Letters from Elder Turley: April 28-August 25

August 25, 2013

So this change has been kind of a big one. I left zone 18, Santa Elena, and now am in Zone 1, Central Dos. So basically I went to the poorest part of Guatemala to one of the richer parts. Well not really richer, but more commercial and a lot of businesses. I left the worse area in the country, but this is not really all that much better haha. We live in a 2 story house, we rent the top floor from a doctor that we see ocasionally. My companion is Elder P.,  and he has 17 months right now.

So my area was originally in the Central Mission, but with the new mission change it is in the East mission. So it is pretty cool. I have the central market, which is like the largest tourist spot here, besides probably tikal, so I can actually see quite a few gringos if I search haha. The last few times I went I always saw a couple people speaking english, with the proper accent and everything haha. So for this I am pretty excited. 

My first few days here were.. interesting. I bought a pen from a store basically for these things pencils paper pens all this sort of stuff and some guy grabbed my arm and asked me for my money, but I just ripped my hand out of his arm and walked out of the store. It was a little weird haha. It is kind of like the New York City of guatemala more or less. Our house doesnt leak and it actually pretty nice for Guatemala. So that is good I guess. 

August 19, 2013

Things went well this week. Nothing super special or crazy, but on Friday I was on divisions with the Zone leader and we had a cool experience. We found these investigators sitting in the street and we passed by and I said hey do you have time to talk to us and they said they were waiting for someone and I said ok then we can wait too and we all sat down on the ground outside and had a lesson. It was cool. Then slowly like one by one more people started listening to us and we ended up teaching a lesson to like 8 or 9 people. Pretty awesome haha.

Good news! I am being transferred! First change in my mission! I have no knowledge of anything that is happening or where I am going or anything. I wont know until wednesday so I will have to tell you guys about it next week. I am excited though! I am going to miss my ward and families but I am super excited for something new! I am going to take a lot of pictures with families so you guys can hopefully see them next week! 

I posted some pictures here I hope you enjoy them! I hope they work too.. I guess we will see haha. 

Sounds like everyone in the family is doing great! My letter will be longer next week for sure! It was just a pretty slow week this week and not a lot happened. 

Love you all! Miss you guys!

Elder Turley

August 12, 2013

Ok so if you want me to explain pictures just send them to me through here and I can take sometime explaining them. The house with the red floor was actually a service project we did. The pictures with tons of stuff in the room is the before and the pictures without is the after it took forever but it was pretty fun. Also we recieved a new investigator from the help we gave so that was cool too. 

And yes one of the pictures is with Pres and Sis Watts. They are the best I have interviews with them tomorrow! So we will see how that goes.

And also my mission call came in like 2 months or less so it isnt that weird if she goes a lot earlier than that haha. Dont lose faith! She needs to leave in like september so that we return on the exact same month! haha

Maybe 8 pictures was an understatement, but I just wanted some more haha. There is probably about 22 in there. Maybe some pictures from basketball and some older stuff. I dont know haha. I just want to look at more stuff from home. 

Thats good that jacob did that now and not later! It sounds like he had it easy! haha I remember being a little nervous to do it but not too nervous. It was over super fast anyways. 

M and his cousin E are progressing but super slow. It is frustrating sometimes because they tell us that they feel different in our church and they like it and they want to be baptised but always say not yet, because they arent prepared or something, but they are prepared and it is just frustrating sometimes. It also is sad because in our area people are not educated at all, we have to explain things over and over and over and they still dont understand. It is a little trying sometimes. I have learned to be patient with them though. It is just the civilization here.

Well I dont have much to say this week, other than I have 5 months in the field! Time has flown. Well love you all talk to you next week! 

Byeeeee

August 5, 2013

This week was pretty up and down again. 

We had a baptism set for the 10th of August this saturday, everything was perfect she told us she was ready and everything. So we go over there to check on her and have a quick lesson and the member that she was staying with said she was gone, so we said oh ok when is she going to come back, and then she said no like she is gone she moved out and is living with her parents on the other side of the country.. What??? Ya so that was super depressing, apparently she got in a fight with one of the people in the house she was staying and left and didnt say anything to anyone.. It was a bad night for us.. 

However, M the guy I was talking about last week he is super pilas (cool) We believe that he is going to accept a baptism date this week that we go. We are almost sure. He has been attending he has been reading and praying, he always has questions for us, we are almost positive that he will accept. So we are excited to see what happens with that. Also we know that if he accepts and is baptised, that also his cousin will get baptised too, because she is only holding back because of fear of what others will think, that is what she told us. Which is a little frustrating because the mormon people here are really respected. 

