November 24, 2014

Hello family --

 

How are y'all doing? 

 

This week went by super, super quickly, mainly because Monday was p-day, then Tuesday we had Zone Meeting/Interviews ... So by the time there was any time left for missionary work it was Wednesday and it went by so so quickly.  It's crazy to think that November is almost gone and that December is almost here.

 

But this week was really cool and we had a lot going for us. Anna is getting close to her date for baptism, so this week, we spent a lot of our time preparing her to get baptized this upcoming Saturday, and that made things going super quickly.  

 

Anna is super smart and super excited/ready to be baptized.  It is really incredible to see her progression because honestly, when I first started visiting her, it seemed like a long shot.  I was basically teaching her to help her feel happy.  There have been a lot of Elders before me who had tried to help her get to church, but it was pretty impossible for her.  However, at the beginning of this month, I found her and asked her if she wanted to be baptized.  Then I testified to her, that if we pray and our desires are pure, that God will do the rest.  And now it is really a miracle.  Anna's Grandmother, who has been inactive for the past year, is now coming to church and she is bringing Anna with her.  Yesterday after church, I reminded Anna that her date to be baptized is this Saturday, and I asked if she was sure she wanted to get baptized.  Anna responded with a firm "yes" with a crazy ton of happiness in her eyes. So this week we have a baptism, and it was a long shot but it is really all in the time of the Lord.  I was in this area at this time to help Anna grow and to hopefully be able to bring her into the baptismal covenant which she so wants.

 

It is honestly people like Anna that make it all worth it to leave my family for two years and serve a mission, and make it fun to be a missionary.  I am not gonna lie, at times it is kind of hard to be a missionary because as you all know, my priorities before my mission were pretty much Taco Bell and video games.  But now I can see that I've changed a lot and that I have changed my priorities a ton.  Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't love Taco Bell or video games anymore, but right now -- at this point in my life -- I am content to be a missionary.

 

Another cool thing that happened this Sunday was that we had another investigator come to church named Daminga -- she and her daughter came -- her daughter is menos activo (less active).  Daminga has always had problems with her work and getting time off, but today she came and it was super cool. :)   

 

This week is gonna go by super quickly because we have a lot to look forward to, like the baptism,  and all of that fun stuff. :)

Anyway, I love you, and I am super stoked to have y'all in my family.  You are all really important to me, and I know that I chose you guys because y'all are really cool "peeps" and have all affected my life in so many ways.  I appreciate y'all so much.  You are the best and I am so grateful for all of you. :)

Love Elder Turley 

1. Who are your investigators? Right now we have Anna Aquino -- she is about to get baptized.  We are also working with Pablina.

2. What was your most awesome moment of the week? When we asked Anna if she wanted to get baptized this next Saturday and she said "yes, without a doubt."  It was super awesome.

3.  What was the funniest moment you had this week? When Elder Singer used the wrong sock on the wrong foot. (Must be an inside joke). 

4.  What was the most spiritual moment you have this week? Preparing Anna for baptism has been super spiritual ;) 

5.  What was the weather like this week?  Do you have any weather stories? Nope, I don't have any weather stories.

6.  Do you have any golden investigators?  Anna

7.  How is Anna doing? She is doing well, she is set to get baptized this Saturday.

8.  Are your baptisms still on for the end of the month? I will have one this Saturday.

9.  Who is your favorite person from this week and why? Probably Anna because she is just so ready to get baptized.
10.  What is the weirdest food you ate this week? I drank beet juice.

 

 

 

 A school activity just outside of Jon's Apartment!

 

Flooding in Paraguay -- Just outside of Jon's Apartment!

 P-day fun at a Lake close to where Jon lives!

Boys will be Boys!!!

 

 

November 17, 2014

Hello Family,

So overall this week was pretty good, we were able to get a lot of good work in and so that was super good. ;)

 

 

We worked with our investigator, Anna, this week and taught her and her grandma ... and guess what, they came to church this week!  It seems like after we gave her the blessing, her life has gotten a lot better and she has been a lot happier because she was able to go to the church and is able to do those things that she is really enjoying and trying to do. :) Anna's testimony is going really well and we can see her progressing a ton.

 

 

I had an interview with my Mission President today and he said that I am doing really well and that he is really glad that I am in his mission. :)  It was nice to hear his compliment and super cool to be acknowledged as a good missionary. Haha

 

 

This week was super wet. It rained A LOT.  The house didn't really flood, like before.  If it does flood again, I will get pictures because it's super crazy.  But´as of right now I don't have any flood pictures to send you ;) Mom's note:  Jon sent a message that his house had flooded and so we asked him if he had pictures -- that is what he is talking about above. 

