Hola Mi Querida familia!!!!
How is everyone doing!?! I hope you had such a great last week!! I hope and pray that someone wants to buy the house I have prayed and fasted for that to happen!! But DAD I think this is the very first time in my whole entire mission that you haven’t wrote me!! I was so sad not to see your letter in my in box and read your words for the very last time as a Hermana Missionera hopefully you are ok! Are you ok dad!?!! I love you so much. You probably have been really busy with the house, but its ok I can give you a hug in person next Tuesday! And for sure mom I will choose the right! LOL!!!
But Yes this is my very last letter as a full time missionary! I won’t be able to write again because Monday is changes and right after changes we have our last interviews with Presidente Galvez. Then they make a special dinner for us. Then I will sleep in the mission house and take my flight Tuesday morning!!
I don’t know what to say. There are so many emotions I am feeling! Eagerness to see my family but my heart is sad to leave this beautiful place which I have grown to love with all my heart! I love the people here. I never knew I could love a people as much as I love the people of Costa Rica!!! I feel in part that I am leaving my family! I can’t believe that in a week all this will be a memory that I will cherish for my whole life! I have learned so much and I have grown so much!! I am not the same person! I don’t want to be the same person!
I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father that I had this amazing opportunity to serve Him and represent His son Jesus Christ for the last year and a half! I can’t tell you all how much I love my Savior. I love Him with every fiber of my being! I know He lives. I know He died for us! I know that the Atonement is real. I have felt its healing powers in my life! I know that He has been here with me through every moment in my mission. Through the hard times and through the times of happiness! I know that the Atonement can heal all wounds that we might have! I know that my Savior loves us that is why He came down and gave up His life that we too might return to live with our Heavenly Father again. It is only through our Savior Jesus Christ that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father! I know He lived and experienced all that we could ever feel in this life and because of this He knows how to succor his people to help them over come the trails in this life! I have seen the Atonement change lives! I have seen it soften hearts and change peoples thoughts and actions!! I love my Savior. I know the He lived and died for me. I am so eternally indebted to Him! What a privilege it has been to wear His name over my heart and everyday testify of His love and mercy! Because it is through His mercy, after all that we can do, that we are saved! I know that the plan of salvation is perfect. That our loving Father in Heaven created the marvelous plan for us. That that perfect plan helps us know where we came from! What is our purpose and where we go after this life! It is our map to return to Heavenly Father again! I can’t express the Love that our Heavenly Father has for us! When we stumble and fall He is there with open arms to help us get up and to get back on the path! This gospel is perfect because our Savior is perfect. He is at the head of this church and that he leads and guides us through living Prophets! That we don’t have to be confused in this world, but that we know who we are and we know where we are going!
I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is another testament of our Savior Jesus Christ! I testify that every page testifies of him and His infinite Atonement! If we read this amazing inspired book of God we will come to know our Savior in such a personal way! I have come to truly know my Savior through reading the Book of Mormon and I have seen families change through this Book. Like the little family in Nicoya whose children were wild and running around and yelling but as soon as their parents started to read the Book of Mormon they quieted down walked over to their parents crawled upon their laps and sat there and listed to the wonderful words that help us become more like our Savior! The wonderful words that help us put off the natural man and become more like a child whose is humble and patient and long suffering! Every time I read this book I feel my Saviors love and I want to be better. I want to be more like Him!! I know the Book of Mormon is true with very fiber of my soul!! I love it!!!!!
I also testify that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God!!! I know that he did see God the Father and His son Jesus Christ! I wasn’t there in that sacred grove but I know without a shadow of a doubt that Joseph Smith truly did experience what he says. Through simple prayer where my loving Heavenly Father caressed my heart where I know that it is true! I am so grateful for Joseph Smith for his courage to follow Christ even through hardships and trials that I don’t think we even can comprehend! I am so grateful that he restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ here on the earth once again and that we have the priesthood power. The same power that our Lord and Savior has. That righteous men can use this sacred power and be the hands of God on the earth to bless the children of men! I am so thankful for this power that we can be forever families through this sacred power! I am thankful that I have a Father and Brothers that exercise their priesthood power to bless the life of my family!!
Once again I know that the Church is true! I know that Christ lives. That after three days he rose again breaking the bands of death. That we through His infinite sacrifice we can be made whole. That we can stand before God with clean hands and a Pure heart!! I know He lives! I saw the tomb and there is no rock covering the door but He is not there. Like the angel said to the women that came to the tomb “He is not here for He is risen!!!! What amazing knowledge that is! To know that Christ lives! That he loves us!! That he gave His life for us that we might be happy forever!!
