Solola!!

Great to hear from you guys as always! Your emails always make my week :D Sorry I didnt get a chance to write on Monday, it looks like every six weeks (always after changes) we have district meetings on Wednesday.

In any case...IM IN SOLOLA!!! Oh my goodness I could not believe it! So on Saturday we got the phone call for changes, I found out I was leaving! Elder Patterson will officially have been there for 7.5 months after this change--crazy! So on Monday everyone that has changes and all of their companions and everyone that has interviews and all of the zone leaders go to the church building that is in the area right next to the University. It is a lot of people! They all sit in the chapel and then the APs announce who will be going with who. It was very exciting! Very anxious. And kind of sad too because they announce all the people who are done with the mission and going home! Anyway it was fun. I am very sad to leave my last district with Elder Patterson, Marquez and Elder Hutchings, but so goes the mission! And we will see them again anyways. Elder Hutchings only has one more change than me--we are hoping to be comps down the road!

So--Solola! Oh my goodness I didnt expect it! It is one of the three "mountain" zones of the mission. My area is called Patzun and I am with Elder Gaido. He's awesome! Hes from Honduras (no ingles!) and is an awesome missionary. This will be a fun change. Also...I have to learn another language! Kaqchikel (kak--cheek--ell, or KatchyKell if you say it fast), and our entire area speaks it. Elder Gaido says everyone also speaks Spanish, but only about half of the people are actually fluent and can understand it. We'll see how this goes! I get the impression so far that we wont teach too many lessons in Kaqchikel, but we'll see.
As far as the area, it is BEAUTIFUL. Not at all what I had expected either, it is very civilized. The streets are paved with cobblestone, ancient cathedrals line the central park, the golden fields run down the hillside--its awesome. I will send pics asap. There are grocery stores, Kodak stores, internet cafes, and a post office so I really am set! Many of the people are very well off (BMWs etc), but the poor population is WAY larger than in the Universidad. The people are extremely nice too. In the city, only a few people (the ones that own tortilla shops) wear "guatemala clothes", but here almost everyone wears them. Very cool!
Also, we live in a HOTEL. It is so cool. Hot showers, working kitchen, etc etc etc. Again, Ill send pics soon!
Loved hearing from you guys on Christmas--that was awesome :) Do I have an accent? Guatemalans have a weird accent when they ask questions and I think Ive been picking it up even in English. Also I am somewhat picking up a Honduras accent, ill have to tell you about that on the phone in May.
See you next week! Happy new year!
Miss you tons. The work is going awesome :)

Tyler

This is Tyler and Elder Patterson painting their apartment...green.

This is the Alvarez family who were just baptized.

Christmas Phone Call!!

Tyler sounds great! We put him on speaker phone, and we all sat around and talked to him like he was here in the house. He loves his life in Guatemala, and he told us some very interesting things about his life.

Fireworks seems to be the theme of a Guatemalan Christmas. Tyler said on Christmas Eve, EVERYONE in the city shot off fireworks. The big kind that go in the sky. He said his apartment was full of smoke.

He has become a fan of Orchata (for those of you who know what that is). He has a doughnut shop he likes to frequent. "long pastry filled with cherry filling and covered in chocolate" (!) Anyway they have really good orchata too. At this point, Jeremy said, "How much do you weigh?!!!" Tyler said his pants still fit, so that good. He said they walk everywhere; everyone does.

If you noticed the picture of the pink building several weeks ago, that is Tyler's apartment on the top floor. He said the downstairs neighbors want to paint it green, so no more pink. He said his Spanish is doing well; he can understand most of what everyone says. We didn't notice a Spanish accent, though...yet :)

Thanks for sharing.

Bonus blog!!

Tyler sent us a package today with a letter enclosed, and I thought you might like to hear some of it.

