Well what should I say about this week. It kinda flew by.
Alergies have come in with a force. I was surprised how many people here got sick, but it came in force. Im used to getting it bad, and one day it got kinda serious, but I survived the day. A Lot of members have medicine, so we make a few more visits to them during the day, and it kinda is helping us build stronger relationships with them.
Our easter campain is kicking in gear and surprisingly more and more members are getting excited. We recieved 7 posters that we will put up around the city, and one for the Chapel.
The whole idea is to get people calling for 1 of 3 different movies. The Lamb of God, Finding Faith in Christ, and a Christmas one. Weve been having a little more success with references and finding new people, so im getting more and more excited each day. The only problem is that sometimes we have trouble getting the movie to work. Other than that, the campain is going very well. Our baptism for sunday got dropped, because the kids dad, whose a return missionary, turns out to be a huge flake. I guess we should have seen that coming, seeing that his son is 15 and still not baptised. We will keep working and see what happens in the end.
We are changing our tactics a little bit, approaching the final 2 weeks of this change. we are focusing on less active members, and young men. Hopefully, if all goes well, we will have 2 ordinations and 1 Baptism. We are going to keep on pushing, and I think they will leave us two alone here for at least one more change. I really like having Elder Knowles as my companion. Hes got a pretty strong work drive, so we get some stuff done.
Other than that, a pretty boring week. Ill go break my leg or something to be able to tell an awesome story next week.
Love you all, have an amazing week.
Con Amor, Elder Turley
Monday, March 30, 2009
3/23/2009
Week 1593
Hello everyone. Its been a good, long, tiring week, and we get our rest day today.
Ill start with some great news. We baptized a nine year old boy yesterday, Cristian.
All he wants to do with his life is serve a mission, so it will be fun to check back in a few years and see where hes at. We had a good long battle with his mom, but no one can deny the feelings of the Spirit and the help of the Lord. It was really good to see that happen, and we are going to start pushing on his mom these next few weeks.
The Work is picking up, and i think thats because Elder Knowles and I have a desire to work and to see some success. We have a few more baptisms scheduled for the next couple of weeks. Transfers is the 13th of April, so we will see what we can do up until that point. I really hope they let us both stay in Parras, because we are both determined to see some good stuff happen.
Cool note of the week! I gave a 17 minute talk yesterday. It felt amazing to just be able to look at everyone and talk, instead of just having to read every word from a piece of paper. People are starting to comment how my language is coming a long, and it feels great.
I had to go through some crappy couple of weeks, but now its all paying off. I can express myself, and im able to teach pretty clearly. I can really see the difference too, because people understand me and its so much more conversational, the lessons.
On saturday, we did our Super Sabado with all the young men and women of the ward. The turn out was way more than expected. In total there were 19 young men and women, not including the missionaries and the President of the Young Men. Our 8 hour adventure began. As Elders, we were kind of misinformed on what we were going to do. We were told we would be doing a hike through the Canyon of the Lima. People said we would get a little wet crossing some creeks and stuff, but they lied. Just to let everyone know first off, I did not swim. The people who planned it and went with us, totally underestimated the difficulty of what we had to do. I was a little shocked. For the boys at home, it would have been a fun challenge.
But with young men and women, it was a struggle. Elder Knowles and I, who have some experience in climbing and bouldering had to take the lead in every obstacle. After we succeded alone, we would have to drop down a rope or something so that everyone else could make it up. Ill be completely honest. It was the most fun ive had in mexico. It reminded me of the good ole days climbing in Malibu Creek State Park. Dont worry, we never did anything we couldnt have.
But Id really love to go back after the mission, to enjoy it fully. The picture is of all the young men with the two missionaries sitting in a burned down car. We flipped it over, and all tried to get in.
Thats all for this week.
Thanks for all the letters. You all really picked it up, with some encouraging from mom.
I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!
Con amor, Elder Turley
Hello everyone. Its been a good, long, tiring week, and we get our rest day today.
Ill start with some great news. We baptized a nine year old boy yesterday, Cristian.
All he wants to do with his life is serve a mission, so it will be fun to check back in a few years and see where hes at. We had a good long battle with his mom, but no one can deny the feelings of the Spirit and the help of the Lord. It was really good to see that happen, and we are going to start pushing on his mom these next few weeks.
