January 26, 2015

 Hello parents how are y'all doing?


 So this week was pretty interesting. Monday we got to have our p-day which is very different now that I am serving in Neuland.  We really don't do anything because we are so far away from all of the other missionaries, other than going to the cyber to email -- that is something we still do on p-day.  It was a good experience.


Then Tuesday we went out and did our usual visits. It was a super good week, we were able to talk to a lot of menos activos (less actives) as well as investigators and we were able to have a good amount of success and spiritual lessons.
Wednesday we went out and taught a couple people, just the normal stuff about how we need to have faith and pray and come to church. A lot of people here don't really understand the blessings that we receive when we go to church, and so we have to explain that pretty thoroughly or they won't go to the church.  It's very different and kind of hard in the Chaco because our job as missionaries is to get the "members" to go to church. Haha. It seemed like everyone we talked to said they would come to church, but apparently they never really do, so we will see -- you know what, it's all good.




Thursday we went out and we taught a man named H. He is a Mennonite and it's super hard to work with him because he knows the church is true, but he is afraid of what the Mennonite church will do to him if he joins ... so at the moment he is pretty much resisting all forms of knowing if the church is true. He won't ask God if it's true or not because he is scared that if  he does and then denies his answer that he would be thrust down to hell. The struggle is real for H, but we are working with him.  Thursday afternoon I went on divisions with Elder Bristol, because the other Elders were in town to wash their clothes (my apartment has a washing machine). Elder Bristol and I had a couple good lessons, and it seemed like a couple of our less actives decided that they wanted to open up just a little bit more and would actually share with us, which was a super good experience.  Thursday night we all went to Asuncion for our Zone Meeting on Friday.  


So our Zone Meeting ended up being in Mariano Rocky Alanzo, which is super far away from where we live.   We took two, eight hour bus rides to get there and back and that was fun. ;) Anyway, the Zone  Meeting was about forgiveness and that we should forgive everyone and that we should teach everyone to forgive. It was a very inspired zone meeting, as we went back to Neuland and applied it to our less actives -- and guess what -- our normal attendance at church is about 6 and we had 40. We implemented what we learned in Zone Meeting and we got some really good results. 


But other than that we went out to Paraiso, a unit that we are in charge of, and helped them get a church started in their little city. We had like 24 people come, but there is a ton of room for improvement,  From what Elder Burger has said, there are about 50 potential members in that area, we know we have hard work ahead of us but it will all be well worth it.   So ya to get to Paraiso, it was an hour ride there and a two hour ride back -- so yeah, I rode three hours in the back of a truck on dirt roads.  It was a lot of fun -- yeah right. ;)  


But anyway, I love y'all and that's pretty much it for the week -- here are your questions. 


1. Are you staying hydrated? Yes Mother.  

2. Are you stocked up with water? Yes we just got a filter for the tap in the bathroom in our house 

3. Have you received your packages from us? Nope, I thought they would be at the zone meeting, but guess I will get them next week.

4. Have you received your packages from the Distribution Center? Nope 

5. How was church? It was wonderful we had 40 people in church 

6. Tell us about your calling as Branch Secretary? What did you do for this calling this week? I had to make sure the bishop did tithing settlements and I had to take care of tithing -- just the normal stuff. Haha

7. Do you get along with the Branch members? Yes, we get a long well. ;) The kids love my Rubik's Cube 

8. Did you have investigators at church? We have three -- 
J -Wife of a less active 
M - Daughter of a member 
V  - Cousin of the branch president 

9. How many investigators are you working with? A lot -- I am not really sure the number 

10. You mentioned you might have some investigators get baptized. Has anyone progressed to that point? At the moment, no.  We have a girl M that we are working with who might get baptized we just need to finish teaching her the lessons. 

11. What's the most interesting thing you did this week? I went to Asuncion. Haha. ;) 

12. Now that you're away from the city, are you eating anything out of the ordinary? If so, what did you eat? No, we don't get lunch or dinner from the members, so it's just whatever we cook. 

13. How much walking do you do? Not a lot, our area isn't really that big 

14. Did you figure out another bike? We talked about it, and they should be getting us another one.  

15. Are you getting along with your companion? Yes, we get a long really well. 

Love --

Elder Turley

 Holding Puppies

Selfies ... On the road to Paraiso

The Branch in Neuland

Standing outside of their church building

Jon with his Landlord

Hauling Chairs with Elder Burger

January 19, 2015

Family -- 

So this week's email is going to be fun. Haha! 