"Merry Christmas! Here is a box of some Guatemalan paraphernalia. Ok I know it is kinda lame since it is mostly food, but don't worry. When I get out of the capital I'll start collecting some stuff to send home. I can't remember if I told you about the shops here (fiendas), but they are awesome! They are like little 7-11's, and they are literally on every corner of every street. I don't know what I ever did without them :) This box has some of my favorite snacks to get. The Doritos here are AMAZING. You'll have to tell me which kind everyone likes the best. Also the mints are my favorite mints I've EVER had. Let me know what everyone likes, and I'll be sure to send more :)

Today was Dia del Diablo where everyone goes out in the streets and burns pinatas of the devil filled with fireworks. It was AMAZING! Explosions everywhere! It was cool to see the people get so united in their traditions.

I wish I could express how much I love it here. It's a remarkable country with a remarkable people. Nietzsche wrote, "We have no words for what is truly alive in our hearts"--this is true with me! But know that I love the people here, and love being able to serve, teach, and learn from them."

Ten Days till Christmas!

Happy Christmas! So good to hear from you guys as always and cant wait to hear you on the real phone! Ten days! :) Sounds like everything is going awesome back home. Christmas here has been very funny to see. On Friday was “Luces del Campero,” and everyone lights fireworks to celebrate the beginning of the 12 days of Christmas! The church had a HUGE party (from 4 to 9 PM!). We didn’t go, but I heard it was way fun. They even had fireworks. There was a bag of them that fell over and caught on fire—they started shooting everywhere! I heard everyone was fine, which is good, haha. I cant remember if I told you about the firecrackers here—they are CRAZY! There seriously hasn’t been a day where I haven’t heard at least 5000 explosions in the streets. The kids LOVE them. Pretty funny. Dec 21 is the turtle shell day—I am stoked! :)
This week was a little difficult, but me and Elder Patterson are still working as hard as ever. Weve really been trying to find new investigators so we’ve been contacting LOTS! Weve even contacted buses—it is scary but very fun and there are always lots of people very interested afterward. Sunday is the Alvarez baptism and Kendalls is on Friday—I am so excited! Emilias was Saturday and it went awesome.
Be sure to send the ward my Merry Christmas and send Sara my congrats!

Lanie—do you think Linus still remembers me? We will have to see on the phone :)

Alex—haha about the phone. Do people ever send me texts? Elder Patterson loves the time when you and Leslie looked up Guat on Wiki and found out we are beating the jews. He says they actually met one before I came. This woman walked by and said “Shalom.”

Jerm—congrats on the new license. Elder Hutchins in my district is a huge fan of Starcraft and cant wait for starcraft II—we were wondering if the release date is out yet!

Dad—We start our day at 630 and have 4 hours of prep, personal study, comp study, and language study! We go contacting for 2 hours and then have lunch with our “cocinera” (cook). Then until 930 we have appointments and lessons with families, and we contact if they fall through. Dinner consists usually of…tuna! Or whatever we can find after we get back :D Its pretty fun!
Miss you as always. The work is going so well here. I cant remember if I told you but the goal for the mission next year is to double the baptisms and have 2010 in 2010 :D I know we can do it! Pray for us and for the prepared investigators. I testify that this work is marvelous and wonderful! Those who are brought salvation include not only the people we teach, but the missionaries ourselves :) Love you and miss you. Happy Christmas! (not in the restricted section :) Till next week
Tyler

Another Week

Another week flown by! I cant believe it. I dont know if it goes as fast for you guys as it does for me :) Before I forget, happy birthday Dad! Wish I could have been there. Especially for pie :) Haha for reals, I miss you!

