Elder Tyler Gregory Mission Blog

This is a piece of the letter he sent to us and different pics! I had to hear from someone else about BYU....man that is brutal. I feel the pain from all the way over here....maybe one day.  Anyways, this week was better.  I am pretty lucky the few members here love the missionaries! Thursday and Friday were basically lessons.   We visited a member's house (they actually own a store in the plaza so that's cool) and the only active young woman is named Valeria (I may have mistaken her for Baledia in a previous email before...don't quite know). Anyways, I just love her. She is super funny and can understand English! She can't speak it well but can understand basically everything I say. She is really into drawing and graphic design, as well as anime. So about a week ago, She asked if she wanted me to have her draw a picture of me in anime form. Of course I said ses!! How cool is that?! She asked what my favorite anime show was and I said Pokemon. She asked what m...

Hey what is up everyone! Sorry it has been awhile...but the mission is a grind! I will try and give some highlights from the past few weeks. So we have been able to teach many people here in Magdalena, which is great. But we don't get many second visits, so hopefully that can increase! My Spanish has gotten better (because I really have no choice) but it still has a LONGGG way to go. My companion, Elder Sanchez, helped me figure out the shower after a little while so that's good. We also got hot water! After a couple of weeks with either lukewarm bucket showers or cold showers, we alas can shower with "agua caliente." At least til the gas runs out...gotta live in the moment I guess!  Yeah my spanish is better, but the people here still talk like they're in "fast forward" mode. They love talking to me because I am a "gringo" but it's hard to respond when you don't know what they say! Haha it's frustrating at times but you jus...

Well I have survived another week here in Magdalena. I am actually here in Nogales because we had a zone activity. We first played some soccer with some of the members. We first played in this arena type field. It's basically an indoor field outside. Many kids came out to watch us and then a bunch of people were watching us. I think they find it funny watching a gringo play (I was the only gringo FYI). We then had an "olympics" which basically consisted of going to a park and playing knockout, duck duck goose, tic tac toe, and this relay race thingy. It was okay but was fun being around the other missionaries. It was nice after a rough week. Yeah I'm gonna be straight forward, this week was the longest yet.  It has been so hard walking in the burning sun and sleeping in the freezing cold. It literally drops a good 20-30 degrees within an hour...it's phenomenal actually.  We teach a good amount of Lesson 1 (or the Restoration) and sometimes Lesson 2 (Plan ...

Just fake it til I make it Mon, Nov 12, 2018 7:06 pm This computer is pretty bad so forgive my typing To be honest It's been kind of hard to remember everything that happened, but I will try . This mission is tons of walking for sure.  Okay so Tuesday we grinded (as usual) and we walked to so many places. We  had zone conference with President and Hermana Myers which was cool. It was all in Spanish so this American Elder named Elder Martin translated the whole thing for me (8am-2pm) I can't wait to be able to translate as good as he did. That night I was suprised to hear that I was going on splits with one of the zone leaders, Elder Bueno. He is pretty cool and is from Brazil. And.....you guessed it...no english! But at least my Spanish has gotten better.  So what turned into one day of splits turned into 3 days. It made me grateful for Magdalena because Nogales is rough. Nothing but dirt roads, hills, and super poor people. Th...

Mon, Nov 5, 2018 7:22 pm Sup guys! I'm doing pretty good down here in the state of Sonora here in Mexico! I am in a small town named Magdalena (about an hour and a half away from the border) and I would be lying if I said this week wasn't hard...but it can only get better! As one might imagine, being thrown into a place where you don't really understand the language nor speak it...plus being in a place that is really isolated and really hot in the day and cold at night...might be hard! But as someone wise once said..."What doesn't kill you makes you STRONGER"  .....Kelly Clarkson:) Haha gotta thrown in a little America in there! Anyways, since I am new, I am assigned a companion who trains me for two transfers (transfer equals 6 weeks...so 12 weeks). My trainer is named Elder Sanchez, he is from Chihuahua Mexico...and you guessed it...doesn't speak English! Alright he speaks a little english but it's definitely hard to communicate with so...

