February 23, 2015

Hey Family --

How are y'all doing?  So I am writing super early because we have a lot of missionaries who have to write and you know, it is my time to write. :)  


So we did not have a lot of spiritual things happen this week, but we had a lot of crazy things happen.

Monday ... We went out and did our p-day stuff  -- so basically nothing. Haha.  That night we had a family home evening with the Hermano Fransisco Martinez and his family and that was super cool because his sisters said that they really want to work in the church, and that is rare so it's cool that they want to. 

Tuesday ...  I "dropped fat Cain" (missionary language for spoke strongly) on a Mennonite because I read with him about what the true church of Christ should be like and then I read with him about prophets.  After we read these things, he told me that in his church prophets don't exist and I told him that is because his church isn't the true church of Christ.  I basically told him he was living in apostacy, and he didn't really like that. :) 

Then we visited "M" and again I had to "drop fat Cain" because she was speaking badly about all of the members. I basically told her that she needed to stop gossiping about and talking badly about the other members and told her that she won't get in to heaven if she keeps doing this. We have tried to tell her this before, but she doesn't listen to us and so we have had to "speak more strongly" with her.

I don't really like "dropping Cain" on the members, that is definitely not my personality.  Unfortunately, it has to be done a lot out here in the Chaco and I am probably going to have to do it a lot this next change as I am guessing my companion is going back to Asuncion and I will be getting a new companion and will need to lead the way and show him how things work out here.

Wednesday ...  We visited a couple of families and then traveled to Abundacia to be there for the zone meeting on Thursday.

Thursday ...  We woke up at 2 a.m. to go pick up the A.P.'s (Elder Gummersall and Elder Calderon), but they weren't there and so we went back to the apartment and went to sleep until 4:00 a.m.  Right as we were getting ready to leave to pick them up again, it started to rain, and rain, and rain.  The roads turned in to pure mud and it felt impossible to walk and we had two kilometers to go.  It was super cold and super difficult, but I knew I needed to keep going because along with the A.P.s, I had four packages waiting for me. :)  So we picked up the A.P.'s (and my packages), and then walked back to the apartment -- another two kilometers in the mud and rain and cold ... oh and we were just in t-shirts.  When we got back to the apartment, we all went to sleep for a couple of hours.  Funny thing, we had zone meeting in our flip flops because our shoes were too muddy and too wet to wear.  Haha! :)  Zone Meeting was really great and it was really nice to see Elder Gummersall again. 

Friday ...  We had just a normal day doing normal visits and things. 

Saturday ... We went back to Abundancia for a meeting with all of the ward counsels, and since I am the Secretary of our Branch I had to be there.  The meeting was really good, but we had to leave early because it started to rain and we were in a little Toyota that wouldn't do very well in the mud.  So it starts to rain super hard, and the Hermana driving the car started to yell about how she couldn't see anything, but she kept driving really fast ... so here we are in the middle of a storm, the driver can't see anything, and she is hauling down the road ... not a good combination.  Everyone else in the car kept telling the Hermana to "slow down" and she kept saying "No it's good," and she just kept hauling.   Luckily that little car had two missionaries, the Branch President, The Relief Society President, and the Sunday School President ... and we were protected. :) 

Sunday ... We get to church, and two families who were inactive had come and so that was super cool. We always get to church early so that we can help clean the church and get everything ready, so we did all that and everything was going great.  

So we have the Sacrament ... and then we had the sustaining of a new Relief Society President ... and then the fight started.  One of the Hermanas got mad because the new Relief Society President was Paraguayan and not Neviclay, and so she stood up in the meeting and yelled at Elder Burger and myself because we are white and we only call white people to callings.  She said we were racist and that the church wasn't going to function because the white people were trying to steal all of the power from the brown people.  It got really, really bad and it was just horrible. 

After church we calmed all the people down, and then Elder Burger and I did our studies and left to go to Paraiso for the church meetings there.  For some reason our driver took a different path to Paraiso and after we had been driving for about an hour, the car's steering broke and the car veered off the road and we veered into a muddy ditch ... and got stuck ... for three hours.   We tried really hard to push the car out of the ditch, but it was so deep it was obvious we weren't going to be able to do it and we weren't going anywhere until a tractor came and pulled us out.  