 

Overall I don't know how detailed I can be today because nothing really cool happened, just regular missionary stuff.  We are still working with Pablina, and I believe that deep down she knows that she needs to get baptized but just it hasn't really hit her yet.  We feel good about her and have hope for her, and I think she will get baptized in the next month, so hopefully we can work that out. 

 

 

So today was a Zone Meeting and interviews with President McMullin.  It was a cool day.  We played the scripture game again today and I was really good at it, haha, even the A.P.'s were like "I hear that Turley is a beast with the scriptures."  It is pretty cool that I am known as a kid who know the scriptures, it is super sick (awesome). 

 

 

Things have changed a lot for me in the last year ... I have changed a lot as a person.  I know that I still have a year left and that I still have a lot to learn, and I am continuing to work on myself.   I'm so thankful for you all.  I know that it is almost Thanksgiving in America, so I want to say that I am thankful for all my family.  I love all of you and know that I am here because you all never gave up on me. My family is the best family in the world, and I am so blessed to be part of you all.  

 

 

I love you all, and I am excited that we have all of eternity to "kick it" (be together).  ;)

 

Love you all,

 

Elder Turley

 

 

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Questions of the week:

1. Who are your investigators? 

Right now we have Pablina and Ana, both are getting ready for baptism.

 

2. What was your most fun moment of the week?

We made a pie this week.  That was a lot of fun and so delicious.

 

3.  What was the funniest moment you had this week? 

Umm the funniest moment was when I playing cards with Elders Frost, Singer, and Garner and I got cocky playing cards and ended up losing everything by like one card -- it was super funny, Haha.

 

4.  What was the most spiritual moment you have this week?

We had a family home evening and it was pretty spiritual.  We watched a movie and afterwards explained it all to the family, it was a really nice lesson. 

 

5.  What was the weather like this week?  Do you have any weather stories? 

The weather was rainy A LOT.  I have been in like waist deep water but nothing really too dangerous or crazy.

 

6.  Do you have any "golden" investigators?  If so, whom and tell me all about them. 

I don't really have any "golden" investigators, just normal ones who are progressing. 

 

7.  How is Anna doing? 

She is doing well she went to church this week which was pretty dope (awesome) It's  always good to have investigators at church, and she is progressing a fool (very well).  ;)

 

8.  Are your baptisms still on for the end of the month?

Anna should be on for the end of this month, but you never know for sure. 

 

9.  Who is your favorite person from this week and why?

My Mission President because he expressed a lot of confidence in me.  It's nice to know I am on his good side. Haha! 

 

10.  What is the weirdest food you ate this week?

Rice, I didn't eat anything abnormal this week.

 

11.  What is the weirdest food you have eaten on your mission? 

Alligator. 

 

12.  Are there alligators are you? Are you safe? 

Yes I am safe and yes there are alligators, but not where I am.

 

Making the "delicious" pie.

On the collectivo (bus).  Apparently it is quite an experience (very dangerous) to ride on one of these.  

 

After the rain ...

 

 Video of the Rain

 

November 10, 2014

Hello Mother, Father, and Friends, 


So I hope you all are doing good.  I am are doing pretty great.  This week was super good and I am super happy to be here. Overall I am doing super good, we had a good week and got a lot done ... I am super stoked about this last week.

We didn't have any investigators in the church but it was super good.  We had a couple menos activos (less actives) so it was super good to have them in church,  they are super good.  One of them is Will, who was super inactive and had like a lot of near death experiences and he knows he need to go to church.  We had a good little moment with him and I told him that he needed to come back to church and that it doesn't matter if he fails, the best thing is to get back up  and his kids will see that. I told him he will give the best example to his kids by helping them know that we aren't perfect, but when we fall we get back up. Our talk helped him and he came to church.  He now knows he needs to be a good example to his children and what he needs to do for them. 


But this week was good we had a lot of success.  We had a division with our Zine Leader and that was super good because i went out and my ZL taught me a couple things about the way I should be training,  and I think it will help me be a better trainer for Elder Garner.

