Christmas and Changes

Good Morning Family!

I love you! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I was sad about missing the Welling Christmas party...I´m sure that the food and the fun were excellent. Next year, by the time we have the party, I´ll be out of finals at ASU and I´ll be able to come back home for a visit. Again, it was a little weird to be in Guatemala for another Christmas without all of the snow and lights and music everywhere...but this time I wasn't sad because I knew that I´ll be home soon and next year I´ll be able to enjoy a truly North American, traditional, Welling/Tucker Christmas together with the family I love so much! My companion and I had the usual dish of pasta with prepackaged red sauce for dinner, read the scriptures a little and talked about what we learned, and then spent the rest of the night talking about what we were going to talk to our families about the next day. It was actually a very comfortable, very calm Christmas night for me and I really enjoyed the time getting to know me companion.

Okay, so I better tell you all about the changes that I experienced this last week, before I forget to talk about it. So, I had told you all in previous emails that I was also SURE that I was going to stay in San Carlos Sija for my last change and that I was going to stay with my companion Elder Bergquist. What made me so sure about it was the fact that the Stake President, the Branch President, and us as missionaries, we had all asked President Lorenzana, and the Lord, to let me stay. We had big plans for the area and were ready to put them into action. I guess the Lord´s plans, for ME at least, were a little different. On Tuesday night, at about 11:30PM I got a call and was told that I had changes. They didn´t tell me where I was going or who I was going to be with, but they told me that Elder B was staying and that I was going. So on Wednesday Morning I got to say goodbye to the Perez Family, then ride with them into Xela to the bus terminal and receive my changes. Once I got there it was a madhouse of activity and I just waited until the assistants saw me so they could give me my changes. Imagine my surprise when they told me that I was headed back to Momostenango for my last change! Not only that, but my new companion was going to be Elder Jimenez, another missionary that was transferred to Xela, originally from Guatemala Central Mission as well! I didn´t know Elder Jimenez at all before that moment, but I´ve gotten to know much more about him in the last 5 days, and I get along with him wonderfully. He is from Mexico, he is 19 years old, has about 8 months in the mission, and has a identical twin brother on a mission in Honduras. He is from Tobasco, Mexico, and wants to go to Cuba after his mission to study medicine. He was trained by Elder Carcamo, an elder that entered the mission field with me when we left the CCM. We talk a lot about the differences between Central and Xela Missions, and we enjoy the relaxed, hardworking attitude towards the Mission Work.

Yesterday was our first Sunday in the Tierra Blanca Branch. It was a madhouse! haha kinda fun actually. Yes, I´m serving in another branch, but this one has a few more members than the last couple that I´ve served. Tierra Blanca (White Land) has a normal attendance of about 70 members, and it stays pretty constant. Here´s the thing though...it´s mostly little kids! Seriously, most of the Sacrament Meeting room was FULL of little children. I don´t know how many of them are baptized or how many were just friends of the member´s kids visiting the Church, but it was crazy. Crying, spilled drinks, women breast-feeding their children, chaos everywhere! hahaha It´s great though, the prophets tell us that it´s very important for us to bring our children to Church, so we tried our best to feel the spirit and serve every one we could. The classes were normal, but the members don't participate much. We´ll change that. =P The year of Old Testament came to an end yesterday, so next year it will be easier to understand and participate. =) The Branch President has only been in his calling for a month, and the last Branch Presidente was assigned from somewhere else, so we don´t have a ton to work with. However, now I know well how to work with these circumstances, and we´ll turn things around quickly.

Maybe it would interest some of you to know that Tierra Blanca was the area where Elder Kahawaii finished his mission. It was funny because when we got to the chapel (we live in a room in one of the small classroom buildings) I fond a lot of very familiar articles of clothing and papers that Elder Kahawaii left behind when he left for home. The area has been closed for a month and a half, so any investigators that he used to have, will be hard to find, but we´ll do our best to pick up where he left off. Alright, my time is up. Pray for us this week. We´ll have a couple activities and a big New Year´s party in the branch so we need to make sure those things go well. We need to find, teach, and serve all the members of the branch this week, win their trust. Please pray that we will be able to to do effectively, and I know everything will go well.

I enjoyed every minute of our phone call on Christmas. We got everything that I wanted to talk about worked out and I´m excited to come home and see my beautiful, powerful family once again. I love you and miss you every day. I´ll be home soon, but for now I´m gunna work hard to come home as tired as I can. ;)

Love Always,
-Elder Preston William Tucker

My Last Change!

Good Afternoon Family!Sorry again for writing later than expected. Yesterday the mission had a soccer tournament among all the zones. Elder Bergquist and I attended and it was fun to be around all my missionary friends and see a couple guys that I hadn`t in a while. The only bad part was that I was having shin splints in my left leg and I couldn`t run or play. It was fun though,.I changed into comfortable clothes and hung out with the guys, drinkin 7UP, waiting for the secretaries to bring us pouch. This will probably be the best news of this entire email...I got my Christmas Package!!! =) I got the package that you all (Mom, Dad, Hope, and Whitney) sent, and I also got a package from my good friend Lillian Cruz! They were wonderful! FULL of candy and love. haha I`m actually wondering if I`m going to be able to finish it all becfore I come home! haha I`ll share the love and make sure everyone gets a taste of good old Tucker Love. =P The only bad thing is that only packages came, no letters. Still waiting on the letters. President Lorenzana has now been personally informed by me about my situation and the fact that I haven`t received physical mail for 5 months. He authorized me to ask Elder Ava, the pouch secretary, to call the Central Mission, make sure nothing got sent there by accident, and also to revise the whole Xela Mission office to find what he can for me. If it`s not there...I guess it got lost and it`ll eventually get to me. It may have just been the Lord`s way of trying my faith, but don`t worry, my faith is still VERY intact. =) I love you all and know that you`re always thinking about me, praying for me, and missing me. Never doubted it for a second. I love my Family!

This week was interesting. I don`t know what it is about the difference in the Latin and North American cultures and our seperate upbringings, but sometimes it creates tension and small problems out of no where. At times lately, it`s been hard to understand the actions and attitude of the latin elders that we live with here in Sija. Sometimes things will be fine, but suddenly the atmosphere will change and I feel like I`m walking on eggshells. It`s okay though, it`s teaching me to adapt and to love unconditionally. Today I had a good dose of the relaxing powers of preaching the Gospel. Tuesdays are the usual day that we have district meetings, and lately the focus of the mission has changed from focusing on entire zones, to focusing on the wellbeing of the individual districts. I have a wonderful district full of a mix of experienced and relatively new missionaries, and we have good times together. So, as a part of the new focus on districts, in my calling as a District Leader, I`ve been asked to direct and teach everything in the meetings. It`s a little tough to prepare for 1-2 hours of instruction, but the Spirit helps me to find the right words most all of the time. =) However, today, in our house, we woke up with tension in the air and me not knowing how to fix it. Elder Bergquist and I left early, without Elder Solis and Elder Barrios, to the meeting and I was fuming a little...I wasn`t in a good mood and didn`t have a good attitude. I wasn`t in good shape to teach with the Spirit at all, but I was going to try anyways. Before we began, I told Elder Boren, our zone leader, that my message was going to be maybe 10 minutes long at the longest and he looked a little worried. However, as I began to pray for guidance, calm and love filled me and I was shown what to teach. I taught about how we can help our investigators go to Church and experience the right Spirit throughout that experience. I also taught about the follow-up that we must give those investigators that accept baptismal dates, and the importance we have in that short time from commiting them, to entering into the water. The words and lessons just flowed...I didn`t open the Scriptures or Preach My Gospel not once, but the doctrine and teachings flowed perfectly. I felt peace, and my heart was conforted. By the end, almost the entire district was feeling the Spirit strongly and we all left ready, enlightened, and willing to put in practice what we learned. The Lord continues to remind me, every day, of the lessons that I`ve learned in the mission. The only difference now is that he`s helping me apply those lessons to how I will live my life once I`m home and released. It`s an interesting experience and I`m loving every day. =)

