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!

Week 49

WHAT'S UP LAST WEEK OF THE TRANSFER???

I can't believe this transfer is coming to an end already. We had a bit of a slower week this last week... but that's okay. lots of good things still happened! 

We had exchanges twice this week. Sister Francis came to O'fallon with me on Tuesday. She is so wonderful! (I know I say that about everyone... but we just have the best sisters EVER!) Anyways.. We went out and visited the Carrillos. Sister Carrillo is so funny. She said, "It doesn't matter what missionary comes into my house, you all have a glow about you." Gotta love that missionary spirit/aura that we carry. Sister Francis is more on the quiet side, me not so much. But it was cool to see how she was bold with people without being in their face. Every person she talked to she shared the gospel boldly but in a dignified way. It was great!!

The next day we had exchanges round 2 with the Lake Saint Louis sisters. I spent the day with Sister Orme in her area. Sister Orme was in my district when I was in Danville and she was a brand new missionary. It's crazy because I was at 6 months then and now Sister Orme is at 6 months and I'm almost at a year. It was fun to see how much she has grown and matured as a missionary. We had a crazy night though. Missouri gets some serious storms. Our zone leaders sent a text out that day saying to watch out for the storm and we were like yeah okay because the sky was legit blue and clear so we weren't worried at all. Well that night around 7 the clouds start to roll in and the sky is turning dark and green and it starts pouring and thundering and lightning. So we had to take cover and go in early. Don't worry, we were safe! Just so everyone knows... lightning storms here are the best! 

Thursday we had district meeting and I have converted my district to cheetah print. Elder Handley and Lindsay had a cheetah print bow tie and tie so we convinced them to wear it to district meeting. We all wore cheetah print. We're the most cheetalicious district in the mission;) hahah. and then after lunch Dennis, my recent convert from Potosi, and Sister Moore came to visit! WOOOO! I have been looking forward to this visit all transfer. It was so good to visit with them. Plus they took us to a yummy lunch and brought LIX. Sister Hill and I had a serious addiction to LIX while we were in Potosi so I was very excited to have them bring me some. Sister Arch and I have been eating it like every day.... haha

Nothing else too crazy for this week.... 

I LOVE YOU ALL.

have a wonderful week and remember to smile:)

XOXO

Sister Turpin 

Exchanges with Sister Kikkert and Francis

We helped at a garage sale and got these cute cardinal hats! 

Cutie Sister Orme

I converted my district to cheetah print.  The most cheetalicious missionaries EVER!

Some of my favorite people, The Moores!

Love my LIX, yummy. Thanks Moores!

Week 48

Hello family!

This last week seemed to just fly by. It was so fun to get to talk to my family yesterday. I feel like I have nothing to say since I talked to them yesterday.... but here's the 411 on what happened this week.

1. Untold stories of the ER: so our poor district leader got a bad stomach ache Monday and ended up going to the ER. they thought it was his appendix. so we visited them to give moral support! turns out he just had a bad stomach infection, he's all good now. the next day we got a call from the mission nurse and she told us we had to pick up the lake st. louis sisters to take them to the ER because they were sick too. the first two days of our week was spent in the ER. fun stuff! but everyone is healthy and happy now! I'm the only one in the district who hasn't gotten sick this transfer so everyone says i'm next... but i told them i'm good because i take vitamins every day. thanks mom and dad;) 

2. 11 MONTHS: I hit my 11 month mark this last Tuesday. time is flying. we also had interviews with President Morgan that day. He was talking to me about when I first came out on my mission and some of the thoughts I had about it. It's crazy to look back and reflect how far I've come. I adore President and Sister Morgan. Next transfer is their last transfer, so i'm super bummed about it. 

3. Exchanges: We had exchanges with Wentzville this week. I spent the day with Sister Hudson in Wentzville. She is so great! She joined the church about 2 years ago and is the only member in her family and decided to serve a mission. I admire missionaries like that. She has a super solid testimony. I learned so much from her example! My favorite part of exchanges is learning from all the missionaries I get to be with. 

4. Miracle of the Week: ALLISON!! okay so this was the highlight of our week. we went to go visit a member during the day. we knocked on their door and nobody answered so we went to go back to the car but there was a girl sitting outside across the street. so we went to talk with her. we told her what we do as missionaries and she told us that she feels like she needs us and that she really needs Jesus in her life to be happy. that's right girl!! so she let us right in and we taught her, she opened up a lot and we are planning on seeing her next week. WOOOO. teaching new people is always the best. 

5. Contacting: This transfer we have really been focused on contacting people. we have some friendly competition with our district leader to see who can get the most contacts. we won this week:) anyways I always love contacting people. Saturday morning we were contacting and met this family. the mom answered the door and looked kind of annoyed at first like we were interrupting something but we got to talking and she asked if we prayed and invited us in to pray with her family. It was really cool. Even though they weren't interested in us teaching their family they were still nice and we were able to have a spiritual experience with them. They told us we were welcome to stop by whenever we needed a snack or water or anything. It's good to see that there are nice genuine people out there! 