So basically as you all know I was transferred last week.  So I went into Asuncion on Tuesday of last week and learned I was being transferred to Neuland in the Chaco.  I knew some missionaries who were serving in the Chaco, and knew two things about it, 1) it is rare to serve there -- only six missionaries at a time, and 2) when missionaries are sent there, they usually stay for 6-9 months.  I had a feeling I might be transferred to an outlying area, but had no idea it would be the Chaco.  One thing President McMullin said to me at changes is that he is putting me in the Chaco because he knows that he can trust me, which was super cool to hear.        

So far, my whole life in the mission has been super fun and super close to the city and other missionaries ... But not anymore.. I am now about eight hours outside Asuncion in a City called Neuland.  It is a German town with a bunch of Nivacle Indians. It has been super interesting because up until now, I have pretty much become accustomed to communicating in Spanish and Guarani.  Now it is super different. The people here all speak Spanish, but it is not their first language. Like the Indians, they speak Nivacle, which is pretty much like an African clicking language. I don't know how better to explain it. It's very different.

But yeah, so basically when we got off the bus they took us to a little city called Abundancia (Bountiful in English) where we held an EFY (Especially for Youth) for the Members.  It was pretty cool, we missionaries were called on to be the Camp Counselors, and that was pretty interesting -- do you know how hard it is to speak to people that can't speak the same language? :)  It was super hard.  I was teaching them like lessons about prayer and how to bare a testimony, and I would ask questions, and the kids just sat there and looked at me like  they didn't understand me or like I was stupid. Eventually the kids started to talk and answer maybe one or two questions, but it was definitely a struggle. Haha! 

But yeah, so we went to Abundancia and then my first night we went back to our house because we had to go pick up some people from Paraiso (Paradise), and it is fairly close to where we live.  Paraiso is a small town that is pretty much an Indian Tribe.  They all live in the same style of house because that's what their government made for them. It kind of reminded me of something that National Geographic would put in their magazine.  I saw like three ladies there without shirts on, just walking around and stuff. It was crazy -- and don't worry, it wasn't something I was interested in -- it was just like a little weird when I saw it.

So we get all of the people into a bus at Paraiso and then we start to go back to Abundancia, which is like 100 miles away.  Unfortunately,  about midway we ended up stopping because the bus broke down. So yeah, we were like stuck in the middle of nowhere for a long time while trying to get someone to come get us.  Eventually we got someone to come pick us up from the side of the road, and then we continued on to Neuland ... but ... we were still like 50 miles out of Abundancia still, and so we had to wait out in the sun for two hours until we could get on a bus that would take us out to Abundancia again. It was quite an experience.

Anyway, so we did get there and we had EFY. We just taught the people the basics because that's what they really need out here.  Everyone lives so far away from everyone else, and the missionaries don't visit their houses very often, so they need the missionaries and need to learn the basics of the Gospel.

So we had EFY on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and it was really pretty cool. Other than teaching the kids about the Gospel, one thing that they loved was that I brought my Rubiks Cube. The kids loved it, they think that I am like a wizard because I can do a Rubiks Cube.  Even the adults were like "no way, that is super cool." Haha! It was funny because everyone wanted me to teach them. I taught another Elder, but I don't know if he will remember it.

So yeah, President came up during EFY and talked to us ... And GUESS WHAT ... I am the new secretary of my branch.  So basically I have to be trained again to know how to do for that, so that is going to be super, super interesting ... but I believe there is a reason for everything, maybe when I get home from my mission I am going to be called to be ward secretary or something. :)  But yeah, on an even crazier note, there could be a chance that I could end up being the Branch President out here.. I don't really think that would happen, but apparently president has been asking if the missionaries should just be in charge of everything out here. Pretty crazy right. I may not be an AP,  but I could be a branch president. Haha!! So it will be interesting to see if that happens. (Mom's note -- two things:  Jon mentions that he might not be an "AP".  Jon's older brother was an AP in his mission, and so Jon's siblings always tease him about whether or not he will be an AP. I just wanted to clarify that Jon is not aspiring to be an AP, his comment was a family joke between Jon and his siblings whom he loves very much.  :) Second thing: When our Bishop interviewed Jon for his mission, he mentioned to Jon that he had a feeling Jon would serve as a Branch President during his mission, which was totally random, so it will be interesting to see what happens). 

