May 5th

Dear Family,

I loved hearing from you this week! I am still reading and responding to all of the birthday messages that you sent me, I will do my best to get them all read and responded to, but it will take time. Good things come to those who wait. :)

This week. This week... Oh! Yeah, this week we got a visit from a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Viñas. He was awesome. We all came together and he talked to us as Missionaries and he also gave a talk to all of the Less Actives who had been through the temple.

It wasn´t that what he said was so great it was how powerful the words of Christ in the scriptures he quoted from memory were and how true they rang. It really made emphasis in the scripture 2 Nephi 32:3 to ´´feast upon the words of chirst´´ and ´´they will tell you all things what ye should do´´. That there is no such thing as ´´deep doctrine´´, but that there is´´ the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God,without end. Amen. He made emphasis as well in the Atonement. That everything else is just an appendage to it.

He gave the example of a Pearl, and a Box.

The pearl is the Gospel. It´s really nice and so we try to make a really nice box for it to make the pearl even better. The box is all the rest, the fun programs, the nice things that make up Mormonism.

BUT all too often, we get so caught up in how nice and interesting the box is, that we forget all about the reason for the box. That is the Pearl. 

Don´t forget about the Pearl. ´´We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the PEARL are: 

• first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; 
• second, Repentance; 
• third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; 
• fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.´´

Alright Family, I´m out of time, but I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week. I´m excited to talk to you all Mother´s Day! 

Much love and blessings,

Elder Bradley Turek

April 28th - It´s a Christmas Miracle!

Dear Family,

Firstly and foremostly, thank you soooo much for all of the birthday emails (and thoughts and prayers). I really do apprecaite them all. I have read a few, but I will read and respond to the rest later. Again, thanks. 

Okay, none of you are going to believe what happened...

A Christmas Miracle happened!! You know that package that you sent me way back in November, five months ago, for Christmas?! Well, guess what I got this week on the day after my birthday?! That´s right that 5-month old Christmas Package!! Yay for Christmas Miracles! Haha, mom, you know me WAY too well. From the Peanut Butter with extra Omega-3 to the exact same deoderant that I like and happened to just run out,it was all wonderful. The candies and such are all a little hard or melted, but HEY! Candy! Also, you sent me like a million shirts. Did you think that I have been going shirtless for a while? Haha, no, but I thoroughly enjoyed them all and will put them to good use.

Okay, so that´s the big news for this week: Christmas-Birthday Miracle. 

My birthday was yesterday, and if you were wondering mom, I DID eat cake: cupcakes that is. The sister missionaries here in 25 de Mayo, were so kind to make me 6 delicious birthday cupcakes. They were most excellent, and I shared them with all of those who showed up to my Gospel Principles class on Sunday. Also, late saturday night, I was told that I would have to give a talk the next day. Haha, I wasn´t super worried, but when the time came, for me to give my talk the Branch President caught my attencion and gave me the ´´don´t worry about it we´re out of time´´ signal, and so I didn´t end up having to give a talk, yay for birthday miracles.

Fa, 20 years old. I´m old. (I know all of you more-than-20-somethings think I´m crazy) But it´s official, I´m no longer in the teens.

I´m very glad to hear that the gifts I sent were enjoyed.

I wish I had told you this last week, but for future reference, if you want to buy me something online that will get to me here in Argentina, ´´mercado libre´´ is the amazon of argentina. With that said, I will most certainly use the money you sent me to buy myself something nice this week. Like a wallet.

The other day we went to visit a less active lady. She is very old like 90, and hasn´t been to the chapel in years. We got a talking to her, and before we could say anything she let us know that God had authorized her to ´´take a rest´´ from going to church. What?... I could not believe it. Authorized? She really had convinced herself that God had authorized her to not go to the chapel. She´s crazy. She said ´´Yes of course´´ to the question ´´If the Lord himself was here and told you to go to church, what would you say´´. But when I said'' Well, we are representatives of Jesus Christ and as His representatives me make you the same invitation. What do you say?''  She replied ´´...no, I don´t say anything'' Yeah. Good times. That´s what pride does to you. When the sisters went back to visit her she ´´bajó la caña en mí´´ or ´´dropped cane on me´´. In other words she said I was crazy. 

