Hemet, CA will be my new home for the next six weeks! It has a little bit of everything and some crazy things happen. We were driving down the road to church and my companion points out the window and says, "Oh, there are the zebras!" The what, now? The zebras. That roam a few acres of land by the church. I asked Sister Cozzens why there were zebras just hangin' out in the middle of the neighborhood and she shrugged and said, "It's Hemet."
And that's the explanation for really everything. Why are there people going through our dumpster?
"It's Hemet."
That's the third time we've heard sirens this evening. What's happening?
"It's Hemet."
Did we just teach the Restoration to a drug dealer?
"It's Hemet."
Whatever the situation, I've learned to accept the fact that I now live in Hemet. And I love it!
Some quick things about my everyday life now. My companion, Sister Cozzens, is the bee's knees. She's patient, but very willing to help me get out of my comfort zone. She is so kind and I love her and I wish there were more I could do for her! We live with another companionship (and the poor things are on bikes) consisting of Sister Da Silva and Sister Roberts. Sister Roberts and Sister Cozzens were companions at the MTC! But it makes sense that they'd see each other again, because there are only 18 English speaking sisters in this mission. We're bound to overlap at least once! My dear Sister Petersen and I are in the same zone, so we see each other each P-Day for zone activities. I love her.
My first full day in the mission was a really exciting one. We don't knock on doors in this mission, because it's super annoying to the people who answer the doors and they end up hating you for being annoying, you know? So we walk for an hour and a half a day. We don't have to do all our walking at once, but when we do walk, we have to talk to everyone we see. Sometimes that's a little difficult because when people see the missionaries, they sometimes start walking the other direction. But walking is how we found Charlie.
Charlie is homeless. He's had a tough life, but he's doing his best to make it better. We talked to him underneath the shade of an orange tree. He gave us a brief story of his life and what role God has played in it. He loves God so much, but believed that because of the mistakes he's made, God could never love him back. It was heartbreaking. We testified of the love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for him, and he broke down into tears. As we taught him about prophets and the restored gospel, he lit up. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was so excited to read it. Sister Cozzens and I carry around an Ensign so next time we see Charlie, we can give it to him.
We haven't seen Charlie in a few days, but I guess it's understandable. I pray I see him again.
That same day, as we were walking, we helped a woman corral her "wild bird." She wasn't interested in our message (we share the Because He Lives video. If you haven't seen it, look it up on youtube right now because it's amazing), but it was fun doing some service!
I've met so many amazing families here in Hemet. One family from the ward, the Wuehlers (pronounced Wheelers), are among my favorites. They have three little girls who love the strawberries! Their youngest can't pronounce the word "missionary," so she says "strawberry" instead. Call me Strawberry Turner :) Calling the Wuehlers to set up a dinner appointment was actually the first thing I ever did as a missionary in the field! I ended the phone call with "I love you!" because I'm a moron. But the Wuehler family reminds me of my own, so now when we see each other at church or around town, we give a quick, "I love you!"
My first Sunday was a crazy one. Marc is an investigator and his girlfriend, Becky, is a less active member who is very interested in returning. They came to church this Sunday which is truly a miracle. Marc has a really hard time concentrating on the talks with all the kids screaming, so he hasn't had a good time at church yet. This week wasn't any different, but the fact that he's willing to even show up shows how much faith he has. He's stellar and there are great things happening for him! Anyway, two primary teachers failed to show up, so guess who got to teach the Valient 10 class? This Sister! The kids are so sweet and willing to learn and I've made friends with all of them already. We're all best friends.
In other news, I chopped my hair off (again) and I lahve it! One of the members in the ward has been cutting hair for longer than I've been alive, so she cut basically all of our Sisters' hair AND fed us lunch. Superstar right there.
I love the work so much. I love being a missionary and bringing happiness to people's lives! And I love all of you <3
Until next week!
Sister Turner
Be a fountain. Not a drain.
And that's the explanation for really everything. Why are there people going through our dumpster?
"It's Hemet."
That's the third time we've heard sirens this evening. What's happening?
"It's Hemet."
Did we just teach the Restoration to a drug dealer?
"It's Hemet."
Whatever the situation, I've learned to accept the fact that I now live in Hemet. And I love it!
Some quick things about my everyday life now. My companion, Sister Cozzens, is the bee's knees. She's patient, but very willing to help me get out of my comfort zone. She is so kind and I love her and I wish there were more I could do for her! We live with another companionship (and the poor things are on bikes) consisting of Sister Da Silva and Sister Roberts. Sister Roberts and Sister Cozzens were companions at the MTC! But it makes sense that they'd see each other again, because there are only 18 English speaking sisters in this mission. We're bound to overlap at least once! My dear Sister Petersen and I are in the same zone, so we see each other each P-Day for zone activities. I love her.
My first full day in the mission was a really exciting one. We don't knock on doors in this mission, because it's super annoying to the people who answer the doors and they end up hating you for being annoying, you know? So we walk for an hour and a half a day. We don't have to do all our walking at once, but when we do walk, we have to talk to everyone we see. Sometimes that's a little difficult because when people see the missionaries, they sometimes start walking the other direction. But walking is how we found Charlie.
Charlie is homeless. He's had a tough life, but he's doing his best to make it better. We talked to him underneath the shade of an orange tree. He gave us a brief story of his life and what role God has played in it. He loves God so much, but believed that because of the mistakes he's made, God could never love him back. It was heartbreaking. We testified of the love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for him, and he broke down into tears. As we taught him about prophets and the restored gospel, he lit up. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was so excited to read it. Sister Cozzens and I carry around an Ensign so next time we see Charlie, we can give it to him.
We haven't seen Charlie in a few days, but I guess it's understandable. I pray I see him again.
That same day, as we were walking, we helped a woman corral her "wild bird." She wasn't interested in our message (we share the Because He Lives video. If you haven't seen it, look it up on youtube right now because it's amazing), but it was fun doing some service!
I've met so many amazing families here in Hemet. One family from the ward, the Wuehlers (pronounced Wheelers), are among my favorites. They have three little girls who love the strawberries! Their youngest can't pronounce the word "missionary," so she says "strawberry" instead. Call me Strawberry Turner :) Calling the Wuehlers to set up a dinner appointment was actually the first thing I ever did as a missionary in the field! I ended the phone call with "I love you!" because I'm a moron. But the Wuehler family reminds me of my own, so now when we see each other at church or around town, we give a quick, "I love you!"
My first Sunday was a crazy one. Marc is an investigator and his girlfriend, Becky, is a less active member who is very interested in returning. They came to church this Sunday which is truly a miracle. Marc has a really hard time concentrating on the talks with all the kids screaming, so he hasn't had a good time at church yet. This week wasn't any different, but the fact that he's willing to even show up shows how much faith he has. He's stellar and there are great things happening for him! Anyway, two primary teachers failed to show up, so guess who got to teach the Valient 10 class? This Sister! The kids are so sweet and willing to learn and I've made friends with all of them already. We're all best friends.
In other news, I chopped my hair off (again) and I lahve it! One of the members in the ward has been cutting hair for longer than I've been alive, so she cut basically all of our Sisters' hair AND fed us lunch. Superstar right there.
I love the work so much. I love being a missionary and bringing happiness to people's lives! And I love all of you <3
Until next week!
Sister Turner
Be a fountain. Not a drain.