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