Transfered!

Hello, I am an a new area called Petropolis. It is amazing area, I am in the mountains, so it is a lot cooler, but I have to walk up stairs to my apartment, so my legs are always tired. We have a washing machine in our house. We eat alot of rice and beans, and when I say alot, I meant everyday!. My favorite so far is the stroganoff. It is alot different than n the states. I don't know why, but they use different spices and it is made with chicken not beef. There is also a dessert here called acai, it is so gooooooooooood, it is by far my favorite thing to eat here, acai is a plant in the Amazons that they make this shake, really good. I have started a journal, one that I write when I feel the spirit throughout the day. I have this mini notebook and when I have a feeling I write it down and than at night I transfer it to the journal that Grandma Jeannie and Grandpa Dee gave me. I read it the other day, I couldn't believe how many things I already forgotten! I am so thankful for my journal, it is capturing all the memories and feelings I am having here on the my mission. Love, Elder Turner

First Baptism!

Hello!
It has been raining alot here, I bought an umbrella or in Portuguese an quardachuva. I am not getting too wet here, it's kind of funny because the umbrella only keeps my upper body dry, my legs and feet are another story. Sunday November 30th I had my first baptism!, it was amazing. His name is Daniel Braga dos Santos, 19 years old and is so cool. The first time we taught him I knew he would be baptized, he was full of the spirit when he came out of the water. We are trying to get the rest of the family baptized but it is kind of hard. His dad won't go to church, his mom won't read, his sister is starting to come around but she has alot of doubts about the church and his brother is having problems with h ow only through being baptized in the church of Jesus Christ can you be saved. Some of my favorite scriptures:3 Nephi 27:14, I use this scripture almost everytime I talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ. Moroni 9:6, this scripture talks about how we need to always work diligently especially in these last days. Alma 60:36 When Captain Moroni writes the leader of his enemies, saying that he doesn't glorify in power but glorifies in his God. I finished reading Jesus is the Christ and I am starting to read Our Search for Happiness by Russel Ballard. It's a really good book for an investigator. Well that is about all, Love Elder Turner

3 Months!

Hello Family,
Well another week in Rio, I can't believe how fast time is going here. I have been here for almost 3 months! No baptism, but still teaching people. On Sunday, the primary sang and talked about what they learned this year. Christmas is almost here, and people are starting to decorate already. I am starting to get a weird tan line," American Missionary" at the neck and arms, it looks funny. I had my first zone conference this week in the area called Jacarapagua ( yeah, it is hard to say). It was amazing, me and Elder Kzeczik practiced how to invite people to read the Book of Mormon in front of the whole zone! The chapel I was at was two stories, one for the Chapel and gym and the upstairs for all the classrooms. Elder Pili already got Dengue, the mosquito bite that no one wants. He is doing good so far but he is still in the early stages. In the conference President Bezerra talked about how we are not suppose to be drinking coke and asked us not to drink it, I love coke! We had lunch here and it was pizza, real pizza!. I think there was like 25 boxes and it was gone in like 30 minutes! I ate 13 slices... I am starting to gain a little weight, up to 175. That's about all here..lover Elder Turner

Brazilian money








November news

Hey Family,
Things are great here in Maduriera. I would take pictures but my trainer said that my camera would probably disappear quickly, but I sneaked one picture of a hill that I had to walk up. It was dreadful and the person we were going to see wasn't there! The weather hasn't been hot for a while, but I am told the days are coming where it will be 115. It has actually been raining this past week. One day the wind was blowing so hard I saw people's umbrellas snapping and break. One day, I think it was Wednesday last week something funny happened. There were these kids behind this gate when we were knocking on someones door. They first asked where Elder Kezcizik was from. He said he was Brazilian. Then they looked at me and they asked if I was Mexican, I said no and then they asked if I was German, I tried not to laugh when I told them I was American. They didn't believe me at first so I spoke some English to them. I had the greatest experience this week. On October 30th we had a mission conference and guess who spoke? It was Elder Richard G. Scott. It was an amazing experience, all the missionaries got to shake his hand, I said I would never wash my hand again! He left us with a challenge; to write down everything we hear, see and feel. He specified mostly on what we feel, what we feel are personal revelations given to us through the spirit. He told us that your knowledge about the Savior will grow. I have been writing since he gave us the challenge and my knowledge has grown just like he said. I want to challenge every one to carry a journal, notebook with you everywhere you go, because you never know when the Lord will speak to you through your heart. It was an amazing experience to meet and be taught by an apostle of God. The language is going...alright. I can understand somethings ( they speak very fast) but it is really hard for me to speak to the people right now, patience... I've had opportunities to share spiritual thoughts and to teach short lessons to members. Last lesson I taught on how we always need to prepare and I shared with them the story about the "soldier who stood by" (Alma 44:12-14) It was amazing, I love that story. I also gave a spiritual thought in our district meeting. I spoke on how we need to serve with love and I used the scripture 1 Cor 13:2. I love giving spiritual thoughts and teaching the members. Well I love you all and miss you always '
Love, your son and brother Elder Turner
P.S. I saw my first Brazilian monkey, sorry no picture. It was sitting on the wall of an investigator's home.

