It seems like life is great and that there are a lot of things going on at home, but the best thing is that you all are still centered on the Lord. I'm jealous that they get to go to the temple and do baptisms. The temple is something that I miss so much but I made it a goal for when I get home to go at least once a week for the first month and then go at least every other week after that. I know that the temple is the House of the Lord and that we truly perform sacred ordinances there which bless us for time and all eternity. Thank you for teaching me the importance of temples and for encouraging me to go with Dad as often as possible while he was working there. I think it would be so great to serve as a temple worker when I get home, I just don't know if my schedule wil allow me to do that.

I haven't gotten my package yet but I bet it is here in Guatemala.

That is way cool that Mack is going to go to camp this year. I'm sure she is excited and it will be a great testimony strengthener for her. She definitely should enjoy it because not all the members of the church get to go to Girls' Camp or Scout Camp or EFY. Here in Central America EFY goes around to a different country every year and so the youth don't have that blessing and Scout Camp and Girls' Camp don't really exist here in Guatemala. We are blessed to be members of the church and to live in the country where the gospel was restored because there are so many blessings we receive having the gospel in a mature state. The gospel is just so new here that many people are still in a state of "apostasy" even though they are members and have been members their whole life. The church has only been in Santiago for maybe 30 years so there are many habits that as missionaries we have to help correct so that the gospel is truly lived the way that it is intended to be lived.

Well this week was a great week here in my area. My companion and I are having a lot of success that is all coming from the Lord as we trust in Him. There are some great scriptures that we read today in the district meeting in Ether 12:6-19 which really help me understand faith and the neccesity of having such great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I still don't quite grasp the whole concept of faith because when you really begin to think about it, it is complicated and
mysterious, but being a principle of the gospel it is simple - just believe in Christ and ANYTHING is possible with faith. This week the Lord blessed us according to our faith and we were able to have 8 investigators in church which is something that hasn't happened here in a long time. The Lord has blessed me with a desire to work hard and for that I am so grateful, and He is giving the success that we desire as we put forth our faith and contact 25 people daily. It's difficult but doable and the Lord blesses us for our efforts. On Sunday we passed by a family to bring them to church, but they said that they weren't ready and that they would meet us there. When church began we had 1 person in church. After Sacrament Meeting we had 4. The family that said they were going to come hadn't showed up and so my companion and I went by their house again to bring them but they weren't there and my only hope was that they went to church a different way than we did to get to their house. I was praying with all my might and when we got to the church the family was sitting there with smiles on their faces. I haven't felt happier than I did in that moment in my entire life. The mission is in a way unreal yet it is the most real thing that I have ever done.

Love,
Elder Turner