I love this gospel with my whole heart!! Maybe my time as a full time missionary is coming to a close but I am a disciple of Christ forever. I have taken up His cross and I can never look back. I am his follower till the end! I am grateful that I can serve Him and continue to serve Him every day of my life. That I can teach my children to love Him and to serve Him! That my sons and hopefully my daughters can be representatives of Him one day as well! That they can bring more souls unto Him! Because there is no other feeling mas incredible than seeing a family enter into the waters of baptism I can describe the joy that you feel knowing that they have truly repented of their sins!! How incredible it will be to see them again in the Gloria Celestial. I just can’t wait for that day to see my families here in Costa Rica in the Gloria Celestial with me and my own family, that will be pure joy!!
I am so thankful for the trials that I have experienced in my mission! I know they were for my good to help mold me into the person that God wants me to become. President Galvez told us that if we don’t have trials in our life we should be worried because trials is the way for us to know that God has a lot of trust in us and that He knows that we can become better! If we don’t have trials He doesn’t trust us and it is better to be as we are! But I am thankful for my trials. The mission isn’t easy but it is so incredible!! I love my mission. My mission means the whole world to me. I have no regrets I worked hard. I was obedient and I know that I have done the very best that I could do! I know that God helped me every minute of my mission because this is His work and He knows where His chosen children are! I love trials because it makes me better and it makes me truly understand the Atonement in such a personal way! I have truly come to understand the Atonement more! I still don’t know everything or how it could have been physically possible to Atone for my sins but what I do know is that He did!! And I am forever grateful that He did!
I love you all so much!! Thank you for your Love and support everyday of my mission!!! Your letters have helped strengthen me and helped me to become Better!! I truly have read every single letter that you all have written me and they have helped me so much throughout my mission!! I hope you all know how truly blessed I am to have you all in my life!! I love you so much and I can’t wait to see you all next Tuesday!!!! Thank you once again for everything!!!! See you soon!!!
Love Always and Forever
Hermana Turnbaugh
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
11/9/2011
Hola mi familia!!!!
How is everyone doing!?! Thank you Brynnie and Kisscal for your letters. They mean so much to me. Thank you for giving me an update on your cute little familia‘s!!! It sounds like they are so so so big now!!! Kiss that is so awesome you ran in a half marathon. I am so proud of you that is a lot of work!!! Congrats Kiss!!! I hope and pray that these people that have looked at your home will just fall in love with the house. I pray every night that someone will buy the House!!! I know they will if we just put all our faith in Christ!!!
So I am in an area called Tres Rios (Three rivers) with another companion. Her name is Hermana Alverez. She is from Honduras and I am very happy with her!! I am glad that I am here and in a new area. There is a lot to do but it is good to have lot of work. Like dad said so I won’t get trunky! But I am not trunky yet! Sometimes I feel like I am new and that I have such a long time till I finish my mission!! LOL!! No but I am working hard and I am going to endure to the end!!! I am going to make this last week and a half the best in my mission! But yes! this area is cold. At night I sleep with two sheets, a comforter and a blanket with a jacket and socks. Exactly like you said mom, Heavenly Father is preparing me for the cold in Colorado! LOL!!! But my area is a ward and it has about 150 members that attend church. It is so weird to see that because I am used to 56 members every Sunday!
BUT GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: President called me last Friday and said that Marta and Manuel were going to be baptized on Saturday and they have asked if I could go to the baptism. And he said that I could go!!!!!! So Hermana Trejo and I went to Nicoya and we got to see the baptism of our little family!! Isn’t that awesome!!!! I almost cried because I was in the bathroom fixing my hair and just praying to my Heavenly Father. I so wish that I could go and see the baptism because at the first of my mission I promised myself that I would work so hard and baptize and family my last change and I was so sad when I had changes! But right after my prayer guess what? The phone rang and my companion answered and she said its president and he wants to talk to you! So he told me that I had permission to go to Nicoya!
It was so wonderful!! I know that my Heavenly Father knows me and knows my Heart. I was so grateful to Him that I was able to see that family enter into the waters of baptism! There is no other feeling better then when you see a family start to make covenants to the Lord and start to follow the path that leads to eternal life! And what was also amazing was that I was able to say goodbye to the members there in Nicoya! Which was so special! It was so good that I was able to go to say goodbye! Nicoya is so special to me!! I know that God loves me. I am sometimes in awe of how truly He loves me!! He knows me better than I know my self and he knows what I need even though it might not make sense in the moment. He know what I need to grow and to become better!!! I love Him so much!!!!
