Hey everyone!
News from the front--it's cold. I think winter has hit the valley.
Right now it's in the mid-40's and raining. At nights it gets into the
low-30's and here and there it can get below freezing. In the day it'll
sit in the mid/low-60's, which is just perfect. Come sundown we bust out
the sweaters and get to work. Things with Elder Wood are awesome. We do
everything together, such as shopping for septic tanks and
old-fashioned Christmas photos (as seen in this week's photos). Really
though, I love the man. The two of us have said that we want to
completely eliminate tracting for our work. We spent the whole week
working with the members of the ward. Subsequently, we reported straight
0's in our call-in, except the one lesson we had with a less active
family. It may look discouraging on paper, but we hit the wards hard.
We've set a few more family mission plans this week, and Bishop McLaws
even showed us in PEC the new ward mission plan for 2012. I. Love. It.
It's beautiful. Bishop came up to us at the start of sacrament meeting
and said with a smile on his face, "Is that a ward mission plan, or
what?" It's so specific with names, goals, everything. By the end of
2012, I'd love to see where the West Point ward will be.
A few things have hit our teaching pool this week. Remember Tom?
Tom was the man who we spoke to that has the autistic son that we met
just before Halloween. For weeks, Tom was telling Bishop Smith about how
he was going to come to church, and he came once. He also kept asking
how he could get involved with volunteering in the ward, and he helped
with the stake youth service day. We tried setting appointments.
Nothing. Rumor was going around that he and his wife were having
arguments about the church. We heard it from Bishop, but the story
didn't match up with what we were told by his wife. The week before, his
wife let us into the home, gave us food and water, and even gave us
Tom's cell phone number to get a hold of him. Just the other day we went
to their fellowshippers' home and asked what was going on. They told us
the same story as Bishop, that he wasn't going to help anymore, and
that he'd repay anything the church had done to help his family. I was
crushed. We're not giving up though. Tonight we're going over and we're
going to try and get the honest truth. I love them too much to just
quit, I have to hear it from them.
The other night Elder Wood and I had a little extra time before we
had to be home. It was that awkward time at night where nobody wants
their door knocked on because it's dark, but we still have time to
work--"the bewitching hour" as I jokingly call it. It's just confusing
to know what to do in that time when your appointments fall through, and
tracting just irritates people. We parked the truck in Old Surprise/El
Mirage (remember what happened Easter night?) and we walked the streets.
There weren't as many people outside because it was pretty cold. At one
of the last houses on a road before it turned into fields was a woman
named Alicia. She was carrying groceries inside and we offered to help.
She was a little weirded out that we were out "so late." We began to
speak with her about what we do as missionaries. We offered her a copy
of the Book of Mormon, and she hesitated. She asked, "How much?" We said
it was free, her gift from us. She smiled and said that she never has a
Bible growing up, so she was very grateful. We explained the difference
between the Bible and the Book of Mormon and we'll be going by this
weekend to give her a Bible too. Alicia was pretty excited and she told
us she was going to go inside and start reading right away. It may not
be the greatest story in the world, but it was a good experience for all
of us on that cold Saturday night.
Mom and dad thank you so much for the little Christmas box. I love
the music and the pictures. I look through them frequently and I show
them to the Elders in the house. I laughed so hard when I saw that
picture of Ed laying on the blanket I was trying to make. There were two
pictures of the front yard and the street, and I put them side by side
to make it a mini-panorama. It made me so happy to see the ginko, the
house, dad's truck, Fetrow's, Joe's and even down on to the 300-block of
Delafield. I love it so much.
With the few things I had been asking for
for Christmas, there's one more thing I would like. It's a little bit
different, but please try it. I want mom dad and sis to go to the temple
to do baptisms together as a family. Go some early morning before
school or some afternoon, whenever, just some time before Christmas is
all I ask. After you're done, take a piece of paper and right down your
thoughts and feelings about what you did. Write about how the day was.
How did you feel before, and how did you feel after going to the temple?
Before you go home, please take a picture the three of you outside the
temple with the temple in the background, church clothes and everything,
and email it all to me. The mission is going to the Mesa Temple
this week and I couldn't be more excited. I want this Christmas to be a
time where it'll be fun to call home, but even more joyous to be able to
remember covenants and to be able to feel the Spirit in the House of
the Lord. I hope this isn't too much more to ask this year for
Christmas, but it would mean a lot to me. I know it will mean a lot for
you too. I'll follow-up with you when I call home on Christmas day. I
love you all, take care and be good.
Much love,
Elder Eric James Turner
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| Uhh..... |
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| Companionship Christmas Pic |
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| The joy of Christmas! |
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