T he field is WAYYY different than the MTC (obviously) only because it's a huge change. Literally everything that I would consider comfortable in my life is gone. Just to start, the plane ride was alright and we got to the airport and we met the AP's and President and Sister Myers. I love them so much already.  We are currently serving in a small town outside of Nogales called Magdalena. So we basically had to hop on the bus after lunch for a nice 3 hour bus ride. The other missionaries that are serving in a nearby town hadn't come yet so we were waiting for them and I told Sanchez I needed a haircut. So I got one for 70 pesos (about $4) and it is hecka nice.  Elder Gregory

Today, today we had to finalize our visas in Mexico City. We have been gone from 8:45-3:25.  My Spanish this week has really skyrocketed. In our lessons with our "investigators," I have been able to understand probably 75% of what they're saying and speak back to them. Sometimes I don't even remember the words I say but my teachers say I have come a long way.  My district is so awesome, they are the brothers I never had. We always spend every second with each other. We are always playing sports, or goofing off, or having spiritual discussions. We also made a pact this week to not speak any English...that's been rough but our Spanish has improved because of it. Nothing has really changed here in the CCM, just class....and class again....and more class. The days are long and we are all excited to go out into the field. It's also hard to sleep cause Mexico City doesn't. There's constantly dogs barking, sirens wailing, gun shots going, and ...

Oct. 12, 2018 Hey guys what is good!!! I have officially been here in Mexico for a solid 3 days...so I basically an honorary Mexican...Haha in all seriousness it has been great so far. It was hard saying goodbye to the Provo MTC (and the US for the next couple years). I said goodbye to many missionaries I have only known for a few weeks but have grown to love. I said goodbye to our Spanish teacher, Hermano Nelson...that was super hard. I loved going to class and he was very patient with our Spanish. Gonna miss that guy!! Anyways, so I am currently in Mexico City at the CCM (or Spanish version of MTC). And lemme tell you...it is just straight crazy. It's basically like a bunch of houses....times a million!! It's crazy how big it is here. We are right smack in the middle (with high security and a huge fence) of the city so that's pretty cool. Everyone here speaks Spanish (obviously) but it's much different hearing it from a native  than an American. I can pi...

Tue, Oct 9, 2018 8:10 pm Hey guys, after a long day of travel I have arrived here at the CCM here in Mexico City. Holy cow...literally unreal. I don't even know what to think of Mexico. The CCM seems nice, it's right in the heart of Mexico City. 

Oct. 6, 2018 It's been quite the interesting week. I have my journal on me so hopefully I can include everything that has happened over the week. My time is limited now but should open up sometime between 4-6 mountain time. Sucks to hear that BYU is awful...glad I'm not there to suffer with ya dad.  Alright mom wanted me to go through my schedule on a daily basis, sometimes it switches up, but this is the general time. 6:30-Wake Up/shower get ready 7:00- breakfast 7:30- go to classroom and study until class starts 8:30-11:30--class, usually just spanish 11:30-lunch 12:15- language study 2:40-3:40-- exercise time 4:30--dinner 5:15-- personal/companionship study until class 6:15-9:15-class 9:45-quiet time/get ready for bed 10:30- bedtime Nothing too exciting, but pretty busy. I don't know how it'll be in Mexico, but we will find out sooner or later.

 Saturday, Sep 29, 2018 Hey guys!!! What is up?! I've been in the MTC for 10 days now so I'm basically a veteran. I'm doing real well. It's been quite the transition, but it's been nothing but blessings!!  Just a little context, I was originally assigned to the Mexico City MTC (training center) but my Visa hadn't come through yet. So I was re-assigned to the Provo, Utah, MTC. So I've just been right down the road from BYU and found out yesterday that my Visa had come through and that they are reassigning me and my whole district (district is basically a group of missionaries I go to class with and there's about 14 of us) to the Mexico MTC in 10 days!! Exciting stuff!! So I'm assigned a companion for 6 weeks, so we are basically joined at the hip throughout the duration of the 6 weeks. His name is Elder Edington from Tuscon, Arizona. He's a pretty cool guy; he loves to sing ALOT. He's a good singer so at least that hel...