(Bec) …I defiantly can´t make that decision for you, but I can tell you what helped me make mine and what I have learned from it. My summer after my 8th grade year, I was for sure going to Gilbert High. That´s where everyone had gone before and that´s where I always thought I would go. I remember when Rachel and I were driving in a car down Lindsay road and we started talking about changing schools. As we talked, one of us said, "Let’s just do it". I remember feeling really excited about it but not really sure why. I remember after being at Mesquite for a week, I was having a bad attitude and didn´t want to be there. Dallin Gillette said "You really wish you were at Gilbert hugh?" Take that thought, and compare it to this thought..."Changing schools to Mesquite has been one of the best decisions of my life!" I’m sure you are asking why. Bec, it wasn´t because of basketball, it wasn´t because of school, it wasn´t because the classes pushed me harder. The reason why is because of the relationships I needed to make with certain people. I have this dream that one day (they) will be baptized into The True Church of Jesus Christ that has been restored to the earth. I know (they) need it. This is what (they) deserve. I want for (them) so bad to see as we see. I feel that Vova Stirling, Jessica Simons and Brent Hatch were people that were examples to me and helped me build my testimony. I will always have a special place for Coach Salt in my heart. I have learned so much from him and look forward to be able to learn and grow from him more. I feel that for me Bec, changing schools was the best for me because of the relationships I was able to make with certain people. I hope this will help you. Seek the will of the Lord. You are a very special girl and the Lord can do much with you in His hands. I know he really listens and really wants to help you. He really loves you and is anxious to help you. Test out prayer and personal revelation. This has helped me most on my mission. Sometimes, if it is right, Heavenly Father lets us decide what we want. I have found that to be the hardest for me sometimes. I am learning now that when this option is given, we go and do with all our passion and trust that He will guide us. I will be praying for you little Sis. Let me know how it is going. Listen to the advice of your parents in finding this answer. They will help do the will of the Lord. I love you Becs and will be praying for you. Love Elder Tilley

(Jayce)…I love you and the Lord has tons He is going to teach you through hard times and good times. That story about the water truck was pretty good. Don´t feel bad. I think I felt a little part of what you felt when I took out our white fence. When I look back at it now, I just can´t help but smile. That is what I am talking about Jayce. When we have struggles, we go to the Lord. He is the sure way of help, divine help. Little experiences like that and the feeling you had after praying build a testimony line upon line to become stronger and stronger…I woke up feeling really really bad. I have never in my life felt physically sick because of spiritual things...until today. I think we will all go through times like this to kick us into shape. …Thank you for your charge at the end of your letter. It pumped me up big time. I love you, keep up the hard work no matter what happens. The Lord is with you and will help fight your battles and struggles! I Love su hermano, Jayce. I am doing well and excited to go make things happen. I feel good and ready to go bring souls truth and crush Satan’s evil minions at the same time. I love you Jayce and will be praying for you.

(Preston)…In the family of 5 that we are teaching. They have a little girl in the family that said she is trying to read the Book of Mormon, but sometimes she falls asleep at night when she reads it. I told her the story about what you did when you were scarred. Hopefully that will help her in the future. Thanks for being a good example and living the gospel. Keep reading those scriptures. They are very powerful and I know they are true. … Maybe you can´t tell right now why the scriptures are so important to read, but I promise if you keep reading them every day, you begin to see why and have much more help in your life from Heavenly Father. … Let me know how your reading is going and how the talk goes… Love you Pres. I will pray for you. Talk to you next week. LoVE Elder Tilley...XXooOxxXXooXoo. Chow hermano y amigo.

(Mom)…My health is really good at the present moment. When that will change, I have no clue. This past Friday, I woke up with a really bad stomach ache…it may have been the peanuts I bought from the nice sales man. I bought because I was impressed by how bold he was approaching us. I felt that is what I need to do out here. …Felicita, Im not sure how she is doing. She just won’t come to church. She just sleeps. I’m not sure if we should keep going or let her go. I hate saying that but I just don’t know yet. We did have 5 people at church, and none of them were from the Colonia Adrian family. We would have hit our goal to have 10 investigators in the Chapel. That’s ok. We went to the Temple with the Colonia Adrian family. I love them so much. Like Elder Maxfiled said "I didn´t know the Lord prepared people so well". …(a) sister of Yesena Adrian (might) start living with them, so we hope to start teaching her too. Her name is Juana. She has a son, the littlest one, named Joseph. We reset Felicita’s date for the 15th I believe. Well see how it goes. Pray for Yesena to be able to get her Carnet. She should be getting it here in the next week or so. As soon as she has it, they can be married and be baptized and start a new life!!!! … We are in one ward, El Valle. We have 4 Elders in this ward. … I will be praying for you. I sure love you and am so grateful for all that my family does for me. Keep it up family and never give in to the temptations of the adversary. He walketh as a lion destroying those who he may. I love you so much. Keep us in your prayers and especially the family Colonia Adrian. I am praying for you and love you. Elder Tilley