Lots and lots happened this week. On tuesday I had divisions with Elder Hutchins. Our district here is only four people! Elder Marquez is the leader (he leaves the mission 3 days after Christmas!) and his companion is Elder Hutchins who is 6 weeks ahead of me. He is AWESOME! You guys would love him. It was pretty fun, and we ended up sleeping in their apartment so we got to see what it was like, very cool. The missionaries here actually get very blessed for living conditions :) Ill try and send some pics of mine soon! On Thursday Elder P and I had weekly planning, traditionally followed by Dominos pizza :) It was way yum. And we found this ice cream place called Pops that has AWESOME milkshakes :).
I figured I could tell you about some of the people here. They are so cool. We have two more baptismal dates! Kendell is 16 and one of the coolest kids Ive met. His parents look like they are straight out of the Godfather :), and they run a business with the people living below them--we are working hard to try and teach the whole household! Emilia is the other one and I have actually never met her! Elder P said they taught her before I came, but that shes been working, and now she has a different job and wants to be baptized! Its way exciting. Weve still been teaching the Alvarezes and they plan on being baptized this Sunday! They have three chatty teenage girls all over 16 years old, and Alvaro is 14 (I will send a pic of them if I can). They are the funniest family. We love them! Weve also been teaching this family Hernandez. Sister Hernandez is a member and she reminds me so much of grandma. Her kids are inactive and she tries so hard to get them to come; hopefully our lessons with them have helped. The Calderon family lives down the street from the Alvarez's--they are members and they have two cousins living with them now from Utah so they speak English! :) They might be the FUNNIEST people I have ever met. They are so cool and always love having FHE with the Alvarezes and us.

In short, I love this area! I dont think Ill be here the next change but I really hope so. The people are so awesome. I cant remember if I told you but our mission actually works a little differently the way Pres Baldwin has done it. Usually missionaries become Trainers, then Senior Comp, then District Leader, then Zone Leader. But here you actually have to have BEEN a DL and ZL in order to be a trainer, so the trainers here are AWESOME. Elder P is an exception to this! He was never a DL or ZL, but he is so awesome that President moved him immediately on up. Im so grateful for the chance Ive had to work with him! I cant wait until you guys get the chance to meet him.

Did you like the Christmas devotional? We didnt get to watch anything except the first five minutes. I heard the choir was going to sing O Holy Night and How Far is It to Bethlehem! I LOVE those songs :)

Last night we were teaching the Alvarezes and Delmi told us some of the traditions Guatemalans have for Christmas. The whole month is a celebration! On the 7th (today!) everyone buys pinatas shaped like the devil, and burn them in the streets! On the 12th, they line all of the streets with poinsettas that stay there until Christmas day. On the 15th, all of the Catholics (and i think most everyone else too) go around singing carols and banging turtle shells together as noisemakers. And on the 24th, (they recognize this as Jesus birthday), everyone stays up until midnight and then they go CRAZY opening presents and eating tamales and lighting fireworks :) It is way different and way cool! Im excited to see everything. :)

I miss you guys tons. Wish I could be there at the Christmas party and hear everyone sing. Are you excited about Sara's call??? :) I cant wait. It will be cool when me and her and Spence all get back at the same time. Thanks for the package! We should get it at zone conf but i will let you know :) Love you so much. Watch Charlie Brown Christmas at least once for me! :)
Tyler

P.S--Reformita is actually not very poor! The roads are paved, and most everyone has cars, dvd players, computers. There are occasional shacks made of tin, but most of the houses are pretty nice!

Moore pics. Click here.

First Area

Tyler sent some more pictures. To enjoy them click here.

This week FLEW by, but was awesome as always. Weve been getting the Alvarezs ready for baptism! December 13th should be perfect. And weve been getting new investigators and contacts like crazy--Hopefully things will work out!

On tuesday we had our Thanksgiving "Feast" and it was awesome :) They even had turkey and potatoes! We brought the tortillas. (I am not kidding you can buy tortillas EVERYWHERE here. There are like three different panaderias on every street :) It was way fun. Our zone is so funny. That night we went to Maria's house, shes a new convert that just got the Holy Ghost last week. Shes 22 and LOVES american culture! So she bought us a pumpkin pie and we had hot chocolate. It was so fun! And she loves to tell us all about the movies that are out (did anyone see 2012? :). It was way fun!

5 Things I learned about Guatemala this week:
1. Its very rare to have a sink INSIDE the house except for in the bathroom! Most people have a communal one on the patio outside with their neighbors. Ours is actually on the roof! I will have to send pics :)
2. They have this drink called Tampico (also I think they have it in UT and AZ) that is basically like Sunny D. Its AWESOME. And when you buy a gallon of it, it always comes with a free can of black beans. Hmm... :)
3. The hot dogs are always in individually wrapped plastics. Weird!
4. Have you guys tried Pepsi Kick yet? Yuck yuck yuck! I was not a fan. In Guatemala they pronounce it "Pepsi Quick." I havent figured out why :)
5. All of the books of the scriptures are very close to their English counterparts (Nephi=Nefi, Ruth=Rut, Peter=Pedro, etc) except for 2! Santiago is what they call the book of James, and Revelation is called the "Apocalypsis." Way interesting!

