Elder Jonathan Turley: December 1, 2014

Hello Parents ...

So this week was pretty interesting, we spent all of our week pretty preparing for the baptism of Ana. We spent a lot of time meeting with her and talking to her. As of Thursday, everything was "kosher" and was a go for her baptism on Sunday. We even an her baptismal interview set for Friday. So everything was going well and then we went and talked to her dad about it, and he said it was fine, but he needed to talk to his ex wife. Unfortunately that meant that we had to push the date back, and we have no idea what her mom is going to say, "yes" or "no", and so the whole situation got really difficult. Haha. But I have faith that we are going to get her to baptism ... No doubts about it. ;)

But "yeah", so we are hoping for a baptism this week and that will be cool. We are still trying to work with Pablina, but it is getting super hard. Their family hasn't come to church in a couple weeks so we have to do a little bit of rescuing with them. We did stop visiting them so much to see if they would continue coming, and they didn't, so now we are visiting them regularly again to make sure they keep coming to church and keep trying to do the right things. :)

Other then that not much happened this week ... like always.. :) Elder Frost put together "Thanksgiving" thing where we all went to the church and cooked eggs and hasbrowns and drank juice. It tasted so good. :) I am not gonna lie, though, it was kind of sad waking up on Thanksgiving morning to nothing. It was fine until I realized that they don't have Thanksgiving in Paraguay and that was kinda sad, but it's all good, I lived through it. The thing that made me the saddest this week is that I wanted to be home to go Black Friday shopping with the family and buy a bunch of video games. Haha. It's the little things like that that I think about, I sure do love me some video games. Haha. ;) Not gonna lie, you might want to be stocking up all that stuff so I can come home to a new Ps4 and lots of games. Haha. :) Just kidding, Just kidding. You can wait a little to buy things for me, I still have one year left. Haha. :)

This week we held the Quinceañera for Patty. It was pretty fun. Her mom made a cake that was super good. :)

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Mom's Note: The following was what Elder Frost (Jon's District Leader) wrote about the Quinceanera. Also, it's important to note that Patty's family could not afford to pay for the Quinceanera and so the missionaries pooled their money to pay for it. They are such wonderful men!!!

On Saturday we spent all day in the church helping the Hermana Acosta prep for her daughter Patricia’s 15 Birthday (Quinceanera). We showed up at 2:30 like she asked, but of course, she doesn’t get there til 4. Then we help her cut buns and put sauce and hamburgers and lettuce and tomatoes on them. Then we got one hamburger to eat. Hermana Acosta was worried about running out of hamburgers so we couldn’t have two. Naturally, four hungry missionaries all snagged a second hamburger that we hid in our pockets and snuck outside to eat them. Ha ha. It turns out we didn’t need to worry about having a second hamburger, as instead of 100 people showing up as Hermana Acosta thought there would be, there was less than fifty. It was a good time and we ate and drank until we were full.

Although people really wanted us to dance, nobody did. We did sing and bob our heads a bit as they played some 50 Cent. Good times. Elder Turley was the star of the show as he kept crashing photos (photo bombing) when people were posing for pictures. They loved it! Not all was good for him though, as one mother freaked out on him and Elder Garner. They were swinging her daughter back and forth, and the little girl loved it ... the mom ... not so much. Haha. Another funny moment for Elder Turley was when he pulled down the decorations early and they landed on top of the Hermana Acosta.

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So it is pretty crazy that I hit my one year mark this month. It's crazy to think that I have come so far and I have made it almost a year. That pretty much means that I am almost dead (a term the missionaries use for finishing their mission and going home). ;) When I was in training with Elder Gummersall, I was like "Okay, I am going to hit a year, and when I do, Gummersall will have six months left and that will fly by. Then when Gummersall dies, I will have six months left and that is going to fly by." It's crazy that that is pretty much where I am right now. Gummersall is at like six months left, and that's crazy to me. Haha. It feels like I will be home in a flash.

But "yeah", I missed all of you this week and I love y'all. Hopefully at the end of the next week I will have photos of a baptism to send to y'all. :)

I am so grateful for my family, and for the opportunity that I have to be here in Paraguay. ;) Obviously you guys are pretty cool or I wouldn't have chosen y'all to be my family. ;) But seriously, the holidays always remind me of family and there is nothing more I would rather have done than to be with y'all. You guys are the best. :)

I love y'all and hope that you all have a good week.;)

Love

Elder Turley

Questions of the Week:

Most spiritual moment -- When we talked to Anna how she felt about the Gospel and she declared her testimony to us.

Happiest moment -- The Quinceanera. It was a lot of fun.

Most discouraging moment -- When we had to push back the baptism, because now anything could happen.

Most interesting thing about the weather -- heat or flooding? Well it's not interesting, but it goes from being super hot to super rain, so you can never predict the weather.

Most random thing that happened this week -- I got a crazy rash that was pretty random. I put Melaleuca on it and it helped it go away. The problem though, is that I dropped the bottle of Melaleuca and it shattered all over our floor. Mom's note: I will be sending another bottle ASAP. :)

Something you learned from this week -- That patience is the key to Happiness.

Investigators --

Anna

Pablina

Your favorite meal from this week -- I ate a lomito that was super good. I'd say thanksgiving because the eggs and hash browns were really good, it was pretty small and didn't fill me up. I usually am so stuffed on Thanksgiving. Haha. :)

How many times did members feed you? We had lunch Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Usually members feed us every day minus Monday and Tuesday.

Random Pictures from this week:

Pictures from the Quinceanera -- I received these from Elder Garner's mom.

Pictures of the Rash Jon had ... I asked him if it was a Mosquito bite. He said it wasn't. I told him to wear his Mosquito repellant so he doesn't get any crazy diseases.