I am going to make this last week and a half the best week ever!!! Today we went to the temple as a zone. Tomorrow we have interviews with president and then next Wednesday I get to go again to the Temple with the group that’s going home with me. Our final time in the temple as full time missionaries. It will be very special! But there are a lot of things that are happening and that my time to work in the campo misional is so short! But I will work as hard as I can! And I will follow gramps advice and I will be up and doing!!!!
Well I love you all so much! Thank you for all your love and prayers and support always for me!! You don’t know how truly much it helps me! I love you Sigan Adelanto and we will see each other so soon!!!! I can’t wait!!
Love always and forever
Hermana Turnbaugh
How is everyone doing!?! Thank you Brynnie and Kisscal for your letters. They mean so much to me. Thank you for giving me an update on your cute little familia‘s!!! It sounds like they are so so so big now!!! Kiss that is so awesome you ran in a half marathon. I am so proud of you that is a lot of work!!! Congrats Kiss!!! I hope and pray that these people that have looked at your home will just fall in love with the house. I pray every night that someone will buy the House!!! I know they will if we just put all our faith in Christ!!!
So I am in an area called Tres Rios (Three rivers) with another companion. Her name is Hermana Alverez. She is from Honduras and I am very happy with her!! I am glad that I am here and in a new area. There is a lot to do but it is good to have lot of work. Like dad said so I won’t get trunky! But I am not trunky yet! Sometimes I feel like I am new and that I have such a long time till I finish my mission!! LOL!! No but I am working hard and I am going to endure to the end!!! I am going to make this last week and a half the best in my mission! But yes! this area is cold. At night I sleep with two sheets, a comforter and a blanket with a jacket and socks. Exactly like you said mom, Heavenly Father is preparing me for the cold in Colorado! LOL!!! But my area is a ward and it has about 150 members that attend church. It is so weird to see that because I am used to 56 members every Sunday!
BUT GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: President called me last Friday and said that Marta and Manuel were going to be baptized on Saturday and they have asked if I could go to the baptism. And he said that I could go!!!!!! So Hermana Trejo and I went to Nicoya and we got to see the baptism of our little family!! Isn’t that awesome!!!! I almost cried because I was in the bathroom fixing my hair and just praying to my Heavenly Father. I so wish that I could go and see the baptism because at the first of my mission I promised myself that I would work so hard and baptize and family my last change and I was so sad when I had changes! But right after my prayer guess what? The phone rang and my companion answered and she said its president and he wants to talk to you! So he told me that I had permission to go to Nicoya!
It was so wonderful!! I know that my Heavenly Father knows me and knows my Heart. I was so grateful to Him that I was able to see that family enter into the waters of baptism! There is no other feeling better then when you see a family start to make covenants to the Lord and start to follow the path that leads to eternal life! And what was also amazing was that I was able to say goodbye to the members there in Nicoya! Which was so special! It was so good that I was able to go to say goodbye! Nicoya is so special to me!! I know that God loves me. I am sometimes in awe of how truly He loves me!! He knows me better than I know my self and he knows what I need even though it might not make sense in the moment. He know what I need to grow and to become better!!! I love Him so much!!!!
I am going to make this last week and a half the best week ever!!! Today we went to the temple as a zone. Tomorrow we have interviews with president and then next Wednesday I get to go again to the Temple with the group that’s going home with me. Our final time in the temple as full time missionaries. It will be very special! But there are a lot of things that are happening and that my time to work in the campo misional is so short! But I will work as hard as I can! And I will follow gramps advice and I will be up and doing!!!!
Well I love you all so much! Thank you for all your love and prayers and support always for me!! You don’t know how truly much it helps me! I love you Sigan Adelanto and we will see each other so soon!!!! I can’t wait!!
Love always and forever
Hermana Turnbaugh
10/31/2011
Hola Mi Familia!!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How is everyone doing! I am so sad to hear about the house! I am so sorry that is so tough!! But stay positive and I know the Lord will bless you with another family that will want to buy the house!! I will pray so very hard! Like you said there is always a reason why! Everything happens for a reason! But lets just put all our faith in the Lord and I know that it will all be ok!!
Oh Brynnie thank you for sending the pictures of Faythie!!! She is so so so big and so beautiful!!!!!! She looks so much like you Brynnie!!! So thank you for sending me those pictures it made my entire day!!
