Nov 24, 2009
hey i just sent the xrays and everything, let me know how you are feeling right now. For me, I kind of feel that the circumstances are very good right now and I feel that the Lord let this happen right now rather than sometime later when the consequences would be a lot worse. But that is just how I feel right now. When I prayed about it, I felt that I needed to read my patriarchal blessing again. When I did, I noticed that part where it says that my parents will never once give me bad advice. So I will rely on your imput very heavily, not to put any pressure on you or anything! haha! alright, let me know whats going on TODAY! im dying of anxiety down here! Call the president and let him know and make sure that I found out about it somehow. Okay, im excited to see you soon... or not. Ahhhh!!!!!! Im so anxious right now!!!!
Love you mom,
Elder Westover
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Blessing, Falling, and Changing
Nov 16, 2009
Alright family and friends, buckle your seatbelts and keep your hands and arms inside the ride at all times: There was a lot of things that happened this week.
There was a lot, but I think Im going to mention the 3 major things that happened, in chronological order, as it works out better that way. Alright, here we go!
1) Its 9:30 at night. Elder Stephenson and I are walking back to the pension after just getting rejected by a menos activo family that we really wanted to teach. We see two ladies walking up and I politely step out of the way so they can get through the side walk (The sidewalks in Chile are pretty small, and built for midgets because there are so many low hanging branches its ridiculous). They, however, just stand there. Not being one to miss a teaching opportunity smile and introduce myself. If someone in Chile stands in front of a few missionaries for longer than two seconds, they´re just asking to be baptized. As it turns out, the older woman was a member of the church, but went inactive almost immediatley. However, she somehow knew about priesthood blessings, and asked us if we could give one to her sick granddaughter, pointing to the other girl and a small infant in her arms. She was about 18 or 19, and the child was probably 1 or 2. Not that rare in Chile. As a matter of fact, I was pretty impressed. Elder Stephenson and I looked at each other for a moment to take in the randomness of the situation and then generous agreed and asked where they live so we could bless her. This is where it gets weird. They lived pretty far away and wanted us to do the blessing in the street right there. We politely explained the sacred nature of the blessing and offered to find a place nearby. We thought and realized the only place nearby was the less active family we had just passes by. So we go to ask the family that just rejected us if they would let us in to offer the blessing. Then it gets even weirder. The family accepted the invitation surprisingly, but when we started walking back to the family, the 19 year old mother was contently breastfeeding her child. Umm... yeah. Okay. We go to the family and thankfully by that time the kid had stopped breatfeeding. We pulled up a chair for the mother to sit down and she pops the kid back on again! Oh no! How am I going to do this? i thought. Elder Stephenson very very carefully placed a drop of oil on the baby´s head. Then it was my turn. I prayed to know what to say and do. I began the prayer, trying in Spanish, but it was pretty difficult a) not knowing the language very well b) with a name like Sadca Isidora Lindsey Sedevitch Idalgo, its hard to remember anything else, and c) I was a little worried about my hand placement as I was placing my hands on a breatfeeding child. I got the first part down, but midway through, the baby started to cry bloody murder. I couldnt do it. I quickly finished the rest in English. The sealing was equally difficult. The baby continued to cry as Elder Stephenson offered what he could of a beautiful blessing. I kept my eyes as tight as i could, knowing what I would see if I opened them (remember how the child was breastfeeding before she started crying) crying=no cover. We finsihed the prayer and I looked at everyone but the family. We got a cita with them for later in the week and discovered that our prayer worked: the baby was fine and healthy again. I was sweatin bullets on that one.
2) The day before changes. We are by the bishops house because we need to ask him a question. While we are waiting, we see a few of the kids from the ward were kicking the soccer ball around. We go join them for a bit and enjoy ourselves while we wait for the bishop. At some point, the ball goes astray, and I jog over to go get it. I dont know why it happened. I wasnt doing anything wrong, we had been knocking doors like crazy that day and were just waiting for the bishop. All I know is that the Lord for some reason wanted this because there is no other way this would have happened without there being some greater reason behind it. I walk up onto the sidewalk to get the ball and my foot falls weird and slips off the sidewalk. Then I hear it. Im brought back to scout camp, jumping on rocks. I land on one weird and I hear it. Im at track, running as fast as I can and while Im placing my foot down when I hear it. The same sickening sound I hear everytime I dislocate my kneecap. I heard it and thought "oh no" right before the world goes black and I fall to the ground. This weak knee problem has been with me for a while, and for the most part, I could get up and walk after. But this was different. Of course.I couldnt put pressure on it for the life of me. I get it wrapped up and put ice on it at one of the member´s house nearby, but I can already feel it start to swell up. This was not good. On a saturday afternoon after the doctor has gone home and wouldnt be there on sunday of course. The only perk was we got a free ride back to the pension. We sat there for a while and my knee just kept getting stiffer and stiffer. Soon it became the size of a grapefruit. What I think happened is that when I fell, I put too much pressure on my dislocated knee, which poked a hole in my synovial membrane, which exploded like a balloon, causing miniscus, bursa, or something like that to leak everywhere. Not too scientific, but hey, what do you expect? So now im in the mission office having just talked to the doctor. I have an MRI and an X-ray scheduled for 5:30 today, so we´ll see the extent of the damage. I hope that I can still walk around with my cool krutches that they gave me. Mom, dont worry, I´ll be okay. haha, I know what she is probably saying right now: "He needs to just take it easy and he shouldn´t have blah blah blah". Ashlee, you too.
3) Changes. Every six weeks, we have a chance of getting changed inot a new sector and place. Elder Stephenson has been in Parque for 5 changes now (7 months) and has told the President that he wanted to change, and got leaked information that he was leaving by the Assistants. So as we waited around the cell phone for the assistants to call on Sunday, Elder Stephenson packed. He wistled and grinned, excited to be leaving the sector that he has been in for way too long (almost half of his mission). Finally, it came. Most of us were upstiars, and I was already headed down as quickly as I could (via hopping on one foot). Everyone else soon overtook me and I was the last one down, hobbling in as Elder Stephenson answered the phone. "Alo? Hola Elder Rodriguez, como esta?" We all look at one another like kids waiting to get presents from santa. "yeah buena, entonces, cual son los cambios?" "Yeah, yeah, okay." "Elder Westover se va!?" It was all down hill after that. I was leaving and Elder Stephenson was staying in El Parque. Again. I packed my things the best I could with one leg. Elder Stephenson was too distraught to help me, but I dont think he would have helped me anyway. He definately needs to work on his bedside manner. The next day, we left to go to the conference where we would find out where we were going. I was super nervous, hoping I would be stuck with some stiff or a lazy missionary either. One by one, all the people from my pension left to go to their new companions. Then, right as I was spacing out, I heard my name and instinctly stood up. My new companion was a brown haired kid with a nice smile and a hopefully nice disposition. I got filled in later that I was assigned to the La Raiz mission: the northern most sector in the mission. It is up in the city Los Condes, the richest place in Chile. My comp, Elder Stagg, has been a stud so far. He is one of the zone leaders, so I know that we´ll be doing some good stuff up in La Raiz. This does not mean I am also a zone leader, it just means I am companions with one.
