January 30, 2014

This week went by really quickly.  We went into Buenos Aries on Saturday and I talked to a bunch of people. It was cool because I gave out another Book of Mormon and a pamphlet, and I got three contacts.  I actually had three fluid conversations with people and all of them said they were amazed that I knew as much Spanish as I did since I had only started learning it four weeks ago. 

  

I had a really spiritual experience Sunday.  We are supposed to write a talk each Sunday and then if you are chosen, you give it in Sacrament Meeting.  My talk was on hope, but I didn't get chosen.  The new MTC Counselor gave a talk though, and it was pretty much everything I had written in my talk.  Then in class, we had testimony meeting and I was able to tell them about you, mom, and I started to cry and told them about how much pain you are in and the love you have for me, and how much I look up to you. Then I talked about how much worse pain the Savior had and how much he loves us, and how much I look up to Him. It was cool.

I can't believe how fast my time has gone here in the MTC. I go to Paraguay a week from next Tuesday. We get new Latino and American Missionaries in the MTC today, so that is cool. I met a cool missionary, Elder Ford, here. He is from San Diego and we are going to kick it when we get home from our missions. He left for his area last Thursday, so that was kind of crazy. We all get along so great. We made forts out of our beds and slept in it last night. We like to have "missionary" fun. Today we are having a district verses district basketball, volleyball, and soccer game. Everyone wants me to be on their team because I am a boss at volleyball.  

  We're pretending we are posing for a Missionary Ad

(Side Note:  Doesn't he look a lot like Bill in this picture?) 

 

We got a new MTC President, President Willis, last week.  He is from Arizona and he is really nice.  He was telling us that when he was flying to Argentina, about ten feet of their wing flew off of the plane and so they had to make an emergency landing in Uruguay.  He said it was pretty scary.  When he met me and saw my name was Turley, he told me he had dated a girl with the last name Turley.  I almost told him I had too, which I thought would have been funny, but I held back. Haha.  President Willis' wife makes us 
cookies and brownies every week. He is different from the old president because the old 
president kinda went by his own rules and the new president is very "by the manual," but I really like him.

There is a sister missionary here in the MTC, Sister Miller, who will be serving in Argentina, and she grew up in McGrath, Canada, which is like 20 minutes from Cardston. I asked her if she knew the Clark's but she didn't think so.  She is a cool girl ... I know, I am not on my mission to find my wife ... but we did swap email addresses.   Ask Austin if he recognizes her or knows her family.
 

 
     Side Note: I love how he has his hand behind his back -- 
Way to be a Missionary, Jon!

I have eaten some interesting things since I have been here. I ate cow head. There was also blood sausage, but I didn't eat it because I didn't want dry blood in my mouth.  I ate something really good, White Chocolate Alphajores. You should look them up, mom, because I think you would really like them, they are amazing.

                             Side Note:  I looked them up, don't these look delicious!

It has rained a lot here so I have had a chance to wear my raincoat, it works good. I am getting my hair cut again. It grows fast. Other than that, nothing really new has happened, the time is just going very quickly, its been chill.

  Jon wearing his raincoat and hat.

I love you mother and I believe in you and think that next year you will be really glad you started now.  Side Note: In my email to Jon, I told him I am exercising a lot and that I recently saw a post on Facebook that said "Next year you will be glad you started today."

Give Dad and Hurley a love for me.  I'll be thinking about y'all.

Elder Turley

Pictures from Argentina!

Elder Turley's First Pictures from Buenos Aries, Argentina

 

Elder Turley with the MTC President and his wife

Elder Turley and some of his MTC District

Elder Turley with Elder Furtado

(You will come to see that Elder Turley is rarely serious when his picture is taken)

Elder Turley with some of his MTC District

Elder Turley's first time attending the Buenos Aries Temple

 

Elder Turley with his first Mission Companion, Elder Bird,

 at the Buenos Aries Temple 

Elder Turley with his MTC District at the 

Buenos Aries Temple

Another Temple Picture

January 16, 2014

Hi Mom, 

It is six in the morning and I am awake and everything, how crazy is that?

My language is coming along pretty well.  Yesterday we went into the city proselyting and we talked to like eight people, and I understand Spanish better then I speak it.  Guess what, I gave out a Book of Mormon and I was speaking Spanish. The investigator had a hard time understanding a couple of the things we said, but for the most part we could talk to him and it was pretty exciting. 

