10.31.11
This week my companion and I started to work more with the members and let me tell you working with the members is great! November and December will be great months because because the members have introduced us to their friends and I have faith that every new family we found this week with the help of the members are going to get baptized in these next two months. With the help of the members, missionary work will go forth with much more power. Thank you mom for working with the elders at home. I know that is why the members are helping here because you are helping there.

Well happy halloween too :) It doesn't feel like halloween that's for sure. The people here seem to think it is a night where gringos go crazy and so they don't really celebrate it here. Like you said they celebrate Dia de los Muertos. That's tomorrow and Wednesday, but mainly tomorrow the 1st of November. The people all go to the cemetery and spend the day there decorating the tombs of their loved ones with flowers, and eating Fiambre, a typical food from Guatemala and in all honesty the most disgusting thing I have ever eaten. Take a minute and think of a type of meat. Put that in a bowl. Think of another type of meat. Put that in the same bowl. Another meat? Put that in there too. Think of some vegetables. Every vegetable that crossed your mind put that in your bowl. Throw some eggs in there, some hot dogs, and basically anything else you can think of into that same bowl. Now, because it didn't cross your mind when you thought of vegetables, throw some beets in there and you have Fiambre! It's awful, but the people like it. Another thing that they do here on November 1st is near the cemetery everyone flies "barrilettes" or kites. Lately all the kids have been flying kites but the cool thing is that just about everyone makes their own kites. There are competitions for the biggest kites and let me tell you they make some huge kites that are up to 10-12 feet and bigger and yes they fly. It's one of the Guatemalan traditions.

Well the work here in Ciudad Vieja is going great. I don't know how many times I have said this, but I love being a missionary. As you work to love the people and help them be the best they can be you learn what it means, and although very cliché, what it really means to say that these are the best two years. Many people say that they are the best two years FOR your life but in all reality they are also becoming the best two years OF my life. I made a goal at the beginning of my mission to make my mission mean everything to me and this week I wrote on a piece of paper and put it up on the wall in front of my desk "my mission means EVERYTHING to me". That is still my goal and I know that day by day I am accomplishing it. Ciudad Vieja is such a great area and I am so blessed to work here. It is a city on the base of a volcano and it is so beautiful. The people are some of the nicest people because everywhere you go people say "hi" or "good morning" even if you have never seen them before. The people in Ciudad Vieja are prepared for the Gospel and although there are a ton of Catholics they are receptive. My companion and I have been working hard and striving to work efficiently. There are many families we are working with and many investigators we have right now but we aren't settling with that. We have high goals, but we know that those investigators will be able to become converts if we teach with power and authority the doctrine of Christ. Thank you mom for teaching me clearly and simple the doctrine of Christ because I have become converted.

Have a great week. "Sí, os digo, venid y no temàis, y desechad todo pecado, pecado que fàcilmente os envuelve..."

Love,
Elder Turner