I love Elder Bergquist, and I hope that tonight (change night) they tell us that nothing is going to change for us and that we will finish my mission together. =) Keep your fingers crossed for me, okay? I love you!Okay, so I have to admit something, I`m not going to send a Christmas package this year...hahaha BUT, I AM constantly on the look out for fun things that I can bring home as souveniers for everyone and for my own personal mission collection. It`ll be a very fun show and tell the night I get home. By the way, Mom and Dad, if you could help me out with a little cash, the day after I come home, I would like to take a trip to the Distribution Center and buy a whole new set of garments. I was folding my garments last night and realized just how trashed some of them are, and it was kinda embarrassing for me. I want to start out my new adult RM life with new, white, clean G`s. Let me know if you`re planning on helping me out with that. =P Today I got a true blue Guatemalan hamock! =) You`ll all love it, but it`s MINE okay, so don`t steal it from me once I`m home. =) hahaha I`ve also bought some other cool little things that I can`t wait to share. Be excited. P.S. Dad, if you wonder where my personal funs go...that`s where, I`m buying up memories and getting ready to show off my mission once I`m home. =P Any requests of stuff that you`d all like me to look for? I`ve looked all over the place for traditional Christmas stockings here, but there aren`t any...they were just a thing I found once in Antigua Guatemala that one trip as a zone...sorry.Okay, about my phone call. I`m planning on calling you all at about 9AM on Christmas morning. I`m glad you`re all staying home, just so that the reception on both ends can be great and not a word will be lost. As far as I know, it`ll just be Mom, Dad, and Hope, so you`ll have me all to yourselves. Just like I do with President Lorenzana before my interviews, I think you all should think about what you`d like to talk about and what questions you`d like to ask me. I don`t know how much time I`ll have to talk, but we`ll live it up while we can, okay? I`m sure there wont but much to arrange for the day that I come home or anything, so I`m not going to worry about that. You`ve got my flight plans, you know where to be and when to be there, I`ll just have a couple requests and questions for you and then we`ll talk about other things. =) I don`t know if Daylight Savings time will mean that when I call it`ll be 8AM or not, but be ready. haha Plus, it`s Christmas, Hope will have you all up before 8 anyways! hahaha I love you Family! Can`t wait to hear your voices again!

Love Always,-Elder Preston William Tucker

No Changes for Elder Tucker!

Hey Family! I love you more than anything in the whole world! This week was FULL of meetings, activities, and traveling to and from Xela for me and Elder B. Thus, we didn`t get much of a chance to workin our area like we would like to. However, I am completing my role as a District Leader and a Senior Companion, and I am finding happiness in the things that we ARE able to achieve in th time that is given us.As you all know, last Monday w had the Christmas Lunch of the whole Mission of Xela. It was fun and we were served good food, even though we didn`t receive nearly as much portion-wise as we all paid for. haha It was like eating in a French restaurant...super small portions, but they were all very pretty and very flavorful. All the zones in the mission put on an act of sang hymns. Most of them were good, but like always, they didn`t give any of us much time to practice or prepare,so some of them didn`t turn out so well. hahaha The only thing that got on my nerves was that a couple zones decided that they didn`t care about the rules that President set for the skits, and decided to break them all for the sake of making it funnier or more fun for them. One zone reminded me REALLY badly of High School, where there is always a certain group of punk kids that think that they`re all that and that the rules dont apply to them, so they do whatever they want and don`t care if they make themselves look like fools in the process. haha It`s obvious that not ALL elders mature to manhood during their missions.Anyways, that was Monday and we all enjoyed. Then on Tuesday we were supposed to have a P-Day, but the Assistants tried to organize an activity last minute and made it SUPER difficult for anyone to really"prepare" themselves for the week. The results were that I had to rush to organize my district so that we all could use Internet at the same time in the same place, and that result difficult. This is why I ended up having to write you all on Wednesday, because there were no Internet cafes that had enough working computers that I could write at the same time that my district was writing. SO I took one for the team and waited until Wednesday to write, I hope I didn`t stress anyone out too much at home. (ahem...Mom, Whitney, Grandma Welling...ahem) hahaha=P So lately the stake presidency has become VERY involved with the mission work here in the Quetzaltenango Zone. The had set expectations and goals for us to reach by the end of January of next year. The stake needs to provide two new, strong wards of 150 members in order to help organize the fourth stake in the city of Quetzaltenango. We,here in San Carlos Sija, have to lift up the branch to the point of150 active members in order for it to become a ward in the new year.It wont be easy, but we`ll do everything the Lord asks us to do in order to make it happen. I don`t think it`ll happen while I`m still here, but we can try as hard as possible while I have time. Also, the First Presidency of the Church have set new standards for full-time missionaries all over the world. They have asked us to find at least one full family and one future Melchizedek Priesthood holder everyday. They have asked us to baptize two full families and two higher priesthood holders every month per companionship. All I can say is that it`ll be tough to do almost anywhere...but we`ll do our best and the Lord with qualify us for the task. Elder Bergquist and I try our hardest every day to keep me working to the very end and to lift the attendance in the Branch and help the members become truly converted to the Gospel. The work is going well, and we try every day to help it move along faster. As a result of our new assignment of reactivating and retaining members and new converts, Elder B and I have no positive investigators right now, but this week will change that. I appreciate your prayers and all the support and spiritual help you send us across the miles. I look forward to the day that I can step off the plane and thank you all personally for what you helped me achieve here in Guatemala. I`m thinking you`ll all be rather impressed with the Preston William Tucker that comes home to you. =)
Well, as you all know, it`s about that time. I think I really wrote a novel this week. I still haven`t gotten anything that you have sent me for Christmas, whether it be packages or letters. I verified with Whitney the correct mailing address of the Mission Office and I think you`ve had the right address the whole time. Who knows what`s been happening to everything...I don`t. But I`m being patient. Just 7 more weeks until I`m with you all in person, so I`m not going to complain. Oh, I almost forgot to explain the subject line of this email. Because the Quetzaltenango Stake has so many high expectations and they`ve put so much effort into training us missionaries in our zone to achieve this goals, President Lorenzana has decided that unless someone in the zone wants changes, he`s not going to change anyone in our zone from where they are now. So that means that I`m going to get my wish. I`m going to finish my mission, my last change, here in San Carlos Sija,with Elder Bergquist, doing what I do best, reactivating, retaining,and converting the "chosen people of Guatemala" to the Everlasting Gospel of Christ. =) I`m very happy about that, as you can tell! =)I`m going to celebrate Christmas, New Years, and my 21st Birthday herewith my companions, the Perez Family, and all the people I`ve come to love so much here in Sija. The hard part will be to leave this all behind when my time is up, but I will leave a legacy of service and love behind and many will remember the Tucker name with love and respect for years to come here in San Carlos Sija. =) I love you, Family. I`m so grateful every day that I have you. I ask Heavenly Father, on my knees, day and night, that He helps you and protects you. I know you do the same for me. Can`t wait to show you how much I love you in person. Just do me a favor and save a little of the Christmas chocolate for me, okay?! =P A bag of Peanut Butter M&M`sand a half pound Symphony Milk Chocolate bar would be awesome "welcome home presents"! ;)

Love Always,-Elder Preston William Tucker

Christmas lunch and Delayed emails!