So, we asked our guide how close we were to Paraiso and he told us we were about a mile away and so Elder Burger and I started to walk because we wanted to get to Paraiso for the meetings and we didn't know how long it would be before a tractor showed up.  Well, we walked, and walked, and walked, and two hours later, we still hadn't arrived in Paraiso and so we turned around and walked back to the car.  Right as we arrived, the tractor showed up and pulled the car out and then we were on our way -- and it's a really good thing we went back to the car because we were really 15 miles away from the entrance to Paraiso ... our driver had flat out lied to us. 

So, we get to the entrance of the city and right before we got in, we got stuck again.  This time it was a 30 minute wait for the tractor, and we ended up actually getting in to the city at 10:00 p.m., we had left Neuland at 3:00 p.m.  We were obviously too late to go to the meetings, so the driver got the steering fixed and then we left Paraiso to return to Neuland.  Luckily on the way home, the roads weren't quite as muddy, but there was one bad part where there were five trucks and three semis that were stuck, and we didn't think we were going to be able to go any farther until the morning, but fortunately there were a bunch of drunk people who were really nice and who were able to push us through.   After a very long day, we arrived back in Neuland at 1:00 a.m. -- it was quite a long and crazy trip for no purpose. Haha.  :) 

So, yeah, this week wasn't a really spiritual week, but we definitely had a lot of crazy things happen that only happen out in the Chaco. Haha. :)  Even though we had a crazy week, I am doing good.  I have a lot of work to do out here in the Chaco, but you know what, I am sure that I can do it. :)

Well, I sure love y'all and I hope y'all have a wonderful week. :)

Elder Turley

 Scenes from the Chaco 

Zone Meeting in Flip Flops
(Can you tell Jon is wearing a new white shirt he got in one of his packages?  It almost glows it is so white).  :)

This car isn't going anywhere soon!!!

 

On the way home from our crazy trip to Paraiso!

February 16, 2015

Hey y'all --

I hope that all is going well over there in the Newport. Not gonna lie, it was looking like a great week this week -- we have kinda been without rain and so everyone has been like "Y'all are from God, pray with us so that we can have rain," and so we have been praying with them and we received rain, and it has been raining the last couple days so that's good, right? So yeah, we went out this week and we were having a lot of success ... me and Elder Burger are killing it ... we have raised the attendance in our branch a ton since I have been here, and we are just overall doing really well. 

We have a guy out here named F.M. He has been having trouble with the church because the last misson presdent released him from his calling.  So for the last two years F.M. has just been kind of trying to find fault with the branch president and with the missionaries, and so Elder Burger and I have felt that we need to focus on being more like Christ and how to develop the attributes of Christ with him.  Our lessons have been super good and we were finally getting progress with him ... he has made a lot of progress ...  and we thought that maybe this week he would come to church, and other less actives we have been working with would come as well ... we felt that we had finally gotten to them which is an amazing feeling because as missionaries that is what we pray for! 

So Sunday comes and we are stoked (excited) to go to church.  We woke up and got ourselves ready and we went to the chapel.  It was raining super hard and and the lights didn't work and the water was out -- we actually had to fill the Sacrament cups up with the rain water.  Elder Burger and I prepared everything for church and then we sat there and waited ... and waited ... and waited ... NOBODY came -- not ONE person came to church.  It was fetching ridiculous! President McMullin has given Elder Burger and I the authority to direct the meetings if the Branch President doesn't show up, and so Elder Burger and I had Sacrament Meeting! Elder Burger directed and I said the prayer, and then we blessed and passed the Sacrament, and then we both gave talks. After the talks, we sang a hymn and ended with a prayer.  So it was pretty interesting ... no members showed up, but we still got to have Sacrament, so that was cool. 

