Miracles and other Blessings in the Heat

We wish you could all be here to enjoy the special experiences we are having.  Each week the missionaries send emails which include miracles, large and small, they see in their work.  Remember, there are 94 (numbers will be lower this week) missionaries in an area of maybe 20-25 million people.  As Elder Rasband called it, by "divine design" people are in places at the right time to connect with our missionaries.

One really special miracle happend for our team this week that I wanted to mention. We had been on street tracting for a long time to no avail and we were about ready to take a short breather and rest. But then, right before we did it, I saw a person who I thought was a boy at a crosswalk alone. I was really tired and wanted to take a break, but then I remembered the words of Elder Renlund and thought, "You never know who your next miracle is going to be these days." So I decided to just talk to one more person and talked to him. To make a long story short, she ended up being a person I had met over a year ago! We ended up getting her number and helped her connect to the Sisters and she came to church! The best part is that she came and said she wanted to keep coming to church weekly and really enjoyed it! It was also special because she had kept the namecard I had given her a year ago when I met her on the train! This experience showed me that no effort is wasted. It was really special to see a seed planted over a year ago begin to sprout! I am grateful for the Lord and His timing.

We had a baptism this week with a man with a dilemma.  Here's his back story.  

The last miracle I want to share is about the person who is going to be baptized this Sunday! So his boss caught him on the CCTV coming to our church and is probably going to kick him out because he doesn't like religion. Well, I was super sad because after sacrament meeting yesterday he told us that he will probably lose his job if he gets baptized this Sunday. Well, we didn't know what to say. My companion and I were worried because if he loses his job it will be hard for him to find a new one because he is 70 years old and he isn't that wealthy. As we were thinking he suddenly called and we quickly answered.  He told us that he will probably lose his job but that he still wants to go through with the baptism. He said that he knows that the Lord has brought him this far and if he follows Him that the Lord will pour out his blessings to him. We were so happy for him even amidst these super hard trials.  His faith in Jesus Christ and this church is so strong! He is ready and knows that this is the path he wants to follow. I know that for me and also for him, that as we have faith, the Lord will always answer our prayers and pour out his spirit to us. I am so thankful!

Here is the result:

We visit with pioneers, people willing to do hard things despite opposition.  They are such a powerful influence on our church members, our missionaries, and on Sister Turner and myself.

We wrapped up interviews this past week and wanted to make sure we got these pictures on the post this week.  The upcoming week will be so crazy, it's now or much later. 

These two elders got away too quickly so we had to ask them to send us one!

 We wanted to continue the 'Prom' theme, but the stairwell was too hot so we used the couches.

 

Further fulfilling our missionary purpose, our missionaries have been teaching, testifying, inviting, and praying with so many people.  Many are making sacred covenants.

The next three pictures are the same baptism today, but wanted to demonstrate all that's going on.  This illustrates the number of missionaries involved in teaching this young lady.  The young man in white is her older brother who was baptized just a few months ago.

This picture is for the two young ladies being baptized and the love between the girl and her brother.

 These two young ladies are 16 and 17 years old so this picture illustrates the support they get from other lovely young ladies at the ward they attend.

 Here's another picture that illustrates all those involved in changing a life.

Finally, we had a nice visit from a former sister missionary who departed last November.  She brought her family.  Unfortunately, they couldn't pick a cooler time to come, but we wanted to make sure we helped them have a real Korean experience.  It always includes food!

We continue to be in a very warm weather pattern which is expected to stay for some time.  We are doing all we can to encourage positive efforts to stay hydrated, avoid the direct sun, spend time doing a bit more record updating, studying, etc.  They are happy to follow the counsel.  This week will be the worst so far this year with heat indexes exceeding 115F.  It's Death Valley with humidity!

Thank you for you continued support and help for these special people.  We couldn't be happier!

Wow is it hot! Yet they just keep working! So many miracles.

The temperatures this week were hot accompanied by some strong humidity.  The temperatures were in the mid to high 90s with heat indexes of 110 degrees F.    Please know we encourage them to drink lots of water.  If you can add your sustaining influence in that matter, it will be greatly appreciated!

They play hard and they work hard.  They are working and seeing many miracles.  They play and relieve some of the stress.  A group of them got together to play soccer in the rain a few weeks ago.  The warm temperatures make the rain a welcome relief.

Then, they stack the wet shoes outside the house for drying and future use!  They're sad because the current temperatures are too high to do anything overly strenuous after about 8 AM

We started interviews two weeks ago and got through the majority of the areas.  We have only one zone remaining this next week and hope to get those pictures up quickly.

The first zone had one theme and then it changed at the next area with stairs to a 'prom' type picture.

 We blew it with the pictures below, I don't know what we were thinking being out front.  It's your missionaries you want to see...

 We finally figured it out here...

 Looks like the camera got away...

 Totally out of control...

 sorry for the problem with the lighting.

 Again?

These two escaped from interviews without getting a picture with us, but we wanted to include them as well. 

As you can tell we are not professionals nor are those we delegate the photography responsibilities to so not everything is perfect.  Any way you look at them, there's lots of light radiating from these fine young men and young women.  We have some couples here with us as well and we are so blessed to have them.  The remaining 18 or so will be on the next blog.

Fulfilling our purpose, we had several great baptismal services these past few weeks.  So many amazing things are happening!

We have great participation in the music area in the ones we were able to attend.

We did some training of our district leaders in the past two weeks, helping them better understand their role so they can be more successful.  We have fun with these guys.

Sister Turner showed she can be a missionary as well. She chatted with a man about why she's here and got his phone number and a chance for the missionaries to teach him.  The sister missionaries with her sent President Turner a note stating, "When Sister Turner does better work than we do!". You can see the sisters missionaries at each end excited for her.

We have a language program that helps missionaries be better in the language and to be better teachers.  Having completed and certified, we have a lunch with them.  We've had several of these luncheons, but we've been very remiss about pictures. We've been too busy cooking and eating!

We will include more of these every six weeks or so.  That's how often we do the evaluations.

Two of the zones had a special activity at a museum where they could make and fire ceramic cups.  They invited us to participate.  Several missionaries didn't attend because the cups take about a month to dry, fire, etc. and they didn't want to spend more money on shipping than the cost of the cup.  They are pretty wise young people.  We had a great time with them.

We were having a visitor from our Church building management group so Sister Turner helped do some basement cleaning with some very hard working, very smart elders.  We appreciate all they do.

Sister Turner and a few of our Sister Training Leaders and other missionaries will be participating in some training in September.  The initial meeting to discuss the training for the area resulted in this wonderful picture.

We caught sight of a couple on a date.  I'm rethinking our date nights...

Another couple of weeks have gone by in a blur (kind of like some of our pictures) and the next will also as we have so much to do to prepare for 17 wonderful missionaries leaving and six new ones coming.  So many tears of loss and profound gratitude for the small fraction of time we get with them now and an eternity of joy with them.  Thanks for preparing them! All our love, Roger and Terri Turner