Dear Family,
First I´ve got to apologize for the tardiness of my email. I´m sure you all assumed that something catastrophic happened and that I´m either dead or maimed in some way, but I´m not, I´m just fine. Hahaha It´s just that lately the Mission´s Schedule has been switched around so bad that I haven´t had the opportunity to write my family until now this week. On Monday, the mission had its Christmas Lunch all together in a big convention center. They served us a “gourmet” lunch and everyone that had mail waiting for them received it, all wrapped in Christmas wrapping. I didn´t receive anything…I was a Little upset about that. Something has been happening lately with my mail…I haven´t gotten a scrap for about 4 months. But I´ve decided that that´s just fine. I´ve only got a month and a half left until I get to speak with all of you in person, so I´m really not upset about receiving written communication any more. Plus, I think it would kinda be cool to receive envelopes and letters once I´m home that were supposed to get to me in the mission. =P Anyways, after the Christmas lunch there was no time to get online and write, so they told us that our P-Day would be on Tuesday instead. Then they spring it on us Monday night that on Tuesday there was going to be another sports activity on P-Day and that if we didn´t want to go, we didn´t have to, but in order to use Internet in the morning we were going to have to organize it with my district and write somewhere within my district´s boundaries. That made a mess for sure! But eventually I get it all organized for my district that we would use Internet together in the sisters’ area. However, the internet that we went to was rather crappy and it didn´t have enough machines for all of us to use at the same time. So my companion and I went looking for another Internet close by. In route, we found Sister Pierce and Sister Redden, the Mission nurses who are both part of my district, and they were setting up a stand in the local market to preach to everyone about the Gospel. It turned out that the Sisters had been praying me there, praying that I would come help them and teach them how to make their contacting more effective and make their market stand activity work. I had done something similar in Momostenango with Elder Kahawaii every Wednesday in the central park, so I knew what to do. I showed the Sisters how to effectively contact, and when I looked at them after my demonstration they had their jaws on the floor and their eyes as big as dinner plates. Hahahah It was awesome! So Elder B and I said goodbye to the Sisters and kept looking for a good Internet. We found a good one, but all the computers were occupied, so we were out of luck. So that´s why I didn´t get to write yesterday either… I´m sorry if anyone freaked out or was let down, but now I´m online, making sure I get a good email sent for this week. =) I hope everyone had a wonderful week and is exercising faith and doing their best to do better every day.
This last week was full of meetings and traveling and NOT being in my area, and I fear that this week too is going to be exactly the same, so I probably won’t have a lot to report about the work we do in my area. However, in the time that we HAVE had, we have tried our best to find the inactive and less active members of the Branch and start serving them. President Lorenzana and President Cifuentes, the Xela Stake President, have assigned Elder Bergquist and I to focus on the reactivation and the retention of members so we can increase the attendance at church and strengthen those that have already been baptized. Elder Solis and Elder Barrios have been assigned to focus on finding and baptizing new investigators. So that´s why you haven´t really heard much about new investigators or baptisms. But you will hear a lot, I hope, about reactivated and truly converted members. =) Of course, there will be some members of the inactive families that have not been baptized yet, and we will baptize them, but it wont be because we knock doors for hours on end. Haha I feel really wonderful about this new direction in our area because this is what I have been good at for my whole mission! And I love teaching Elder B all about the most important parts of the mission work and the important lessons that he will learn throughout his time here in Guatemala. I´m finally leaving behind a great legacy, finally making the people want to remember the Tucker name with love and gratitude. It feels wonderful! And the best part is that it wont end the moment I´m released…it´ll never end. What I´ve learned in the mission will become a way of life. Service, love, friendship, and charity. It´ll be who I am for everyone that cares to accept me. =) I´m not gunna be nosey, I´m not going to be a nuisance, I´m just always going to offer my help, knowledge, and love…especially for our family members! I want my whole family to be strong, blessed, and obedient to the Lord´s Plan. So I´m gunna do everything you allow me to do to achieve that goal. =D
Alright, I´m out of time and I´ve got to get moving for the day. Wish us luck in finding and reactivating all the lost sheep and we can find! We´re going to be fasting for these families and I´ll tell you their names as we find them. For now, pray for Esgar Reyes, so that he can feel the need to be baptized and complete his family. =) And pray that the Gil (pronounced “hill”) Ramirez family feels the need to return to the Church together as a BIG}, already baptized family! =)
I love you all and miss you so much. I´m not counting down the days, but I´m aware that I only have 8 weeks left. That´s such a small amount of time…I´m almost done. I´m coming home with honor and blessings and plans for my future…it´s gunna be awesome!

Love Always,
-Elder Preston William Tucker
P.S. President Lorenzana said something last night during our meeting that made me think that he´s not going to change anyone in the zone this change that´s coming up in two weeks. So, it´s possible that the Lord will allow me to finish my mission and my legacy here in San Carlos Sija with Elder Bergquist. Please pray that this will happen…that would be the best Christmas present I could receive in the mission. That´s how I want to end, helping the people I love with the companion that I Love as well. Emotionally, it would be easier for me to leave the mission if I change to a different area with a different companion because then I wouldn´t have established connections and relationships to say goodbye to…but the Lord never said things would be easy…he just said that they would be worth it. =) I love you all and hope to have good news next week about how the work is advancing. Have a wonderful week.

Thanksgiving week in the mish!

Good Morning Family,

I love you! Just thought you should know. =)

I missed you all very much this week and I thought about you all day on Thanksgiving. I didn´t have time to write a letter to you all for Thanksgiving, expressing my gratitude for everything you are and do for me as your son, brother, nephew, cousin, grandchild, and boyfriend...but I kept reviewing all day in my heart just how GOOD I´ve got it in life because my family is so awesome! =D Truly I was selected for great, powerful blessings in this life. That means I gotta work extra hard to keep those blessings flowin. =) I missed out on the Thanksgiving dinner this year. My zone did an activity, but really it was just weekly planning and Wendy´s. Not gunna lie, it was a good treat for us all, but it just wasn´t anything compared to a true Tucker Family Thanksgiving. haha

This week not a lot has happened. We´ve found investigators, we´ve left investigators behind, the cycle continues...Elder B and I are still goin strong and we´re becoming better friends every day. Elder Solis was worried about his mom all week, and unfortunately she is still sick and has not entered surgery yet...but we´ll keep praying for her and everything will be okay. Elder Barrios had an interview with President Lorenzana and seems to have gotten over the majority of his homesickness and desires to end his mission early. So everything here is going well. My old District Leader, Elder Chamle, was assigned along with his companion to a special travelling team of missionaries to help support and teach the missionaries all over the mission, so I was appointed to the vacant post. So now I´m the District Leader of 4 sisters and 6 elders. It´s nothing new and I´ve got the necessary experience to make the responsibility seem routine, so it´s nothing big, but it was a surprise, nonetheless. I´m thinking that because they put me in as a DL, I´ll stay in San Carlos Sija next change and finish my mission there. ´That´s what I would love to do...but I don´t know for sure what will happen in 2 weeks when the ealry change comes.

My super experience of the week was last Monday after we got done emailing. All the of the zones here in Xela were invited to a chapel to play sport together for the whole afternoon. My back was hurting for harvesting corn all week, so I didn´t play, but I definitely enjoyed the day. What I really wanted was the chance to have a short interview with President, so I asked for a little of his time and he said we would talk. I´ve been repenting daily lately and I know very well now where I stand with the Lord, but I hadn´t had personal time with President Lorenzana for almost 4 months now, so I had a doubt in my heart. I wanted to ask President how he sees me as a missionary now, in comparison with when I switched missions. I had sent him a text the week before, but because of his attendance to a Seminary for Mission Presidents in Guatemala City, he couldn´t answer me. So last Monday I asked for his time. Eventually, because the sister missionaries were hoggin all President´s attention, I had to wait for 3 hours to get 2 minutes with him. But in those two minutes President Lorenzana changed my mission yet again! He answered my question and blew my mind at the same time. He said that when I came to Xela Mission, he saw an incredible potential in me that I didn´t know about. He had told me about this before, but after being a ZL with Elder Kahawaii, he told me that he felt like I had hid that potential and that I didn´t want to progress or grow. That was that last thing I heard from him 4 months ago. So I asked him on Monday if anything had changed. This is what he said: (forgive the grammar, this is my best attempt as directly translating his words) "Elder Tucker, I feel like you´ve finally pulled that potential out of wherever you were hiding it, you came to know what you´re TRUELY capable of, and you´ve begun to fulfill that GIGANTIC spiritual and temporal potential that I saw in you the first time I saw you." Then he said "I call you an "Uncalled AP" because I could have called you to be my Asistant...and you would have done great things in that position. However, I didn´t call you because the Spirit whispered to me that you would develop and grow MUCH more personally and spiritually if I allowed you to stay in the field, teaching, and converting companions, members and investigators alike! So I obeyed and I didn´t call you as an AP, and you know what?! The Lord was right!" Then he finished with, "Elder Tucker, you DID IT! You achieved it! you´ve converted yourselves and you´ve gained the power to convert anyone that will truly listen to your Spirit and your voice. You have GAINED your Honor! If you called me tomorrow and told me that you felt like it was time for you to go home and finish you mission...I would send you without thinking twice...because you did it, you truly achieved honor and glory in you mission. Thank you. I love you. We´ll have a formal interview soon."

That was my experience with my Mission President, one the men I most respect in this entire world. The man that helped me repent and change my life around, the man that taught me how to really use the Atonement every day of my life, that man feels like I have already gained my Honor and that I can go home with my head held high, offering an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord. That was one of the most important moments of my life, hearing that come from President Lorenzana´s mouth. Mom, Dad, Hope, Family...I DID IT! I´m going to finish and come home having won our family Honor and the gratitude of hundred of converts that I had left in my wake. I truly thank the Lord for my mission and know that I will never truly understand the worth of my service until I enter into my Father´s Kingdom and see the faces of all those I helped gain their conversions to the only and True Gospel of Christ.=)

I finish my email saying that I love you all and if it weren´t for you and your influence in my life, I would have never gotten to where I am. =) Thank you, I love you, and I´m comin home soon! =D

Love Always,
-Preston William Tucker

Good Week, Almost There!