So those two are our focus for this week we will see how it goes. 

Love you all 

Keep doing awesome!

Con amor

Elder Turley 

July 29, 2013

Whats uppp!

Hmm a story about one of my investigators... We have this one, he is 19 years old and his name is M. He has been meeting with us with his cousin. Well he has been somewhat interested but he was never super involved because we were always meeting with their family and the kids are always roudy. So we asked him to meet with us alone, and he said sure. So we have been meeting with him alone and he is so awesome now, he told us he believes our message is true, but he wants to learn more before we put a baptism date with him. So he is going to keep learning with us and hopefully soon we can put a date. He also came to church with us for the first time! So that was awesome. 

To wash our clothes we actually go do it at a members house. We do everything and she doesnt make us pay her. So thats pretty good! It is different for every person however. It really depends in where you are. 

Today for P-day we just played Soccer, I am getting better! I had 3 goals today! haha. Eventually maybe I will be good at that sport haha. 

Some cool stories from this week.

So we were heading to a lesson with a less active family and we just see this guy just sleeping in the middle of the path, so we were like, well he is probably drunk.. He then started to pee his pants while sleeping literally right infront of us.. It was kind of gross haha. So we finish our lesson and we walk outside to see the same guy awake now, and walking super funny. Like a drunk person does. He could hardly take 2 steps without falling into the wall on his side. So next he starts running, maybe because he thought it was a good idea, and then just falls face first into the ground.. After a few minutes he got back up and started running again. The weirdest drunk person experience I have had so far.. haha

The other thing, was that in a certain barrio or neighborhood, or community however you want to call it. Well in this neighborhood these people have been having their water cut, the government or something wasnt giving them water like they do with everyone else. So they were going sometimes weeks without water in their houses. So literally like 2000 people just stood in the middle of the road and blocked both directions protesting for their water. This was causing a lot of accidents because they were up on a hill and they were hard to see. We saw like 5 different ambulences going down there to where they all were. It was a pretty crazy night haha. 

Well love you guys! Extra long letter this week! Hopefully all is well with the Fam!

Elder Turley

July 22, 2013

Hey Family!

This week has been filled with ups and downs. Once again we had the highest stats in the zone and I am very happy for that! Also we have a new fecha bautismal for another girl. Both are going to take place on the 10th of August. Woooo! Its going to be great, I hope that both happen. I am really excited for them. 

Things are going pretty good.

I am glad to hear everyone in the family is doing awesome and there are so many good things happening right now. It is really an awesome thing to hear about. 

Also, we have some real promising new investigators. I think the month of August will be a great one. Also it was my birthday and we had some fun and ate pizza so thats always good. 

Downs, I had fleas in one of my shirts and now my stomach and chest are filled with bites. Its reallyyyy itchy. Haha. Also today I dove to catch a frisbee during ultimate frisbee and I messed up my chin a little bit. So that was not fun either. I am ok though haha. I just have to walk around with a bandaid on my face for a while.. :)

Everything is going good with me, halfway through this new change, and after next week I will have 5 months in the mission! woo. I am in the teens 19 remaining haha! 

Well thanks for all the birthday wishes and I wish everyone well!

Con cariño 

Elder Turley

July 14, 2013

Hey everyboddyyyyy!

This week has been awesome! We picked up 8 new investigators this week and had 15 lessons with members present! Also we have a new baptism date. I can honestly say that obedience will bring blessings. It has been quite a week! 

A quick story for you guys that happened today. It was pretty weird..

I was walking from my house toward my area that I work in, and this van drives up to us and this guy says Lets go! In a terrible awful spanish accent.. So I looked at my companion and I said probablamente no.... which is probably not. Then he said es un jalon.. which means its a ride. So we got in and he took a big leap of courage and made me sit in the front seat with this guy. 

So we start driving and he in spanish is like you guys are missionaries! You are on a mission! And we lauged and said ya basically.. Then he says I am christian too! We said oh awesome where do you live? But he didnt answer our question he spent the next 10 minutes while driving singing us a song about Dios and Jesucristo and rambling a bunch of nonsense. 

Finally we reached the spot and I seriously thought that I was getting kidnapped.. but ya just an example of the crazy people in Guatemala... 

I am doing good here hope everyone at home is too!

Con Amor!

Elder Turley

July 8, 2013

Hey guys! 