Alright, so that is about it. I am out of time, but I want you all to know that I love you guys all and will let you know how my first week in the rich part is. Im guessing it will be better than sleeping on a mattress on the tile floor!
Con Amor,
Elder Westover
Alright family and friends, buckle your seatbelts and keep your hands and arms inside the ride at all times: There was a lot of things that happened this week.
There was a lot, but I think Im going to mention the 3 major things that happened, in chronological order, as it works out better that way. Alright, here we go!
1) Its 9:30 at night. Elder Stephenson and I are walking back to the pension after just getting rejected by a menos activo family that we really wanted to teach. We see two ladies walking up and I politely step out of the way so they can get through the side walk (The sidewalks in Chile are pretty small, and built for midgets because there are so many low hanging branches its ridiculous). They, however, just stand there. Not being one to miss a teaching opportunity smile and introduce myself. If someone in Chile stands in front of a few missionaries for longer than two seconds, they´re just asking to be baptized. As it turns out, the older woman was a member of the church, but went inactive almost immediatley. However, she somehow knew about priesthood blessings, and asked us if we could give one to her sick granddaughter, pointing to the other girl and a small infant in her arms. She was about 18 or 19, and the child was probably 1 or 2. Not that rare in Chile. As a matter of fact, I was pretty impressed. Elder Stephenson and I looked at each other for a moment to take in the randomness of the situation and then generous agreed and asked where they live so we could bless her. This is where it gets weird. They lived pretty far away and wanted us to do the blessing in the street right there. We politely explained the sacred nature of the blessing and offered to find a place nearby. We thought and realized the only place nearby was the less active family we had just passes by. So we go to ask the family that just rejected us if they would let us in to offer the blessing. Then it gets even weirder. The family accepted the invitation surprisingly, but when we started walking back to the family, the 19 year old mother was contently breastfeeding her child. Umm... yeah. Okay. We go to the family and thankfully by that time the kid had stopped breatfeeding. We pulled up a chair for the mother to sit down and she pops the kid back on again! Oh no! How am I going to do this? i thought. Elder Stephenson very very carefully placed a drop of oil on the baby´s head. Then it was my turn. I prayed to know what to say and do. I began the prayer, trying in Spanish, but it was pretty difficult a) not knowing the language very well b) with a name like Sadca Isidora Lindsey Sedevitch Idalgo, its hard to remember anything else, and c) I was a little worried about my hand placement as I was placing my hands on a breatfeeding child. I got the first part down, but midway through, the baby started to cry bloody murder. I couldnt do it. I quickly finished the rest in English. The sealing was equally difficult. The baby continued to cry as Elder Stephenson offered what he could of a beautiful blessing. I kept my eyes as tight as i could, knowing what I would see if I opened them (remember how the child was breastfeeding before she started crying) crying=no cover. We finsihed the prayer and I looked at everyone but the family. We got a cita with them for later in the week and discovered that our prayer worked: the baby was fine and healthy again. I was sweatin bullets on that one.
2) The day before changes. We are by the bishops house because we need to ask him a question. While we are waiting, we see a few of the kids from the ward were kicking the soccer ball around. We go join them for a bit and enjoy ourselves while we wait for the bishop. At some point, the ball goes astray, and I jog over to go get it. I dont know why it happened. I wasnt doing anything wrong, we had been knocking doors like crazy that day and were just waiting for the bishop. All I know is that the Lord for some reason wanted this because there is no other way this would have happened without there being some greater reason behind it. I walk up onto the sidewalk to get the ball and my foot falls weird and slips off the sidewalk. Then I hear it. Im brought back to scout camp, jumping on rocks. I land on one weird and I hear it. Im at track, running as fast as I can and while Im placing my foot down when I hear it. The same sickening sound I hear everytime I dislocate my kneecap. I heard it and thought "oh no" right before the world goes black and I fall to the ground. This weak knee problem has been with me for a while, and for the most part, I could get up and walk after. But this was different. Of course.I couldnt put pressure on it for the life of me. I get it wrapped up and put ice on it at one of the member´s house nearby, but I can already feel it start to swell up. This was not good. On a saturday afternoon after the doctor has gone home and wouldnt be there on sunday of course. The only perk was we got a free ride back to the pension. We sat there for a while and my knee just kept getting stiffer and stiffer. Soon it became the size of a grapefruit. What I think happened is that when I fell, I put too much pressure on my dislocated knee, which poked a hole in my synovial membrane, which exploded like a balloon, causing miniscus, bursa, or something like that to leak everywhere. Not too scientific, but hey, what do you expect? So now im in the mission office having just talked to the doctor. I have an MRI and an X-ray scheduled for 5:30 today, so we´ll see the extent of the damage. I hope that I can still walk around with my cool krutches that they gave me. Mom, dont worry, I´ll be okay. haha, I know what she is probably saying right now: "He needs to just take it easy and he shouldn´t have blah blah blah". Ashlee, you too.
3) Changes. Every six weeks, we have a chance of getting changed inot a new sector and place. Elder Stephenson has been in Parque for 5 changes now (7 months) and has told the President that he wanted to change, and got leaked information that he was leaving by the Assistants. So as we waited around the cell phone for the assistants to call on Sunday, Elder Stephenson packed. He wistled and grinned, excited to be leaving the sector that he has been in for way too long (almost half of his mission). Finally, it came. Most of us were upstiars, and I was already headed down as quickly as I could (via hopping on one foot). Everyone else soon overtook me and I was the last one down, hobbling in as Elder Stephenson answered the phone. "Alo? Hola Elder Rodriguez, como esta?" We all look at one another like kids waiting to get presents from santa. "yeah buena, entonces, cual son los cambios?" "Yeah, yeah, okay." "Elder Westover se va!?" It was all down hill after that. I was leaving and Elder Stephenson was staying in El Parque. Again. I packed my things the best I could with one leg. Elder Stephenson was too distraught to help me, but I dont think he would have helped me anyway. He definately needs to work on his bedside manner. The next day, we left to go to the conference where we would find out where we were going. I was super nervous, hoping I would be stuck with some stiff or a lazy missionary either. One by one, all the people from my pension left to go to their new companions. Then, right as I was spacing out, I heard my name and instinctly stood up. My new companion was a brown haired kid with a nice smile and a hopefully nice disposition. I got filled in later that I was assigned to the La Raiz mission: the northern most sector in the mission. It is up in the city Los Condes, the richest place in Chile. My comp, Elder Stagg, has been a stud so far. He is one of the zone leaders, so I know that we´ll be doing some good stuff up in La Raiz. This does not mean I am also a zone leader, it just means I am companions with one.
Alright, so that is about it. I am out of time, but I want you all to know that I love you guys all and will let you know how my first week in the rich part is. Im guessing it will be better than sleeping on a mattress on the tile floor!