(I'll update the blog if I get explanations for the rest of the pictures)
-(Jayce) Wow, is sounds like your having a fun and righteous time. That is so cool….Yahoo, you get to work on the Temple. What a "neat" thing to do. …. Advice for stake youth council? Enjoy it and get to know everyone. Each one of them is one the council for a reason and maybe it´s to be loved. Be friends with everyone, even if they don´t seem to be too friendly or outgoing. Being nice goes a really far way. Thank you so much for praying for me. We have had some more talks this last week. I have been praying too. You will be in my prayers. Have a great week Jayce man and keep our investigators in your prayers. I love you. Elder Tilley. Holy muscles, who is that in the picture? Honestly, Im getting kind of chunky if you can´t tell by me cheeks and neck. That looks like fun and also really hot. It is supposed to get super cold in the next couple days. I better bundle up. …

We had a baptism date with Felicita for the 25th, but she didn´t come to church yesterday. We are going to need to help her a lot. She doesn´t have tons of will power. She really doesn´t understand. She says she wants to be baptized and has done much better with the word of wisdom, but she just still doesn’t understand. We are really excited about the family Colonia Adrian. Mom Dad and three kids. Juan, the dad was going to go to the civil today to check on marriage laws. They have to be married before they are baptized, but are progressing well. When we taught the Word of Wisdom, they both jumped on our side and started teaching their kids. We have found some more and have taught them a few times. We don´t have any one else that we have talked about baptism. …We have still been walking in and out of our sector. … Transfers are this coming week. Please pray for me to have the strength and determination, faith to accept the Lords will. I was thinking about this as I was praying and realized that I don´t really have a choice to accept or not. It comes either way...so, pray for me to accept (uphold, sustain, and support with enthusiasm my next test). I love you and am praying for you. Dad, Im so excited that you are getting going again. I can´t believe you got to experience what you did this past week. I can´t wait to do something like that with you (Guatemala). Keep praying for our investigators. … I love you family... Chow,Love Elder Tilley

Missionaries on Preparation Day

(Becca). That tournament sounded really fun. Good Job. Keep pushing yourself even if the Coach doesn´t push you. College Athletes push themselves, that´s why they are able to go to the next level. Way to be a good example to those girls by not participating in the inappropriate things they may say or do. Just keep being Becca Tilley, the strong, the faithful. That trip sounded like so much fun. I hope we will be able to do some more fun things like that in the future before we all grow up too fast. Keep studying the scriptures and praying. Reading the scriptures is good, but studying them is much better. Ask yourself. "Out of all the tons of things that Mormon could have included in the Book of Mormon, why this?" "What is he trying to teach me?" The Book of Mormon was written for us in our day to prepare for the second coming of the Savior. Figure out why from the parts that you read. Use your imagination and follow the spirit. I love you Becs. If you have any questions, let me know. I sure love you and miss you. Elder Tilley

Sunset in Santiago

(Pres) … It sounds like you had a really fun week. That is so cool. I remember doing things like that before I was old enough to go on the trips and everything. Make sure you take time to enjoy how much fun it is. We had a stake conference and a member of the 70 spoke. He talked about how building faith in Jesus Christ starts with the parents doing all they can to create an environment of the spirit. I liked it because that´s what mom says. Anyway, I was thinking about all the funnest times in my life and all that came back to my mind was all the fun times I had with my family. Watching movies, renting games, going camping and the lake and theme parks and family nights and family prayers. It’s interesting that I really missed those times that I didn´t know I enjoyed so much. Make sure to be grateful for those fun times. I love you Preston and miss you. Keep up the good work and have lots of fun and learn a lot about the scriptures, they are so cool. Try to do something this next week like one of the Book of Mormon Heroes would. Love you favoritist littlest brother, Elder Tilley

Not sure what this is . . . But Elder Tilley obviously thought it was pretty cool. (He forgot to attach an explanation).

(Rach and Joe) Thank you so much for the update. ...I will enjoy that conversation so much, when we can sit and just talk. …My companion and I had a pretty good inventory. We worked out some kinks… Joe, if you have some ideas for getting the members more involved that really worked for you, let me know. I would really enjoy that. Our mission is doing experiments right now to better use them in the work. …Have a great week and don´t worry too much. I know its way hard to get any free time. I love you two and know you are doing great. Until we write again. Gracias Joe por cuidar a mi hermana. Se que tengo ningun problema sabiendo que este con ti. Chow Hermano y Hermana, Elder Tilley

(Jayce), you are so awesome… I’m so glad we will be able to see each other for a couple months before you head out on your mission. It´s really not that far away… What you are doing is worth it Jayce. The way you are living is worth it and brings many blessings. Keep being a good kid. Heavenly Father will help you when you have struggles with your companion. I will be praying for you. I love you Jayce and Miss you. Love Elder Tilley PS Everything here is going well. It´s always not easy. It´s like a roller coaster sometimes. My MTC teacher said that there aren´t any flat rollercoasters that are fun. It has to be kind of crazy to make it enjoyable. I love you Brother.