My Dear, Wonderful Family...sigh...I miss you!haha

Hey everyone!
So, it`s Monday again and I get to check off another week. It was a wonderful week full of service and learning and bonding with Elder Bergquist and finding new investigators. I had a LOT of fun, ate a LOT of good food with good people, and suffered through a LOT of body aches for the most wonderful cause in the world. Here is San Carlos Sija, everyone plants and harvests corn all year, every year. If you were to ride a bus from Xela towards Sija, most of what you would see are big houses made of cinder block (just like the rest of Guatemala!) and rolling corn fields everywhere! From the business man that commutes to Xela every day, to the humble farmer, EVERYONE has corn to harvest. So...what my companions and I did almost all week was to help our members and investigators with their harvests, lighten the load as much as we could, and use the spare time we gave them to teach the Gospel. It was so much fun for me, I love hard labor...hahaha Dad...stop laughing! =P Seriously, I loved learning how to do everything by hand and I loved helping everyone through true charitable service. Not gunna lie though...the body aches weren`t fun. haha By Thursday I was hurting pretty bad...the whole left side of my back was super sore and I had to go to bed early a couple nights just because I couldn`t stay sitting up any longer. =) It hurt so good! We learned how to cut the corn stalk, pull off the corn cobs, shuck the corn, and I already knew how to take the dried corn kernels off the cob, cook them, mill them, and turn it all into tortillas...the life blood of the Guatemalan people. The words for all those actions in Spanish are, in order, cortar la caña, desgajar la masorca, pelar el maiz, desgranar, cocer el nixtamal, moler la masa, y echar las tortillas! haha I`m really not sure if most of those words exist in real, academic Spanish, but they exist here, so I felt like sharing. Besides all the service, all four of us had very good luck in finding new investigators this week! In one day, Elder B and I were able to find TEN new investigators...that`s something that I`ve only done ONCE before in my mission, and it felt very good to dedicate a whole afternoon to finding instead of hitting constant dead ends. The only bad part was that no one could come to Church and start progressing towards baptism this Sunday...I guess we`ll just pay for better results for this Sunday.

This week we will be making sure that the investigators we found last week are worth our time and want to progress and complete their commitments, and at the same time we will be contacting and finding more new investigators to fill the "possible baptism pool". I hope it`s obvious to everyone at home that even though I only have 10 weeks left in the mission, that I`m trying hard to work hard, serve hard, and love hard until the very end. Yes, I`m very excited about everything that I will be enjoying and experiencing at home, but I`m staying focused on blessing the people and teaching my companion so he can be a very successful, intelligent, spiritual mission for the next two year. I feel great. =)As for the news you shared with me today, I`m very glad that even though winter has set in and everybody is ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays to get here, everyone is trying to stay busy and happy. Never forget to keep up on the family prayers and family Scripture study, because that will be the source from which we all draw on for the energy to carry on. I have come to know this week that the true worth of my mission does not lie in how many people I contacted, taught, or baptized. The true worth of my mission is found in the number of families I have blessed with my testimony of the truth and the efficiency with which I shared the Teachings of Christ with those families. I have, to date, only 13 baptisms, and probably will not have many more before I come home, but...after reflecting on the worth and impact that my mission has had on the people whom I have been called to serve...I have realized something very important. A dear friend and member of the San Carlos Sija Branch explained this to me yesterday during Sunday School... In two years I may not have had many baptisms or seen grand signs and miracles or healed many sick...but because I did my best to teach anyone that would listen, especially the inactive and less active members and families of the Church, I have gained hundreds of CONVERTS! I have helped all those that never really achieved a true testimony of the Church and the Gospel, I have helped them to understand, ask for, and obtain TRUE conversion to their Savior and His Church.

Looking back...I cant remember all the names...unfortunately, time robbed me of that (my own fault for not writing a journal, i know)... but I know that I can count several hundreds of converts that I have helped come unto Christ. Our missionary objective, as stated in Preach My Gospel, does not just say "Invite all those who don`t know Christ or His Gospel to com unto Christ." No, the missionary objective says "Invite all people to come unto Christ" and that is what I have done for almost two years...and I have succeeded! =D I`m going to work my hardest for these last two months so I can come home tired, but strong...but now I know that my offering is acceptable before my Brother and Savior. =) I can come home honorable, knowing that I did the Lord`s work, I was obedient to His voice, and I myself became truly converted to His Gospel in the process! =D Just a couple quick things before I finish and write to other people... Elder Solis` mom`s name is Sonia Arevalo and she goes into surgery on Wednesday. I don`t know what for, but I know that she is weak and needs prayers in order to pull through. Elder Barrios is having a very hard time staying in the mission and says often that he wants to go home. He has almost 10 months in the mission and is a great missionary, but has lost sight of why he his hear...or, like me, the reasons for him being here are being obscured by Satan and his evil influence. I don`t know what will happen to him, he wants to speak to President about it today...I`ll let you know what happens. Elder Bergquist is doing VERY well. He learns fast, and gets along with anyone. He is funny, smart, and genuine, just like Josh Timothy...actually he makes me miss Josh a lot. =P But I`m glad I got a companion like him towards the end of my mission. The Lopez family went to the coast this week and we haven´t heard anything from them. You can also pray for the Diaz, Vicente, and De Leon families. =) They need to have the desire to receive us, come to church, and progress.I love you all and miss you constantly. Nothing special will happen for me for Thanksgiving, but I want everyone to eat as much as they possibly can, in my honor...maybe I`ll be able to taste it if you eat enough. ;)Love Always,-Elder Preston William Tucker

Change Week!

Hey Family! I love you! This week has been a very...FULL week for me here in San Carlos Sija. This week was a change week, but luckily I did not suffer many changes at all. I was REALLY anxious about these changes because I feel wonderful in my area and my companion Elder Solis and I are able to get along excellently and we teach with power and authority and the power of Spirit unto repentance. However, not everything was destined to stay the same for me. Luckily, the Lord did not change my situation completely. Here`s what happened: instead of taking both of usout of San Carlos Sija, the Presidente decided to send two MORE missionaries to our branch to help baptize and grow the branch together, the four of us. Elder Solis and I were separated and then given one new elder each. Elder Solis is now with Elder Barrios, an Elder that I served with in Momos West zone when I was a zone leader over there. My new companion is Elder Bergquist (the "g" is silent, it`s pronounced "Ber-quist"). He is in his second change in the mission and he is learning VERY quickly. He reminds me of me when I started the mission...hahaha just kidding, I`m not that arrogant. =P

But seriously, Elder B is awesome. He always has the desire to work and learn, but he`s laid back like me so we basically have fun ALL the time. We are NOT planning on dividing the area geographically, just because it would make it super hard to get everything done that needs to be done for the branch. So, we will be working separately, but together at the same time. We will find our own investigators, but plan for them all together. We will visit members separately, but serve them together. We feel really good about this plan because we`ve tried it out since Wednesday and it`s worked wonderfully. Elder B and I have a new family that we are teaching, the Family Lopez (Wilson, Alicia, and their three small kids). Elders Solis and Barrios are doing well as well. And the best part is that we all still have time to visit the members, serve them, strengthen them, and teach them to Gospel. We`re also living together, the four of us. It makes the schedule a little complicated, but it makes study and down time SUPER fun. =) As you can probably tell, I`m loving the way things are going for me right now. I`m very grateful for the opportunity that the Lord has given me to be with Elder Bergquist because there are still a lot of holes in his training that I can fill. He is attentive and fun and always willing to listen. He asks me good, productive questions and is always willing to spek in Spanish so he can get better quickly. I have the opportunity with his to recount experiences from my WHOLE mission and then teach him the deep life-lessons that I learned throughout my time here in Guatemala. It`s helping me to realize the deep and lasting value of my mission as a whole and the importance of passing on knowledge from generation to generation so that, as time goes by, the Church and WE as God`s children become stronger an wiser with each passing year.