Con Amor,
Elder Westover
Monday, November 9, 2009
Times
Nov 9, 2009
Dear Family,
I had a sudden realization not too long ago: I have been on my mission for almost 5 months now. I know it doenst really seem like a long time, but it means that I have been in the service of the Lord for almost half a year. I dont really know whether to think that time has flown by or crawled. It probably will depend on what day you ask me. As for this moment looking back, it feels that I have only just said goodbye to all my friends and family from the MTC. Im sure it will feel even stranger when I am in Elder Robinson´s position and getting ready to go home. By the way, Elder Robinson (Ty). DONT GET TRUNKIE!!! I have an elder that is living in my pension that is basically dead. He listens to whatever music he wants (I have heard pretty much everything by now), sleeps in till 12 in the afternoon, and then goes to the internet for hours, watching South Park and the Simpsons before coming back home and ordering pizza. I hope that I never die like that. I dont know what I would do, honestly. Anyway, other than that, things are going very well. We have been teaching a lot and it seems like the weather is warming up finally. Yeah, things in Chile are a bit different. haha, Its been working out well with my new haircut that my companion gave me this past week. Yeah, its really short now and I dont think Im going to change it for the duration of my mission. All I have to do to fix my hair in the morning is get out of bed. Its fantastic! Also, I am proud to announce that I have gotten my first dog bite. My companion told me that everyone gets a dog bite at least once on their mission. I was lucky enough to be present when my comp got his first one as well. But mine was a bit different from his. (He only got bitten by a little dog). We were walking down the street one night, and a curious Rotweiler came up to us, sniffing our pants, as dogs usually do here. We didnt mind it, and just keep on walking to our appointment. Then, all of the sudden, I felt a VERY strong pressure on my ankle. "Ow" I thought in my mind. I looked back to see the dog running away, barking like crazy. I looked down at my leg. The dumb mutt had ripped a hole in my pants! Not a very large one, but I really liked those pants... It wasnt until I got home that I noticed the blood. I now have three nice bite marks around my ankle that I will be able to show off as battle scars! Mom, dont worry, Im not foaming at the mouth or anything.
The last thing I wanted to mention was about the language. I have discovered a few things about Spanish so far: you cannot directly translate things directly! You will be driven totally nuts! The other thing is that there are ome words in Spanish that are so awesome! They aren´t in english, but they should be. At times I have to search for the word in English so I can say what I want to. I just know that when I give my homecoming talk, Im going to say expiacion, como, and de repente like a million times.
Alright, thats all for me for now! Thank you for everything that you guys have been doing. Mom, just send the ipod with the connector and a charger. That would honestly be the best Christmas present I could get. Other than that, I have been craving American food. I dont know how you can send that, but thats what I really want. haha, Im so picky!
Love you guys!
Elder Westover
Dear Family,
I had a sudden realization not too long ago: I have been on my mission for almost 5 months now. I know it doenst really seem like a long time, but it means that I have been in the service of the Lord for almost half a year. I dont really know whether to think that time has flown by or crawled. It probably will depend on what day you ask me. As for this moment looking back, it feels that I have only just said goodbye to all my friends and family from the MTC. Im sure it will feel even stranger when I am in Elder Robinson´s position and getting ready to go home. By the way, Elder Robinson (Ty). DONT GET TRUNKIE!!! I have an elder that is living in my pension that is basically dead. He listens to whatever music he wants (I have heard pretty much everything by now), sleeps in till 12 in the afternoon, and then goes to the internet for hours, watching South Park and the Simpsons before coming back home and ordering pizza. I hope that I never die like that. I dont know what I would do, honestly. Anyway, other than that, things are going very well. We have been teaching a lot and it seems like the weather is warming up finally. Yeah, things in Chile are a bit different. haha, Its been working out well with my new haircut that my companion gave me this past week. Yeah, its really short now and I dont think Im going to change it for the duration of my mission. All I have to do to fix my hair in the morning is get out of bed. Its fantastic! Also, I am proud to announce that I have gotten my first dog bite. My companion told me that everyone gets a dog bite at least once on their mission. I was lucky enough to be present when my comp got his first one as well. But mine was a bit different from his. (He only got bitten by a little dog). We were walking down the street one night, and a curious Rotweiler came up to us, sniffing our pants, as dogs usually do here. We didnt mind it, and just keep on walking to our appointment. Then, all of the sudden, I felt a VERY strong pressure on my ankle. "Ow" I thought in my mind. I looked back to see the dog running away, barking like crazy. I looked down at my leg. The dumb mutt had ripped a hole in my pants! Not a very large one, but I really liked those pants... It wasnt until I got home that I noticed the blood. I now have three nice bite marks around my ankle that I will be able to show off as battle scars! Mom, dont worry, Im not foaming at the mouth or anything.
The last thing I wanted to mention was about the language. I have discovered a few things about Spanish so far: you cannot directly translate things directly! You will be driven totally nuts! The other thing is that there are ome words in Spanish that are so awesome! They aren´t in english, but they should be. At times I have to search for the word in English so I can say what I want to. I just know that when I give my homecoming talk, Im going to say expiacion, como, and de repente like a million times.
Alright, thats all for me for now! Thank you for everything that you guys have been doing. Mom, just send the ipod with the connector and a charger. That would honestly be the best Christmas present I could get. Other than that, I have been craving American food. I dont know how you can send that, but thats what I really want. haha, Im so picky!
Love you guys!
Elder Westover
Monday, November 2, 2009
A Walk to Church -- Chile Style
Nov 2, 2009
Well another week in Chile, another strange experience that any normal north american would cock their head and wonder, but eventaully, you just get used to it after a while. First off though, mom and dad, I still havent gotten the ipod yet. Just wondering when you sent it so i know when to start getting nervous that some chilean mailman confiscated it. I just want to have it by the time Christmas rolls around. I dont think I could survive a Christmas without Amy Grant and Nat King Kole. By the way, Halloween here is nothing like it is in the states. Its lame, and there isnt even a day of the dead. I was kind of disappointed. But I guess I wasnt going to go trick or treating anyway, so it´s not that big of a loss.
So my story this week is pretty normal. My companion and I were walking to church yesterday, but the chapel is 45 minutes away and to get to it, we need to cross a huge alfalfa field; not ideal when you are running late and need to pick up investiagtors. So we were crossing this field, when we heard a guy behind us yelling at us. "Crap, its the farmer with a shotgun," I thought to myself. But when I turned around, I saw a man in a giant sombrero on a horse riding up to us. "Okay, he is going to run us over with his horse then. great." As he got closer to us, I could tell he was NOT the farmer. He tilted and swayed on the horse as if he was on a bucking bronco. His eyes were half closed and he had an awkward smile pasted on his face. I now knoe all to well what that means: Someone has been sippin a little too much of grandpa´s cough medicine. The drunker tottled up to us on the horse and started trying to slur together words to form a sentence. After a little effort, we learned that he needs to call his wife so she can pick him up from a Halloween party that he was at last night. Where the horse came in, we didnt ask, but we figured just as well that we didnt know. We explained how we could try to help him find a taxi or something, but he insisted on using our cellphone. Unforatlely, it didnt work at the moment, so we had to leave the poor guy stranded in that field with his horse, which seemed as if it had been sneaking a few sips of liquor as well. I think I have leanred that things dont always happen in a normal order. You cant just walk to church and expect the only thing you leanred is the distance between your house and the chapel. We have experiences on the way that teach us and occasionally bewildre us, but it is those experiences that make up our life, so we might as well enjoy them. Also, yesterday, I was thrilled by the testimony of our convert, Luis, who is only 13 years old, but he mentioned that when he gets older, he wants to be just like us and go on a mission. I was touched by the faith of this boy, who knew only just enough to be baptized, have such fire and dedication to something. I might have said this before, but it is becoming more and more cemeted into my mind how much the Lord loves us and how I am beginning to experience a small taste of what it must be like to feel the love that he has. This experience, even if it is just a side step from the race of life for a while, will be one that I will treasure forever. I really cant imagine what I would do without it. Thanks to everyone for your letters! I love them so much. Mom and Dad, You will have to thank andy and amy for me. I got their letters and had to laugh at the rough crayon illustrations from the kids. I loved them!
