Monday, September 27, 2010

Guadalupe Peru!

Hi mom! I have been called to serve in Guadalupe Peru. It is north of Trujillo and really dry and dusty haha but the people here are really nice. We are the only missionaries in the entire town and my new companion's name is Elder Perry. He is from Provo Utah, so I'm actually able to talk to him. He is a really good missionary. The language has been really hard but Elder Perry has helped me through it this week. The mission rule is no emails to anyone but family so would you email my friends and tell them to write me letters because I can't respond anymore. My pensionista is great, Hermana Kelly, and the ward is really nice but small. There are a lot of inactives here and that is one of the challenges of our mission, the inactives. We have a lot of people that want to be baptized but there are just some things holding them back. Most of the time it's because the couple isn't married yet, they just live together. We have already come across some pretty crazy things so far, just about the things that happen in the lives of these people. Guadalupe is really small and tranquilo or calm. All of our inestigators are nice and everyone knows everyone else in the town. I haven't felt threatened once because everyone knows the missionaries here and that they're good people, they just don't want to make appointments with us. I got your package and it was great, thank you. I had a bit of a sweet tooth though and it's almost gone. I got the package from grandma as well and that was great too. haha That's cool you got to talk in church ha I hope you like it more than I do. I'm starting to get a lot more comfortable here. Being in the field is a lot different than I thought, but I like it. I wrote in my journal everyday before the field, but I haven't been able to once yet. Also weve been so busy, I haven't had a language study yet. My desire for the investigators to get baptized is strong. Almost all of them know it's true. It's just hard for them to change their lives because of money problems. The men have to work all day long and when they get time off they just want to sleep. haha Anyways I'll try to explain more next week, but don't worry about me. I like my area and district. Once the spanish comes all will be good. I'll pray for Sadie and all of you guys too and I'll talk to you next week. So all I can email now is you and grandmas.
Chow, Ty

Tyler's trainer Elder Tanner Perry from Provo...

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Lima Peru Temple

Lima Peru Temple
Tyler was able to attend the temple every
Saturday while he was in the CCM.


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Pictures from Trujillo...

We are so lucky to have pictures of Tyler's first day in Trujillo.
Thanks Sister Turk!!
The whole group...9 new missionaries!

Elder Hannemann and Elder Wilkinson with their new pillows!
It's the simple things...


He's there!!

Dear family,
I am here in Trujillo. We got here at about 5:30 yesterday, all is well.
Last night the missionaries, and President and Sister Turk picked us up from the airport.  Then we had dinner and went out and proselyted with the missionaries here.
It was fantastic!!!
Love,
Elder Wilkinson
This place is awesome and I hope you're good.
I'll write next week. P-Days are Mondays.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

He is almost there!!

This is the last week in the CCM...then off to Trujillo!
Motto for Trujillo Missionaries:
Do you want to be a bird that walks, or a bird that flies?

100% obedience...
Tyler is going to FLY!!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Only 1 more week in the CCM!