Well another change down and I am happy to stay I am staying put here in Santa Elena for another change. I am happy I dont have to get my stuff and pack up and that I can continue to work with the people in my area. 

The mission is buzzing right now, the split is final and we have recieved more than 100 new missionaries in the mission. This is pretty exciting. 

As for my area it has been a pretty crazy week. We have been meeting with some of our families but they arent seeming to progress much. We also have been struggling to try and find some new investigators. Other than that all is well. I am happy that I am staying here for another change. 

As for the package I was super appreciative. I didnt know if I was going to be changed so I already made the cake with a member family but dont worry I got pictures and everything!  Thanks for everything in it! It was definitely awesome! 

We are doing great and it sounds like you all are too! 

Con amor 

Elder Turley

June 30, 2013

Hey Family! 

All is well here! I just got back from an awesome day at the Mercado Central I didnt buy anything but I got to see a lot of the cool places in the City. I went back to the Parque Central and took some pictures. Then I got to eat at wendys that is always a plus. So all in all pretty fun pday. Other than that pretty normal. I got your package today but havent had time to open it yet. Probably tonight. It has been such an awesome time so far in the mission. 

Changes happen next week so on Sunday I will know if I am leaving or staying. Pretty exciting stuff I cant wait to see what happens. I will finally be done with what was supposed to be a training stage. It really wasnt though haha.

Sounds like everyone is having an awesome time in Utah. I miss those family trips! I will be thinking about all of you. Tell Jacob to have fun at EFY! I made some lifelong friends there and I hope he does too!

Happy 20th Mom and Dad! Thats awesome! I am almost the same age as your marriage! I am turning 19 in like 3 weeks! Crazy to think about

All is well here. Just doing the work. I am doing well though. I have 4 months on the 6th of July. Weeewww 

Well not much more I can talk about today. So until next time! Sorry for the shortness!

June 24, 2013

Before you get too crazy, I dont think any of the new technological stuff is going to happen in our missions anytime soon. It does sound like a neat concept but really I dont think much is going to happen with that in my area. }

Sounds like everything is going awesome at home! I have some cool experiences from this week I want to share.

First we had an activity in the church for the jovenes or the young people in the wards. The elders in the area next to us invited some kids and then we invited some kids as well. Turns out however that these kids were in rival gangs... ya... they started yelling and getting ready to fight eachother but somehow we managed to calm them down and then they started playing soccer together with us and by the end they were having fun and laughing and shaking hands by the end of it. It was an awesome experience to see people come together when usually they would be killing eachother.

Also I gave 4 blessing this week in Spanish. For some reason they think the giant gringo guy that doesnt know any spanish is the one that they need to be blessed by. It was a super awesome experience for sure. 

Finally the broadcast. All of the gringos got to watch it together and it was awesome to see the churches focus on getting members involved, really you dont know how much it helps for us! Its called hermanamiento, or fellowshiping and it is really effective!

Well not much else for this week! It rains everyday and doest stop! From wet guatemala I say hello!

June 17, 2013

Hey everyone! This weeks been great! We are working again so that is good! 

Rain just follows us around everywhere we go! I am always prepared for it now! It wont catch me offguard again! haha and yes I am using my cover but its really big. Way to big for my bag. 

I have no problems with the food. I just have problems with the food that I eat. I really dont think its safe to be eating all the parts of a cow that I have... haha

I used US stamps in the CCM you can buy them from the people there. If you want to send outside of the states you need different ones. When you leave the CCM you dont use them anymore you just have the Zone Leaders do it for you so you dont need to buy stamps there. Make sure she only gets as many as she needs because extras are just a waste, they dont accept mail already with stamps when you send stuff. 

Some cool things this week:

We got visited by the President and his wife! I got to talk to the president during lunch for a good 20 minutes! It is always nice to see that he remembers you in a group of so many missionaries. I am for sure now in the Guatemala East mission. Which means I go out all the way basically to the beaches and Izabal and past that. The only thing though is there are no cool languages like Kekchi.. So Ill just have to settle for spanish haha. 

A hymnbook in english and spanish would be awesome if you could do it! Also a whiteboard would be super awesome too! Those items would be great! My next transfer will be in 2 weeks, I think the sunday after this sunday or the one after that is when I will find out if I am staying or going. I will definitely let you guys know! 

Love you all and hope you are doing well!

June 9, 2013

Things are going great this week!

I cant contact on the street or through knocking on doors only through references but i think it is more effective that way anyways. 

