Hola Hermanos y Hermanas!

This week flew right by!

So transfers were yesterday and I'm staying here to kill Elder Ramirez! Ha it's his last transfer so he will be my third kill. Even though we didn't change there were a lot of changes in the mission. 3 elders from our zone in Cancun went to be zone leaders in other places and one is opening the new zone that includes my mission hometown, Tizimin! I miss that little town! I'm excited to help our area grow though because it needs a lot of work. We have been working a lot with the less active members to get some references going and because of that 15 of them went to church yesterday! woohoo! It was sweet! This week our goal is to get one sister married and baptized on the same day. We can do it! Her name is Alondra and she has gone to church every week since we got here, but has been waiting to get married. She's so ready and I am so excited!

Do you know what else I'm excited for?! MY BEST FRIEND SARAH HENRETTY IS GOING TO SERVE A MISSION IN FRANCE!!! Hahaha Super Duper Mega SHOUT OUT in the history of SHOUT OUTS for her! I'm so proud of her!

I hope everyone is having an awesome summer! Love one another and read your Book of Mormon!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

P.S. Here's the mission address!

Mision Mexico Cancun

SM 038 M9 LT 1

AVENIDA CHICHENITZA

CP. 77507
CANCUN, QUINTANA ROO

MEXICO

We went to a buffet

We went to a buffet

Elder Maurer goes to the new zone in Tizimin!

Touristy pic!

Touristy pic!

"No to drugs. Yes to Jesus."

Hola Amigos!

 The trio is really different and is hard at times to make sure everybody agrees on planning and gets the same amount of time to teach in the lessons, but I'm learning to be more humble and flexible because of it. Elder Reyes has the same amount of time in the mission as me, but has been in the field longer because he was only in the MTC for three weeks so we are a couple of noobs when Elder Cromwell leaves next week. Its going to be challenging, but I'm up for it and ready to have a comp that might not leave me so soon this time ha.

So last night we had an Easter activity for our ward that us missionaries planned which was awesome because we painted eggs, had an Easter egg hunt, and taught about the Atonement. I was pretty much in charge of it too, being part of my training, and it was a lot of work to plan and get everything going. It went really well and I could tell everyone liked learning about our American traditions for Easter and to learn about all the symbolism of the eggs and stuff. I really feel like everyone felt the Spirit. We can always learn more about the Atonement and remember the sacrifice our Savior Jesus Christ made for us so we can return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father and our families forever.

I'll send pics of the activity next week!

SHOUT OUT for Miss Sarahenretty for her two letters this week! YOU DA BEST

BIG NEWS I can now write more than just family by email now so send me all your email addresses! (adam.shurtliff@myldsmail.net)

Mom here: I will add Adam’s email address to the sidebar as soon as I remember his login so I can make the change. Feel free to send him emails. He has specified that he doesn’t have email addresses for Lyn, Mitch, Landon, Natalie, and Tommy.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1.  He can only check email on Mondays. He has a very limited amount of time on the computer and with the email he receives, he will likely only get to scan quickly and make a very quick reply. Because of this, he may miss things that you say and won’t adequately respond to your questions. (Speaking from experience on this one.)
2. Snail mail and dearelders are still needed. He will be able to review/refer to these hard copy letters throughout the week. The will lift him when he’s having a hard day and may provide needed inspiration.

And Sarah, you’d better watch out, he warns that your email may explode.

I Made It!

I'm finally in Mexico and I'm loving it even if my feet feel like they are going to fall off everyday and I'm always soaked in sweat. I'm in a little pueblito (city) called Tizimin which is right between Merida and Cancun. My new comp is a 22 month old Mexican who is going to die soon, but he's awesome and we get along really well because he's a weirdo. Hm I wonder why my last two comps have been weirdos and I have gotten along so well with them. Ha, coincidence I guess.

The Spanish of course is coming along really well since its pretty much all I speak now. I'm loving the hammock and the food is fantastico as if that was even a question. There are always people walking around on the streets and are all really nice and are open to everything I feel like no matter what we taught them. It's really easy to find new people to teach unlike in Chicago, but the problem here is it's hard to get them serious about their commitments and to have a real desire to learn more and to act on it. Me and my comp are opening our area from being closed for a transfer and it's hard, but totally worth it.

The ward is really small and there are a ton of less actives which is why we are told not to go out tracting and try to have a member present in our lessons as much as we can so that new converts have friends and stay strong. 

Well, I hope you all like the pictures! Oh if you're worrying about my safety, DON'T. President Salinas told me to tell everyone that this mission is the safest in Mexico so it's you all that I'm worried about. Ha. stay safe and read the Book of Mormon!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE

Con amor,

              Elder Shurtliff

In case you forgot where to write, here you go:

Elder Adam Shurtliff

Mexico Merida Mission
Calle 45 #527 Q y Calle 70
Col. Centro 97000
Merida, Yucatan
MEXICO

This is the address to the mission office and where he would like to receive mail and, of course, packages.

