April 22, 2013

Sorry I didnt get to email this last week. Things have been kind of crazy. I have lots to tell you guys. Well lets just start with this last Tuesday. I left the CCM at around 7 am to my mission home. It was about 20 minutes away only because the North Mission was very close to where we were at the CCM. So I got there and went through a giant orientation and got to know where everything was and learned about each zone. There are 10 zones in total, 5 in the capital and 5 outside of it.

That night after the orientation I went to this zone called Alameda, my first day in the actual field. It was amazing. It is in Zone 18. So I started with a guy that had been out for 16 months already and he told me a lot about Guatemala ( he was a norte) It was pretty awesome. We went to teach some members and he made me start teaching in Spanish and just kind of sat back and watched. I didnt really understand anything they said they talked so fast and slurred words together haha. It was a huge eye opener. There are dogs EVERYWHERE. Haha, dogs literally just shower the streets. It is insane. They mostly arent too dangerous though so that is good. 

Well after we went teaching for about 4 hours we came back to the Zone Leaders house and ordered 16 pizzas for 18 people. It was awesome. We all ate pizza and talked and had fun that night. The next morning we left to a transfer meeting and found out where we were going to go. It was nice to see people I could actually talk to haha. I found out my area and straight away met my companions and went in a taxi to our house.

I am in the zone Esperanza, which is the opposite side of Zone 18. I am in the area called Santa Elena, it actually is a nicer area of Zone 18. We live in a giant gated community. It is huge. The Hermanas in our district only tract in there because it is super safe. There are guards everywhere! Also I have probably J-walked here more times in 1 week than I have my entire life before the mission. It is pretty insane haha. Not complaining though its pretty sweet. Nothing really super crazy has happened, so its pretty chill.

We live in a small house with no working water, so we have to go to a members house every morning to shower. We also have a giant leak in our roof so everytime it rains we have like a flood in the house. We are trying to find somewhere new to live but it is a difficult process here. 

I am excited to keep going, I am not really worried about where I am. Its going to be awesome. The first two days I was definitely a little culture shocked, the first night was the hardest. I am good now though. It is just amazing to see how little these people have but they are so happy in their lives. My companions are awesome.

Love you guys! Hope everyone is doing great!

April 16, 2013 - We didn't get a letter, but we got a picture!

April 8, 2013

I loved conference! It is so crazy to watch it in a room full of
missionaries, its awesome to see how everyone reacts when people say
certain things. I really enjoyed the Priesthood session the most,
there seemed to be a lot of talks on 3 topics. Peace in the home,
Building on a sure foundation, and the Power of Priesthood. My
favorite talks were two from Priesthood session, Tad R. Callister or
Calister I cant remember and then President Uchtdorf's two talks as
well. It has been a great
last two weeks. It is insane that a week from now I will be leaving to
the actual field. Even though my Spanish isnt amazing, I feel
confident that I can do well when I get to the field. Not much new
stuff happened this week, it was a very mellow week because of
conference. I actually did my first solo español day with no English,
it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I have been doing that
with the BoM me and a close friend I have made here would read the
verses in Spanish and try to translate them into English. It gets
tough sometimes but I have had pretty good success in getting the
meaning of the scriptures. I hope everything is going good up there! I
cant say I miss the heat, the weather is pretty nice here. In about
half a month the rainy season is going to start though, so I am gonna
be wet all the time. Im excited, but also I think im going to start
not liking the rain.. I just today was able to buy envelopes so I will
be sending out the letters I have been saving, so letters will go out tonight. From what I have seen they take
about 2-3 weeks to get to people. Well not much more to talk about,
this week was basically just all Spanish classes and Conference. I did
get to watch it in English by the way. Oh ya and we got a group of 40
more nortes, so now there are a total of around 90 norte americanos in
the CCM with 100 or so latinos. It is crazy. Its weird to be in the
top group when it seems like just yesterday I was arriving here.  It is crazy green
and awesome here, we took a trip into town and the buildings look old
and rugged outside, but the insides are insane! I was not expecting
it. There are also many buildings with just carvings in the sides that
must have taken ages. It was really cool. I got pictures of
everything, maybe I can just send a memory card and then have you guys
send it back really quickly after downloading. Who knows, I will
figure it out someway. Well Love you guys and miss you. I hope you are
having an awesome time! See ya next week! (hopefully)

April 2, 2013

I am excited to get your emails every Tuesday! It is a
strange feeling to not be in contact with anyone but my fellow
missionaries all week! I had a great Easter Sunday! The president of
the CCM gave us eggs filled with candy with our dinner so it was a
little like home haha. Easter is a big deal in Guatemala they have it
for a week straight and there are many festivities and events because
of it.  I dont have to wear my suitjacket everyday. The only time I
wear it is when I go to the temple, when I go to devotionals, or other
such meetings. It isnt too bad, but it does get reallllyyyyy hot here.
I can stick it out though I have that Arizona blood. :)
I learned a little more about my mission
though. Apparently the North mission is just splitting in half so Ill
be assigned to either Guatemala City East or Guatemala Coban. I am
excited to see. I also learned that if I tell my mission president I
am interested in learning qechi that I will have a large chance of
going to the qechi speaking area in the North missions.
Today for p-day we got to go to the central market! It was insane
there was hundreds of thousands of items for sale in a underground
structure. It wasnt made for tall people though I kept running into
bags and things hanging from the ceiling. I tower over a lot of the
Guatemalans and they love to watch me jump, the other day some of the
shorter ones were asking me to jump over them. It was really funny. I
bought some handmade ties from the stores there. I really like them
the fabric is like what you would find in a mexican poncho jacket in
Arizona. Things are going muy bien down here! You can probably send
packages to the mission home now, the letters ive been getting have
been about 3 weeks late.  Make sure you always
put Elder Jared Peter Turley when sending stuff and the postal service
here will just send it through without much inspection. I
have memorized the first vision, the missionary objective, and the
first 5 verses of DyC4 in Espanol. I believe I am progressing rather
quickly! I am so excited for my last two weeks here. Time is starting
to fly! It will be my one month mark this week! I love you all hope
you are doing well. Hasta Luego!