I am for sure in Guatemala East now. That is my new mission! It stinks that I cant see anything in the north of Guatemala but my mission extends all the way to the beaches past Izabal so thats cool!

I didnt have to pay anything to get the packages so its good! If its not too late I could use some more ties! I bought a few corte ones but I cant use them out here.

I am assigned to a Ward only one. Barrio Santa Elena. I have church at 10am and its pretty normal. We have sacrament and then we teach the gospel principles class and then have elders quorom. 

Things are going pretty good here.

Keep up the good work Mom and Dad! Ill try to gain some weight for you guys! ;) Love you all!

Have fun this week!

June 3, 2013

Hey everyone!

Things here are going good! I am really excited to get out of the training phase in about a month here.

Dont worry about the rain! It happens everyday but I am always prepared now.. I dont want to be that wet ever again.. My hymnbook got mold... :( haha crazy stuff.

Ya the temple is an awesome place! I wish I got to go more. We hardly ever do because of the distance from us.. :( Its ok though! You guys are doing the work and thats always good! 

It is always nice to see how much our family is growing! I cant even begin to think what everyone is gonna be like when I get back haha! I hope they remember me!

Health good, Apartment good, still leaking like a lot, the lady that makes us lunch says she is going to make us cow testicles.. ya.. I dont want to talk about it

Well love you guys! Hope everyone is doing awesome! 

Con Cariño! 

-Elder Turley

May 27, 2013

Haha the time really does go that fast! I am starting my 4th month now! As for the changes. Nothing for me I have the same comps and everything. I am staying here for atleast the next 6 weeks. We will see after that. 

The baptism didnt happen, her husband really wanted to make sure she was ready for something as big as baptism, he was right though, she wasnt ready even though we have finished teaching her, we are continuing to work with her but she still has a desire to be baptised. So that is good. 

Scout Camp! It seems like just yesterday I was going to Scout Camp! I hope they have an awesome time! Thats good that you are keeping busy! Gotta stay moving about while the boys are gone from the house haha.

For the ward bulletin:

I want to take this time to address those people leaving on missions and getting ready for the mission field. I cannot stress the importance of four things that will help you be successful in the field. 

First: Prayer

Start practicing praying atleast 5 times a day, it is a lot more in the field but it will help you get in the habit. Pray for every meal and morning and night.

Second: Scripture Study

Having a knowledge of the scriptures will help you solve the needs of your investigators. When they can relate their lives to scripture passages it really helps them to gain a knowledge of the gospels truth. 

Third: Mission Prep

Learning the lessons and studying the material in the Preach My Gospel is essential. You will use this book almost everyday in your mission during your study time. Learn the gospel and dont be afraid to teach it!

Fourth: Gospel Pamphlets

These pamphlets are where the majority of your teaching comes from. Normally the missionaries here dont bring the Preach My Gospel book with them. They only follow the major points of each lesson and use the Pamphlets to explain them. Practice teaching using the photos in these pamphlets and you will be very successful.

I hope this helps for those people preparing to serve a mission in the ward!  

Everyone seems to be doing awesome! I am glad that everyone is still doing fine! 

On another note! I got completely drenched the other day from a storm. It rains every day without fail here. It is way worse in the Peten I heard. I had to dry my clothes on the roof because they were soaked. Insane haha. And the night after that huge storm there was thousands of dead bugs in the street probably from the rain but it was nasty haha. 

Well I hope everyone continues doing well in their respective elements! I am doing pretty good here in Guatemala! Wish you all well!

May 19, 2013

Hey Familia! 

I am doing good this week! Nothing new or exciting except for this Saturday I have my second baptism! That will be a cool experience! Other than that.. not much new. Nothing exciting or awesome except that I got to have cow intestine soup this time... bleh

The missionary work in our ward is going to be insane. How many are out right now? and how many already have calls? Its going to be ridiculous this summer! haha

It is going to be weird coming back home and being able to go to the temple so close to home haha. It is pretty cool though! 

I am almost to mosiah now in the spanish scriptures. It takes me a long time because it is pretty difficult to read in Spanish but it is helping me immensly in my speaking and reading. I can pretty much understand the big picture of things now. Not every word inbetween though. 

I was just telling dad that it would be so weird that when Jacob leaves on his mission I will have almost 13 months in my mission! I only have 3 now though, it is flying though. My first changes are next week so I am interested to see if I will stay or go or what will happen. The most interesting changes will be the next ones though when the mission gets split. 