So I have news for you all too!! So this weekend Presidente called and said that they are closing down Nicoya for the sisters and they will keep the elders in Nicoya because they need priesthood holders in the branch! So now me and my companion is in San Jose and we are not sure where we are going to be. But we are going to take an area of the elders here, but I don’t know what area! Isn’t that crazy? President said it’s not because you weren’t working hard or not having success but its just because not that many sisters are coming in and he was forced to shut down an area and because I am leaving I think. That is why he shut it down and why he didn’t just wait till changes, is because he had to do it before November because we need to pay for our house and cocinera and everything before the first of the Month! It was sad to leave, for one thing our family didn’t get baptized but hopefully this weekend but we won’t be there to see it which is sad! And also because the change was so fast that I didn’t have time to really say good bye to anyone which was really tough for me because I was there for such a long time! But Heavenly Father knows better than us and sometimes things don’t work out exactly the way we want it to but He know us and He knows what is best for us!! I know my new area will be great, even if it is for 3 weeks well less more like 2 and a half! So both of us had a week of surprises. Its hard but the thing is that God knows us and He knows what is best for us right?! And he doesn’t want us to just be good, but he wants us the be the best and I know this is why things happen like this to help us grow and see if we will still have faith in Him through all trials!!! I know that if we just look up, like the Prophet said, we will find strengthen that we didn’t even know we had!! I know that God knows us and our hearts and what we truly need! I know that He loves us and we go through hard tests, but it is to see our patience and love in Him!
So I will let you know what is happening to me next Monday!! And where I am! But I love you all and keep your heads up!! And I know that the Lord will bless you with a wonderful family this week I just know it!!!! I know that everything will workout just fine!! I heard this from a member, he said always after a storm there is always peace and right now we are all passing through a storm but always there is peace and I know that the Lord will give us peace!! I love you !Thank you for all your love and support!!!
What are you all going to do for Halloween! Is the kids going to go trick or treating!! Yes here they don’t do that at all. They think Halloween is bad! LOL!
I love you and miss you and I will see you all so soon!!!
Love always and forever
Hermana Turnbaugh
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How is everyone doing! I am so sad to hear about the house! I am so sorry that is so tough!! But stay positive and I know the Lord will bless you with another family that will want to buy the house!! I will pray so very hard! Like you said there is always a reason why! Everything happens for a reason! But lets just put all our faith in the Lord and I know that it will all be ok!!
Oh Brynnie thank you for sending the pictures of Faythie!!! She is so so so big and so beautiful!!!!!! She looks so much like you Brynnie!!! So thank you for sending me those pictures it made my entire day!!
So I have news for you all too!! So this weekend Presidente called and said that they are closing down Nicoya for the sisters and they will keep the elders in Nicoya because they need priesthood holders in the branch! So now me and my companion is in San Jose and we are not sure where we are going to be. But we are going to take an area of the elders here, but I don’t know what area! Isn’t that crazy? President said it’s not because you weren’t working hard or not having success but its just because not that many sisters are coming in and he was forced to shut down an area and because I am leaving I think. That is why he shut it down and why he didn’t just wait till changes, is because he had to do it before November because we need to pay for our house and cocinera and everything before the first of the Month! It was sad to leave, for one thing our family didn’t get baptized but hopefully this weekend but we won’t be there to see it which is sad! And also because the change was so fast that I didn’t have time to really say good bye to anyone which was really tough for me because I was there for such a long time! But Heavenly Father knows better than us and sometimes things don’t work out exactly the way we want it to but He know us and He knows what is best for us!! I know my new area will be great, even if it is for 3 weeks well less more like 2 and a half! So both of us had a week of surprises. Its hard but the thing is that God knows us and He knows what is best for us right?! And he doesn’t want us to just be good, but he wants us the be the best and I know this is why things happen like this to help us grow and see if we will still have faith in Him through all trials!!! I know that if we just look up, like the Prophet said, we will find strengthen that we didn’t even know we had!! I know that God knows us and our hearts and what we truly need! I know that He loves us and we go through hard tests, but it is to see our patience and love in Him!
So I will let you know what is happening to me next Monday!! And where I am! But I love you all and keep your heads up!! And I know that the Lord will bless you with a wonderful family this week I just know it!!!! I know that everything will workout just fine!! I heard this from a member, he said always after a storm there is always peace and right now we are all passing through a storm but always there is peace and I know that the Lord will give us peace!! I love you !Thank you for all your love and support!!!
What are you all going to do for Halloween! Is the kids going to go trick or treating!! Yes here they don’t do that at all. They think Halloween is bad! LOL!
I love you and miss you and I will see you all so soon!!!
Love always and forever
Hermana Turnbaugh
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