Sounds like Thanksgiving was awesome for you guys too. Miss you tons! Alex and Lanie--Ive been seeing Hannah Montana in Spanish in EVERYONES houses here. It is weird! They also love High School Musical. Jerm--If Sarah and Rish are there, tell them I miss them! I wish I could play bunnies with you guys and be there for the all night party (chickfila at 6 am? :) And of course play nightfire. Sara wrote me about her mission papers! LET ME KNOW when she gets the call!!! :) Dad--Hope texas is good and that you are loving the new van! Ive discovered that even GUATEMALANS do the lip pointing thing. Maybe I will have to adopt it...Mom--The university here is San Carlos I am pretty sure! Ask Sister Aldridge if she knows where Reformita or Trebol are, those are in my area :) Tell Katie Kelsey and their families that I miss them and hope winter break is awesome. I wish I could be there for the Christmas party! It sounds awesome.

Miss you guys so much. Sorry about the email delays! Love you and wish I could be there to decorate the tree!

Buena vida siempre. Nacio Cristo en Belen!
Tyler

First Week in the Field

I cant believe Im already writing to you again! This week has FLOWNNN by. So much to say! Hopefully I dont forget anything. This week I am writing on an American keyboard set to Spanish, so I cant find the colon or question mark. (Insert smileys where they seem needed!)

First things first--i got more Dear Elders! Oh goodness there was a mountain of them at the Mission Offices on friday. They were VERY old too (September 27th was the earliest!)--I guess they got sent there...by accident? Anyway sorry for not being able to respond! I got some from Uncle Mike, Jed, and Sister Romans too. Please tell them that I will write them soon! :) (Found the colon!)

In reference to those, Mom--loved the letter about books! A return letter is on its way :) Jeremy--Linus is not the only one with fleas, I have them too! Haha it is kind of creep. They just leave red dots on your arms. Dad--got your Spanish message at the end of one of your letters. Did you use a translator? It said something about 'tentative people' and i figured it was a misprint :)

This past week was SO fun! Wednesday was our pday (I cant remember if I told you, but officially, we will have pday on tuesdays now, and emailing on mondays!) and our whole zone went out to lunch at this AMAZING Guatemalan restaurant after playing some soccer. Mom and Dad--it was DELICIOUS. I wish you could be here! The steak tacos I had were amazing! Then on Thursday we had our weekly planning, me and Elder P. I think its gonna be fun--we plan for 3 hours but we usually order pizza! Friday we met with president again for some logistical stuff--had more Quiznos :). Then yesterday we had our first church, the ward is WAY cool! All in between weve been teaching like crazy! Weve kept up with the Alvarezs, and are still so excited for their baptism! Weve taught Maria, this WAY pilas girl who just got baptized and we had her confirmation yesterday. She loves speaking to us in English! And then we met this family of Ruben and Maritza, and taught them the first lesson. They are so cool and hopefully will keep listening to us!

Tomorrow for Pday we are celebrating Thanksgiving in our zone, and everyone is making something! I think it will be fun. They dont celebrate Tgiving in Guatemala actually! Hope the Andersons is fun--tell them hey for me! I miss you guys.

Life with Elder Patterson is still so great! I seriously got so lucky. You will have to meet him, or at least talk to him on the phone at Christmas :) Hes so cool, and weve already become way good friends. And hes an excellent missionary! For me, its so awesome to be learning for the first time by good example and not the bad. Hes such a good teacher! This six weeks will be fun.

I hope everything is going well back at home. Keep me posted with details and pictures!!! I will try to send some pictures next week of our apartment (Its way nice!) and hopefully our area. You are usually asking for it if you take out cameras in the city, but I will try to be sneaky :)

Have an AMAZING thanksgiving and I will keep you posted more next week. I absolutely love it here--How beautiful the mountains are upon which we publish peace ;) Cant wait to hear next week! Love you and miss you way too much, especially during the holidays--
Tyler

New Digs!

