program is for. Patrick is on the right track, but we just need to help him be more consistent! We have a lot of faith in him though. He's come a long way! 

5. Can Ye Feel So Now?: So we have this family of recent converts. Well the 3 kids, Travis, Emilia, and Marcos are baptized, not their mom. It's been a few months since they were baptized and they've kinda been slipping into bad habits and not coming to church. Travis is 17 and sometimes he's just a real punk. We've been trying to figure out what to do with them to help continue to stay strong and faithful. We went over yesterday and talked about how they felt when they first were taking the missionary lessons. They all had pretty strong spiritual experiences. Then we read Alma 5:26 with them. "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" We asked them if they felt the same way at the time of their conversion and they said no. The spirit was strong the whole time and we talked about things they can do to help continue their conversion. It's so easy to get complacent in living the gospel and just go through the motions, that's why it's so important to always be continuing our conversion. 

I hope that everyone has a great week back at home! 

LOVE YOU ALL

xoxo

Sister Turpin 

This is for you Dad, Whats up UPS!

Our new way to proselyte! 

Our fav family the Harstons took us to a famous BBQ place, Ethyl's.

Our Favorite frozen yogurt place.  Menchie!

We had cute hair so we took a selfie!