So after the Sacrament Meeting in Neuland, we were supposed to go out to Paraiso with the Stake President in the afternoon to have church with those members.  So we called the Stake President and asked him when we were going to go, and he said "I postponed my branch this morning because of the rain, so I have to go to my church this afternoon."  So we were kind of confused because we had never really heard of church meetings being cancelled because of a little bit of rain, and so we decided to call President McMullin, and he gave us the permission to go to Paraiso and hold their Sacrament Meeting.  

So Elder Burger and I went to Paraiso and we went to everyone's house and told them we were holding church at 5:00 and asked them to come.  We thought the people would be excited about having church, especially since they thought it had been cancelled, and we really thought we would have a great attendance, but NO, about half of the people we talked to told us "It's raining and we really don't want to go to church today, we will come next week."  Elder Burger and I were super bugged about that because since the members didn't think they were having church, they decided to use the day to gamble and do sports.  They chose to do those things over what they needed to be doing on the Sabbath.  So Elder Burger and I were kind of upset, but we went ahead and prepared the Sacrament and got things all ready.  

So 5:00 rolls around and one of our investigators, E.V., showed up ... and he was the only one!  Then about 20 minutes later, F.M. shows up ... then at 6:00, two more families show up.  At 6:00 we were still waiting for the Branch President to come and preside and we didn't know what was going on and so we called him and told him we were waiting at the church to have Sacrament Meeting.  So we call the Branch President and ask him when he will be there because there were people at church waiting to have Sacrament Meeting, and Branch President says "You know, I am just not feeling church today, so let's just cancel if and have it next week."  At that point, Elder Burger and I tried to explain to the Branch President what his responsibilities were and that he needed to come to the church and preside.  His response was "Yeah, but I am a little tired today and I just want to enjoy my Sunday."  So once again, we called our Mission President, and after he had a good laugh about the whole thing, he gave Elder Burger and I permission direct the meeting, which we did. 

So here, this week, we had done such good work with the members and were so excited to see what our attendance would be, and we had a total attendance of 13.  Elder Burger and I were a bit frustrated, but we got over it -- however, we will definitely be having some intense conversations with the members this week.  

So all in all we had a good week and made a lot of progress, but it all got forgotten because of the rain. I was thinking about how ridiculous this all was because the people have been praying for rain because they need it so badly, but as soon as they got the rain they were like "Yeah, we can't go to church because it's raining."  The people really should have been thanking God for the blessing of rain, but instead they just decided to forgot Him.   I have been reading a lot in Helaman and Third Nephi, and it really is crazy how exact our situation on Sunday was with the people in those chapters.  The "pride cycle" is real, and our Lamanites are in a state of wickedness right now.  One thing I know for sure though from reading the scriptures is that they can and will change.  I just need to keep working super hard with them. :)

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

Love --

Elder Turley 

Filling the Sacrament cups with rain water!!!

 

February 9, 2015

Hello parents ;) 

So this week was super interesting.  Backing up to last p-day, we were in Abundancia and it was so amazing because I got chips and salsa ... like legit chips and salsa ... it was amazing ... like the Totinos chips and salsa ...  I was so happy ...  it has been way too long since I have had chips and salsa ... I loved it! (Mom's note: I think he really liked having chips and salsa. Haha). Anyway, we stayed in Abundancia until Tuesday then we returned to Neuland.  So the week started out good.  We had a bunch of good lessons, and we were very blessed -- we met a man named Philip -- but more about that in a minute.  

So on Wednesday the day started out a little bit rough, but we went out and did our visits and everything and kept moving forward. At one point, we went over to an investigator's house, but he wasn't home and so we talked to his dad for a little bit. Then we were just walking around and we happened upon a home where apparently the people don't like the missionaries, so the missionaries have typically not visited, but I felt like we should visit and we did talk to the owner for a few minutes and then we went on our way. 