Siempre, con Amor,
Elder Westover
Well another week in Chile, another strange experience that any normal north american would cock their head and wonder, but eventaully, you just get used to it after a while. First off though, mom and dad, I still havent gotten the ipod yet. Just wondering when you sent it so i know when to start getting nervous that some chilean mailman confiscated it. I just want to have it by the time Christmas rolls around. I dont think I could survive a Christmas without Amy Grant and Nat King Kole. By the way, Halloween here is nothing like it is in the states. Its lame, and there isnt even a day of the dead. I was kind of disappointed. But I guess I wasnt going to go trick or treating anyway, so it´s not that big of a loss.
So my story this week is pretty normal. My companion and I were walking to church yesterday, but the chapel is 45 minutes away and to get to it, we need to cross a huge alfalfa field; not ideal when you are running late and need to pick up investiagtors. So we were crossing this field, when we heard a guy behind us yelling at us. "Crap, its the farmer with a shotgun," I thought to myself. But when I turned around, I saw a man in a giant sombrero on a horse riding up to us. "Okay, he is going to run us over with his horse then. great." As he got closer to us, I could tell he was NOT the farmer. He tilted and swayed on the horse as if he was on a bucking bronco. His eyes were half closed and he had an awkward smile pasted on his face. I now knoe all to well what that means: Someone has been sippin a little too much of grandpa´s cough medicine. The drunker tottled up to us on the horse and started trying to slur together words to form a sentence. After a little effort, we learned that he needs to call his wife so she can pick him up from a Halloween party that he was at last night. Where the horse came in, we didnt ask, but we figured just as well that we didnt know. We explained how we could try to help him find a taxi or something, but he insisted on using our cellphone. Unforatlely, it didnt work at the moment, so we had to leave the poor guy stranded in that field with his horse, which seemed as if it had been sneaking a few sips of liquor as well. I think I have leanred that things dont always happen in a normal order. You cant just walk to church and expect the only thing you leanred is the distance between your house and the chapel. We have experiences on the way that teach us and occasionally bewildre us, but it is those experiences that make up our life, so we might as well enjoy them. Also, yesterday, I was thrilled by the testimony of our convert, Luis, who is only 13 years old, but he mentioned that when he gets older, he wants to be just like us and go on a mission. I was touched by the faith of this boy, who knew only just enough to be baptized, have such fire and dedication to something. I might have said this before, but it is becoming more and more cemeted into my mind how much the Lord loves us and how I am beginning to experience a small taste of what it must be like to feel the love that he has. This experience, even if it is just a side step from the race of life for a while, will be one that I will treasure forever. I really cant imagine what I would do without it. Thanks to everyone for your letters! I love them so much. Mom and Dad, You will have to thank andy and amy for me. I got their letters and had to laugh at the rough crayon illustrations from the kids. I loved them!
Siempre, con Amor,
Elder Westover
Monday, October 26, 2009
Concerning Rain and Paraguas
October 26, 2009
Alright folks, things in Chile are wet and cold right now. We thought that the weather was supposed to warm up, but apparently, it decided to take a different turn. Im sure you can find some sort of hidden meaning or pearl of great price in that, but its too wet and cold right now for me to try and look for it right now.
First, I would like to make a shout out to Alyssa, who just turned 17 two days ago! Alyssa, I'm writing you a letter that will hopefully reach you sometime soon, but we aren't allowed to write any day but on Pday, so yeah. That stinks. Anyway, I hope everything went well for you and you had a good birthday. I wish I could have been there!
Second, I want to thank Elder Ponce, who helped get my friend across the mountains through his first change. I hope he picked up a little bit of a chilean accent!
Okay, now my spiritual/exciting experience of the week:
A couple days ago, the weather outside looked pretty cloudy. One of the memebers in the ward told us yesterday that it was supposed to rain a little bit, but being the big men that we were, decided that we would be able to handle a little bit of rain. We left the pension with only our jackets, thinking nothing of our paraguas (umbrellas). Things went alright for a while and we were able to teach a few lessons before lunch. As we ate an awesome egg drop soup, the clouds churned and darkened. Just as a side note, I have now become a conosiuer of soups now. Chileans have decided to take it upon themselves to be the soup capital of the world. I have eaten all kinds of soup. Egg. chicken. beans. cilantro. muscles (seafood). You name it, Ive probably tried it. My comp even told me that he had a chicken heart one time in his soup. But that is besides the point. The sky turned into a muddy clay when we walked out the Sister´s house with warm soup rolling around in our stomachs. It wasn't long before I started to feel it. Little wet drops began to slap the top of my head and face. Once I had made sure that it wasn't my companion´s spit, I looked up and thought; "Uh oh. I should have brought my umbrella". Within the next 30 seconds, the light drops of rain turned into a torrent of water coming down from the heavens. We walked through the streets of chile, soaked from head to toe as the storm continued to worsen. It felt like God was stockpiling buckets of water for a couple of days and was just waiting for a couple of missionaries who were´nt obedient enough to bring their umbrellas. The streets filled up quickly, as the sewer system here is not exactly what it is in the states. Soon, we were trudging in inch and a half deep water, our shoes, socks, and anything else we had on covered with water. We tried to get into a few houses, but when they answered their door and saw two soaking boys, they looked like they were thinking "they are going to get my tile so wet!" instead of "Wow, they look like they don't want to be outside in the rain!". Finally, we went to a member´s house to wait out the storm. I learned a very valuable lesson that day. Its one that I will never forget and something that I will take with me throughout all my mission. That is that wet suits smell really bad. They really do, and you cant really get rid of it. I think im doomed to wear a smelly suit for the rest of my mission. haha! im just kidding. I was able to learn how little acts of obedience can really change whether you stay dry or wet. Every day we make little decisions. Little actions that at the time seem very insignificant. But in the end that's who we are. We are the result of all the little decisions that we make in life. Its these little choice that seem very insignificant that lead to the most significant consequences. I am going to try to become the kind of person who is concsious of these decisions and try to be a better person, one action at a time. But my suit really does smell.
Love you all!
Elder Westover
P.S- mom and dad, don't worry, my suit is okay, you don't have to try and buy me another one. I just hope you aren't banking on me using it with any regularity when I get back home.
P.S.S- Grandma and Grandpa, I love hearing all these experiences that you have had. It really helps me to have a better perspective on this work and hopefully I will be able to carry on the tradition of handing out lots of book of Mormons!