I have had a lot of spiritual experiences this week. One happened yesterday when we were in Buenos Aries. We went to sit down and I felt we shouldn't sit there so we got up and moved to another area, and just then some guy, who was on his break, came up and talked to us.  We tried to give him a Book of Mormon, but he was Catholic and gave it back when we said we didn't worship the Virgin Mary.

Going into Buenos Aries was weird, super non-American.  There is a bunch of trash everywhere, but it was cool to see the city, and I got a lot of Coke so I was happy :) but ya, mom, you wouldn't like it. 

Today we are going to the Temple again. The sessions are in Spanish, so you can understand how confused I was last week since it was only my second time going to the Temple. 

This is my Daily Schedule
Wake up
Get dressed and ready for the day
Eat
Personal Study
Companion Study
Language Study
Class
Eat
Class
Class
Class
Sports
Class
Dinner
Class 
Class 
Planing
Get ready for bed
Asleep

So every day at 2:30, we go and play volleyball and handball and so that's pretty fun. It rains a lot here, but it is still hot. On Saturday, is supposed to be like 100 degrees with rain, so that will be awful.  When it rains, it straight down pours, and it is insane.  This week we played handball, which is like ultimate frisby and rugby on the basketbal court with soccer nets, and we played in rain that was pouring so hard it was like Hurricane Katrina, so that was pretty cool. I have fun playing volleyball, and I am doing decent, but not playing like I usually would because I want people to keep playing with me.

I have had a lot of questions and my MTC President knows like every topic and a scripture for every topic and he says he is really grateful that I ask the questions that I ask. Every time I pray I feel like my questions are answered pretty much right away. It is really cool how fast everything works,  Like we were talking about a topic last Sunday and I had a question to ask but I didn't, and my MTC President answered it anyway, even though it was like a super random question, so that was really cool. I got to consecrate an oil vial in front of everyone, so that was pretty cool.

We had some Latino Missionaries leave this week and then we got new ones.  I am going to miss Elder Furtado, he is pretty cool. We won't get new American Missionaries until next week, or maybe in two weeks.  They don't bring new missionaries into the MTC very often, I think new Latinos come in every two weeks and American missionaries every 2-4 weeks.

We speak a lot of Spanglish here in the MTC, and not really non stop because my vocabulary isn't that good, but I am learning a lot of Spanish and I can teach a lesson in Spanish and have basic conversations.

My comp is really cool, we are super happy to be with each other, we are both pretty laid back. My District is like a little family, everyone here is really close.  There are three American Districts and we all chill together because there are like only 20 of us, so its super super small. 

I am eating well. They have a lot of good meat. I have been making deviled eggs a lot. They also have amazing greek yogurt down here. I'm not really sure what is my favorite food here is. I ate cow head this week and that was kinda weird.

Mom, yes, I am writing in my journal and taking pictures.

You asked me to write something in Spanish so here it is:

Mi Nobré es Elder Turley y Mi Madre is Muy Bonita :) y Yo se Que El Libro De Mormón es verdadero y José Smith es un prófeta De Dios Yo se Que Jesus Christo es me Savador Y Mi familia can vive enternidad en cielo. 

I am not the best at writing but that says, my mom is beautiful and the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith is a prophet and that Jesus Christ  is my Savior and that my family can live forever in heaven.  

I love you too, Madre, you are a huge part of my life and I love you and dad a lot. Tell dad I am sorry my email to him was short and show him this one cause I was writing to you for a long time. 

I love you Mother. 

Elder Turley 

January 5th - Elder Turley's First Week as a Full-Time Missionary!

So basically  my life here has been waking up at 6, then showering and kinda just chillin for a minute until breakfast. Then you have breakfast and it's just cereal and orange juice and hot chocolate. Then you go to personal study and that is pretty cool because I never really realized that if you actually have a purpose for reading it, then the Book of Mormon isn't just words. Next it is companion study, and that is pretty chill.  The first day iI was here my companion wasn't and so I was able to just walk around, so I had a little bit more freedom then most people and that felt good. My companion is Elder Bird and he is from Idaho and we are in a room with six South Americans and only one or two speak even a little bit of English. In my Patriarchal Blessing,  it says that I will be able to get along with all of my companions and that's really cool and I know that is true because although we don't like the same music or movies or anything, he played a lot of League of Legends which as you know that is the game that I played so much before I left, and so we are able to talk about that and that has brought us closer and now we are pretty good friends.