Elder B is from Weiser, Idaho and has 4 older brothers and one older sister and one younger brother. His dad and his older brothers have all served missions and they love and support him always. He`s got a pure heart like Josh Timothy does and he`s just fun to be around. He`s maybe not as dorky as I am, but he`s definitely as genuine and gentle. We`re a good companionship and I have faith that we`ll achieve wonderful things this change. The only other weird part of my week was that I was told that this change will be shortened by a week. So, instead of us have 6 weeks to work, it`ll be just 5. I think the Church is doing this throughout the world so that the missionaries can get home in time for Christmas with their families and have time to register on time for Spring semester in school. This doesn`t effect my departure date at all, so don`t freak out. =P It just means that my last change will be 7 weeks long. Well, Family, I love you and I miss you. I use our stories and experiences every day in our teaching and other can relate to and understand the trials we have and the blessings we receive as members of Christ`s True Church. I love the testimony that my family has and the effort that they make to be constant in keeping the commandments and serve our Lord and Savior. I`ve expressed many facets of my testimony in these last few weeks, so I believe anyone that reads my letters and blog know at least the surface of my now deep, immovable testimony of the Truth. =) I love my mission, I appreciate ALL the trials and challenges that it`s thrown at me. I realize the depth and value of my mission and know that it will be a source of blessing and wisdom in my life forevermore. Can`t wait until I can tell you all about it in person. =D 11 weeks! Love Always,-Elder Preston William Tucker

Two Changes Left!‏

Good Morning Family,

Today marks day 1 of my second to last change in the mission. You received my flight plans this week, which I`m sure was a little bit of a shock for Mom and Dad, but also a big source of happiness and anxiousness. Trust me, it is for me too. I`m trying my hardest to keep my head in the game and focus on the mission and the goals I still have to complete before my time is up. I remember several of my good friends in the mission that turned SUPER baggy in their last couple of changes and it made it really hard for their companions to stay focused too. Elder Solis will soon have 9 complete months in the mission, and I don`t want to make him suffer the same that I did with my "old, dying companions." He is such a good friend and companion to me, I really appreciate everything that he is and does for me. I try my best to impart my knowledge and experience to him as he faces some of the same challenges that I did early in my mission, and I believe that we have a special ability to help each other. Elder Solis is another of those people that I feel like I knew in the Pre-Existence, the people I knew I would meet and have the opportunity to help and love during my mortal life. I have a special request this week from my parents and Whitney too, if she`d like to participate. My request is that your first priority this week be writing a special email to Elder Solis, telling him anything that you`d like to say to him, and then make your second priority writing me an email for the week. I`d also like my family to say a few special prayers for Elder Solis to help him in the rest of his mission, prayers for his sick, single mother, so that she can regain her health and strength, prayers for his sisters and their families, so that Elder Solis` nieces can grow in good homes and so that his sisters can make ends meet. I really share a strong love for this companion, and I`d like my family to be able to feel the spirit of service through prayers sent his way. Thank you, if you accept my request. =) His email address es elvis.arnoldo.arevalo@myldsmail.net.

This week the only big bit of news that I feel inspired to share is that Elder Don R. Clark of the First Quorum of the Seventy, the President of the Area Presidency of Central America, came on a mission tour of Guatemala Quetzaltenango Mission. Thus, we had special conferences throughout the mission directed and taught by Elder Clark himself. In the Xela Mission there has occurred a big change in that most of the old missionaries have left for home and that mission is now FULL of new missionaries, most of them being North American. So, there is a unique challenge in the mission. Many of the missionaries dont know Spanish well enough to express themselves, there aren`t many experienced missionaries to be able to teach them quickly, so they must learn on their own, and most of the new missionaries are being trained by other new missionaries that only have a change or two in the field. So Elder Clark`s teachings and comments were mostly directed towards the new missionaries, but they helped us all. He talked a lot about basic principles that will help missionaries both North American and Latino have successful missions. He spoke about the importance of learning and speaking Spanish. He spoke of the importance of loving our companions and loving the people. He spoke of the importance of opening our mouths and talking to everyone.and at least sharing our testimonies. I took many notes and learned many things through the Spirit that will help me complete my mission with success. He also taught us how to measure the success and value of our missions...and I was elated to finally know of a surety that my mission has been EXTREMELY successful in its own right. I`ll be able to explain more once I`m home, but for now I know that my mission is valuable and acceptable to the Lord because first I, myself, became truly converted the the Restored Gospel of Christ, I came to know my Savior and love Him completely, and I came to understand and use the Atonement in my daily life. Second, I know my mission was successful because I loved the people and I served them with my whole heart, and they loved me in return. I cannot remember many families that didn`t have a true love and respect for Preston William Tucker and the Tucker Family by the time I was change out of the area. Most of those that I truly helped were members. I baptized a few, I reactivated many, and I taught them all through the Spirit. So, in summary, I have come to know for myself the value of my mission and the eternal significance that it has in my life in the lives of many of our brothers and sisters in this world. That was the value that Elder Clark`s conference had for me. I love my mission and the challenges that it presented me with all because I grew and changed and progressed. In about 12 weeks I will be able to step on the plane and leave Guatemala knowing that I`m coming home having become the man that Heavenly Father planned for me to become up to this point in my life. I`m excited to continue progressing and helping those around me, especially my family, and I know that because I have these desires, my mission will never truly end. =) I love my Family and I love my Father in Heaven even more for blessing me so completely and deeply in my honorable full-time mission. =)

Until next week...I love you. I`ll tell you all about the changes if we receive any, but let`s keep our fingers crossed that everything stays the way it is for me for at least one change more. =) Oh, also, I had forgotten to mention...for the first time in my mission a leader of my branch, a member of the branch presidency, and a high counselor all told me that they requested that the Stake President request of President Lorenzana that I and my companion stay in our area together. That was a good sign, I think. =P

Love Always,
-Elder Preston William Tucker

P.S. Mom, Dad, Hope, Whitney...try not to get TOO baggy or trunky now that I can almost count my remaining weeks on my two hands. ;P Love you!

Good Results After a Good Week!‏

Hey Family and Friends!This last week was the fifth week of this change, so it was a week in which we NEEDED to show results in the branch if we want things to stay the way that they are in our area. Elder Solis and I would like to be together until I end me mission, and in order to make that even possible, we needed to work hard and show results to our leaders in church attendance, finding new investigators, teaching lessons, and all the little tasks and datos (statistics) that are asked of modern day missionaries. So...my companion and I and the branch presidency all of us put our shoulders to the wheel and worked hard this week. We had fun in the process, of course, but we got a lot of stuff done at the same time. We worked especially hard trying to find mew investigators and to reactivate inactive and less active members all around San Carlos Sija. Here are the results of our labor: we found 8 new investigators, three families, but all of them ended up letting us know one way or the other that they aren`t interested in changing their lives and accepting the gospel (but that`s okay, we continue pushing forward), we visited MANY inactive and less active families to solve their problems with gospel and priesthood power, and we visited almost ALL of the active families to support them, teach them, and prepare them to receive the lost sheep back into the fold. Yesterday the church attendance jumped from 63 total last week with 5 in actives and 5 recent converts to 79 total this week with 9 in actives, and 10 less actives, and the same 5 recent converts! =D How awesome it THAT! It was a miracle and we were extremely grateful for the blessings we received. As a result also, several families of inactive families have accepted our offer to reteach them the missionary lessons and help them accomplish a true and lasting testimony of the True Church. The San Carlos Sija branch wasn`t to become the San Carlos Sija Ward so this is exactly the things that it needs...for the lost sheep to come home and the offended sheep to trust the shepherd, forgive the past, and come back to the true fold. =) We`re feeling really positive about the possibility that next change Elder Solis and I will be able to stay together in our area and continue working to achieve even more success than we have so far. =)The best thing I could ask for when it comes to the support everyone at home could give us would be for you all to keep in mind the goals of our branch in San Carlos Sija, and pray and fast for the families that I will be telling you all about in the coming weeks (that is IF I get to stay in this area =P) Here are the goals that the branch needs to achieve to turn into a ward: we need to up the church attendance to 125 every week steady, we need to have 25 worthy holders of the Higher Priesthood, and also 25 full tithe payers. Those are the basics...we can do it, I know we can. It`ll be rough and it`ll take a LOT of work, but I know that if I stay in Sija until I come back home...my companion and I can at least get us most of the way there. =) All through the Spirit of course...we`ll only be instruments in the Lord`s hands...but we`ll be the ones putting in the footwork at least. =P Okay, so if you want to support us, pray that we can continue to progress and achieve those goals. Also, two families that need our prayers are the Aguilar Family (4, young mom and dad and two tiny children) and the Hill Ramirez Family (older mom and dad and 10 children and their families). The Devil worked hard on those families to bring them down and take them into the "forbidden paths", so we gotta have the Spirit strong with us to bring them back. We can do it, nothing is impossible with the Lord`s help. =PFamily, I love you...just wanted you to know that.I loved all the news about Halloween...not gunna lie...I missed it last night. But that`s okay...no big deal. Just a couple more holidays to watch pass by, and then you`ll never be able to get rid of me. haha No, seriously, it`s okay. We`re gunna have a Thanksgiving dinner Guatemala style with a family of members just for me. =P They love me in this area. =) And I love them. Christmas will be great because it`ll mark one more month until I`m 21. and New years will literally be a blast here with all the fireworks and the whole city blowing up at midnight. So I`m not getting baggy cuz of the holidays, don`t worry. Just know that I`m enjoying my mission, I`m being good, I continue learning from the Spirit and the scriptures, and I love my family to the end of time!