Alright folks, things in Chile are wet and cold right now. We thought that the weather was supposed to warm up, but apparently, it decided to take a different turn. Im sure you can find some sort of hidden meaning or pearl of great price in that, but its too wet and cold right now for me to try and look for it right now.
First, I would like to make a shout out to Alyssa, who just turned 17 two days ago! Alyssa, I'm writing you a letter that will hopefully reach you sometime soon, but we aren't allowed to write any day but on Pday, so yeah. That stinks. Anyway, I hope everything went well for you and you had a good birthday. I wish I could have been there!
Second, I want to thank Elder Ponce, who helped get my friend across the mountains through his first change. I hope he picked up a little bit of a chilean accent!
Okay, now my spiritual/exciting experience of the week:
A couple days ago, the weather outside looked pretty cloudy. One of the memebers in the ward told us yesterday that it was supposed to rain a little bit, but being the big men that we were, decided that we would be able to handle a little bit of rain. We left the pension with only our jackets, thinking nothing of our paraguas (umbrellas). Things went alright for a while and we were able to teach a few lessons before lunch. As we ate an awesome egg drop soup, the clouds churned and darkened. Just as a side note, I have now become a conosiuer of soups now. Chileans have decided to take it upon themselves to be the soup capital of the world. I have eaten all kinds of soup. Egg. chicken. beans. cilantro. muscles (seafood). You name it, Ive probably tried it. My comp even told me that he had a chicken heart one time in his soup. But that is besides the point. The sky turned into a muddy clay when we walked out the Sister´s house with warm soup rolling around in our stomachs. It wasn't long before I started to feel it. Little wet drops began to slap the top of my head and face. Once I had made sure that it wasn't my companion´s spit, I looked up and thought; "Uh oh. I should have brought my umbrella". Within the next 30 seconds, the light drops of rain turned into a torrent of water coming down from the heavens. We walked through the streets of chile, soaked from head to toe as the storm continued to worsen. It felt like God was stockpiling buckets of water for a couple of days and was just waiting for a couple of missionaries who were´nt obedient enough to bring their umbrellas. The streets filled up quickly, as the sewer system here is not exactly what it is in the states. Soon, we were trudging in inch and a half deep water, our shoes, socks, and anything else we had on covered with water. We tried to get into a few houses, but when they answered their door and saw two soaking boys, they looked like they were thinking "they are going to get my tile so wet!" instead of "Wow, they look like they don't want to be outside in the rain!". Finally, we went to a member´s house to wait out the storm. I learned a very valuable lesson that day. Its one that I will never forget and something that I will take with me throughout all my mission. That is that wet suits smell really bad. They really do, and you cant really get rid of it. I think im doomed to wear a smelly suit for the rest of my mission. haha! im just kidding. I was able to learn how little acts of obedience can really change whether you stay dry or wet. Every day we make little decisions. Little actions that at the time seem very insignificant. But in the end that's who we are. We are the result of all the little decisions that we make in life. Its these little choice that seem very insignificant that lead to the most significant consequences. I am going to try to become the kind of person who is concsious of these decisions and try to be a better person, one action at a time. But my suit really does smell.
Love you all!
Elder Westover
P.S- mom and dad, don't worry, my suit is okay, you don't have to try and buy me another one. I just hope you aren't banking on me using it with any regularity when I get back home.
P.S.S- Grandma and Grandpa, I love hearing all these experiences that you have had. It really helps me to have a better perspective on this work and hopefully I will be able to carry on the tradition of handing out lots of book of Mormons!
Monday, October 19, 2009
About Lazy Chileans and Coke
October 19, 2009
So this email is going to have to be a little short, but to answer questions for right now: I´ll put things on Walgreens, Mom, sure, send me Alyssa´s Ipod if its okay with her. I dont know if there is anything else.
I also wanted to thank everybody for your letters. Grandma and Grandpa, I always enjoy hearing from you and hearing all these stories about Grandpa´s mission that he somehow has dismissed telling me until now. I love hearing them. Mom, thank you for your letters of concern and love. It really makes a big impact in my day. Dad, thanks as always for giving me advice and counsel, and enjoy taking all those pictures that you love taking. Sometimes I wish you were here to take cool pictures with your camera while I was going around and doing work, but I think we wouldnt get very far in a day. Tracy, I love hearing how your doing as always and Troy´s preparation for a mission. Cross your fingers that he doesnt go to Mexico (which he probably will). Aunt Polly, I really like hearing how your doing and you as well as Tracy might want to tune in to this email, as it kind of pertains to both of you. Mom and Dad, tell brother and sister Foote thank you for their letters and that I will try to write a response as soon as I can.
So I guess the really only big thing I found out this week is the wedding list is starting. One of my friends just informed me that after three weeks of dating, she is getting married. No its not ashlee. Jane Smith. Mom and Dad, you know who that is. Yeah, I laughed really hard when I found out. I guess I should get used to it, as most of the girls I know are going to be married by the time I get back.
But really there is only two things that I began to notice. This is where Tracy and Aunt Polly pay attention.
The first is something that I will have to apologize to my parents for, because this is just feeding the fire of ignorance and recism, but I cant lie: Chileans are so LAZY!!!!!! hahaha, sorry. But it really is true. They will find any excuse not to do something. Shops here open up whenever the owner gets up, which can be like 10 or 11. Everyone does things at their own pace and if they dont want to do it, they wont do it, such as reading 2 pages in the book of mormon. It is ridiculous how busy they say they are, but it is only because they are putting off doing anything until never, pretty much. I know Mom and Dad, I recognize the irony here, but I have determined to not be like these people. I know everyone says that the thing they love the most about their mission is the people, but right now, I am having a hard time with that. Not that I dont love SOME of the people, but as a whole, they frusterate me to no end sometimes. If soemthing starts at 5, to me it means to be there at 5. But to a chilean, that means remember what they have to do and start getting ready to leave at 5. I do paint with a pretty broad brush here, as there are some people that are extremly punctual and not lazy at all, but if 99 people are lazy, and 1 of them are not, you cannot really say that they are all lazy, but you can say that as a rule of thumb, you can be 99 percent sure that a random person in that group is lazy. Alright Tracy, there is your firewood. Just remember, I said nothing about Latins in General or mexicans. Just chileans.
Now before you proclaim me as the best nephew ever, I have to make another confession. I am becoming addicted to Coco Cola. We have it almost every day here and we always have about 5 liters worth stocked in our fridge. Man, I dont know why it is, but everyone here drinks coke by the bucketfull. I want to do a study, because Im pretty sure they induce more coke into their bloodstream than water at this point. I havent had good water in a while now and I kind of miss it. But Aunt Polly, Im right there with you. Coke all the way!
Alright, thats pretty much everything. There isnt a whole lot going on. Our sector is moving slowly and not a lot is happening right now. Its kind of a bummer, but hopefully things will pick up.
Alright, love you all! Thanks for all your support!
Love,
Elder Westover
So this email is going to have to be a little short, but to answer questions for right now: I´ll put things on Walgreens, Mom, sure, send me Alyssa´s Ipod if its okay with her. I dont know if there is anything else.