This week has been long and I haven't really had a problem sleeping ... the first day you kinda just pass out which is nice. The second day I woke up a couple times but ever since then I have been able to sleep through the night, and that is weird for me because it is like 5 in the afternoon in Newport when I go to sleep here.  After companion study, it is language and then you have a little class and then you have lunch. The food down here is a little weird but it is pretty good and I have finished everthing but one little sausage so that is good. The peaches down here are to die for, they are super juicy and super good and I eat a lot of those. Honestly, Spanish is hard and sometimes it's frustrating to think I don't know a lot, but a lot of that is because I feel like I have been here forever when in reality I have only been here for one week, and in one week I have learned to bear my testimony and pray in Spanish, and me and my Latin roomates can kinda talk and have some funny conversations about Justin Beiber and Miley Cyrus. (Side Note: Jon thinks Justin Beiber and Miley Cyrus are both out of control). 

There are about 20 or 30 other Americans and a couple from California here in the MTC,  but mostly the Americans are from Utah which isn't a shocker.  It's crazy how we are all getting along ... so that's pretty gnarly ... how we literally just met but are all pretty good friends. Because we are all such good friends, I don't think I have gotten too homesick yet. The first day they told us to read D&C 100, and I think that would be good for you guys to read. I think it is verse four,  but I am not exactly sure.

Every day at 2:30 we go out and play sports, and there were only five elders here before and they took over leadership, so they only play handball which is like ultimate frisby on a little soccer court with a volleyball ... and that is pretty fun.  The weather changes randomly here so it went from being burning hot to Hurricane Katrina status, but it was pretty chill to play in the rain. We haven't really been outside the MTC yet, but we are going to the Temple today, and I am apparently gonna do it in Spanish which might be good cause they help the new Elders with the Spanish so I won't look stupid when I don't have the last part memorized haha. I haven't really been struggling, but I haven't really kicked my cold yet, so that would be nice if you could pray about that because it gets better as the day goes on, but in the morning it is annoying to have a sore throat.

The coolest thing about the MTC is how inspired everyone is and how crazy it is to find easy answers in the Book of Mormon if you are actually searching. The first day I came in and had an interview with the MTC President and told him about my night terrors, and he didn't think it was weird. He gave me a verse in D&C that was about missionaries being scared off by spirits and that they needed help, and they were told that they had all power over the spirits and that because they have been called of God they could not be touched again if they asked God to help them. So that was pretty inspired. My MTC president is crazy smart in that you can ask him anything and he will tell you what it is, where it is, and what it says in the scripture ... it is crazy crazy. 

Of course I love you mother and if you and dad would pray for my Spanish and for my health, that would be much appreciated. I can't really think of much else, my life has just been kinda the same thing every day. I played volleyball and that was cool. The days are long here, but they are getting faster ... they are all pretty much the same but with different things in them.

I love you mom and dad and family and grandparents, I am thankful for y'all.

Love Elder Turley

January 2, 2014 - I'm in Argentina

So I arrived in Argentina at like 10 and have been pretty busy getting settled in. I love you mother and they wanted me to tell you that p-day is on Thursday and that is when you should email me, and to not send packages here.  I told the MTC President about my night terrors and he read some scriptures and then prayed and said that the door where the spirits are coming from is now closed and that I shouldn't have to worry. I love you guys and can't really say much, but it is like 70 degrees and humid and it is really hot, hopefully things cool down. The lunch was meat and potatoes and fries and hard boiled eggs and it was good so I'm not too worried about that. Let everyone know that I am safe and that I am praying for them.

Love Elder Turley

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

A couple of nights before Jonathan left, he had a night terror (where he has a very vivid dream and while still asleep acts upon it) and felt like Satan was trying to get to him. He actually jumped out of bed and ran downstairs and held the basement door closed so Satan couldn't get him. Will was able to talk to him through the door and help him wake up and come out of it.  That is what he is talking about when he said he talked to his MTC President about his night terrors. He also talked to the Stake President about them and when he was set apart, the Stake President told him Satan would not be able to get to him as long as he was a righteous missionary. 

As far as the MTC food goes, the MTC in Provo allows you to eat as much as you want, and they have a big selection -- and Jon can put away a lot of food. The MTC in Argentina doesn't allow you to go back for seconds so he was worried he would get enough to eat, but apparently that is not going to be a problem! :)