Today was a very interesting p-day.  What I have learned is that out here in the Chaco p- days like every other day.  Usually on P-days we would meet up with other Elders and play sports and go to lunch, but out here there are no restaurants or Elders. Haha. I think that will be the hardest thing about this transfer -- I really miss my friends.  For a whole year I could look to p-day as a kind of release to have fun and to get all of my energy out, now I can't do that because I am so far out here that there is nothing to do, but  it will be all good ... I will just have to get used to it -- either that or just die -- Haha Just kidding!!!

So the bottom line of being in the Chaco is that there is just a ton of work out here. We are going to be opening up the Paraiso area, and so every Sunday we have to go out there after our church to direct their church, and to make sure they are doing all they can do to make the church grow in their area.  It will be super to be able to help so many people come to the Gospel.  We have at least ten baptisms of children coming up soon here in Neuland and then there are the people in Paraiso who are super interested, so it is going to be a hard area and a lot of work, but we believe there will be a lot of success too.

It has definitely been a crazy week with transfer and a crazy four days in the Chaco, but it's going to be super interesting. There is a good chance I will be here for 7-8 months or so,  this actually could be my last area, which is super crazy to think about.  I kind of hope to go back to the city for a transfer or two before I am finished with my mission, but I will do whatever the Lord wants me to do.

I sure love y'all, and hope you are all doing well.

        
 Elder Turley

--------------------

Note from Jon's Mom:  When I learned that Jon had been transferred to the Cacho, I immediately asked all my Paraguay Missionary Mom friends all about it, I wanted to know everything. What I learned is that it is quite an honor to be sent to serve in the Chaco.  It is so far away from the mission, that President McMullin needs to trust the missionaries he sends there because the mission's contact with them is one call once a week. Only six Elders serve there at one time, and once called there the Elders typically spend 6-9 months there so the people can get to know the Elders.

Then I heard some not so wonderful things, like the lack of food and water, and so I had a million questions for Jon.  I wanted to hear from his mouth what his exact area is like and how he is doing and handling things.  Below are my many questions!!!

So apparently dehydration is a problem in the Chaco. One mom said her son was dehydrated at Christmas time.

Do you have enough water? Yes we have enough water, we just need to buy it.

Do you have enough food? I have eaten enough every day so I will be fine.  I don't eat much as it is so don's worry.

2.  One of the moms mentioned you have to buy water and food and and carry them in.  She also said you guys aren't given enough money for water and food and so some of the Elders go without water.  Don't do that!!! Please use whatever money you need, from your personal account, to make sure you and your comp have plenty of water and plenty of food. 

Do you have to carry the water you buy very far? We bought it from a place that was like a couple blocks away from our house .. it isn't too far..

Is it a hard process of getting the water and food from the store to your apartment? No it is just walking with like a 3 gallon jug or something like that.

3.  I was also told the water in the Chaco is not only scarce, but not clean.

What is the water situation actually like? I won't drink the regular water because it is yellow and looks like urine, but the people drink it and they are seem to be fine.

Do you filter the water you are drinking? We just drink the water that we buy, but when I get the water bottle and filter, I will filter it, so for the most part  I will be drinking clean water.


4.  Did you get our package from the Distribution Center before your transfer, or have you received it since? I will probably recieve it this week for zone meeting. We go to asuncion for our zone meeting

5.  The package has mesh garments and apparently those work better with the extreme heat -- I think I was inspired to order them, as we ordered them before we knew where you would be going.

If you received the package, have you tried the garments? I have not yet

If you haven't received them, how often do you get packages out there? I believe I will get packages and mail from the office once a month when we go to Asuncion for zone meetings.

Also the shirt sleeves were long, they don't have short sleeves at the distribution center, so you need to be cut and hemmed.

Is there someone who does your laundry? No, we have a washing machine and will do it ourselves

Will she be able to make your shirts short sleeved, or can you find someone else to do it? I can just roll the sleeves up, don't worry.

Dad and I sent two more packages on Friday.  They are mostly filled with candy and drink mixes -- we got you lots of MIO.

Was it MIO Energy Black Cherry that you liked because that's what we sent? Yeahs, the MIO Energy  is what I wanted. I love the stuff with energy, it helps me a lot.

6.  I also ordered you a water bottle and filters, please use them. We will be ordering you an indoor filtration from the distribution as soon as I know if you have indoor water. I don't have a kitchen sink, so don't worry about indoor filtration.

Do you have indoor plumbing? Yes we have a toliet, a bathroom sink, and a heated shower.

Where do you shower? In my bathroom

Do you have an outhouse or a bathroom? Bathroom

What is your living situation? We live in a house, it is super small but we are just fine.

