The first picture is of an active volcano in a town where we work called Alotenango.
The second picture is of the food we won from cleaning our house.
Picture number three I was making flour tortillas with some recent converts so we could eat burritos.
Picture four is me drinking coffee (morcaf it's "mormon coffee" made of corn, wheat, and idk what else, don't worry it's not real coffee)

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

10.24.11
That's great to hear that the family is staying active and that everyone has their activities and are staying out of trouble. As we are doing things that are productive, Satan is kept away from us and we are able to focus on the important things and not allow for destructive things to enter into our minds.

I have gotten DearElders from a few people which are greatly appreciated namely Deb, the Morales family and the Merrills. Those are the most recent that I can remember, and I know that others have sent me letters and emails too which I am so grateful for. I don't always get time to respond, especially emails one because of the time limit and two because I can only email family. The question you made was a great question and to be honest with you I'm not exactly sure, but it is always great to recieve DearElders and letters. I did enjoy last year the cards from the different classes and quorums from the ward. Pictures from the ward would be nice to receive too.

This week was a great week! I love being a missionary. There is honestly no better time in my life that I have passed. I understand why they are the best two years :) This week I went on divisions with other missionaries in my Zone and I went and worked in their area, Chimaltenango. It was nice to get out of my area for a day or so and work with another missionary because since I got to Ciudad Vieja, I have worked there every single day. Sometimes routine gets boring and you don't grow as much. The following day we had a Zone Conference with Elder James B. Martino of the Seventy. This is the second time in my mission that I have had the opportunity to hear him, the first time was exactly a year ago when I entered the mission field. He reiterated the importance of working with the members and the importance of proper planning. In my entire mission I have been able to "get by" without really working with the members, but I am tired of just getting by. Like I said, routine gets boring. This week we have already planned a few appointments where members are going to invite a nonmember over or where we are going to go with the members to the non members house. I have faith and i know that as my companion and i work with the members more we will find a lot more success. Elder Martino talked about the importance of planning well. Chapter 8 in PMG talks specifically about planning and how to plan well, setting goals and measuring your progress. He made us the promise that if we can master the principles that chapter 8 mentions we will make 100,000 dollars more in life. Yes, 100,000 dollars more. I am really working to understand and put in practice the principles of planning well.

Well the rainy season is officially over after almost 10 days straight of rain. It's nice to be dry :) It's amazing what the sun can do for your soul after not seeing it for 10 days.

Be safe and be smart and be obedient. "...Ciertamente al obedecer es mejor que los sacrificios..." - 1 Samuel 15:22

Love,
Elder Turner

This week was a great week. I love serving the Lord and have so much joy in knowing that there is nothing better that I could be doing than serving Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

My day: I am always tired. Every day I wake up, look at my alarm clock and wish that it's only 3am so I can sleep a few more hours and I think of how nice it will be to get back in bed when the day is over. I say a prayer and put myself in the Lord's hands knowing that only He can give me the strength to work another day. I do some push ups and sit ups, some curls and a little bit of bench press with the weights that other missionaries have made and left in the house. I get in the shower and get ready for the day. I eat breakfast and lately it's been banana pancakes because we've still got a lot of pancake mix so I haven't bought anything else for breakfast. At 8am it's time for personal study and right now I've been studying the Book of Mormon. I am reading in the book of Mosiah and I am reading about Alma and how he repented of his sins and was able to bring many people also to repentance. I love stories like his. Then I have companionship study from 9am to 11am focusing on teaching the lessons in Preach my Gospel and learning how to be a better teacher. I have become a great fan of chapter 10 because it really shows how to be a master teacher. It is hard sometimes having a new companion and teaching him, but it has helped me revert to the basics and when we get back to the basics everything goes better and we come closer to Jesus Christ.

11am to 12pm we study language and then we are out to work. Normally we don't have a lot of lessons early in the day, but it is a great time to share the gospel and so we knock doors and look for families in the street and sometimes visit members to help in the missionary work.
We eat lunch at 1:30 and by 2pm we are up and at 'em again. The best thing about missionary work is being able to testify of the Lord Jesus Christ and that He is Everything for me and my life. There are many people who reject the message but that makes it even sweeter when people accept it. We walk a lot but I know that all the walking we do will be repaid (I'm going to have a beautiful wife!) 9pm we're in the house planning for the next day and getting ready for bed. I write in my journal a bit and eat something and then to bed. 6am (the following day) we do it over again. 14 months have gone by quick and I am savoring every minute.