Wow I can't believe it's been more than 52 days too!!! Everything is going by so fast. I'm only going to be able to stay in an MTC for 6 days or less now. Everyone has been telling me that President Turk is really nice, and that's too bad that he's sick.  Hopefully he still has time to come pick me up from the airport. That's cool that Justin is getting his braces off soon. That means I'm going to have the most crooked teeth out of our family.  haha Please tell him to write me and quit being a little poop.  Where are you in the Book of Mormon?  I'm going to start reading a little from the Bible too pretty soon. I just have to finish the D&C first. I should finish today or tomorrow.  What class are you teaching again in Primary? That's funny that they know more than you. You shouldn't feel dumb though just do what Papa always says...If you can't dazzle them with brilliance...haha. That phrase has really helped with teaching people since I pretty much don't know what to say, or how to say it right now.  It is true though. The best lessons I have had are the ones where you really act like you are telling them the most exciting thing in the world.  They should let me email again the day before I leave which could be Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.  Everyone leaves at different times so I'll let you know when I am leaving. Today is probably the last time going to the temple for 2 years. That sucks, but I am going to really enjoy every second of it today. Things are going really great here, and I'm getting along awesome with my companion. The only thing I have been struggling with here recently, is lot of the other elders in all of the districts. A lot of them are still very immature and are constantly talking about things back home and not forgetting the world.  They are never quiet during personal study, so it's really hard to get a good study in. I'm glad my companion and I can stay focused when we need to be.  Because of this I'm trying to work on my patience, but since you've lived with me for 20 years you probably know how good I am at that....haha. Our last proselytismo went really well.  Our new area was nueva era and it was a little nicer that our first area.  There weren't very many inactive members to visit so my companion and I were chosen to just do contacting the entire time. It was a great experience. We were able to give out around 10 folletos and 2-3 Book of Mormons.  Even the people that don't want to listen to you will, and are still nice. One guy was a little mad though, but we just smiled and told him to have a good day.  We came up to talk to another group of men and they told us to leave them alone so they could enjoy their beers. It was pretty funny! We met a few middle aged women at one door and they were very patient with us and seemed really interested. We also met a teenage kid named Frank.  He didn't believe in God and didn't know why he was here on Earth. We set up appointments for most of them and we visited one other lady. She was really old and lived by hearself.  Her family never visited anymore and she was in a wheelchair and blind in one eye.  It was very sad.  Her husband died from a disease 35 years ago and she was pretty much all alone.  She said she loved music and we sang her a song, Nearer My God To Thee in spanish.  We shared a few scriptures with her, Alma 38:5 and John 16:33 and a few others, and let her know she wasn't alone  and that God loved her. We bore our testimonies  and set up another appointment.  The longer I'm here the more I realize how much we have in the church and in the US.  Other than that nothing else has really happened here so far.  If you are going to send me stuff please don't spend a lot of money.  I repeat please don't! I don't want another earplug incident.  haha The taxes to send packages are really expensive. I don't need anything yet and the only things I want are Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew and american snacks They don't have good potato chips like Sun Chips and stuff, just native stuff and Lays and Doritos. I don't know if I will be needing more stamps, because the mail here is weird.  They don't have stamps or anything, they just pay when they send it so maybe try to find out about that, but don't send any until you find out, or I do...I still have a lot.  If you do send stuff, just send stuff you know I like but definitely wouldn't have here.  They have more than you think, but other stuff is just weird.  Just remember I don't need a lot, and don't send it if it's going to be a waste or burden.  I love all of you guys and I know you will have a good time this next week.  Tell Justin I'm glad he is trying hard this year in school, and that it will definitely be worth it.
tty next week, TY

Sunday, September 12, 2010

President and Sister Turk

This is President Terry Turk
and his wife Sister Janet Turk...
Tyler's Mission President!

Trujillo Peru

This is the Plaza de Armas in Trujillo Peru!
This picture was created by Sister Turk.
Thanks Sister Turk!!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Only 2 more weeks!