I also wanted to thank everybody for your letters. Grandma and Grandpa, I always enjoy hearing from you and hearing all these stories about Grandpa´s mission that he somehow has dismissed telling me until now. I love hearing them. Mom, thank you for your letters of concern and love. It really makes a big impact in my day. Dad, thanks as always for giving me advice and counsel, and enjoy taking all those pictures that you love taking. Sometimes I wish you were here to take cool pictures with your camera while I was going around and doing work, but I think we wouldnt get very far in a day. Tracy, I love hearing how your doing as always and Troy´s preparation for a mission. Cross your fingers that he doesnt go to Mexico (which he probably will). Aunt Polly, I really like hearing how your doing and you as well as Tracy might want to tune in to this email, as it kind of pertains to both of you. Mom and Dad, tell brother and sister Foote thank you for their letters and that I will try to write a response as soon as I can.
So I guess the really only big thing I found out this week is the wedding list is starting. One of my friends just informed me that after three weeks of dating, she is getting married. No its not ashlee. Jane Smith. Mom and Dad, you know who that is. Yeah, I laughed really hard when I found out. I guess I should get used to it, as most of the girls I know are going to be married by the time I get back.
But really there is only two things that I began to notice. This is where Tracy and Aunt Polly pay attention.
The first is something that I will have to apologize to my parents for, because this is just feeding the fire of ignorance and recism, but I cant lie: Chileans are so LAZY!!!!!! hahaha, sorry. But it really is true. They will find any excuse not to do something. Shops here open up whenever the owner gets up, which can be like 10 or 11. Everyone does things at their own pace and if they dont want to do it, they wont do it, such as reading 2 pages in the book of mormon. It is ridiculous how busy they say they are, but it is only because they are putting off doing anything until never, pretty much. I know Mom and Dad, I recognize the irony here, but I have determined to not be like these people. I know everyone says that the thing they love the most about their mission is the people, but right now, I am having a hard time with that. Not that I dont love SOME of the people, but as a whole, they frusterate me to no end sometimes. If soemthing starts at 5, to me it means to be there at 5. But to a chilean, that means remember what they have to do and start getting ready to leave at 5. I do paint with a pretty broad brush here, as there are some people that are extremly punctual and not lazy at all, but if 99 people are lazy, and 1 of them are not, you cannot really say that they are all lazy, but you can say that as a rule of thumb, you can be 99 percent sure that a random person in that group is lazy. Alright Tracy, there is your firewood. Just remember, I said nothing about Latins in General or mexicans. Just chileans.
Now before you proclaim me as the best nephew ever, I have to make another confession. I am becoming addicted to Coco Cola. We have it almost every day here and we always have about 5 liters worth stocked in our fridge. Man, I dont know why it is, but everyone here drinks coke by the bucketfull. I want to do a study, because Im pretty sure they induce more coke into their bloodstream than water at this point. I havent had good water in a while now and I kind of miss it. But Aunt Polly, Im right there with you. Coke all the way!
Alright, thats pretty much everything. There isnt a whole lot going on. Our sector is moving slowly and not a lot is happening right now. Its kind of a bummer, but hopefully things will pick up.
Alright, love you all! Thanks for all your support!
Love,
Elder Westover
Monday, October 12, 2009
A Day in The Life of Elder Paul
October 12, 2009
So Last week I had some requests to detail a full day in my life as a missionary, so I will graciously respond as best as I can, adding my own little expereinces that I have had this week.
So my day...
I wake up at 7:30. Yes, 7:30. Everything here is an hour later. Which is awesome for me and something I feel was divinely inspired for not morning people. So I get up out of bed and start the half hour of workout that we are supposed to do. My companion usually takes this opportunity to sleep longer or eat breakfast. I usually roll out of bed and lazily do my 200 situps and 100 pushups. I am NOT going to get fat on my mission. So far i think I have lost 5 pounds of MTC fat, and I am pretty good shapr from walking and constistancy in doing the early morning workout.
Afterwards, I usually sit and think about what I have dreamed about for a few minutes. Usually they are very strange and involve someone talking to me in Spanish that I dont understand. Last night I was a spider. Weird, but not really too random becasue since I have been in my new pension with 4 other missionaries, my companion and I have been sleeping on cheap mattresses on the ground which harbors more than half the population of earwigs. I find at least 10 every night and constantly have to check my covers for stowaways. But why I dream of spiders is because the only danger here in Chile is the brown Recluse spider, and giant leggy spider that is more deadly than a black widow. I wouldnt be as afraid if my comp didnt kill one the other night that crawled out from under my mattress. Hopefully I will be okay... hopefully.
So at 8, we have breakfast which consists of a bowl of Zucosos, or cheap Frosted Flakes. I really have gotten used to em by now, so its all good. We usually get to talk with everyone else and mess around, such as the case with 2 days ago, when one of the guys in our pension started throwing matches, in which you hold a match to the lighting strip and then flick the match. The match lights and flies somewhere around the room. Some vestigal part of my pyrotechnic scouting days resurfaced and Elder Stephenson, Elder Whiting, and I spent the morning throwing 2 boxes of matches at each other. Eventually I went in the kitchen to make myself a tortilla with butter, my favorite concocion of the mission. Five minutes later, I heard yelling from upstairs; "Im on fire!!" Apparantly Elder Stephenson had thrown a match onto an unsuspecting Elder Georgianna, another elder in our pension, who at that moment was sleeping. Elder Stephenson checked to make sure that it was out, but I guess he didnt check well enough. The fire ignited the sleeping elder´s blankets and when he woke up to the smell of smoke and a strange smell, he felt something warm on his butt. When He touched it, he realized that indeed, he was on fire. It all spiraled out of control and he ended up with only a couple burnt fingers and some holes in his mattress.
At 9, we start companion study and at 10 we have companion study. Then at 11 we have language study until 12, at which hour we pray for success and leave for the day. Then Elder Stephenson and I begin the long trek to our sector, which is a half hour away from our pension. We have to cut through a big field just to get to our area, which is usually covered with mud, and has substantially worn my shoes down. (see pictures) We then begin our work until 1:30, when we have lunch with the members. We have lunch, the biggest meal of the day, with the members usually, and eat pretty normal food. They like empanadas, eggs, and rice and chicken. We sometimes get insteresting meals, like yesterday, when we got mashed potatoes and steak. Excited for gringo food, I dug in. It was on the first bite that I realized that this wasnt steak. It wasnt very chewy, and had an almost fishy taste. Needless to say, I did not like it. But in Chile, I have learned to down whatever is given to me. When we would ask what it was, the couple would just laugh, and keep eating. Finally, after it was all through and we were eating an awesome dessert which is uaually just fruit, They informed us that in Chile they really like to eat heart... of cows... So yeah, I´ve eaten cow heart now. One of those mission foods that you have to have once, I guess. I just hope its not more.
After lunch we run from house house, trying to get people to let us in. Mostly we run by references, but we do about 2 hours of tracting as well, which is pretty funny becasue people here lie so much and so horribly that its almost funny. We have resorted to singing songs on doorstops just so that we can get in. Fortunatly, most of Chile is tone deaf, so they dont mind our broken voices.