Love Eternally,-Elder Preston William Tucker

P.S. When Thanksgiving comes around, I would really love it if you all took pictures together and send them to me. I`ll get jealous of the food, but most of all I`ll just enjoy seeing the smiling faces of my beloved family. I love you guys!

Good Results After A Good Week!

Hey Family and Friends!

This last week was the fifth week of this change, so it was a week in which we NEEDED to show results in the branch if we want things to stay the way that they are in our area. Elder Solis and I would like to be together until I end me mission, and in order to make that even possible, we needed to work hard and show results to our leaders in church attendance, finding new investigators, teaching lessons, and all the little tasks and datos that are asked of modern day missionaries. So...my companion and I and the branch presidency all of us put our shoulders to the wheel and worked hard this week. We had fun in the process, of course, but we got a lot of stuff done at the same time. We worked especially hard trying to find mew investigators and to reactivate inactive and less active members all around San Carlos Sija. Here are the results of our labor: we found 8 new investigators, three families, but all of them ended up letting us know one way or the other that they aren`t interested in changing their lives and accepting the gospel (but that`s okay, we continue pushing forward), we visited MANY inactive and less active families to solve their problems with gospel and priesthood power, and we visited almost ALL of the active families to support them, teach them, and prepare them to receive the lost sheep back into the fold. Yesterday the church attendance jumped from 63 total last week with 5 inactives and 5 recent converts to 79 total this week with 9 inactives, and 10 less actives, and the same 5 recent converts! =D How awesome it THAT! It was a miracle and we were extremely grateful for the blessings we received. As a result also, several families of inactive families have accepted our offer to reteach them the missionary lessons and help them accomplish a true and lasting testimony of the True Church. The San Carlos Sija branch wasn`t to become the San Carlos Sija Ward so this is exactly the things that it needs...for the lost sheep to come home and the offended sheep to trust the shepherd, forgive the past, and come back to the true fold. =) We`re feeling really positive about the possibility that next change Elder Solis and I will be able to stay together in our area and continue working to achieve even more success than we have so far. =)

The best thing I could ask for when it comes to the support everyone at home could give us would be for you all to keep in mind the goals of our branch in San Carlos Sija, and pray and fast for the families that I will be telling you all about in the coming weeks (that is IF I get to stay in this area =P) Here are the goals that the branch needs to achieve to turn into a ward: we need to up the church attendance to 125 every week steady, we need to have 25 worthy holders of the Higher Priesthood, and also 25 full tithe payers. Those are the basics...we can do it, I know we can. It`ll be rough and it`ll take a LOT of work, but I know that if I stay in Sija until I come back home...my companion and I can at least get us most of the way there. =) All through the Spirit of course...we`ll only be instruments in the Lord`s hands...but we`ll be the ones putting in the footwork at least. =P Okay, so if you want to support us, pray that we can continue to progress and achieve those goals. Also, two families that need our prayers are the Aguilar Family (4, young mom and dad and two tiny children) and the Hill Ramirez Family (older mom and dad and 10 children and their families). The Devil worked hard on those families to bring them down and take them into the "forbidden paths", so we gotta have the Spirit strong with us to bring them back. We can do it, nothing is impossible with the Lord`s help. =P

Family, I love you...just wanted you to know that.

I loved all the news about Halloween...not gunna lie...I missed it last night. But that`s okay...no big deal. Just a couple more holidays to watch pass by, and then you`ll never be able to get rid of me. haha No, seriously, it`s okay. We`re gunna have a Thanksgiving dinner Guatemala style with a family of members just for me. =P They love me in this area. =) And I love them. Christmas will be great because it`ll mark one more month until I`m 21. and New years will literally be a blast here with all the fireworks and the whole city blowing up at midnight. So I`m not getting baggy cuz of the holidays, don`t worry. Just know that I`m enjoying my mission, I`m being good, I continue learning from the Spirit and the scriptures, and I love my family to the end of time!

Love Eternally,
-Elder Preston William Tucker

P.S. When Thanksgiving comes around, I would really love it if you all took pictures together and send them to me. I`ll get jealous of the food, but most of all I`ll just enjoy seeing the smiling faces of my beloved family. I love you guys!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!‏

Hey Family!

Happy Birthday Mom! I´m not gunna say the number, because in your email you made it very obvious that you aren´t too happy about it. hahaha Mom, don´t worry about it at all. You´re still the super fun, ultra loving, mega service-oriented, selfless Mom that I´ve known my entire life. You´re one of the greatest sources of learning, love, and comfort that I have in my Life and you need to know that your son loves you more than you will ever know or understand...at least until we´re all exalted in the Celestial Kingdom. hahaha Anyways, Mom, happy birthday...enjoy it, and have fun tomorrow night with all your sisters and Grandma. Give Grandma Welling a huge hug and kiss from me and let her know that she´s on my mind. Also, apologize for me for slacking so bad on writing letters during my mission...there really just isn´t enough time to write everyone in between in the work and the fun of the mission.

This week was a good one. Elder Solis and I worked hard to visit the members and get to know more of them. It kinda sucks that it´s taken this long to get the support of the Branch Presidency and get them to help us find our way around the area. Our area is huge and a little mountainous, so it´s a little hard to know who lives where and where to go to find them. Definitely don´t want to get lost in the mountains of Guatemala and never get back home. haha When we visit members, we try to talk with them about every aspect of their lives...temporal and spiritual, so that we can measure exactly where they´re al individually and as family in their progress. Once we´ve measure where thay´re at, we can begin to select lessons from the scriptures to teach them, left their spirits, inspire them, and get them working towards better lives and a stronger branch in San Corlos Sija. Our church attendance stayed about the same as last week, but a ton more less active and inactive members came this week, which shows big progress. We still don´t have many investigators, but that´s okay because our job for now it to get this branch back on its feet. On Saturday Elder Solis and I had a wonderful meeting with the Branch Presidency and they basically gave us an idea of the overall state of the branch and the requirements of the Church for our branch to eventually become a ward. It´s a long road ahead of us, but we´re hoping to install a turbo charger in the engine to get things progressing a lot faster. We´re doing well. This week will be full of work activating members and finding partial families (families in the which not everyone has been baptized yet). We got the good news yesterday that there is a partial family of 13 people (only 6 baptized) that wants to come back to the Church and just needs our teaching and help to get there. I´m hoping to have a lot of good things to look forward to in the progress of the branch of San Carlos Sija. I´ll keep you all posted.

Dad, you made reference to the fact that maybe I have been holding back emotions and thoughts about my missionary experience from you guys and that it´s difficult for you as a father to know what my experience has been like. I just want to tell you that I´m 100% sincere in my emails and letters, although I admit to holding back certain emotions and experiences that may have been a source of worry or concern for you and Mom and the rest of the family. I´ve held certain things back only because I don´t need to focus on them and they really wouldn´t HELP my family at all. You also said that I continually have expressed my growing testimony about certain aspects of the Gospel and that you feel my growth and love for the Gospel. You´ve also expressed that you finally feel like I´ve become a man and that I´ve turned out almost exactly the way that you and Mom hoped I would. Dad, that IS my mission. I have not baptized hundreds, nor even 20, but I have changed lives and allowed my testimony to be filled and stretched and grown my experiences. I have experienced a true, eternal, powerful personal conversion and I will never fall away. I have become the man that the Lord needs me to be to achieve the many great and wonderful works and heights that He has planned for me. I have come to know my Savior and my Father. I understand their Love and I understand the power and the purpose of the Atonement. I still have MUCH to learn and a TON of room to grow, but I´ve made HUGE progress and I know HOW to get to where I´m going now. Dad, that IS my mission. You will be happy with what the Lord is about to give back to you in the form of your only Son. I caution you all, however, about one thing. Once I´m home...be careful about what questions you ask me, because I will NOT linger on the emotions and experiences that brought me down. So, if you ask a question and I don´t have an answer for you once I´m home, don´t worry, just focus on the wonders that were worked in me and marvel at what I´ve become by passing through the hands of the Master. Sound like a deal? I´ll answer almost ALL of your questions, just don´t ask questions that won´t have uplifting answers. I´ve learned to fight the negative and focus on the positive in my life. I will continue that course and I will bring anyone that is will to come along with me on the journey! =)

Love Eternally,
-Elder Preston William Tucker

Enjoying the Mission!‏

Hey Family!