The Work is picking up, and i think thats because Elder Knowles and I have a desire to work and to see some success. We have a few more baptisms scheduled for the next couple of weeks. Transfers is the 13th of April, so we will see what we can do up until that point. I really hope they let us both stay in Parras, because we are both determined to see some good stuff happen.
Cool note of the week! I gave a 17 minute talk yesterday. It felt amazing to just be able to look at everyone and talk, instead of just having to read every word from a piece of paper. People are starting to comment how my language is coming a long, and it feels great.
I had to go through some crappy couple of weeks, but now its all paying off. I can express myself, and im able to teach pretty clearly. I can really see the difference too, because people understand me and its so much more conversational, the lessons.
On saturday, we did our Super Sabado with all the young men and women of the ward. The turn out was way more than expected. In total there were 19 young men and women, not including the missionaries and the President of the Young Men. Our 8 hour adventure began. As Elders, we were kind of misinformed on what we were going to do. We were told we would be doing a hike through the Canyon of the Lima. People said we would get a little wet crossing some creeks and stuff, but they lied. Just to let everyone know first off, I did not swim. The people who planned it and went with us, totally underestimated the difficulty of what we had to do. I was a little shocked. For the boys at home, it would have been a fun challenge.
But with young men and women, it was a struggle. Elder Knowles and I, who have some experience in climbing and bouldering had to take the lead in every obstacle. After we succeded alone, we would have to drop down a rope or something so that everyone else could make it up. Ill be completely honest. It was the most fun ive had in mexico. It reminded me of the good ole days climbing in Malibu Creek State Park. Dont worry, we never did anything we couldnt have.
But Id really love to go back after the mission, to enjoy it fully. The picture is of all the young men with the two missionaries sitting in a burned down car. We flipped it over, and all tried to get in.
Thats all for this week.
Thanks for all the letters. You all really picked it up, with some encouraging from mom.
I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!
Con amor, Elder Turley
Thursday, March 19, 2009
3/16/2009
Another week gone by. Hmm… what can I say. The Lord is blessing us a lot this change. We are buckling down, and trying to focus on people, rather than teaching a bunch of new investigatores. Yesterday, we baptised a little boy. I hate to say it but it made me laugh, because Elder Knowles had to baptise him a little bit differently. The kid is afraid of water, so he didnt want to go backwards into the water. Instead, Elder Knowles had to do it forward. The boy didnt go down all the way, so Elder Knowles ended up shoving him really hard.
This week, we were a little down, because it seemed like someone just didnt want us to go back to Parras. Monday night, we headed in to San Pedro, to teach a couple investigatores. We stayed the night there, and had a pretty good District Meeting the next day. We headed back to Parras on the 1 30 bus. During the ride, however, the Zone Leaders called us to tell us that we had to go to Chavez, which is past San Pedro, because we had a meeting with the whole Zone that evening. We got to Parras, had one hour to shower and change, and then got on the 4 PM bus to Chavez. We got there at 6 30, with just enough time to make the meeting. That night, we returned again to San Pedro, unable to teach anyone. We were so excited too. The next day, we got back at around 12, but things just didnt go well, until about 3. From that point on, we started to get more and more excited. And the rest of the week went great.
A cool experience. We were doing our weekly fast, which is a goal in our district. It was 1 PM, 1 hour left before the breaking of the fast, and Elder Knowles and I were dead. We had gone running that morning all the way to the top of Santo Madero, and we werent able to do it with water. All we wanted to do was just go to Hermana Menas house and eat some food. We decided that we should at least try to knock one more door, and then we could end our fast. So we went walking towards this Sisters house, looking for an open door to knock on. Then randomly some guy yelled out at us. Usually I ignore it, but for some reason i turned around and contacted him. We ended up teaching him about the Restauration, and then teaching another guy that was with him. Im glad we decided to stay diligent, and the Lord blessed us for that.
We have so many stories like that this week and the week before, and I guess thats what ive learned so far in this change. Diligence.
Well its time for admonishing. Some serious slackers in the family havent written me for a while. I would love to know whats going on in their lives. Hopefully they get the Message. Happy Birthday on Sunday steph.
I love you all, have a great week!