Hola! This week was just another awesome week in the CCM! Oh before I forget will you send an email for me to Elder David Mortensen and give him the address for Trujillo so he can write me?  He was asking for it.  Tell Zach that is awesome he finally got over 200 bowling, I can't believe he hasn't started yet.  When is he in the field?  I didn't take my camera on the tour, because I didn't want to get robbed, but some others did.  I'll try to get them from them.  I'm really getting nervous that I only have 14 days left  until it's the real thing. I can't believe it! I still like my new companion a lot and I've had a lot of hilarious experiences with him this week. The trip to the city was awesome.  There were a lot of cool buildings and people bought a lot of stuff.  McDonalds was the same, and I really needed those Big Macs. Rice is getting old at the moment.  The beach is awesome, but nothing like California. No Sandy shores, but mostly rocky. My companion caught a little crab in the rocks and we played with it for a few minutes.  I just barely used my card today and I spent 51 soles so probably like 18-20 bucks.  I still have like 240 soles in cash so don't worry about that.  Anyways the mail is due on Wednesdays and I wrote you a letter on Sunday and forgot about it, so you probably won't get your letter for 2 more weeks, sorry.  Mail takes a week to a week and a half and I think DearElder takes a week and a half tambien (also). Some words in spanish are so much easier that english, so I'll probably never stop using them. Anyways some of the funny things that happened this week...We got mail last Saturday and were just sitting around reading our letter and then all of a sudden Elder Talbot says, "I think I got your letter!" He started reading off my email to you from last week or the week before!!! How did he get that? Anyways aparently his mom was getting upset at him for writing crappy emails and said he needed to stop writing to girls. She then proceeded to say here is an email from an elder there, that I want your emails to be like.  IT WAS MY LETTER!!!!! the funniest part is that he hasn't told his mom yet that I'm his companion, so unless you have she didn't know! It was so funny. He is still giving me crap about it. Another funny thing that happened is that for one of our classes we went out to the soccer field and we blindfolded our companions. We had to direct them in spanish where to go and weren't allowed to touch them. I thought it would be funny to play a prank on Elder Talbot.  We started directing our companions where to go and he didn't know directions well in spanish. I got him really confused and brought him to the end of the field. I then proceeded to direct him right into the metal soccer post! He was walking pretty fast  and he hit the pole perfectly right in the center of his forehead.  It made a loud ringing sound and it knocked him backwards.  Everyone was laughing so hard, it was hilarious. He was fine though and thought it was funny too.  Later that day when it was time to get ready to sleep everyone went to take showers. Elder Hannemann takes really long showers so when we finished we reached over his shower door and stole his towel.  We stuck it in a shower clear across the hall and left and made him run out to go get it.  Ha ha he wasn't shy at all and just ran out to get it just laughing the whole time. Classes have been going really good here still.  After 3 weeks they just start over again for grammar and teach you the same principles again.  Ensenanzas (trainings) are getting better and I'm still improving little by little. I hope birthdays went well and everyone is doing good. Talk to ya next week, TY

Saturday, September 4, 2010

CCM in Lima Peru

This is the CCM!
Centro de Capacitacion Missional
Tyler will be at the CCM from August 11th until September 22nd
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Hola from the CCM

Hey! This has been a crazy week! It was my last week with my companion and he is gone now. The CCM is like abandoned now. The new set of missionaries don't get in until later tonight and a few on Thursday. That's crazy that that guy crashed so close to our house. Why did nothing cool happen like that when I was there? Good thing he didn't turn the other way. Grandma said that you were liking your class so far and that everyone else seemed to be doing okay. I guess I'll ask again, it must be a big secret, but how big was dad's deer? Gabe just wrote me and told me that he gets to go on the deer hunt right before he leaves. I can't believe I don't get to hunt for 2 more years. Everytime I see the weird looking doves here I start to think about hunting. I look at the pictures of you guys all the time. I've had P-day pretty much since yesterday at 4:00, and I don't have to have any classes at all today. This is like a special P-day. We are taking a tour of the city and shopping for an hour and a half, then we get to go to McDonalds!!!!!!!! and then the beach. We received our new companions last night. Our district was the that got split up, but I got Elder Hannemann in my room again! My new companion's name is Elder Talbot. He is from Arizona. He is pretty cool, but a lot different from my other companions so far. We were able to go proselyting again last Saturday, and Elder Rojas and I went with one full time missionary from Logan, Utah Elder Carnagey. He was really nice and it was a lot of fun. They both love to use my Dog Dazzer on all the pets and watch them freak out. We weren't able to talk to any inactives, but we visited an 8 year old girl that was baptized like 2 weeks before and encouraged her to keep going to church, and shared scriptures with her. We did quite a few street contacts and gave away folletos and a few Libro de Mormons. I can't belive it is September already. Make sure to tell Grandma Happy Birthday for me tomorrow and I hope you and Papa have good birthdays later this week too. Tell Tori I said Happy Birthday too, I think her's is on the 4th. I was talking with Elder Walker and he said that his mom just started talking to you on Missionary Moms. I thought that was pretty funny. So what are people's favorite classes so far and what are you learning? Today I am going to try and buy some sweaters and some writing stuff. I can't believe how much I write here!!! My spanish is still improving, but the next few weeks will be harder since I don't have a walking dictionary anymore. When we go to the temple I have a headset, but it's sometimes confusing because I hear stuff in english and have to say it in spanish. Grandma asked if I could bear my testimony in spanish and the answer is yes. I don't know much else so when I don't know what to say that's what I do. haha I hope Grandma Lecta has a good 90th and will have fun. haha Everyone stay safe and have fun and I'll talk to ya next week. Good Luck.