Do you live in an apartment or house? apartment kinda

7.  From what I have been told, it is quite an honor to be called to serve in the Chaco.  Here is what I have been told.  There are only six Elders who serve there.  No one really checks on you, you are basically your own little district.  You rarely see Zone Leaders or the President.  The President has a lot of faith and confidence in the Elders he sends there -- he only sends Elders he knows will obey the rules and love the people.  Once they call you to the Chaco, they keep you there for six-nine months so you can develop a relationship with the people.  I heard it's a difficult area to serve in, but also an amazing area.  So here are my questions ...

Are you in Neuland, Filladelfia, or Abundancia? Neuland

Who is your companion? Elder Burger. He is from Paraguay but is German.

Who are the other Elders in the Chaco? Elders Bristol, Kincheloe, Aquino, and Luke

Do you see the others very often? Every once in a while, but from what I have been told, not even every week

How far away are you from the other Elders in the Chaco? We are about 50 miles from each set.

How far are you away from a grocery store (do they even have grocery stores)? We have a little one by my house, I haven't  been to the big one yet.

I heard you will be using bicycles, do they have them in the area for you or do you have to buy one? They are in the area, but we only have one right now because the other one got stolen.

What is your main form of transportation? Walking or biking, busses don't pass by here.

How often will you go into Asuncion? I have been told we got about every month or so.

Do you give daily reports to the mission via the Internet? No, just weekly

What is your communication like from the Chaco to President McMullin and the people in Asuncion? President McMullin calls us like every week to see how everything is.

8.  I understand the language can be very difficult, given the people speak German don't speak Spanish.  I understand that it's pretty much a Monnonite (Amish) area.

What are the people like? They are nice.

Are they nice? yes :)

Are they friendly? Yes :)

Can you communicate alright with them? Kind of, most speak Spanish,  but they are really quiet

Are there many LDS people there? I have been told that only like ten people come to church.  I haven't been to our branch yet because we had District Conference yesterday.

Is the leadership pretty new to the faith, or do they know a lot about the Gospel? I'm pretty sure they are converts

Have you had any member dinners? I ate with the members in Abundancia every day last weeek for EFY and  they were super nice

9.  We will be sending you a birthday package soon and so we can send more.

Do you have any requests for your birthday package, especially since you are so far from civilization?

10.  What else can you tell me about your area? I don't  really know it yet.  It kind of reminds me of Idaho,  just like in the middle of nowhere

Has it been a hard adjustment? Ehhh it's been alright.

Is it dangerous in the Chaco? Not that I know of

Crime? people steal bikes. Haha

Wild animals? I've seen a tarantula and poison frogs

What has been the biggest challenge? Being far away from my friends

What has been your happiest moment this week? Just being with the people at EFY, it was super cool

Do you have any investigators?  If so names please. I have no idea because we haven't really been in our area much because of EFY, but I have been told we have at least ten baptisms coming up. :)

Who is your favorite person the week? Not a person -- a dog I met named Tony.  He was like my best friend haha, and he would follow me around everywhere

Are you having any health challenges? I am having super bad stomach issues, but everyone has it so I am hoping it goes away soon.

What kind of foods are you eating? We will be cooking for ourselves everyday, so we will be able to cook stuff we like.

What have you learned about yourself and your mission this week? That there is a lot about this place (the Chaco) that I didn't really understand or know.

What can we pray about for you? That I won't die, haha!

Last Day in Luque with Elder Garner

.

January 12, 2015

Hey parents --

How are y'all doing?  I hope all is going welll over there in the states.  Everything is going well here, we have changes (transfers) this week and it will be interesting to see how everything works out. I don't know what they are yet because our President doesn't want us wasting time on saying goodbye to the people that we have worked with, so they don't tell us about transfers until the transfer happens.  It's hard not to be able to say "goodbye", but it's all good, President McMullin is an inspired mission president. ;) 

So yesterday we were on a bus, and the driver was hauling and like all of a sudden he swerved in between two parked cars, yelled something super loud in Guarani, and fetching then there was a super loud screetch and he side swiped a car.  But it's alright, nobody was hurt it was just kinda surprising. Haha.  

The bus had like 10 people in it and it did damage to the bus -- just a large scratch on the side -- but the damage was right by my head so it could have been gnarly, but nothing happened. We were definitely protected. 