~Monique

'Bye Chicago!

 Hola Mexico!

Taco Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Saturday...not sure really

Boy, he is SWEATY! Good thing they have SpongeBob ice pops there!

Big News!

Alright so the big news first (in case you haven't already heard). I'M GOING TO CHICAGO! Haha I'm so excited to get out there and start teaching actual people the Gospel! I'm a little nervous now that it's finally time to go, but I'm really really excited. Chicago is going to be a lot colder than Mexico that's for sure! So if you want to send me letters and any cold gear for Christmas that would be the best thing in the world. Please and thank you!

The mission home address is:

1319 Butterfield Road Ste. 522
Downers Grove, IL 60515

I think it's kinda random because I thought that they usually only temporarily reassign missionaries to places close by like Idaho and California, but that's just fine with me because that's where the Lord wants me right now. The other reassignments in my district were to Salt Lake City West (I think that's my house), St. George, San Jose California (lucky! they get to be warm!), and the Elder who was supposed to go to Peru forever ago finally got reassigned to Alabama last week. I'm pretty proud of my new call though and I can't wait to get to work.

So my week was pretty crazy, but really fun. On Sunday I had tons of stuff to do including writing my weekly talk in Spanish, teaching our District meeting lesson with my comp, and our district need to practice our "Swan Song" which is a hymn the district that's leaving sings the Sunday before in Sacrament meeting. We chose A Child's Prayer (the district favorite) and pretty much all our practices went better than the actual performance haha but it was good.

Me and my companion's district lesson went a lot better than the first time by the way. Because we weren't really prepared we didn't rush it like last time and the Spirit was like 10x stronger. Plus me and my companion finally don't bug each other that much now that it's our last week. Ha last night we actually planned our lesson with our new investigator really well even though we still didn't agree on everything. We compromised and it made a huge difference. Hopefully it doesn't take this long to get along with my Chicago comp!

I'm feeling really confident with my Spanish right now, but I just know when I finally get to talk to real people I won't be able to understand anything they're saying. I'm already loving teaching people and giving them what they need to be happy forever like we do. I'm seeing how we can really take the blessing of the Gospel for granted so I invite everyone to start reading the scriptures and talks from General Conference more. We have so much and we don't even use it. Thanks to Glen Reber I have a General Conference Ensign and it pretty much become scripture for me. There's so much good stuff in there so take a look! Check out LDS.org too, because it's got everything.

There are physical changes happening at the MTC. Workers have been working on our classroom building a ton lately for some reason and then finally yesterday we got kicked out of our classroom because they're going to turn it, and all the other classrooms in that building, into residences for all the new sister missionaries. I'm glad we could contribute haha. It's kindof weird to think that Sarah or any other sister missionaries might be living in the same room where I had class. We now have class in a lot smaller and warmer room with tiny desks and not so great chairs, but I'm not complaining because I'm out of here on Monday!

Thank you everyone for all your letters! I don't want to put up the rankings, but Sarah has got all of you beat thanks to her weekly letters so you all need to step your game up. Haha I got surprised to get some from Robbie, Steph, Toni, and Jason so they are my favorites now too. Of course it's a given that my parents are up top because they get to e-mail. THANK YOU everyone for all you love and support! You're awesome! Have a good week, the church is true, read the Book of Mormon AND CONFERENCE TALKS and stay safe!

Love,
       Elder Adam Shurtliff

Adam's mom here. The Chicago mission will take care of Adam's needs and won't let him turn into a popsicle.  If you have something in particular you feel he may need/want let me know and I will find out if it's a good idea to send it. My biggest concern is that he only has one suit (in Mexico they don't wear suits) and I don't want to have to get him a new one that he may only use for a couple of weeks. Stay posted and if he has any needs, I will let you all know. Thanks for all your love and support. It warms my heart to know that so many are looking out for my boy.

Oh. And I don't know why there were no pictures this week. He didn't explain. So unlike him.

I'd Write a Letter

Hi Adam's friends- his mom here. I just wanted to let you know how you can communicate with Adam. You can write and send things to him at:

Elder Adam Shurtliff 

MTC Box # 284
MEX-MER 1126

2005 North 900 East

Provo, UT  84604-1793

Another way to contact him is through www.dearelder.com. It is a free service. Go to the website and create an account. You simply type your letter and they print it and send it to him the very same day. Unfortunately, he cannot respond accordingly. but the advantage to this system is that he immediately has your letter. Another cool thing about this service is that you will still be able to use it once Adam is in Mexico. Free. No stamps. They use the church's pouch mail system. You can also use the church's pouch mail to send handwritten letters. The rules are strict. Let me know if you are interested in it and I will send you the details.