Occasionally we get some people who stop us in the streets, most of which are wither the Jehovas Witness or the wine bibbers. The J dubs are our arch enemies and they hate us. Its kind of funny. The drunks are our best friends and it is also kind of funny. They do the funniest things and always seem very sincere. They always shake our hands about 5 or 6 times and love to kiss us on the heads. I dont know why... But they do. The other day i convinced one of the barachos that I could read minds, so he held his palm out for me to read. I told him that he was good with women and he needed to hear a message a bout Jesus Christ. It might not have been the most orthodox method, but whatever works. We occasionally get other weird people come talk to us, and occasionally it turns out really cool, like the lady who stopped us and asked us to give her grandmother a blessing. My companion asked me if I would like to give it, and I stared at him as if he had just gone insane. But I did it anyways, of course. The woman was catholic, but I felt so much love that Heavenly Father had for her when I placed my hands on her head. I dont remember much of the prayer, but after, my companion jut looked at me with his head cocked. "I´ve never heard so speak Spanish so well. That was a better accent than I have." Im just glad that I have help :)
We usually get to teach 3 or 4 people, on a normal day, and we get to drink a LOT of Coco Cola. I think I have downed more Coke here than in my entire life... Sorry Tracy, Im hooked now. We always have 4 gallons of it stocked in our fridge.
At 9:30, we begin to make the trek back through the field, this time in pitch black. There are always obstacles to overcome. Some days its a marshy part of the field, other days its the dogs that we have to throw rocks at. Its always different, and always exciting.
We hopefully get back by 10 and plan until 10:30. Then I shower, get ready, and we go to bed by 11:30.
So thats my day. Its awesome and I love it. I am loving this work and I will hopefully be abl to live up to the name that is going around now. Thank you for all of your love and support. I can feel your prayers with me every day.
I love you guys!
Elder Westover
So Last week I had some requests to detail a full day in my life as a missionary, so I will graciously respond as best as I can, adding my own little expereinces that I have had this week.
So my day...
I wake up at 7:30. Yes, 7:30. Everything here is an hour later. Which is awesome for me and something I feel was divinely inspired for not morning people. So I get up out of bed and start the half hour of workout that we are supposed to do. My companion usually takes this opportunity to sleep longer or eat breakfast. I usually roll out of bed and lazily do my 200 situps and 100 pushups. I am NOT going to get fat on my mission. So far i think I have lost 5 pounds of MTC fat, and I am pretty good shapr from walking and constistancy in doing the early morning workout.
Afterwards, I usually sit and think about what I have dreamed about for a few minutes. Usually they are very strange and involve someone talking to me in Spanish that I dont understand. Last night I was a spider. Weird, but not really too random becasue since I have been in my new pension with 4 other missionaries, my companion and I have been sleeping on cheap mattresses on the ground which harbors more than half the population of earwigs. I find at least 10 every night and constantly have to check my covers for stowaways. But why I dream of spiders is because the only danger here in Chile is the brown Recluse spider, and giant leggy spider that is more deadly than a black widow. I wouldnt be as afraid if my comp didnt kill one the other night that crawled out from under my mattress. Hopefully I will be okay... hopefully.
So at 8, we have breakfast which consists of a bowl of Zucosos, or cheap Frosted Flakes. I really have gotten used to em by now, so its all good. We usually get to talk with everyone else and mess around, such as the case with 2 days ago, when one of the guys in our pension started throwing matches, in which you hold a match to the lighting strip and then flick the match. The match lights and flies somewhere around the room. Some vestigal part of my pyrotechnic scouting days resurfaced and Elder Stephenson, Elder Whiting, and I spent the morning throwing 2 boxes of matches at each other. Eventually I went in the kitchen to make myself a tortilla with butter, my favorite concocion of the mission. Five minutes later, I heard yelling from upstairs; "Im on fire!!" Apparantly Elder Stephenson had thrown a match onto an unsuspecting Elder Georgianna, another elder in our pension, who at that moment was sleeping. Elder Stephenson checked to make sure that it was out, but I guess he didnt check well enough. The fire ignited the sleeping elder´s blankets and when he woke up to the smell of smoke and a strange smell, he felt something warm on his butt. When He touched it, he realized that indeed, he was on fire. It all spiraled out of control and he ended up with only a couple burnt fingers and some holes in his mattress.
At 9, we start companion study and at 10 we have companion study. Then at 11 we have language study until 12, at which hour we pray for success and leave for the day. Then Elder Stephenson and I begin the long trek to our sector, which is a half hour away from our pension. We have to cut through a big field just to get to our area, which is usually covered with mud, and has substantially worn my shoes down. (see pictures) We then begin our work until 1:30, when we have lunch with the members. We have lunch, the biggest meal of the day, with the members usually, and eat pretty normal food. They like empanadas, eggs, and rice and chicken. We sometimes get insteresting meals, like yesterday, when we got mashed potatoes and steak. Excited for gringo food, I dug in. It was on the first bite that I realized that this wasnt steak. It wasnt very chewy, and had an almost fishy taste. Needless to say, I did not like it. But in Chile, I have learned to down whatever is given to me. When we would ask what it was, the couple would just laugh, and keep eating. Finally, after it was all through and we were eating an awesome dessert which is uaually just fruit, They informed us that in Chile they really like to eat heart... of cows... So yeah, I´ve eaten cow heart now. One of those mission foods that you have to have once, I guess. I just hope its not more.
After lunch we run from house house, trying to get people to let us in. Mostly we run by references, but we do about 2 hours of tracting as well, which is pretty funny becasue people here lie so much and so horribly that its almost funny. We have resorted to singing songs on doorstops just so that we can get in. Fortunatly, most of Chile is tone deaf, so they dont mind our broken voices.
Occasionally we get some people who stop us in the streets, most of which are wither the Jehovas Witness or the wine bibbers. The J dubs are our arch enemies and they hate us. Its kind of funny. The drunks are our best friends and it is also kind of funny. They do the funniest things and always seem very sincere. They always shake our hands about 5 or 6 times and love to kiss us on the heads. I dont know why... But they do. The other day i convinced one of the barachos that I could read minds, so he held his palm out for me to read. I told him that he was good with women and he needed to hear a message a bout Jesus Christ. It might not have been the most orthodox method, but whatever works. We occasionally get other weird people come talk to us, and occasionally it turns out really cool, like the lady who stopped us and asked us to give her grandmother a blessing. My companion asked me if I would like to give it, and I stared at him as if he had just gone insane. But I did it anyways, of course. The woman was catholic, but I felt so much love that Heavenly Father had for her when I placed my hands on her head. I dont remember much of the prayer, but after, my companion jut looked at me with his head cocked. "I´ve never heard so speak Spanish so well. That was a better accent than I have." Im just glad that I have help :)
We usually get to teach 3 or 4 people, on a normal day, and we get to drink a LOT of Coco Cola. I think I have downed more Coke here than in my entire life... Sorry Tracy, Im hooked now. We always have 4 gallons of it stocked in our fridge.
At 9:30, we begin to make the trek back through the field, this time in pitch black. There are always obstacles to overcome. Some days its a marshy part of the field, other days its the dogs that we have to throw rocks at. Its always different, and always exciting.
We hopefully get back by 10 and plan until 10:30. Then I shower, get ready, and we go to bed by 11:30.