But, yeah, so changes are going to be super interesting because there has been a lot of disobedience in the mission in the last little while.  I am not going to go into too much detail, but I have heard of Elders having pool parties with the Hermanas and apparently relationships that have sprouted up from things like this.  Some of the Hermanas even decided they want to visit a Falls in Brazil -- like 12 hours away, and left the mission to go see it.  It is crazy to me, I never thought that the mission world would be like this, but I guess there are always those people who aren't really committed to giving their all to the Lord. 

But, yeah, other than that, this week was pretty good.  We went out and did our normal visits. We have really been focusing a lot in the less actives. This week we were able to see one of the less active families come back, ;) ...  and not just them,we saw a couple more of the less actives back in the church as well. ;). It is funny thing because we have finally started to gain success with the less active people that we were working with, but our Sacrament numbers didn't really grow because some the people who normally come to church didn't show up. Haha! But it's all good, I think that they will all come next week and so we should be able to have good growth in the coming weeks. 

But, yeah, other then that we had an investigator at church.  His name is Tony and he is from Argentina.  He is super cool and asked a ton of really good questions and even answered us when we asked him questions.  It was a super cool experience and was super nice to finally have an investigator in the chapel and to be able to have a little bit of success after having a little bit of a dry spell.

Thank you for the fasting that y'all have been doing, I know that it has been helping me with a lot of the less actives and that makes me super happy. ;).  I am glad that you guys are here for me and that you are all so supportive. ;). You all mean so much to me and I am happy to be a part of your family, I really am. ;) I know that we can be "families forever" and I am super happy to have y'all as my family -- you are all the most caring and most amazing people. ;)  Thank you for being here for me and for giving me all the support that you give. ;)

I don't have much to say cause things just fly by.  I will email you as soon as I can about transfers.  I love you all. ;)

Love Elder Turley

Picture of Elder Turley and Elder Garner on the "Collectivo" (Bus) two days before the Bus Accident.  So glad everyone was alright!!!

January 5, 2015

Hi Y'all --

How are y'all doing?  I am doing well.  I have had a good p-day.  We went to a Brazilian BBQ today.  It was kind of expensive but was so delicious.  I even ate chicken hearts.They had the best cinnamon sugar grilled pineapple. I remember when we use to make brown sugar grilled pineapple, but you guys really should try the cinnamon sugar version. It's amazing.  

So basically this week was pretty average, we went out and did our visits and they paid off and we were very excited to have eight menos activos (less actives) in church yesterday!!!
  
But this week was also pretty exciting because we had the "Ano Nuevo -- New Year".   

The Ano Nuevo had two meanings for me -- one was it is a new year which means it was officially my one year mark in the mission which is pretty cool because it went by super quick, and it's crazy to think that in one year I will be home.  It's super weird to think about, but it goes by super quick and I shall be home super quickly. 

Number two, it was a good week because it was a celebration of the new year!   New Year's Eve we had a dinner with the bishop and that was pretty fun. It's kind of hard right now because we don't really have any citas (meals) planned with the members for the new year, so our bishop invited us to dinner for New Year's Eve.  That was super cool because he got to know us a little bit better.  As I mentioned last week, we live a ways away from our Ward -- there are other Elders who live closer to the area and see our Ward members more than we do -- and so the members don't know us very well, which has made them think we aren't very good missionaries.   Dinner with the bishop was really good.  It turns out that his dad is menos activo (less active) and we shared a lesson with him and then challenged him to come to church and to read the Book of Mormon every day. I think that we left a good impression with our bishop and that was super good!   But ya I have a couple of photos from that dinner -- it was super fun. ;) 

After dinner, we went to Elder Singer's house and had a New Year Sleepover with him, Elder Ballard, and Elder Smith.  It was super fun.  We were able to listen to all of the fireworks going on outside and we played games and had a super fun night. 

Our district leader is now Elder Ballard and he gave a good district meeting on goals, and how we want to have our missions turn out well so we need to set goals.  It was super good,  and it made me think a lot about what I need to do to have a good mission. :)   It was really nice to think about especially since it is a new year. 