Mom-Wow mom Wow. I’m so excited for you… Guatemala! … We have a date for the 25th as the next baptism. Felicita needs a lot of help. She needs to stop smoking. … We haven´t moved yet but are still hoping. … Have a wonderful trip and will look forward to hearing about it. Chow family Elder Tilley

Dad-Does this remind you of YOUR missionary years?

(Dad), ...I will be praying for (the Encampment) and I know it will be really really fun. Thinking back on my life (as if I´ve lived for a long time) I think the Helaman’s encampment had the first real life changing affect on me. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be able to be there. I could only imagine some boys there that will have life changing experiences for them. … Did I understand right that you are doing the Temple? I’m glad work is starting to climb back up. I am so grateful that the Lord will always take care of us. I love you Dad and am praying for you. Let me know how the camp goes and some life changing experiences from it. Love you Dad, Have a wonderful week. Con Amor, Elder Tilley

Native Peublo Fair

We went to a native peublo fair. It was a small little deal, but only happens twice a year. I enjoyed it.
(Pres) … Thanks for pumping me up about teaching. Thanks for your testimony about them listening. Sometimes I don´t always feel like that, and it makes me sad that people just fight against the truth. It is so important to ask Heavenly Father when things are right and when things are wrong. If all the people would really ask and really do what Heavenly Father wanted them to do, they would all be baptized and confirmed into His church. Being members of the church is such a great blessing. It is The Kingdom of God on the Earth. Keep up the good scripture reading and praying every day. I remember Dad telling us when he was the Bishop that he never met anyone that was falling away from the Church, while reading the scriptures and praying. It hasn´t surprised me, but it interesting that of all the less active people that I have met, none of them are praying and reading (scriptures). I think 1 Nephi chapter 8 shows that this is true. There were some people that clang to the iron rod (read sometimes) there were people that didn’t even find the iron rod (never read) and then there were some that continually clang to the iron rod (read everyday). Only the last group was saved, all the other ones were lost and drowned or had the great and spacious building fall on top of them. Yikes. I love you little brother. Keep up the good work. If you starting to learn Spanish yet, I’ll teach you something cool you can say to mom and dad when you go to bed and kiss them on the cheek. Te Amo (it sounds like "Tay Ahmo") Te amo Pres. Con Amor (with love), Elder Tilley

Elder Tilley and Maxfield

(mom)We are still in the pension that we moved into last week. It is pretty far away. We use lots of our money for the bus, so we are hoping to be able to move in to the new one soon… If you would include that in your prayers according to the Lords will, that would be great. We had the mission conference last week. The thing that stuck out to me most was a quote by President Laycock. He was talking to us about the parable of the virgins, and how they represented members of the church, in like manner, they also represent missionaries. He talked about how to get oil in our lamps. He told us there is one way. "You buy oil in the market of obedience". I really liked that, especially how it is gospel mixed with business. I have put an extra effort in getting up on time and getting into bed on time, (to the minute). I was 7 for 7 getting up, but only 1 for 7 going to bed. I’m trying to fine tune to "buy more oil". It has been more difficult getting into bed because we live pretty far away and have to walk many times each week. (Next) week, we have interviews with the President and the last week of the change, we are going to the Temple again as a zone. I didn´t know that Rach came home. I thought last night, that "one year ago right now, I was in downtown D.C. at the firework show". That was really really fun. I hope Rach and Joe are doing well. …

Ximena at her house

. This is Zimena at her house. She gave me a really nice note yesterday that said that she thinks of me as the "hijo de corazon" - child of her heart. We don´t have any baptisms scheduled. We had a confirmation this last week of a 10 year old girl named Constanza. I am pretty worried about her and her 14 year old sister Katy. They don´t have much support at all and have rough examples from the family members. On top of that, they told us that they really liked us. (AWH that’s not good) I’m not worried about us, but you just can’t be participating in the church just because you like the Elders. If they aren´t set upon the Rock, they will fall when the Elders leave and the tempests blow. We are most excited about the family Colonia Adrian. They aren´t married, so we have to figure that our first. We have a family home evening with them tonight. I love them a lot. I find myself worrying about them sometimes, because they are so good, that I don´t want anything to go wrong. I know the Lord is in charge and He will take care of them as we do our best. We had a "Sector Slam" this past week in our sector. It´s when the whole zone will come to one sector just to find new people to teach. I think we found 13 news or so. We haven´t been able to contact them all, but that helped us a bunch. I went with Elder Evans, one of my zone leaders. I really like learning from him. He is really bold...just an in charge guy. We found 6 news. Of course not bragging, but it is so good to get a boost and feel that fire, like when you sell a couple neighbors (Moxie Pest Control) and it just seems that everyone wants it. …TELL (everyone) they are awesome and I love them. I am happy, but still wish sometimes that I could sit down and laugh with you while reading our brothers missionary letters. Thank you for everything. Have a safe trip back. Chow If I have any friends, that need someone to write a letter to, tell them I have an address to an Elder who would like to know how they are doing (SMILEY). Chow, I love you all. ...Thanks for everything. Elder TilleyI