I had a super cool experience, because the day before our division Elder Frost gave me a reference of a lady that was super dope (awesome).  During the division, I was looking for her house but couldn't find her. As we were looking for her house, an old lady called out to us and asked us to come talk to her.  So we walk over to her and she was like "It's been forever since you guys showed up here", turns out this old lady was the woman we were looking for.  When we were talking to her, she told us that she had a voice call out to her and tell her to invite us over.  It was was actually super cool because she had her friend over and her friend was super dope (awesome) too.  I feel good about this woman and  I am pretty sure that she can progress. As far as Ana goes, she is super dope (amazing) it is really good to work with her.  Ana is 11, but is super mature for an 11 year old -- she has gone through a ton.  But she is doing great, and it's all good because her grandma is reactivating, and I know that it's because Ana needs to get baptized. It's kind of a miracle because a ton of people have been working with her grandmother to get her to come to church, but she never did. We are super excited she changed her mind and is coming because now Ana had been able to learn about the church too, and most likely will be baptized.

But overall the week was good, we did some really good things and I really like being here.  Sometimes it's  hard because I love my life at home, but I also love being here and know that I should be here and that there are people that I need to talk to ... people that I need to bring the Gospel to. 

Elder Garner is doing well and I am super glad that I was chosen to be with him as a trainer, he is actually teaching me a ton of things super good things. :) 


Well, I love y'all and I am super stoked to see you just a year and a month.  I am excited to be with y'all and super stoked (excited) to be able to eat real food. Haha 


I love you all!

Elder Turley

P.S.  I will send pictures next week.

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Questions of the week: 

1.  Who are your investigators, and an interesting moment, spiritual, funny, etc' with each of them. 
Our investigators that we are getting ready for baptism are.. 

Anna Aquino. When we gave her a blessing and that was pretty spiritual ... It my first blessing in Spanish! 

And Pabalina Benitez -- she is super dope (awesome) and I know the things that are going to work out for her. 

2.  Your most spiritual moment of the week?

 Teaching the one lady we found after the one lady called us over.

3. Your funniest moment of the week?

I have a lot of funny moments haha.  It was probably when Elder Singer and I were talking about how if we are walking around in normal clothes people don't know if we are missionaries, and as soon as we said that someone called out "Elders Hola."   Super funny Haha 

4.  Your toughest moment of the week?

When our investigator, Pablina, said that she is now working on Sunday's, so we can't baptize her.. but we are working with her and trying to get her to change get schedule.

5.  A time when you felt you were being guided by the Spirit?

The woman that called us over to her house.  

6.   Who is your favorite person this week? Why?
Probably Elder Singer, he is just a cool guy.

7.  What is an interesting story about the weather from this week?

Well it is like super rainy and then it is like super hot.

8.  What was your favorite thing you ate this week?

A Lomitio, I eat a lot of them -- they are kinda like burritos.

 

9.  What was the worst food you ate this week?

Some ratchet (yucky) rice that wasn't cooked and was like a soup with a lot of oil.  It was super nasty.

10.  What is your favorite vacation you have been on? 

 I really liked New York!

November 3, 2014

So how are y'all doing?  Life here in Paraguay is a little bit crazy, but I like it.  It got super hot  this week but then randomly it stopped being hot and just started to rain. It rained for a good little while, and then for the past three or four days it has been super wet. The weather here in Paraguay is really random, but it gives us a little bit of time to slow down and cool down.  But life is good ... it's crazy to think that Halloween is past us and that it is almost Thanksgiving and that I have almost hit a year ... it is crazy to think how fast the time has gone, and that in a year I will be home with y'all.

But ya, the life is good, I like it here.  I like my area, we have a bunch of people that we are teaching and they are super dope (cool).  Elder Garner is doing quite well, he is a good guy and we get a long great and haven't had any problems. Training has been a little bit different because I don't really know when I need to let him teach, and what I need to be doing for him, but it's all good. We are working hard, and he is doing really well.

It was kind of a sad week because I love Halloween, but it's all good -- only one more and then I will be home celebrating with all of my homies (friends) in California, and all that good stuff.  For Halloween we went over to Elder Frost's house and had kind of a Halloween District Party and that was fun.  We played Monopoly, nothing too cool, but it was super fun. Elder Alves, Elder Frost and I created an alliance. We owned like half of the Monopoly board, including Boardwalk.  But apparently the monopoly wizards weren't in our favor because the rest of the players landed on all the "Chance" spots every time and we all went broke and they ended up winning.  We had horrible luck,  but it's all good. ;) 

But ya this Sunday was cool because we worked super hard all week in Nueva Asuncion, and we were looking for people to baptize and for all the menos activos (less actives) that we have.  We have been working hard, but a lot of our "less actives" been super stubborn -- but guess what, we had six less actives in church this week, and so that was super dope (cool).  We did a lot of work and it paid off really well. We had a good week! :)

The mission is going super well and we are doing well, and I hope that y'all are doing really well. ;) We go hard in the paint (work really hard), and I know that the work I put in is making my future wife a lot prettier, so it's all good.  I'm willing to put in work for my future. Haha.  :)  (There is a saying among Mormon Missionaries that the harder they work, the prettier their wife will be).