Other than that the cleaning lady came to our house this week and cleaned it super, super well. And yeah, I am doing well and know that i need to be here and to be doing the things that I am doing to help bring happiness to the world. ;)  

I love y'all and hope that y'all are happy! ;)
Love,

Elder Turley

-----------------------------

Note from Jon's mom -- Elder Garner, Jon's companion, had a very different version of the "cleaning lady."  Here is his version:

The other different thing that happened this week was that the mission cleaning lady came.  So the mission pays an Hermana to come around and clean the houses of the elders and make sure that they aren't destroying them.  And so I´m like ´Awesome, we get to have a super clean house now´- because I mean our house wasn't super dirty, but it would've been nice to have a deep clean.  Anyways, apparently the term "cleaning lady" has a different meaning here than in the states.  Basically her job is to come and supervise us as we do ALL the cleaning.  All I´m saying is that the church could be saving a lot of money because that lady didn't do anything.  I was disappointed.  But it's all good because now our house is super clean so I guess it all worked out.

--------------------------------
 

New Year's Eve Dinner at Bishop Medina's Home 

Photos Courtesy of Bishop Medina

Jon and Justin's Apartment after the "Cleaning Lady" visited!

This picture is courtesy of the "Selfie Stick" that Elder Garner's mom bought Elder Garner for Christmas --  Super Cool!!!

January 3, 2015

Special Project by the Missionary Moms of the Paraguay Asuncion North Mission

A few months ago, a wonderful Missionary Mom, Nancy Hall, contacted Hermana McMullin and asked her if there was anything the Missionary Moms could collect and/or send to the Mission for Christmas which would help "Hasten the Work."  Hermana McMullin responded that there was a need for reading glasses to help the members read the scriptures, dress pants, white shirts, shoes, socks, p-day clothes and suits.  Some of the McMullin's children were traveling to Paraguay for Christmas and said they would take extra suitcases with them, and so the Missionary Moms went to work ...

This was Nancy Hall's Facebook Post on December 7th. 

  

"We are getting so close! I wanted to update everyone. We collected 26 pants, 20 shirts,28 pairs shoes, 73 glasses,18 socks, p-day clothes and 4 suits. I have truly seen the Lord's hand in preparing this project. Thanks to everyone!!

This was the picture of everything we had acquired by December 7th.

The suitcases were filled and the McMullin children delivered them to Hermana McMullin.

On January 3rd, Nancy Hall received the following email from Sister McMullin with the following pictures:


I just wanted to thank all the missionary moms so much for all of their help with the suitcases full of supplies for our missionaries! We were so excited to stock the closets in my office with so many things! Today we sent an email telling all of the missionaries what there is to offer for those serving IN our mission who need it, but would have trouble buying it here or receiving it from home. This will mean a great deal to several of them who come from poor circumstances and have been excitedly waiting for this. After a couple of months, we will make it available to future missionaries leaving FROM our mission who need a little help. 

We told the missionaries that they can offer the reading glasses to any of their investigators or less-active members who are making serious steps toward making and keeping their commitments, but are struggling to read the Book of Mormon. We will have the glasses at zone training meetings to offer to progressing investigators and less-active members to come to try them on.

We were so impressed, and overwhelmed, with all you were able to gather and send because of the collaboration of Moms. We were truly touched by the support we felt from so many missionary families. 

Hope you will enjoy seeing a few pictures. I apologize that this letter is a little late but I just wanted to include a picture of our grateful missionary leadership because several of them are your sons. Also, several missionaries have already come into the office today. I want you to see their happy faces. It feels like Christmas all over again.

With love and appreciation,

Hna. Pam McMullin

On January 3rd, I, too, received an email from Hermana McMullin:

Hi Sis. Turley ~

I just wanted to thank you for your kind Christmas card and for all of your help with the suitcases full of supplies for our missionaries.  I really enjoyed getting to know Elder Turley's family through the Christmas letter and family picture, and we were so excited to stock the closets in my office with so many needed things.  I always enjoy getting to see Elder Turley when he passes through the office.  He has a wonderful, ready smile and he seems happy in the missionary work.

May you and your wonderful family be truly blessed in the coming year for all of your kindness and faith.

Hna. Pam McMullin

  
I loved receiving Hermana McMullin's email and learning that she personally knows and cares about my son!!!  I feel so blessed that Jonathan is serving in this amazing mission, and under the inspired direction President and Hermana McMullin!

It really was such an amazing thing to be a part of such a wonderful Christmas Project.  I so love the people of Paraguay!!!

January 2, 2015

Today is Elder Jon Turley's "Hump Day."  He left one year ago on January 1st (6:00 a.m.) and officially began his mission on January 2nd.  

We are so very proud of Jon and all of the wonderful work he has accomplished during his first year!

So ...

Happy Hump Day Elder Turley!!! I can't believe it's been a year already (although I have my moments) ... I so have this!!!

 Jon Burns a shirt on Hump Day!