Tyler included some pictures of his life in the MTC. To see them click here.

"So if you havent guessed...Im in the field!!! Ooh boy I am excited to be here :) Yesterday we went to the mission home for most of the day to get briefed on money and food and security and stuff, and have interviews with Pres. Baldwin. He and his wife are SO cool. They are crazy, but they are doing way cool things here. Im excited to get to know them. Then we got to go to lunch (Quiznos! :), and finally we met...our trainers! My companion is INCREDIBLE. Oh wow I wish you could meet him. Im going to try and send some photos after I write this. Hes from Alpine Utah and is one of the best missionaries I have met yet. And hes so cool and way fun, we've been getting along great. And he'll be my comp during Christmas! It is gonna be cool. We are in the "Universidad" area, which actually means we will tract into a lot of students! The city is so beautiful here. Last night we taught four lessons and I can already tell its going to be good. We went to visit Alejandra, this way pilas girl that is 16ish and loves to read the Book of Mormon. We answered a lot of her questions. Shes way cool. We also got to visit the Alvarez's, and we taught them a lot about faith. And guess what--we got baptismal dates! From all 4 of them. It was WAY cool. Im so excited to get to know them better and am so happy for them.

So much has happened in this last week, from Divisions, Las Colinas, our last days in the CCM--ill try to send pictures! It was so much fun. Im going to miss everyone a lot, but Im so excited for everyone to get out and do the work. For divisions we got to go to the North mission, that was way cool. Las Colinas was awesome too, and SOOOO nice to get away :) Our whole district went on a hike through the jungle, it was way neat. Then we came back and watched the Joseph Smith movie, and then said our goodbyes. A zillion things have happened since then, and its only been 2 days! But time is flying. Im so excited to continue in the work the Lord has prepared for me.
One quick word on mail--its actually best here not to use pouch and just send everything to the mission office for my whole two years! Can you put this on Facebook?

Elder Tyler Moore
Mision Guatemala Central
Ave. Reforma 8-60, Zona 9
Edificio Galerias Reforma
Of. 505, Apartado 921-A
Guatemala Guatemala C.A

Nacio Cristo en Belen!"

Better Late than Never!

Tyler sent an email on his pday as usually, but it took TWO DAYS to get here. It was worth the wait:

My last week until the real deal! Wow it has been fun. And I've come a long way. Tomorrow we have our 2nd set of divisions (!!!), friday and saturday are our "learning about the field" days, Sunday is devotional, and then Monday we go to Las Colinas one more time. Cant wait!
This week FLEW by as usual! Wednesday through Saturday was class, and then Sunday was church. I played a special musical number AND had to give a talk! Very stressful. But very fun :) We are all supposed to write talks every week, and then you get called on at random from the pulpit. Pretty fun! Also I cant remember if I told you--I am the ONLY piano player here! It is so weird. I think I was one in a MILLION in my ward at BYU. So I have had lots of time to play, pretty much every meeting with an opening hymn. The latinos (and a few of the northamericans!) always want to learn how to play, so I taught them the tune for Cristifori's Dream by david lanz. You can hear someone playing it almost all the time. Its funny :)
I cant remember if I've told you about the workers here but they are hilarious! Francesco is the gardener, and he says "Hola! Como estamos?" in the FRIENDLIEST way Ive ever heard :) Mirsa runs the cafeteria, and she makes the funniest jokes about the food. And Alfonso is the guard every other day. He actually sleeps in a little room out by the court! Me and Hermana Fuka (shes Tongan, and HILARIOUS! I cant wait to send pics of our district) have been teaching him English and trying our hand at the gospel lessons with him. He is the friendliest guy and so funny. Anyway he has been committed to baptize ever since weve been here, but last week he finally picked a date for him and his family! We are so excited for him.
On Friday night we had Culture Night in our class, and we got to learn about all of our missions! Also Ecuador, cause thats where our teacher went. I will add details later, but for now, I just want to say that in Honduras, they eat this soup called Jute, and it is Coconut Milk, Bananas, and FISH. Yikes!!! Thank goodness there is none of that here :)
Im not sure if I will get a chance to email next week (we dont know when pday is in the field yet) but Im ALMOST positive Presidente Christensen lets us have a little email time after Las Colinas on Monday. Hopefully I can write then!