I`m glad that everyone thinks that this time in my mission should be my "golden age", using all the talents, lessons, and scriptures that I`ve learned thus far in the mission, because that`s exactly how I feel about this time in my mission too. I`m in a beautiful area with a wonderful companion around very kind people, although still blinded by apostasy and pride. haha I`m loving my mission and enjoying every day, even though it`s constantly in the back of my mind that I get closer to home with every passing day. I`m so glad that my family is still doing wonderfully with providing me with the news of the family, whether it be good or bad (even though I`m sure that you`ve been sugar-coating everything just a little bit for me whole mission, but that`s okay cuz I don`t mind the sweet outer layer haha). Yes, Dad, I`m well aware of the upcoming birthdays and holidays in the family and amd actually rather pleased by the fact that Mom and Grandma`s birthdays both fall on a P-Day for me. It should be a great email for them next week. I thank everyone for trying their very best to get along, even though we should all be able to realize that everyone stumbles and falls down every once in a while. The Gospel Plan in that we just keep getting back up, brushing ourselves off, and trying harder to do better the next day. That`s actually what my companion and I are trying our hardest to do right now for our branch.

Right now we realize full well that we will NOT be able to baptize in this branch until it has been strengthened, purified, and lifted up on the shoulders of the Strong One. We`re trying our best to find the members of the branch (no one has taken the time to take us around our big area and show us who lives where...that`s a stumbling block for right now) and then to gauge their situation spiritually and temporally. We need to know what`s going on in each family so that we can tailor our teaching to THEM and be able to lift them up on the wings of mercy. I feel like I can answer almost any Gospel related question that anyone ever asks me now, as long as it doesn`t involve Bible-bashing...I don`t do that...anymore. hahaha It`s a great feeling because the members here are all relatively new and have lots of questions and doubts. For example, yesterday we spent the entire afternoon reading the book of mormon out loud with members and answering the questions and doubt that the reading inspired. It was a great experience and I LOVE reading that book! Honestly, the Bible hold little value for me just because the Book of Mormon is so INCREDIBLE! haha I`m going to blow you all away with my BoM knowledge once I get home and involved in family scripture study! hahaha Be prepared. Well.l i don`t have any specifics to give you all about this week because the truth is that just about everything we did to gain investigators failed. But this week will be better, I promise.

I love you all and think about you often. You`re my favortie people on the planet, and the Lord knows how thankful I am for each and every one of my family members. I hope that once I get home, you all can either ask me questions that you have in your heart, resolve your doubts through my help and the Spirit, or allow me to teach you what I`ve learned by the Lord`s hand so we can lift our family up to it`s rightfu place among the Strong of the Church and the World. I have faith that our family could be GREAT in the eyes of all those that see and know of our righteous example. We just gotta work hard TOGETHER to get to that point and be humble enough to help all those that stand in need around us. I want to use what I`ve learned to HELP my family, never by force, but by love always. I hope that you all can be prepared and willing to accept or ask for that help once I`m back. Again, I love you all and I want you to know that I love you ALMOST as much as our Father does. Christ is our Savior, and will heal us if we come to Him humbly and ready to learn.

Love Always,
-Elder Preston William Tucker

October always goes by FAST!‏

Hey My WONDERFUL Family!

I miss you all so much today. It´s a beautiful day here in Xela and I could just imagine, as I looked at the park outside the Internet cafe, all five of us just walking together in the city or the park, enjoying each other´s company and presence. It´s a wonderful feeling, knowing that that daydream will soon come true. However, I am still working hard to be a good missionary and to raise these Guatemalan people up to a higher spiritual level so they can enjoy the blessings of true family relationships as well. I think that my goal in this area will be, of course, to baptize those that I can, but also to meet, teach, and measure all the members that I possibly can. Then, after getting to know their spirits, Elder Solis and I will work to elevate each member to a higher level of spirituality and personal progression so they can start really enjoying the Gospel plan. =) I´m talking about helping them prepare to receive Patriarchal Blessings (thank you, by the way, for sending the copy that I requested over the Internet) and entering the Temple for the first time and also receiving their endowments. Our efforts will also stretch into the realm of helping members be relieved of their Church Disciplinary actions through ¨good behavior¨ so to speak. It´s sad to know that some members´bad choices have crippled them spiritually, but it gives me how and purpose while I´m in their homes with them. I know that my testimony and the Gospel I teach will help pick them up, dust them off, and show them the right path. It´ll be a fun ride here in San Carlos Sija!This week we started a new class for anyone that wants to attend. We call it ¨Que Quieren Aprender¨ which means ¨what do you want to learn?¨ Basically, we show up, allow anyone to ask Gospel-related questions, and then my companion and I study the answers, and answer them in the class time. Afterwards, we play soccer and just have fun. It´s a great activity and it´s helping me learn a LOT about what the Mission has taught ME in specifically.Also, we´re thinking about starting an English class for anyone that wants to come, and a class to teach the members how to prepare lessons and sacrament talks. Really, in this area, we will NOT have success in baptisms until the members are back on their feet and again progressing towards becoming a strong ward, instead of being a weak branch.Okay, no for the personal part. This email will be dedicated to Mom. So anyone that isn´t interested in hearing about how much I love and appreciate my Mother...you can stop reading here.

hahaha Mom,I love you more than any other person in this world. (Sorry, Dad, Hope, and Whitney, but Mom´s got ya beat just by a tad ;P) You´ve done so MUCH for me in my life and I recognize the lessons you taught me throughout my youth by word and example. Here in my new area there is a woman that treats my companion and I like her own children. She takes care of us well and I know that she cares about us, but she also is hurting on the inside and hasn´t found the way to true happiness through the Gospel yet. She feels lost at times, alone, scared, and under appreciated. My companion and I both care for Sister Irma Perez very much, so we took the time after a meal to teach her and her family about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Mother, I would like to express to you that you taught me more about the Atonement than any teacher or companion ever has...because of the love and selfless service you have ALWAYS shown our family, and especially to ME. I KNOW how my Savior and Redeemer loves me, because I´ve experienced YOUR love, Mom.
You picked me up, cleaned my scrapes, and kissed me all better every time I fell down. You´ve fed me and cared for me every hour of every day of my life, only thinking of MY well-being, without regard to your own. You serve me without thought of receiving thanks (although you ALWAYS taught me to the grateful in everything I do) and by doing so, you have taught me what true service really is. I know WHY my Savior came to earth, why he suffered and died for me, why he was resurrected for ME...because of my Mother´s love. Paula Welling Tucker...I love you more than I could ever express and I want you to know that you Son is who is he is because his Father in Heaven loved him so much that he blessed him to be born to YOU. Without you in my life, Mom, I would be nothing. But WITH you in my life, Mom, I am EVERYTHING the Lord ever planned for me to be. YOU did that Mom, side-by-side with Dad, you two worked a miracle that I will forever be grateful for. So Mom, smile, laugh, and feel the Spirit testify of the truth of my words. KNOW that your worth is GREAT in the sight of God, and just as GREAT in the sight of your firstborn, loving Son. I love you, Mom. In the hard times, when you want to give up, remember that I love you. Say a prayer, thank your Father in Heaven for your blessings AND your trials, and allow the Spirit to pick you up and push you forward. I constantly look forward to the moment that I step off the plane and take you into my arms and whisper, ¨I love you Mom...I´m home.¨ Paula, your Son loves you and appreciates you, as does your family. Be grateful and prayerful, and never forget that you are a divine Daughter of God!

Love Always-
Elder Preston William Tucker

GOOD Changes! Sooo happy!‏

Hey Family!