6. Mother's day: Okay obviously the best part of mother's day was getting to talk to my momma. She's #1. but the other highlight was giving Sister Carrillo a gift. Sister Carrillo was telling us this week how her kids don't appreciate her and she was kind of upset about it, so we decided to get her a present for mother's day because we love her!! we asked her what her favorite candy bar was and she told us snickers and said she wanted an 8X10 of us too. hahah so we went to hobby lobby and bought a cute frame and stuck a picture of us in it. after church we gave it to her and she started crying when she read the card and opened it. it was really sweet. i'm grateful for all the moms I get to meet out here that take care of me! 

welllll... that's all folks.

have a wonderful week.

XOXO  Sister Turpin

ER visit with the Elders, poor Elder Handley.

Another ER visit, poor Sister Parker

Happy 11 months woot woot!

Exchanges with the Wentzville Sisters, we love them!

Sister Hudson, she is the best!

Sister Carrillo - Happy Mothers Day!

Week 47

Hey Family!!

I can't believe April is already over. I feel Christmas was just yesterday and now it's already May. Whaaaaaat? Well we had some adventures this last week... It was Sister Arch's birthday on Tuesday so last Monday for pday we met up with Sister Bishop and Walker in St. Louis. They surprised us with some scooters and said we were going scootering around forest park. it was SO fun! Yay for birthdays on the mission:) Well Tuesday when the alarm went off I rolled over and said happy birthday to sis. arch and she replies back "i'm sick." poor thing woke up with strep throat! So we spent the morning going to the doctor and getting her medicine. While we were waiting for the prescription we decided to go to target. As we were in target a huge storm starts going on outside. It was pouring rain and thundering and lightning. Some of the store workers came up to us and said that tornado sirens were going off nearby and if things got worse we would have to take cover in the dressing room. We thought we were gonna die in target on Sister Arch's bday!! But the storm stopped and we were fine. It was not a very fun birthday for her, but it's okay because the Missouri River Elders ended up making brownies for her and brought them over that night. Thank you Elder Handley and Elder Lindsay! 

This week we set a baptismal date for Patrick. It's been a rough road for him because he knows the church is true and he wants to get baptized but he hasn't been able to overcome his addictions yet. We made Patrick a calendar and gave him a planner so he can keep track of all the times he smokes and drinks to help keep himself accountable. Hopefully he will be able to cut down a little each week until he stops completely. He will get there! 

We usually see the Carrillos on Tuesday nights, but since Sister Arch was sick we couldn't go. Sister Carrillo texted us Wednesday and said "what happened to bible study?" it was cute! haha so we went out to see them the next day. The Carrillos are working to get their temple recommend so they can get sealed. Sister Carrillo told us they need to start paying their tithing but she doesn't know how they are gonna do it because they don't even have enough money to pay their bills. They met with the bishop and he told them that that everything will work out if they pay their tithing. so she told us that they are going to put their faith in God and pay their tithing. YES! It was so awesome. It can be a scary thing when you don't know how things will work out but that is exactly what faith is all about. Putting our trust in God even when we don't know what the outcome will be. 

The miracle of the week happened yesterday morning. Sister Arch and I were out contacting people before church. We drove to a random street and started to knock doors.We saw a garage open and there was a man and an older lady sitting in the garage smoking. My first reaction was that I didn't want to talk to them because they were probably not interested but the spirit told me otherwise. So we went up to talk to them and turns out that the guy, Randy, is married to a mormon. He told us that she actually was talking about going back to church and she would be there to pick him up soon. We left our card with him and right as we were leaving his wife Leslie pulls up. God's timing is perfect! So she gets out of the car and talks to us and tells us that she would love to meet with us and come back to church. It was such a miracle! Plus she just moved here so her name wasn't on our ward list yet. It was such a testimony builder that the spirit always leads us to where we need to be at the exact time we need to be there. 

I hope that you all have a great week.

Make sure to tell your momma how much you love her.

Mine is the best so sorry to everyone else;) 

XOXO 
Sister Turpin 

Thank you Elders Handley and Linsdsay!

Happy Birthday Sister Arch! Birthday Brownies from the Elders.

Our Scooter Gang!  Sisters Arch, Bishop, Walker, and me!

Cute little out house we found! 

Week 46

Hello Family!!

We had a good, busy last week. I feel like I say that every week, but it's true. Every week is busy and every week is good! By Saturday night I am always exhausted. Thank goodness for church on Sunday that helps me feel refreshed for the upcoming week! 

We started the week off with exchanges with the Union sisters. Sister Gordon came to O'fallon with me. Every week we go to an assisted living place and paint the lady's nails there. It's so fun! Elderly people have such a special spirit about them, it's one of my favorite parts of the week. Other than painting old lady's nails we were able to see the Carrillos. They are working to get to the temple so they can be sealed. We talked with them about patriarchal blessings because they are wanting to get theirs.Sister Carrillo said she is super excited to hear all the counsel and guidance that will be in her blessing. It was cute! Every time I read my patriarchal blessing I am so comforted to know that I have a loving Heavenly Father who knows me individually. If you haven't read your blessing in a while, you should go read it! 