No News is Good News

We didn't hear from Tyler this week. He must be REALLY busy doing GOOD things. :)

Mail Call!

Tyler spent the first two weeks in Guatemala without hearing from anyone because there is such a delay for the "DearElder" to get to them. This week made up for it...

"The dear elders came! Wow that was cool. I literally got 8 pages of mail, and the website combines everyones messages to condense space, so it was very interesting to read, and very fun :) Thanks again! Dont hesitate to send more :) And I got alot from others! Bro Kiker, Castanoses, Jack, and Kouryn, and Grandma. Very fun.

This week FLEW by! We are officially the only NorthAmericans here, and on Wednesday we got TWO groups of Latinos! There are so many. They are WAY cool. Our roomates especially. I love hearing them say things in English. They always pronounce my comps name as "Neelsong" (Nielson), and me as "Muurr" or "Muuree". Alot of the Latinos who have taken english know that E's are always pronounced like Spanish i's, even though it is not the case with our last name :)
Be sure to thank Sis Davidson for her postcards! She sent me two last week, and they are the craziest things I have ever read. I will try to write her soon. I also got a letter from Chase, Maggie, and Noah. Very exciting. (Noah is quite the artist.)

The temple is in both languages! It is very interesting. The session is in English, and theres a 50 50 chance that the end will be in Spanish, depending on who is working that day. It is actually very surprising but I am one of the best spanish speakers here! (That isnt saying much!) Most of these missionaries have never even had a class in Spanish. Its tough for them, but we're getting it. We get to go contacting at the temple once a week. Its always members, but very very fun. There is a Shell station right by the temple that the church has been trying to buy out for AGES. I guess they happen to make a lot of money there so it is difficult. Anyway, if they ever get it, they will have this whole street, and are hoping to make it into a sort of temple square! I hope it happens. It would be way cool!

Heres some stuff I learned this week!
Five Fun Facts about Spanish :D
1. The Guatemalans have a phrase like we do in English to say "Piece of cake." Its Pan Comida, which actually means Bread Food. Haha.
2. The Latinos who are learning or have taken English (a TON of the teachers are, and they actually require it now for when Latinos are on their missions) are TERRIFIED of the scriptures in English! Which definitely makes sense when you think about it. They say it is the hardest thing ever, and its funny to hear them speak in Old English thees thous and thys. :)
3. Prepositions--these are SO weird in both spanish and english. We have a lot that they dont have, and vice versa. They have almost 5 different ways to say Through, and they only have one word (Por) to say by, on, next to, because of, in behalf of, etc etc. Very interesting!
4. "Dar luz a un nino" is an idiom that means to give light to a child, and it means to give birth! When a woman is in labor, they call her En Luz, or In Light. Weird!
5. I tried to tell someone that my battery was dead, and they thought it was HYSTERICAL. Thats one of those english phrases that definitely doesnt translate :)

Two more weeks and Ill be in the field!
Love and miss you
Tyler"

Life in Guatemala

Tyler is still loving life in the MTC. Last week they went out into the city and were paired up with 'real' missionaries for a day. He says it was "AWESOME, and definitely a reality check! Me, Hma Kochevar and Romero, and Elder Bird (hes from alexandria!) are actually probably the best spanish speakers here and we STILL had a rough time with the spanish. But it was still way cool. We went into some very poor villages with thousands of dogs and even some houses without roofs. It was tough to see, but the people here dont even mind! They are so cool."

He also gives some great info about the city:

"Guatemala City is HUGE, and I only say this because I feel like it grows every time I go into it. You can see it from the mountains and it honestly looks like 5 Utah Valleys all in between two volcanoes (you actually cant even see the Vulcan de Fuego, its so far away.)"