I dont know exactly what I am supposed to say for this Ward Bulletin but I will think about it this week and send you something next monday. Sorry! haha 

As for what I need, pictures, and some more food if you can, my companions tore through my stuff haha. I still have quite a bit but I am starting to get low so by the time the stuff gets to me it will be awesome. Haha

Well thats it for now! Gotta go!

May 13, 2013

Hey fam! 

I dont really have much to talk about because I just talked to you yesterday!

For my friends at home though, I had my first baptism with a young boy about 9 years old! He is super awesome! I got to lead the baptism in Spanish so I was a little nervous but I realized I knew a lot more than I thought I did. 

Now I have a second one for the end of this month and I am way excited for that also! Pretty cool stuff is happening here in Guatemala. 

For mom, Yes I take cold showers but I am pretty used to it now. It doesnt bother me too much. I had a cool experience today though, I got to go to the mission offices and see a lot of the people that were in the CCM with me again! I got to take a picture with my comp from the CCM! It was pretty cool. I probably wont get to see them ever again, which is insane to think about. 

Thanks for everything guys! I will have more to talk about next time I hope! I love you all! Con Quidado!

-Elder Turley

May 3, 2013

OKKKKKKKKKKK Sup fam!

Sorry, our zone had a temple trip so we had to change our pday from monday to tuesday. Which kind of stinks because we have no way of letting anyone know... Ya but it was super fun. I got to hear some awesome stories from some of the older guys and I have made pretty good friends with my zone leader. Its been real cool here. 

Thanks for the emails!

Before you get too worried and have a heart attack mom, we have water again! all is good haha. We werent going to move anyways, not having working water was much better than living somewhere without security. Trust me on that one haha. 

Not much more to talk about this week. My baptism is still on for the 11th. C is an awesome kid! He is so excited to be getting baptized. I will have my first one at the end of this week! Ill let you know how it goes when you call! Our second one is still on target for the 25th, but we need her to attend church with us. This is pretty difficult sometimes.. I know that with faith anything is possible though. 

I am starting to learn spanish pretty well. Practice literally does make perfect. I spend my study time in the morning reading the book of mormon in Spanish and writing down every word I dont know and translating it. It takes me about an hour to get through sometimes with the bigger chapters. It has helped me so much though. I find that when I take the time to study and work diligently, I have such a greater understanding and ability to speak for the rest of the day. Maybe I should of applied that to school. Heeheeeee.

I feel like I have grown up a lot out here. Its a whole different world around these parts haha. I am probably going to send you guys a memory card with like 100 pictures soon. I have a usb but it really isnt a great idea to carry my camera around and use it in the area I am in. People like to steal those types of things. I havent recieved your packages yet. I hope sometime this next week. I hope the people I sent letters too recieved them too. Casey did say he recieved one so that makes me a little less worried. 

Well what else... I had cow stomach this week. Not on my list of favorite foods that is for sure... 

Until next week!

-Elder Turley

April 28, 2013

I am currently teaching 3 families and 3 normal investigators. We have 2
dates for the 11th of May baptism and we are trying to get 2 of the
families with dates. One of the investigators we have isnt progressing
and we dont think she really has a desire but we are trying our
hardest anyways.

It is kind of difficult here because we can only teach through
references of members. It is too dangerous to knock on doors or go
contacting on the streets. We do our best though! The presidents are
aware of our living conditions and we are working to get water back in
our house. We have to shower and do laundry at a members home but the
members are awesome and always let us do stuff. We have drinking
water, we get it in big tubs because none of the water is drinkable
and we have a chapel inside our tracting zone so we use it to go to
the bathroom and what not.

We eat everyday at the same members house who always feed us lunch. We
have our own stuff for breakfast and somehow we always seem to get fed
when we are out tracting. I also really enjoy this bakery that is dirt
cheap. I can get like 3 giant breakfast items for Q5 it is awesome! It
is always sooo good too, dont worry I always stay away from the meats,
I only eat the breads and stuff. So far so good, so I am not worried
haha.

I miss basketball, NO ONE PLAYS IT IN THE FIELD... haha I am playing
soccer though, got my first goal today! I am incredibly terrible but I
think I am getting the hang of it. It is a weird sport.

That is great that Jessica is going to serve a mission. You never know
she could be coming to Guatemala City North with me :) I am kind of
sad though because odds are I will be in the Guatemala City East
mission which means I will never see any of the true jungle area that
I want to see so bad. Oh well, reguardless I am happy in the city. I
am doing good for now! I hope you guys are doing awesome at home as
well!

-Elder Turley