Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Tuesday e-mail? (Jan. 18, 2011)

Hey everyone!
 
I know you were expecting an email yesterday, but the library was closed for MLK so we're emailing today. The picture I attached is actually from a few weeks ago, it's me and Elder Malmberg on the balcony of our apartment. Pretty nice view, really. This past week has been pretty good. Last Monday was had dinner with the Andrus'. Sister Andrus showed me the emails you sent to her. Mom, thanks for reminding them to ask me about my stupid human trick. They were pretty amazed. Bro. Andrus laughed harder than I'd ever seen him laugh. Thanks for talking with Bro. Price too. He and I went on splits this week and had a real good conversation about our respective families, missionary work and so on.
 
Recently the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 Apostles have been talking about the new mormon.org. If you haven't had the chance to check it out, I highly recommend it. Once a week the missionaries here are allowed an hour just to get familiar with the site so we can relate it to those whom we are teaching. I have good feelings about it, it's really a wonderful new tool to help spread the Gospel.
 
As far as teaching, we had two great lessons this week. One of which Elder Malmberg did all by himself without my help! He and Bro. Flores went to teach Stephanie about prophets and the restoration. They watched the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie. Stephanie loved it, and said she learned a lot about the Prophet Joseph Smith. We taught them again on Saturday to teach them about the importance of the Holy Ghost. As Stephanie and Jared are getting closer to baptism, we'll be meeting with them more frequently to help them prepare. Johnathon, the 13 year old son, still doesn't know what he thinks. He knows that he wants to be baptized, but doesn't know where. We asked him how he thought he could find out which church was right for him. He told us that he thought he would have to pray. We simply asked him, "Well, did you pray?" He said that he hadn't. We left the lesson with a strong Spirit in the room, and I know that Johnathon will be helped along the way of his spiritual journey. We're working really hard with Stephanie and her family. I have very good feelings about them. I hope Johnathon receives an answer, I would love to see that family be baptized together.
 
The second lesson this week I enjoyed was with Joe and Andrea. We tracted into them on Friday, and Andrea said that she had never actually read the Book of Mormon, but wanted to. We went by that evening with Bro. Kidwell from the ward to share a lesson with them. Joe, her husband, was very nice to us. He invited us in, offered us some water, and sat us in their living room. The two of them actually helped start a local branch of the non-denominational congregation that meets up up in Peoria. They love the Savior and enjoy talking about the church. I'll be honest, I was a little afraid that they were going to try and bash. It's happened down here a few times. Quite the opposite happened. They didn't want to argue at all. They asked very insightful questions and we had a wonderful lesson. I left them with a copy of the Book of Mormon, along with my testimony of its truthfulness. I invited them to read and to pray, and they said they would. I hope we can meet again with them sometime soon, such a nice family.
 
Elder Malmberg is doing great, he's getting much better each week. Every day he learns a few new scriptures to help him in his teaching. He's very comfortable when we're tracting and has overcome his fear of talking to strangers on the street. I find every opportunity I can to give him praise, because I know that I appreciated it when Elder Abel did the same to me. It's weird to me to think that this transfer is half over now. The time flies by so fast. I have a feeling that Elder Malmberg and I will be together for the next transfer at least, most trainers and trainees are. I'm just thankful that we get along. That's very important when trying to create a strong companionship.
 
Not a whole lot going on this week, but we're definitely keeping ourselves busy! Every day I learn something new and I try to become a little better in everything I do. Thank you all for the love and support, I hope you're doing well!
 
 
Much love,
Elder Eric James Turner
 
 

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