Con amor, Elder Turley
This week, we were a little down, because it seemed like someone just didnt want us to go back to Parras. Monday night, we headed in to San Pedro, to teach a couple investigatores. We stayed the night there, and had a pretty good District Meeting the next day. We headed back to Parras on the 1 30 bus. During the ride, however, the Zone Leaders called us to tell us that we had to go to Chavez, which is past San Pedro, because we had a meeting with the whole Zone that evening. We got to Parras, had one hour to shower and change, and then got on the 4 PM bus to Chavez. We got there at 6 30, with just enough time to make the meeting. That night, we returned again to San Pedro, unable to teach anyone. We were so excited too. The next day, we got back at around 12, but things just didnt go well, until about 3. From that point on, we started to get more and more excited. And the rest of the week went great.
A cool experience. We were doing our weekly fast, which is a goal in our district. It was 1 PM, 1 hour left before the breaking of the fast, and Elder Knowles and I were dead. We had gone running that morning all the way to the top of Santo Madero, and we werent able to do it with water. All we wanted to do was just go to Hermana Menas house and eat some food. We decided that we should at least try to knock one more door, and then we could end our fast. So we went walking towards this Sisters house, looking for an open door to knock on. Then randomly some guy yelled out at us. Usually I ignore it, but for some reason i turned around and contacted him. We ended up teaching him about the Restauration, and then teaching another guy that was with him. Im glad we decided to stay diligent, and the Lord blessed us for that.
We have so many stories like that this week and the week before, and I guess thats what ive learned so far in this change. Diligence.
Well its time for admonishing. Some serious slackers in the family havent written me for a while. I would love to know whats going on in their lives. Hopefully they get the Message. Happy Birthday on Sunday steph.
I love you all, have a great week!
Con amor, Elder Turley
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Week of the Whites
3/9/2009
Well, another week gone by. This one seemed a Little longer for me, because I was the one who had to lead my companion around town. It’s a little bit different when your in charge of who we visit, and what we will do. Im not senior companion, but we are pretty much equals. I have 5 months as a missionary, as of yesterday, and hes got 6 months and one week. Sometimes I feel like I know Spanish better, but then, at other times, he really pulls it out and makes for a good lesson. We decided that we are going to be very obedient this transfer, and not to mention diligent. We got some really good numbers this week, thanks to the Lord and to some good old fashion hard work. Ive started trying something new. In Spanish its ganando confianza. Im starting to talk to people and get to know them. Im thinking this new strategy will help people to trust me, and then we can start sharing the gospel, and get them to open their hearts. We are also going to start use the Fuantos, a family of investigators that just cant be baptize because Jorge can get divorced with his exwife. Its complicated, but they know it all better than most members know it, and its really going to help us, because they can just relate to people so much better. I cant give any amazing stories, just plain old hard work. We are hoping to get a few baptisms in the next couple of weeks. If they go through ill be so happy. I can already see that we will have more success than elder De La Cruz and I had when we were together. I learned a lot from him, mostly what I shouldn’t do, but also what I can do to help win trust. Im really excited to be working right now, and I love living and serving in Parras. Keep writing, even though I get more and more boring every week. I swear ill have something good for you all next week.
Con amor, Elder Turley
Well, another week gone by. This one seemed a Little longer for me, because I was the one who had to lead my companion around town. It’s a little bit different when your in charge of who we visit, and what we will do. Im not senior companion, but we are pretty much equals. I have 5 months as a missionary, as of yesterday, and hes got 6 months and one week. Sometimes I feel like I know Spanish better, but then, at other times, he really pulls it out and makes for a good lesson. We decided that we are going to be very obedient this transfer, and not to mention diligent. We got some really good numbers this week, thanks to the Lord and to some good old fashion hard work. Ive started trying something new. In Spanish its ganando confianza. Im starting to talk to people and get to know them. Im thinking this new strategy will help people to trust me, and then we can start sharing the gospel, and get them to open their hearts. We are also going to start use the Fuantos, a family of investigators that just cant be baptize because Jorge can get divorced with his exwife. Its complicated, but they know it all better than most members know it, and its really going to help us, because they can just relate to people so much better. I cant give any amazing stories, just plain old hard work. We are hoping to get a few baptisms in the next couple of weeks. If they go through ill be so happy. I can already see that we will have more success than elder De La Cruz and I had when we were together. I learned a lot from him, mostly what I shouldn’t do, but also what I can do to help win trust. Im really excited to be working right now, and I love living and serving in Parras. Keep writing, even though I get more and more boring every week. I swear ill have something good for you all next week.
Con amor, Elder Turley
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