Querido Familia,

This week has been pretty busy. Presidente has been going around the mission giving conferences to all the Zones. Last week we did one here in Reu with three different zones and this week we have done two more. The first was on Tuesday in Mazate. There were three zones there. It was fun to see some of the friends that I had left in Mazate. Then on Thursday we had one in San Marcos up in the mountains. We had to leave on wednesday because it is a 4 hour drive and we had a lot of stuff to do to get ready. It was really cool to be in the mountains. The temperature change is amazing. I got out of the car and I felt like I was in Utah during late fall. I went up with Elder Rigby to help him get stuff for the conference. On the way to San Marcos you have to pass through Queztaltenago (Xela). We stopped there to get the stuff. Xela is a whole lot more modern than the rest of Guatemala. (At least that I have seen). We stopped at Walmart to buy the things we needed and Elder Rigby and I both got weirded out because we felt like we were in the states again. I also got to see the Xela temple. It is going to be dedicated on Dec. 11 which is a year to the day after my first convert got Baptized. I know they have been working towards going to the temple and that would be so cool if they could go that day. Anyways we got to San Marcos and we drove around a bit and it was interesting to see how different it was. For one thing the people actually wear clothes and are modest. We saw some sweet graffiti on the walls and took some pictures of it. The next we had the conference which went really well. At these conferences Presidente talked about the Book of Mormon and about our Character. It was a really good conference and it made me reflect on my character. I realized that this time in the office is a great time for me to test my character and help it grow. Out in the field it is a lot easier to form good habits and keep them. Here in the office it is a lot harder to do that. I have to study the scriptures not because it is scheduled but because I want to do it. It has also made me think about my responsibilities and how they are helping me build character. I have to make a lot of phone calls and we all know how much I like talking on the phone. :) I dont enjoy making these phone calls but I do it anyway. The phrase ''It will build character" never really meant that much to me. I always just thought of it as a joke from Calvin and Hobbes. But Calvins dad telling him that shoveling snow even though he didn't want to, will build character is so true. When we do things that we dont want to because we know we need to really shows our Character. At the end of the conference we watched Elder Scott's talk on ''The Transforming power of Faith and Character." This is one of my favorite talks and I have really learned alot from it. So we finished the conferences with President and I think things are going to call down a bit more. I'll probably have more time to go on divisions with Elders. This morning for P-day we went as an Office to some ruins pretty close to Reu. They are called Tak'alik Ab'aj. That means standing stone in Kiche. It was way cool. Apparently it was a huge city that had 88 different buildings or temples and 10 different squares. They only had about 8 temples uncovered though and those just partially. The were in the process of investigating one temple. I felt like they didn't really appreciate what they had and that if the states owned the property or even better BYU, they would do a lot better job exploring and presenting it to the people. It was weird because there wasn't anything keeping us from touching the artifacts. It was still really cool though to go and see these ruins and get to see a different side of Guatemala. Anyways that was pretty much my week and it was pretty awesome. I love you all tons and I am grateful for all that you do for me. I pray for you often. Todo esta bien.

Con amor,

Elder Thorley

p.s. Here are some more pictures of Xela and of the Ruins.

Also you dont have to limit the piano music to hymn arrangments.

Presidente really liked Riding West but I couldn't remember it all.

Elder Thorley