  

So nothing really out of the ordinary was going on.  But then, we passed by a home and I remembered that I had wanted to purchase a "pen drive" (USB drive) -- it's a third generation and so it will copy things to it and so the missionaries are all trying to get one to hold our music and talks, and right then we were passing by the home where the pen drives were sold.  Last week we had gone by this home, but the guy selling them didn't have any and so he told us to come back this week.  Anyway, so as we walked by this house, I saw that there were lights on and a different guy had just gotten off of the phone, and so I went over to him to ask him if he knew anything about the pen drives.  Well the new guy is actually from Australia and speaks English and does not speak Spanish, so I was like "this isn't a problem ... I speak English," and so I went over and asked him about the pen drives.  He told me his brother was the one selling them and he wasn't home and so we would need to come back another time.


  

Then out of the blue, the guy said "You all are missionaries, right," and I said "Yes, we are from The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints."  Then he invited us into his house.  He name was Philip and he was very friendly and we had a good contact with him.  We talked about the Priesthood and other things, and this guy is super cool -- we ended up talking to him for three hours.  He is 21 and divorced and has a child.  He has had a lot of the same problems that I kind of went through, and so it was super cool to talk to him.  At one point he said "honestly, I have been trying to quit smoking and live a better life, and you guys are the answers to my prayers."  He said that like five times!  It really was a super good lesson ... he is a super cool guy!  And the crazy part about all of it is that it was in English.  It was one of those lessons you have that you know you will never forget.   It really was a miracle that we ended up talking to him, and that I noticed he was home.  And the timing was perfect ... we were going to try to go by there earlier, and his brother might have been home then, but he wouldn't have been.  So we just happened to be there at the exact time he needed us.  There were so many little things that all went "right" that day that led us to meeting him ... like the fact that I spoke English because he didn't speak Spanish, or the fact that we stopped by the man's home who typically didn't like the missionaries and that delayed us a few minutes so we would just happened to pass by this home at the exact time the guy was getting off the phone.  There were just a ton of crazy things that happened so that we would be able to meet this Philip -- really, it was pretty crazy, I'm not going to lie, and I definitely thanked the Lord for the blessing he gave to us to meet him.
 

So this week, other than meeting Philip, a good thing was that we had a combined total of 85 people in church -- that's Paraiso and Neuland together. We are getting a lot of people to church and that's really good.   The attendance in Neuland has jumped up from 10 people to about 40 people every week.  We are definitely doing work out here. ;) 

Also, mom, I just wanted to tell you that we have been recieving a lot of clothes from Hermana McMullin. The help that you and the moms have been, and the clothes and things you all sent, are really lightening a burden for the Nivacle people." 

So all in all, it was a super good week. ;)

Highlights of the week:

We had 5 investigators in church

I got my hair cut 

I almost killed a kid on a moto, not really "almost"

I ate mac and cheese. 

I ate chips and salsa

We are doing good work with the people out here

I have a feeling that Elder Burger is leaving this next change, and that's going to be hard because it is a little hard to speak German, but I know that it will all work out.  ;)

I love y'all, and now I'll answer the questions.

Elder Turley 

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

1.  Who are you investigators and how are they progressing?

 We have five investigators -- three of them are ...

Elida -- She came to church on Sunday

Viviana -- She came to church as well

Mirna -- She didn't come to church, but we have a really good feeling about her.

 2.  Who is your favorite person this week? 

Philip 

3.  What is your happiest moment from this week? 

Chips and Salsa -- all the way 

4.  What was your most spiritual moment from this week? 

Running into Philip 

5.  What was your toughest moment this week? 

There really weren't any hard moments.  In one lesson, the investigators tried to blame everything on the fact that they are different than us and we just don't understand their lifestyle.  That was kind of frustrating. 

6.  What can we pray about for you? 

 That we can keep working with and help Philip

7.  Any special requests in your birthday package? 

Beef jerky ... I don't know ... A full package of 5 Gum

8.  Are you eating well? Getting enough food and water? 

Yes, I eat well enough we cook for ourselves.

9.  How is your health?  Any specific concerns?

I am good for right now ;) 

10.  Have you received any packages from us? 

I have four from you that are sitting in Asuncion, hopefully I will get them soon. 