I love y'all and I am so happy that I am here and that I have the opportunity to be in your lives.  Love y'all and hope that all is good with everyone.

Oh and "yes" Brownie, I can think in Spanish now. :)  I even dream in Spanish ... it's pretty crazy.

So my moments of the week ...

The most spiritual was a lesson with the Aivero Family.  We had a good lesson with them, and told the dad that he needs to come back to church, and he understood and is coming back ... it was super cool. 

The funniest moment probably when we went to go played Monopoly.  It was super fun and we laughed a lot. 

My hardest moment ... when it is raining, it gets super hard to do anything :(, but we still go out and work hard and have a good time.  :)

I love y'all,

Elder Turley 

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Note by Jon's Mom:  Jon's companion's mom, Anne Garner, sent me Elder Garner's letter and there were a couple of things I wanted to add to Jon's letter ...  Elder Garner goes in to a lot more detail ... yes, I have let Jon know that he needs to be more detailed.

Snippets from Elder Garner's letter to his mom.

We taught a lot of lessons and met with a lot of menos activos but it was a pretty chill week.  We did have one really cool experience though that I wanna share.  We have this investigator named Ana who is 11 years old and lives with her Grandma.  Ana is a homie (golden).  Normally when we teach lessons and ask questions to people such as "Why do we get Baptized?" we will either get nothing, some incoherent mumbling, or something general like "because Jesus said so".  But Ana's answer was "Because we need to be made clean for our sins and make covenants with God to return to live with Him again."  She's 11.  She's dope.  But it's been a little hard because she lives so far away she can't come to church all that often.  And her Mom lives close to the church, so she asked if she could live with her Mom to make it easier to go to church on Sundays.  And the Mom basically told here that she doesn't love her and doesn't consider her her child and all this horrible stuff that no 11 year old should have to deal with.  So me and Elder Turley gave her a blessing which was an amazing experience, and then we talked about the story of 1 Nephi 3:7- how despite all of his challenges, Nephi kept his faith.  Ana said that she knew that this church was true and that nothing was gonna break her faith, just like Nephi.  Like I said, Ana is a homie, and she is going to be baptized on the 22nd!

This month is gonna be super busy getting people ready for baptismal dates! We have two baptisms scheduled for the 22nd and three for the 29th! It's so exciting to see peoples' lives being changed, and it is the single greatest feeling to be able to give them the opportunity to make that change.  Missionary Work is the greatest thing ever.

Thank you, Elder Garner, for letting us know about Ana ... and about the five baptisms that are coming up.  We are praying for both you and Elder Turley! :)

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From left to right, Jon with his trainer/zone leader, Elder Gummersall, and his companion/greenie Elder Garner, -- or in missionary terms ... Grandfather, Father, Son.

P-day at TGI Fridays -- Jon was so excited to eat an "American" hamburger.

 

Jon's Hamburger

Seriously ... he was so excited!!!

 

Mom's Note:  I am so thankful that most missionaries have blogs.  It is so fun to follow the blogs of other missionaries in Jon's mission, and every once in a while I will come across something about Jon.  That happened today.  Elder Frosts' dad told me I needed to check out his son's blog because there was a funny story about Jon.  Below is a paragraph about Jon's trip to TGI Friday as written by Elder Frost.  It appears the missionaries got into an "Oops what do we do now" moment.  I am so glad to see that Jon still has his easy going personality.

First was a rather enjoyable pday.  We had cash, which you know means we go out to eat.  And it was a late celebration of Elder Luke’s b-day.  So we went to TGI Fridays.  I got my usual -- my Jack Daniels steak with onion rings and cheesy mashed potatoes.  It was awesome!  So delicious, like always.  It was just a good time to eat good food and hang out with friends.  Then a funny moment --  since we told them it was a b-day, they got all ready to sing.  But then Elder Luke left, so when they came out we had to give it to somebody.  So it became Elder Turley’s b-day.  It was quite funny to see him dancing around and doing all the birthday stuff.  I then tipped a little since I know how important tipping is.  She was so excited for a 2 buck tip. 

 

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Also in other missionary blogs I will find pictures that I feel should be part of Jon's blog.  The Paraguay Asuncion North Parents are so wonderful to share pictures ... Below is a

picture from Elder Garner's Blog of the area he and Jon serve in!