After exchanges we had ZLT. I always love missionary meetings like ZLT, because the spirit is so strong. The ZLTs were focused on conversion. How we become converted, how we stay converted, how we teach conversion. We had a few missionaries share their conversion stories of how they came to know for themselves that the church was true. I loved hearing how people who were born into the church still had to come to know these things for themselves. We all have to be converted at some point in our life! 

We had dinner with the Matthew's this last week and met the Matthew's twins, Drew and Stirling. They just got home in February from their missions in Mexico. They offered to come to lessons with us which we were excited about! So we invited them to come to Patrick and Priscilla's lesson. We started doing the 12 step program with Patrick. Drew and Stirling were perfect fellowshippers and offered to pick them up for church on Sunday and call and text them throughout the week to see how they are doing. It was awesome! And the best part is that Patrick and Priscilla actually came to church on Sunday! MIRACLES HAPPEN. hahah. we have been trying for 2 months to get them to church, and as soon as they had that fellowship they came. It just goes to show how important members are in this work. We can't do it without them! Patrick was totally loving the whole meeting. In gospel principles he was answering all the questions and  told everyone that he knows this church is true and he wants to be baptized. YES PATRICK! 

Sad news of the week: The Wentzville sisters moved out. Honestly, we were not too excited about the living situations for the first few days but then we got used to it and it was so much fun! We did not want them to move out. We were so sad on Saturday when we had to pack them up and move. We had the office elders, zone leaders, us four sisters, and office senior sisters, Sister Kroupa and Sister Gore to help. The elders were moving a desk up the stairs and Sister Kroupa looks at Elder Peck and goes "Don't you just wanna pinch his buns?" LOLOLOLOL. we were dying. We were like Sister Kroupa NOOOOOO. HAHHAHAH. The senior sisters are so funny, we love them!! and afterwards they took us all out for FroYo so we were happy about that.

Anyways. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I can't believe April is over this week. I'm excited for the summer though.. gotta work on that tan;) 

LOVE YOU ALL.

XOXO 

Sister Turpin 

Sister Kroupa, Sister Arch, and me

The moving crew!

With the sisters from the North ZLT  Sister Orme, Parker, me, Hudson, Williams, and Arch.

It was hard to have 4 Sisters in a 1 bathroom apt. but we truly were sad to say good-bye. 

Week 45

Hello Family!

It's been another good, busy week here in O'Fallon Missouri. I said goodbye to Sister Fisher last Monday and got to spend the day with Sister Anderson, one of my favorite missionaries!! Tuesday morning we drove to St. Louis to pick up our new companions. I was way stoked to see Sister Arch. My MTC companion, Sister Bishop, trained her so we knew each other from before. Sister Arch is from East LA. She's only been a member of the church for about 2 years. I've heard her conversion story about a million times now, but it's a good one! It starts off with her joining the wrestling team in high school. If you wanna know the rest you can email her;)laura.arch@myldsmail.net So basically we have been having the best time together and working hard! Can't ask for anything else right? 

They opened up a new area in Wentzville which is pretty close to O'fallon, but the sisters apartment wasn't ready for them this week so they have been staying with us. It's been fun having 4 sister in 1 apartment! Sister Hudson and Williams have been staying with us. Sister Williams is actually from blackfoot and knows my grandma and grandpa. small world right? 4 girls and 1 bathroom has been a struggle, but we have loved it! It's been like a week long sleep over:) WOOO! 

We have been teaching Patrick and Priscila for a while now and they both struggle with addictions. We decided to start doing the 12 step program with them from the church. We just started it this last week, but it is so great! I love how it teaches us that we really need to understand that we are nothing without God. There are some things that we truly are not able to do on our own. But the first step is to recognize that we need help. Humility is the hard part. We are hoping that we can help Patrick and Prisicila to overcome their addictions and come closer to the Savior at the same time. 

Friday we had MLC. The topic for this transfer is conversion. Sister Morgan talked to us about what it means to be a convert. She had all the converts stand up in the room, there was about 3, and tell their conversion stories. After she did that she told us that we all should have stood up because we are all converts to the gospel. It doesn't matter what age we got baptized at, we all have to go through our own conversion. I have learned the difference between what it means to have a testimony and what it means to truly be converted. The great thing about conversion, is just like repentance, it's not a one time process. We need to be continually working at it. 

The rest of the week was spent planning for the upcoming transfer and week and the trainings we will be giving. If I'm being honest.. my least favorite part about being a missionary is planning. But it's important and I always love setting goals for how I can become better each transfer and week. I'm looking forward to all the miracles Heavenly Father has in store for us! It's gonna be great.

I LOVE YOU ALL.

Keep it real, keep it tight, don't keep it real tight.

XOXO

Sister Turpin 

Sister Arch my new companion!

Sister Arch wrestled in high school, so she taught me some moves ha ha

Sister Anderson one of my favorites!