It's Raining in Paraguay

The only ride way we could get from Neuland to Paraiso for Sacrament Meeting was sitting on chairs on a bed on the back of a motorcycle -- the ride was three hours long and just a little dangerous, but we were protected.   It was so dusty that we covered our heads with t-shirts.

On our way to Paraiso

How we get around ...

Getting my hair cut!

Jon having fun!

 

Holding an Armadillo

Everyone is fascinated by my Rubick's Cube
With the Children of the Chaco

February 2, 2015

Hello parents, how are y'all doing? 

This week was pretty cool, I did some work and stuff -- you know the normal missionary work -- we went out and taught a lot of people. ;)

So this last week we wanted to make sure that we can get the same amount of people to church that we had last week, so we went out and tried to teach all the people that showed up last Sunday, but at the same time worked hard with our investigators. 

It was a pretty good week, we had a couple of really good lessons.  One of the lessons that I will tell you about is the lesson that we had with the Hermano G.   He is a guy who is inactive at the moment, and who we are trying to get a call to in the Elders Quorum.  Unfortunately he can't have a call if he's inactive, so we are trying really hard to activate him. Anyway, we went over to his house with the plan to talk about forgiveness, and the lesson started and Elder Burger started talking to him about that, but then it came to my turn and I really felt like he needed to hear about obedience -- like there was just something that came to me, and so I followed my prompting and started talking about that.  But the cool thing is that when I switched the subject, Elder Burger opened his scriptures and the page he opened to had a really good scripture about obedience, and how sometimes we get mad at God for not giving us blessings, but really it's our disobedience that is making us lose the blessings.  It was a really cool moment because obedience was not what we had really planned, but that's what the Lord wanted us to say and so that's what we did.

But yeah, the week was good. There was a lot of revelation that we needed to get for our Ward.  We are trying to get the ward to grow, and so we prayed and thought about the callings that we can give to members, and it was crazy because both my companion and I would pray and think, and we came up with a lot of the same names for the same spots which was super cool.  It's kind of hard right in our Ward right now because the Branch President doesn't really wanna be Branch President and so we are kind of taking it upon ourselves to go out and make the ward function. It is super hard but we know it is going to all work out in the end.

So Elder Burger and I went to Paraiso this week. It was a long ride. So basically it was a six and a half hour round trip ride out there in a moto carga which is kinda like a motorcycle but with a bed you can sit in. It wasn't comfortable. ;)  But we made it and we didn't have to pay as much as we should have.  It was cool because were praying for a way to make it out there ... and we were given a way ... maybe it wasn't the best or safest way, but  just like Nephi, "I will go and do the thing the Lord commands,"  the Lord commanded and we went and all was well.  It really was a blessing to be able to bless the Sacrament for these people. They are amazing ... It had been a very long time since they had taken the Sacrament because they live out in the middle of nowhere. 

Overall this week was super good. We did work and we got to be the answer to a lot of people's prayers. I have been really trying to get on the good side of the "guy upstairs" because out here we really need to work with His approval and with His spirit. 

But yeah, I was looking at my family history and we are related to everyone, it is freaking crazy how well connected that we are -- it's actually kind of amazing and super humbling.  Sometimes it gets hard out here, but then I remember all the good examples that I have like Hyrum Smith and Theodore Turley (both great grandfathers) and all those people that we are related to, and all of them have given up a ton -- they have even given up there lives for this gospel.  Thinking about them makes me realize that I can give up another year so that I can continue the legacy that my family had the privilege of being such a big part of.

Anyway, y'all are the greatest.  I love every single one of you, even Chantelle although it took me a little while to forgive her for that electricity tragedy --  but you know what I love her anyway (inside family joke).  Thank you all for being such good examples to me.   Like really, y'all are amazing.  I know that whenever I  need anything y'all are there.  I have such a good family -- I know that I chose y'all for a reason.. :) Haha. 

I love y'all :) 

Elder Jonathan Holladay Turley, Jr.

P.S.  I thought dad would enjoy this picture.  We were playing soccer on Monday night, and I looked down and saw this "huge" tarantula.  That's my name tag behind it -- which helps show how big it was -- yes "was", I won! 

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

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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

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