Okay that´s really all of the time that I have.

I love you all,

Elder Bradley Turek

April 21st

Family,

How are all of you this week! I can´t believe it, but I didn´t realize that it was the week of Easter until Tuesday, the day after I wrote you all, so I´ll include a bit of easterness in this email.

This week being La Semana Santa, or The Holy Week, the last week of Jesus´s life, where he mercifully atoned for all of our sins in the garden, then shortly thereafter was given over to the Jews by his own apostle, innocently sentenced to be tortured by Crucifixion, flogged, spit upon, and then finally after suffering all, in the garden and on the cross, glorifying God, he gave what no one could take from him, his life.

Not only did he live, and die for us; what makes all the difference is that he came back and lives. I know that my Redeemer lives.

This week, we´ve been sharing that message; His good news. It´s been really great to be take advantage of the holiday season of Easter or Pascua (you know, like Pascal Lamb) as they call it here and be able to share this happy message with a lot of people. 

The church made this most-excellent video this week (one of the best, and definitely the best-designed video I think the church has ever made): 

easter.mormon.org 

and we´ve been going around sharing it, using it as our primary contact tactic, because everybody loves videos. Then after the video we have been giving people pictures of Christ and asking them to put a goal, or to make a resolve to start or start again doing something that shows their gratitude for all that He did for them. Whether it be making your prayers more meaningful, studying the scriptures like the personal revelation that they are, or learning more about Him and His life.

I would invite you to do the same. Watch it. Write something down. Be happier and better.

This Easter has been different for me because I was much more focused on the real reason for Easter. They have eggs here too, but not the same as ours. We dye eggs and hunt candy eggs, but they have chocolate eggs. I think I´ll buy one in a few days when the price goes down.

Things with my companion have gotten better. It´s been hard for a while because he is a very direct, and quiet person, who sometimes forgets to ask instead of tell. Such quietness, I am not used to, and sometimes has led me to believe that he has been mad at me, when he was just focusing on something. Then there are other times he really is mad at me and has said somethings that really hurt my feelings. I thought a lot about what he said to me and instead of staying hurt, I forgave him and tried to get better. I get to practice being humble.

By divine inspiration, God put something magical and wonderful in preach my gospel, the which you have all been invited by an apostle of God to get a copy of, called Companionship Inventory. Thanks to that, my companion and I are able to each week have a few moments to be honest with each other and patiently resolve problems. It´s the best.

Well, I don´t have much time, but in other news, I got bitten by a dog this week, the first time ever in my life, I´ll have you know, and it left me with only a ´´flesh wound´´, and luckily didn´t tear my pants, but boy it sure did hurt for a while. Also, my birthday is coming up this next Sunday. I´m turning 20, and that makes me old. How´d this happen? Also, happy birthday to all of you April-birthday folk!

Anyways...

I love you all. 

Elder Bradley Turek

P.S. Direct family, I hope you enjoyed your individual letters last week and that you enjoy as well this weeks email which I´ve tried to put more oomph into.

P.P.S. Did a package ever come for Kyla? If so, Kyla did you like what I got you even if it is late. There is also a gift that keeps on giving. The Friend, a magazine especially for excellent-easter-choir-singing-primary-kids like you should start coming with your name on it every month. Love you. 

April 14th

Dear Family,

How are you?!

Please enjoy this attached picture of my companion and I.

The rain stopped this week, finally. But the cold followed it. I took out my long PJs.

Missionary work is still missionary work. Sometimes nobody is home. Sometimes nobody is home all day like yesterday, but it´s okay, because there´s always another day to go at it again. Things are good here in Argentina. 

Thanks so much for your prayers and emails for me.

Remember: 

Life´s got instructions. Are you reading them?

Love you all,

Elder Bradley Turek