I love you!

This week was change week and I´m sure that ALL of you, because of my short email last week, are anxious to hear about what happened, where I´m at, and who I´m with. Well...I´m still in Los Riscos and STILL with Elder Kahawaii...JUST KIDDING!!! That is exactly what I feared would happen. I wasn´t dreading it or anything like that, but to be honest, I was suffering spiritually for those two changes that I was with him. I tried so hard to change things. I served him without looking for thanks, I prayed often for strength and guidance and help, I studied the Scriptures to find answers, and I even fasted to help things workout. Apparently it wasn´t meant to work out because hardly anything changed between us and last week we both received changes. I want you ALL to know that I am EXTREMELY happy with the changes that I received. I will finally be free and able to develop EXACTLY what the Lord has planned for the rest of my mission in these coming changes. So here´s they are, my changes for at least this change cycle:

Companion: Elder Solis (yes, the Elder Solis that I spent 3 days with in Momostenango right after I switched to Xela mission)
Zona: Xela (I´m part of the Central Xela zone, so we have all our meetings and P-Days in the beautiful city of Quetzaltenango!)
Area: San Carlos Sija (pronounced "see-hah")
Responsibility: Normal, Good Old-Fashioned Missionary!!! =D

Okay, so I´m with Elder Solis and we´re already best friends! I spent three days with him when I changed to Xela mission while they were trying to figure out my changes and where I would stay. In those three days we became great friends! We served, worked, talked, and had fun! Now we´re permanent companions here in BEAUTIFUL San Carlos Sija! My it is wonderful. Everyone calls it the "mini-Momos" because it´s nestled into the mountains around the city of Xela. It´s mostly rolling hills and a couple tall mountains, but not anywhere near as rugged as Momostenango is. Walking pretty much anywhere will be easier than it was in Momos, being there really prepared me to be able to fully-enjoy my new area I think! =) The people are very nice and everyone is willing to say "hello" to you in the street. It´s a cleaner town than Momos is and the streets are clear and well paved (with paving stones like puzzle pieces). There is only one market day a week, so the streets stay pretty clean all day every day! I´t has been raining since I got here, but today it is beautiful and sunny so I can enjoy the green hills and the colorful buildings. The only member family that I have been able to meet so far is wonderful and kind! They are the Perez Family and their names are Efraín (Dad), Irma (Mom), Marcony (Oldest Son, 24), Ingrid (Oldest Daughter, 21), Claudia (Youngest Daughter, 20), and Kevin (Youngest Son, 9). They have lots of problems in their lives and need strongter testimonies and to participate in the repentance process so they can become strong enough to overcome their challenges, so we see they on a daily basis to teach and inspire them to change. So far, we´ve had a lot of very spiritual lessons with their family and they´ve begun a significant change in their lives. They treat us as Elders like their own family members and Hermano Efraín calls me "nenón" which is basically really caringly calling me his very large son (baby boy)! haha He also calls me "hombre blanco" which is just calling me "white man". haha They are wonderful and feed us good, home-cooked food. I´m very happy and filled with the spirit when I´m around them. I love them very deeply already. They are all either doctors or studying to be doctors, so we have very intelligent conversations too, and you ALL know that I love that! =D I need you to pray for them so that they can have the strength to learn the Atonement and prepare to repent and receiving their Patriarchal Blessings. =) That was a bit of inspiration we had in last night´s lesson with them after Conference. We found out that no one in the Perez Family has their patriarchal blessings, so we want to help them prepare to receive that road map for their lives. Thank you for your consideration for their sakes.

We´ve (Elder Solia) and I have had wonderful luck with finding investigators in the last few days too! Good, prepared investigators that don't have major challenges or roadblock in their way of being baptized. Namely, we have found Margarita, a wife of a less active member, with their two small children. She needs to receive an answer to her prayer of whether or not the Church is true. We´ve also found a young couple with a 11 month old baby. Their names are Edward (22) and Brenda (20). I contacted them in the bus going to Xela, and they were very interested in learning more. We will need your prayers and help so we can find their house and teach them more of the Gospel and the Restoration. They seem very positive candidates for baptism. That would be my first complete family! I want that sooo bad and I´m going to work to acheive it. We also met Sergio yesterday in the bus home. He is a long-haired, rugged looking man that lived in California for 24 years. He has a small son and maybe more family. They live close to the Perez Family. We want to teach him in his home and get him to the church. He would be wonderful Priesthood. =)

Okay, well, to answer Dad´s questions, I used my last two months trying my hardest to overcome a bad companionship through fasting, effort, and prayer. I learned MANY lessons that will serve me well in the mission and in life in general. I finally learned how to be happy in ANY situation, no matter HOW uncomfortable or dreary. My secret to achieving this is wonderful and I will share it with my family once I´m home. I know that Elder Kahawaii and I could have done MUCH more if we would have been able to BOTH be humble and willing to work to achieve unity, but that was not the case. However, I grew a TON with him and my companionship with him definitely has prepared me to approach challenges in a different, more Christ-like way. The only challenge that I can´t ever change is the consequences that come from the way other choose to use their free agency. The next four months will FLY by, but I will be working as hard as I can to achieve everything possible. I will serve my Mission President, my companion, and my Lord. Look forward to a lot of fun, spiritual stories to come and good news. I feel free, strong, full of love, and I´m ready to finish strong. My goal now is to fill myself so full of love that it will become impossible for people not to allow us to teach them and help them come unto Christ through the Holy Ghost. Charity...I want to be FULL of charity, that is my goal. Be irresistible through pure love. =D I will achieve it!

Love Always,
-Elder Preston William Tucker

P.S. I LOVED General Conference too. I took 5 pages of notes and learned MUCH. I also had a wonderful sensation for one of the first times in my life. The sensation was comfort and love from my Father when He lets me know, through a general authority´s message, that I am keeping the commandments and He is happy with my performance in a certain area of his Gospel Plan. However, I will never allow that feeling to inspire overly-proud feelings, I will always focus on what more I can learn and what I lack so I can become better constantly.

P.P.S. The other night, Elder Solis and I were talking in the house after a VERY spiritual lesson. He bore his testimony to me and then proceeded to tell me about everything he had come to know and learn about ME, who I am as a person. His testimony and words penetrated me to the core and helped me to know that I have become almost exactly what the Lord wants me to be as a Man and Son. I can´t describe everything Elder Solis told me, but just know that I AM who the Lord wants me to be and ALL of you will be inevitably impressed by the change the Spirit has effected in me as Preston William Tucker. I love you. I make these changes for YOU. I make these changes for Him. I am who I need to be to eventually return to my Father, WITH my family, to dwell in His Kingdom!

Change Week!‏

Hey Family!

Oh man, this week has been LONG! but that`s okay, cuz it`s over now. haha A lot of stuff happened that I can`t explain in an email and it was just really disorganized. I hate the last week of the change...it always seems like everything slows down to almost a stop or everything falls apart in the zone. Sigh...it`s okay though, this week is change week and I think my situation is about to get a lot better...we`ll see.

We now receive changes on Tuesdays and we meet our new comps and areas on Wednesday. Next week I`ll be able to tell you all about what happened next Monday.

Oh man, I just gotta call and It sounds like I gotta get off the computer. This is NOT cool. I don`t get time to send you much at all...This is one of the reasons I don`t like being a zone leader on Mondays...I have to send ALL the data that EVERYONE asks for and I haven`t received very much, if ANY support from my companion. Oh well...

I`m sorry this email is so depressing...I promise I`m fine and I`m happy. My week went well and we have taught some very good investigators. Rosaura is progressing slowly, might get baptized on the 9th of October. We are now teaching a man named Josè and he is progressing rapidly, just like Benanrdo Poncio did in July. Also a new family came out as a reference and we might have a little success there too. I`ll let you know next week if I stay in my area or what happens. I`m so sorry for the lack of stories and basically lack of email, but I can`t do anything more this week. Forgive me please.

I love you all and am SO proud of you! You`re all doing wonderfully and staying strong in the Gospel. I love my Family eternally!!!

Love Always,
-Elder Preston William Tucker

P.S. I`m excited that you`re going to be able to finish the Book of Mormon together by February. I`m just finishing it again in Spanish and then I`ll dedicate myself to English until I`m home. I`m starting Ether today. =)

P.P.S. Hope, AWESOME job with the soccer and swim. SOOOO excited to see you perform once I`m home.