"Today is the 3 week mark, which means that the viejos and latinos left this morning. We will miss them! But we are excited for them. So yesterday, for a rest day, we all went to Las Colinas (the Church owns this huge plot of land up in the hills) which was WAY cool. I played soccer most of the day, but you could do football and hiking as well. The MTC president bought us pizza! It was way fun. And the landscape is SOOOOO cool. I think im going to do the hike next time (we go again in three weeks). They have these weird forest crabs everyone took pictures of. Way awesome.

I have yet to see signs of Halloween, even of Dia de Los Muertos! I think it is a Mexican holiday. I miss it! Have fun at carving pumpkins! "

Moore news

From Tyler:

This week has been good good good. The weather is way nice (it got down to 65 yesterday--all the Guatemalans walked in with scarves :) and our MTC president is AWESOME, i cant remember if I told you about him. His devotionals are WAY good (hes done overviews of the Book of Mormon that are excellenttttt), and he actually is a BYU-I professor when not an MTC president. Anywho. The food here has gotten very old very fast. Its very bland, and it never settles very well (our entire floor got a stomach bug on thursday :/ ) but its not too bad. Every now and then there are some good things. We had the WEIRDEST breakfast the other day though. Oatmeal, black beans, nachos con queso, scrambled eggs, chocolate cake, and Sunny D. Yikes! The teachers thought it was weird too though, so it might just be an MTC thing (thank goodness).
Tomorrow we get to go on divisions! I am way excited. You get to go out with a real missionary from the field and just do a day of proselyting. I think it will be way cool. You either go to City Central or City South, so I'm hoping for South, since I wont get to leave City Central in the field! Everyone is way excited for it. It will be cool to actually go do the stuff weve been learning. Also you get to go to lunch in the city and also the store (american fast food and soda! finally :) so we are quite stoked.

News from Guatemala

I'll let Tyler tell you in his own words:

Estoy en Guatemala!!!

Today is officially one week since leaving the USA. Wow it is different! Here are some quick thoughts on the MTC (I have 45 minutes for email here, but I still feel pretty rushed!):
Food--SO weird. But actually pretty good! The first day was pretty gross, and I still will never bring myself to eat beans for breakfast, but other than those it isnt so bad! They have this steak taco dish about once every 3 days that is quite yummy. Some weird things so far=lime salad, fried bananas, guatemalan hot dogs (guacamole, cheese, tomatoes, relish, and ranch dressing), minty cranberry juice, THICK jello, white rice soup in the morning (tastes like orchata. very yummy!) etc etc etc. I think, Mom and Dad, you guys would actually like the food a lot though. Dinner is always very tasty.
The City--WAY cool! We havent seen much of it yet, just the MTC street, but it is actually very normal. It reminds me a lot of downtown richmond, only with CRAZY exotic plants everywhere (seriously, there are tons of orange trees, and all these flowers with vivid colors and GIGANTIC petals and leaves) and everything is in spanish. There is a shell station every two blocks, and everyone drives REALLY nice cars (its hard NOT to find a BMW or Lexus). All in all, not what I expected!
Temple--WAY cool. Its nothing like what the pictures show, Its almost like New York where its just on the side of the road. The temple grounds are way nice. We get to go at 1:00 today. Cant wait!
Mechanics--Everything here is SOOOOOO small. There are a total of 75 missionaries here at a time, and the building itself is just like staying at a Marriott, only you also have class and gym. Every three weeks, 4 things happen. 1, the Latinos leave for the field, and new ones come in. 2. The viejos (older missionaries) go to the field. 3. The nuevos (younger missionaries) become Viejos. 4. A new batch of North American missionaries arrive and become the new nuevos. We have two weeks left in the rotation and then we become Viejos. very cool!
Another interesting thing is that this MTC is doing phase training now, but plans on becoming a real MTC. There are temples being constructed in Honduras, El Salvador, andQuetzaltenango. Once the four (including guat city) are completed, this becomes a real MTC and ALL latin american missions/missionaries will be sent through here! Way exciting.