Rain, Rain, and more Rain.....

Hello,
I have never seen so much rain, I have been wet for almost a full week! It hasn't rained for the last two days, so we are drying out, it is getting hot here and muggy. The food is amazing here, we have lunch at a members house every day except for our p-day. and they are great cooks. My companion and I get along great, he is trying to learn English and me Portuguese. He says that I speak like someone who has been here for 6 months, I don't believe him. I am learning a lot faster, but I am far from being able to communicate well with the people. they have a weird accent here, it is really hard to understand them sometimes. They keep saying shhhh on their words.

Love you and miss you always, thanks for everything you do for me

Love, Elder Turner

GO FLAMENGOS!!!!!!!(soccer team here)

Sugar Loaf Mountian, Guanabara Bay

Oi Mae e Pai
Como vai minha famiia? Hoje e meu primeriro dia em Ri de Janeiro. Eu estau a casa de Presidente de Missao. Isto e marvalhoso aqui em Rio. Ocuidade e muito bonito. Eu esperanso a voces poderia estar aqui. Eu amo a voces. Love Elder Turner

Don't tell mom

Dear Dad, futebol and soccer has started here and people are always watching it. We have taught alot of lessons but no one has a specific date to be baptized. We have asked but they keep saying maybe or not yet. But you never know. I have had some interesting experiences here, don't let mom read this part.... (too late) we were walking to this media referral on this street called tatui, bad street to go on at night. It was around 3:00 p.m. and about half way we started hearing gun shots in the distance. As we got closer to the street we were going to, a cop car came around the corner, stopped about 20 feet past us and they all got out with their machine guns...yes machine guns and started doing the swat search. We then heard some more gun shots, 3 more cop cars, full of cops passed on the street that we were heading towards. All in all afterwards we decided not to go to that reference referral again. Well, I love you and miss you always . Love Elder Turner

Goodbye to Sao Paulo, Hello Madureira

I am in my first area called Madureira, it is in the middle of the mission. My first companion is Brazilian, his name is Elder Kezicik, yeah it is a hard name to pronounce. I love it here, it like twice as hot than Sao Paulo but I haven't gotten a sunburn yet but I got my first blister yesterday, one of many to come! I have had the opportunity of meeting some of the members and teaching some people the first and second lesson. Right now we have two people with a baptism date, hopefully it goes through. Their names are Maria and Ligia, both girls. We are also teaching a part member family, Luis Marcos is the father and a member, Oliver, Ronny, Donald, Steve, and I can't remember the others...they are all over eight years old. Yesterday I had the opportunity of teaching the members a lesson about how members are missionaries and how missionaries are angel. It was great, I felt the spirit so strongly. Love and miss you Elder Turner

Elder Turner and roommates



Every thing is great here in Sao Paulo. General Conference was really good. My favorite speaker was Jeffrey Holland when he spoke about angels. That struck me the hardest. It brought to my mind all the angels in my life. First was you mom, than you dad, then the rest of the family. The list kept going as I thought about it. This whole Conference I felt was directed towards missionary work in one way or another. The language is coming along, I wish they could just put a chip in my brain and I would know Portuguese instantly. Thank you for all you have done for me, I love you with all my heart. Love, Elder Turner Posted by Picasa

Street Contact, awesome feeling

Oy mai tudo bom? Everything is going great here, the new roommates are cool, Elder Ogrizio, likes to work out a lot, so I work out with him every night. The language is starting to come along, I can do the first lesson in Portuguese or roughly at least. We went proselytin on Friday and it was awesome, it was a great experience. We were walking down the street and we saw this homeless man. We left him with a card to call for a free Book of Mormon. When we started to walk away I h ad this feeling that I should go back and give him one of the Book of Mormons I had in my hand. So we went back and I gave him the book, we opened it to Moroni 10:3-5 and asked him to read it. Later that day when we were walking we saw him reading it! It was such a awesome feeling. Elder Turner

Having a blast

I have been having a blast down here. I had dois amigos de domitorios that were Brasis and they were awesome. There names were Elder De Souza and Elder De Maria. They left this morning but were our roommates for three weeks so we had some good times. My district is fantastic we are from all over. Eu aprendo portugues e eu starting faiar muito bem. In other words I am learning Portuguese and I am starting to speak fairly well. I have my street contact down now and this week we are working on the 2nd lesson. The people here are so great, the Brasies are always nice and just cheerful all the time. I get to go proselyting next week and I am both nervous and excited. I just need to keep studying the gospel and the language and the Lord will help out on the rest. Chi ama calas sempre. Elder Turner

Long flight to Brazil

Hello, I am doing great, I was a little sick in the bginning, had some jet lag going on. It is great here. The people are wonderful. I am starting to learn Portuguese and so far so good. I have five roommates, one being Elder Pili and my companion is Elder Glade from Bountiful, Utah. I hope to write more but until then, I love you and miss you..Love Elder Turner

Elder Turner saying his goodbyes

Stephen video taping Marc April 22, 2008

Marc opening mission call April 22, 2008