Email to Katie 9/29/09

My dear sweet twin,

Welp, thanks for TWO e-mails! I love the updates on the family--and what you are doing! You are sooo involved in the church! You are such a good stay at home mom!

Um, when did you get so creative with object lessons? And, did you know that object lessons could totally help me? I am so going to use some of those ideas, we taught this guy on Thursday and he did not understand our teaching at all, so we thought maybe we'd bring a primary book next time and teach him very very slowly. Well, we actually decided that with our progressing investigators we are going to meet three times a week for thirty minutes instead of having lessons that take forever because even I get bored!

It was kind of scary, after Sister Shallenberger left, I got Sister Pratt and had to explain everything about the program and our investigators, I am so afraid of forgetting someone or not doing everything possible. I was feeling like I wasn't a good enough missionary yesterday, probably because we have two churches to go to and it is such a waste of our day and then I wonder if I work too hard that I will get burned out like my last companion. Thanks so much for the prayers, I was praying super hard for a hard working companion and I actually got one! I am so surprised and she kept thanking me for being so willing to work so hard. Of course! That is what I am here to do! But, we didn't really have any investigators and so we have done tons of doors this past week. I am happy to report that we actually got a few appointments! We've done approximately ten hours of doors this week... Oh, man... But, my companion is so good about every rule, it's crazy ridiculous. And, I actually experienced a miracle that started on Tuesday, the day she was transferred in. I actually understand about 90% of the conversation around me and can respond and people understand the words that are coming out of my mouth! Of course it's not perfect, but it is way better than it was before. I actually call people on the phone too! I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but that is a really hard thing to do when you don't know the language!

I am so glad you like the shirt! I got it from H&M, which is a pretty popular store here, we have some in America, but they aren't as good. I hope you like the name tag, I wanted to get you something else, but I didn't know what... And, thanks for the package, I haven't recieved it yet, but I really am so grateful. It is interesting, because when I was in Russia no one sent me anything, but now serving a mission I have so much support. Everyone knows that serving a mission is the best thing in the world.

I did not watch the Relief Society Broadcast, they are showing it next Saturday and my companion and I are deciding what we should do, if we go, we have to take a train to Neubrandenberg which is about an hour and a half to get there, and it would be a big waste of our time. Sadly. But, if we did go I don't think it would be frowned upon, I just think we are going to stay in Greifswald because we really need to build up the program. Oh, and I had an interview with my mission president and of course as usual, he just starts jumping into what he wants to tell me and starts to cry about how good of a missionary I will become with Sister Pratt and how much this transfer is going to change my mission and my life. Then, he told me no one stays in their first area forever. I am pretty sure I am leaving Greifswald next transfer which will be November 3rd, right after my six month mark. Yep. It has been 5 months tomorrow. That is seriously crazy. Sister Thompson sounds a lot like President Eyrings new wife. She was going to marry this guy, then decided not to (after General Conference and claimed that every talk was about not getting married. Then listened to it later and she thought she was crazy!). So, she was single for a really long time, then finally married the guy and they got divorced and she was single again and worked for the General Authorities, met President Eyring and he asked her on a date and she said no! She assumed that since she had been divorced before he wouldn't have interest in her after that! Then, he asked her again (after some time because he was a little hurt) and after a while they got married. It was fun to hear that talk in the MTC.

Anyway, so we have had quite a few miracles this week. So, there is this guy named Bob who is from Togo, Africa and is always walking around town. And, in our mission we do this thing called Ballards and each missionary needs to talk to ten extra people a day outside of finding time (like when we are walking down the street, or going between apartments, etc) and when we make out an appointment that is especially good. That is how we get Three Ballards (named after Elder Ballard of course). So, the third is called a "Ballard's Plus" and the missionaries used to cheat the system and always make an appointment with Bob and then he would never meet them at the church. They always knew he would fall out on them so, at then end of the day when they needed their third Ballard they would go find him. Finally one of my favorite missionaries that I have gone on an exchange with like four times Sister Nelsen, decided to get his phone number and address so they had a couple of lessons and then he was hard to get a hold of. So, I met him and Sister Shallenberger and I taught him a third lesson and challenged him to baptism and he didn't understand why he needed to get baptized again. So, time passed by and he spoke on the phone with a french Sister and she said that he has a wonderful testimony of the Book of Mormon, we need to baptize him! Then, lots of time passed and we didn't see him, then on Thursday morning Sister Pratt and I were coming back from an appointment that fell out and there he was walking! So, we made an appointment with him and he called a few hours later and changed it. Then, we realized that it was the same time as english class! So, we were going to go by on him and see if we could change the appointment and I took a wierd way to get there because I forgot the map and we actually ran into him on the way! He was out walking again! So, we changed the appointment. Then, yesterday, we had an appointment with someone at the church and we were a little late due to a walk-in appointment during doors. And, there was Bob, again! So, he told us he actually had to work when we made our appointment so we had to change it again. Since our other appointment fell out, we invited Bob to come into the church with us and watch a short film called, "Finding Happiness." He said yes and we watched it, then testified a bit, then I talked to him about the picture of the Prophet and President Eyring and President Uchtdorf. Then, I invited him to come to General Conference with us on Sunday, but he has to work. But, he was really excited for the opportunity to hear from a living prophet, so he might come on Saturday! I was so so amazed and I hope that Bob sees that God keeps delivering him to us and that he will understand the need to get rebaptized into our church.

We also had an appointment with a guy named Serge today. Yes, on P-Day. And, he actually showed up! We talked to him mostly about the first lesson, he is a previous investigator and we talked about baptism and hopefully and we will speak more about it at our next appointment. He believes everything we do, so please pray that he will listen to our message and accept it!

Well, I wrote to you for way too long and still need to write Mom and Dad, but I love love love you!

Sister Turner