Tyler's address

If you want to send Tyler a letter through the mail, this is the address:

Elder Moore

Centro de Capacitation Misional
Boulevard Vista Hermosa 23-71, Zona 15
Vista Hermosa 1 C.P. 01015
Guatemala Ciudad, Guatemala C.A.

That will go straight to the Guatemala MTC. They tell us not to send mail to this address after Nov. 7, as he will be leaving there around Nov. 17.

Tyler is in Guatemala!

These are the new missionaries who just entered the Guatemala MTC with Tyler. His mission president is David Christensen. There are 84 missionaries in this MTC, 42 from North America and 42 from Latin and South American countries. Tyler will be here for six weeks.

Pictures!!!

These are the missionaries in Tyler's district while he's been in the MTC. They are all leaving tomorrow for their various missions. To see these pictures in an album click here.

Last email from Provo MTC

Next week Tyler will be traveling to Guatemala (!) on his pday, so this is the last message from Provo. Tyler is doing great, and he still sounds very happy. He loves to get mail... "Thanks for the packages/emails/letters! Mail is COVETED here so I scored a few points in my district :) Just kidding. But it is always the highlight of my day!"

He also gave us a look at his schedule:

Here's a basic rundown of my day!
630--wake
700-745--studying w/district
800--breakfast
900--gym
945-1215--class
Lunch
115--530 class
dinner
630--930 class
1030--lights out!
Toss in some devotionals now and then with some large group meetings, and repeat cycle ad infinitum. Its great :)

Thanks for caring!

A Red Letter Day

Tyler wrote a letter to us his first night in the MTC, and we just got it today. It's so full of great information about his first day, so I thought I'd include the whole thing. Enjoy:

Wow! I am exhausted. Today was long, and even though I got 12 hours of sleep at Grandma's, I am still jet lagged. Who knew?

I'll keep it short, and hopefully get to bed early -- 6:30am tomorrow! But wow! I wish you could be here to SEE everything from the moment you exit the car, you are busy, and never alone. Meetings, class, studying, repeat ad infinitum and add meals in between. :)

Our district is AWESOME (that's the 10 missionaries you have class with and who are learning spanish as well.) I don't think I could have been luckier for a group. I actually have 2 companions! Elder Henrie is going to Barcelona and is just like Bro. Warnick. Elder Simpson is going to my mission and is just like Bro. Beens.

Elder Dunlap--Honduras Elder Keller--Chile

Elder Nukcols--Honduras Elder W(something)--Chile

Sister Romero--Guatemala South

Sister Magane--Guatemala South

Did you notice we have two girls? That is way rare. They are awesome. The girls and my companions and me are all doing the "phased training" where you go to two MTC's. Elder Henrie is going to the MTC in Madrid.

Anywho my eyelids are closing. But I can already testify to the spirit felt here. You can glimpse into the windows of heaven through which are thousands of the Lord's servants anxiously engaged in this marvelous work. I love and miss you all. Tyler

P-Day!

Today (Tuesday) is Tyler's P-day (preparation day) in the MTC. That means he can email for half an hour. He is doing very well, and he's sounds very happy. To quote: "I am still as enthusiastic as ever about the MTC. I'm loving every minute of it." He is in the MTC choir, and they are singing tonight at a devotional with a guest General Authority.

Tyler would like you all to know about DearElder.com. It is a website where you can write to missionaries. All you have to know is Tyler's name and mission. You type a note to him, and the service prints it and puts it in Tyler's MTC mailbox. That way, he doesn't have to wait for p-day to read your letter.

Day Three

We still haven't heard from Tyler, but so many of you were so kind to ask for a copy of his 'farewell address' that I thought I would post it. If you'd like to read it, click here.

Day Two

We heard from the MTC last night, and they gave us Tyler's mailing address:

Elder Moore

MTC Mailbox #84

GUA-GUAC 1117

2005 N. 900 E.

Provo, UT 84604

He will be at this address for the next three weeks.

First Day

Tyler entered the MTC (missionary training center) in Provo, UT today to start his mission in the Guatemala City Central mission. He will stay here for three weeks before moving on to Guatemala.