I can't believe that it is still 100 degrees. I haven't felt heat like that in a long time. Guatemala really is a promised land. The weather here is so great for the most part. I haven't seen the sun for over a week because it has been raining everyday, except for yesterday, since last Monday. On Wednesday I thought that a hurricane was passing through because it was raining so much and super windy. The rain was falling at a horizontal direction! I love my mission :) Supposedly we are at the end of the rainy season so hopefully it will stop here in the next few days.


Love,
Elder Turner

This week I had a good experience applying what the prophet said to one of the 70, "It's better to look up." Those words helped me this week as I faced the challenges of missionary work. I love being a missionary. There is no better calling. Thank you for helping me get my life in order to serve the Lord for 2 years, bearing His name on my heart.

It's good to hear that you got the pictures of the contest winners :) I wasn't really sure that we would win because I was hearing what other missionaries were doing to clean so that they could win (such as cleaning with acid) but I figured that we would give it a shot. We stayed up a little late the night before the inspections trying to make sure we thought of all the things Sister Brough would think about, and doing the last minute mopping. We woke up in the morning at 630 and got a call from the district leader that they had already stopped by his house to inspect it. We looked over the house again and it seemed clean enough to pass. We waited and they finally came. The cleanest house was between the Zone leaders and us. We won by one point. It was great, we got a ton of pancake mix and we are enjoying eating tons of pancakes. I remember before the mission that I didn't really like pancakes, but when you're hungry, you'll eat what's there and sometimes you'll grow to like it. Today I ate banana pancakes with strawberry jelly and orange juice for breakfast. Life is good :)

That's great to hear that the family is doing well and that the kids are on break this week. I love you all and pray for you. Sorry that this letter was so short, but know that I love you and that the Book of Mormon is true. How great is it that we have Another Testament of Jesus Christ?!

Love,
Elder Turner

Conference was awesome :) I love General Conference. Being a missionary, Conference is like Christmas when I was a kid. You have it marked on your calender and you wait for it anxiously knowing that it is just going to be amazing and when it actually comes you are so excited you wake up early so that you can make sure that you are there for all the good stuff. You listen to the speakers and that's like opening the presents, you are so excited because you don't know what you're going to get, you just know that it's going to be good, something that will make you happy. Then when it's all over your a bit sad because the presents are opened and there's no more anticipation and you gotta go back to the normal things. That's how it is for me at least.

I loved Conference and cherished every moment as the Lord took time to teach me thru the words of his servants here on the earth. Elder Callister is a great speaker and provides great insight. I read a talk he gave as a mission president entitled "A Consecrated Missionary" that really helped me change my mission a few months ago. It really gave me a better perspective as to how to be more obedient and a more effective tool in the Lord's hands. The talk he gave about the Book of Mormon and the Bible was great and the example he used was very simple and clear. The example made me smile a bit for two reasons, one being that my trainer taught me that example and two because about 3 months ago we had a Zone conference and the Assistants to the President talked to us about the use of examples and how we ought to not teach with so many examples but rather just teach doctrine. The key is that we ought to use the Spirit in discerning what our investigators need so that they will be able to progress.

I really liked the talk by Elder Quentin Cook because it talked a bit about pride and I think that it is good that we all take time every so often to re-evaluate ourselves to be a bit more humble. It helps to read Alma 5. I liked the reference he made to the Titanic and how the claims for the ship were so high. Unsinkable, The Biggest, The Best, The Most Luxurious. Often times we think that of ourselves and then when we are sailing in troubled waters, we fall. We must always be prepared to defend ourselves when Satan strikes. I especially like how he made mention of a group of missionaries who were to travel on the Titanic but were not able to make it because one of them wasn't prepared to leave the day of the embarkation. One of those missionaries was Alma Sonne. Alma Sonne is in my Line of Authority right above the person who gave the priesthood to Grandpa Turner. I felt a cool connection there :)

My companion is doing great and we are working hard. I'm trying to teach him English and he wants to learn, but it's a struggle. English is a lot harder than Spanish and the rules are way different. He is adjusting great, but I have learned that I have to be perfect with him. I can not let even the slightest thing go. I have to be a bit hard on him sometimes, because I have to do all that the Lord expects of me so that my companion can achieve the same. I love my companion. He is a great person that has made a great impact on my life.

Life is great and I am loving every second of it. I'm working as hard as I can. I know the Lord is pleased with me and He is blessing me so much. The gospel is such a blessing. Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet of God. Joseph Smith was the first prophet after Christ and by the direction of God restored the truth to the earth. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and I know that it is true. I know that I will be with my family forever as we all strive to live the gospel and become perfected through the Atonement of Christ. Temples are such a blessing and I know that they are sacred buildings of God.

Have an AMAZING week.

Love,
Elder Turner