So thats my day. Its awesome and I love it. I am loving this work and I will hopefully be abl to live up to the name that is going around now. Thank you for all of your love and support. I can feel your prayers with me every day.
I love you guys!
Elder Westover
Monday, October 5, 2009
Conference Week Letter
October 5, 2009
I got my camera cable!!! and I have updated my gmail account, so hopefully, it should be working up to speed now.
Today was the first day of the new change. Every six weeks, we have what is called a change, where we have a chance of being switched around a little bit and recieve new companions sometimes. However, things are going to stay relatively the same for me. Elder Stephenson is still going to be my companion and Im still going to be laboring in the El Parque sector. I am so glad to again be working with some of the most amazing members in all of Chile. They are so nice and loving, I am never worried when we bring investigators to the church because I know that they will welcome them with open arms.
However, I am going to be moving pensions from the "rat hole", to somewhere else, of which I am still not sure where that is yet, but I am anxiously waiting with anticipation.
As far as everything else goes, I had the opportunity to go to the stake center to listen to general conference. I was so excited! I cant believe I would roll out of bed and complain that I had to sit and listen to conference for a few minutes. haha, Wow, I sure have changed since then. I abosorbed everything like a sponge and enjoyed every minute I took like 9 pages of copious notes. It was pretty cool to look back and see all the pages. I flip through them with pride now.
As a side note to all the naysayers and doubting thomases out there (mom and dad), you will be elated to know that I have not become one of the most anal retentive missionaries in my zone. I take notes on everything and color code them accordingly so I can refer to them quickly whenever I need to. Also, I created a budget plan for the expenses I get each month. Elder Stephenson informed me I was probably the only missionary in Chile Santiago East that kept a recorded budget for longer than a week. Its very weird, what the mission is doing to me. I am slowly becoming more and more what I hope the Lord wants me to be.
Of one thing I am sure, that the Lord has great things in store for me, but it is up to me whether or not I want to rise to the challenge. I have decided that in life, we all start two lives. One is who we are and the other is who we have the potential to be. As we go along the couse of life, we falter and make mistakes. If we choose to get back on the path, we can become better than we were the day before. I just hope I dont ever look down the road and see who I could be 5 miles ahead. Who I am can be who I can be, but it is my choice, and mine alone.
Dad, it might just be Elder Ballard´s talk in the Priesthood session that made me think of you and want to write this, but I wanted to say how grateful I am to be your son. I have always looked up to you and tried to emulate the decisons you hvae made. I see the way you treat mom, and hope that I can someday be as kind and loving with my wife as you are with mom. Seeing the circumstances here have really opened my eyes. The lady that I told you about a while ago with the sign about loving all she had; well we stopped by again and noticed that her drunk husband was sprawled out in the other room asleep, while she was dealing with her 4 and 2 year old boys, both of whom were running around without pants or underwear. I almost cried looking into her eyes and seeing her pain. Both her sister and mother commited suicide when she was very young and her father wants nothing to do with her. She is left very alone with no one besides the Savior to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything is going to be alright. Dad, I just wanted you to know that not only are you the best example of the person I want to become, or one of the best friends I have ever had, but that you are my hero.
Im sorry I dont really have much else to write about. Hopefully the pictures will work. If so, I will upload all of them onto my Walgreens account and post some of the pictures of my old pension to this email. Also, I do have a small request. The President told us that we can listen to any music that invites the spirit, and the CD´s that I have listened to countless time now are becoming scratched and skip a lot. So if you could just send me my ipod and the cable for the computer, I would greatly appreciate it. No, dont delete all the music and put a few church hymns on there. You can add more church music if you like, but I am fully capable of deleting all my spiritually detracting songs. I hope you have enough trust in me, haha! But yeah, if someone has already claimed it as their own, thats okay, but it would be awesome to be able to put some more church music that Elder Stephenson is constantly finding on my ipod. Just the ipod and computer cable with it. nothing else. Speakers here cost like 3 mil (6 dollars), so dont worry.
If you have any questions, let me know. I still dont know how fast mail travels here. I heard its about 2 to 3 weeks. Just make sure to cover the package with Virgin Mary stockers so the Chilean mail doesnt open it and I find it in the marketplace a few days after and am forced to buy it back.
Con Amor,
Elder Westover
I got my camera cable!!! and I have updated my gmail account, so hopefully, it should be working up to speed now.
Today was the first day of the new change. Every six weeks, we have what is called a change, where we have a chance of being switched around a little bit and recieve new companions sometimes. However, things are going to stay relatively the same for me. Elder Stephenson is still going to be my companion and Im still going to be laboring in the El Parque sector. I am so glad to again be working with some of the most amazing members in all of Chile. They are so nice and loving, I am never worried when we bring investigators to the church because I know that they will welcome them with open arms.
However, I am going to be moving pensions from the "rat hole", to somewhere else, of which I am still not sure where that is yet, but I am anxiously waiting with anticipation.
As far as everything else goes, I had the opportunity to go to the stake center to listen to general conference. I was so excited! I cant believe I would roll out of bed and complain that I had to sit and listen to conference for a few minutes. haha, Wow, I sure have changed since then. I abosorbed everything like a sponge and enjoyed every minute I took like 9 pages of copious notes. It was pretty cool to look back and see all the pages. I flip through them with pride now.
As a side note to all the naysayers and doubting thomases out there (mom and dad), you will be elated to know that I have not become one of the most anal retentive missionaries in my zone. I take notes on everything and color code them accordingly so I can refer to them quickly whenever I need to. Also, I created a budget plan for the expenses I get each month. Elder Stephenson informed me I was probably the only missionary in Chile Santiago East that kept a recorded budget for longer than a week. Its very weird, what the mission is doing to me. I am slowly becoming more and more what I hope the Lord wants me to be.
Of one thing I am sure, that the Lord has great things in store for me, but it is up to me whether or not I want to rise to the challenge. I have decided that in life, we all start two lives. One is who we are and the other is who we have the potential to be. As we go along the couse of life, we falter and make mistakes. If we choose to get back on the path, we can become better than we were the day before. I just hope I dont ever look down the road and see who I could be 5 miles ahead. Who I am can be who I can be, but it is my choice, and mine alone.
Dad, it might just be Elder Ballard´s talk in the Priesthood session that made me think of you and want to write this, but I wanted to say how grateful I am to be your son. I have always looked up to you and tried to emulate the decisons you hvae made. I see the way you treat mom, and hope that I can someday be as kind and loving with my wife as you are with mom. Seeing the circumstances here have really opened my eyes. The lady that I told you about a while ago with the sign about loving all she had; well we stopped by again and noticed that her drunk husband was sprawled out in the other room asleep, while she was dealing with her 4 and 2 year old boys, both of whom were running around without pants or underwear. I almost cried looking into her eyes and seeing her pain. Both her sister and mother commited suicide when she was very young and her father wants nothing to do with her. She is left very alone with no one besides the Savior to wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything is going to be alright. Dad, I just wanted you to know that not only are you the best example of the person I want to become, or one of the best friends I have ever had, but that you are my hero.
Im sorry I dont really have much else to write about. Hopefully the pictures will work. If so, I will upload all of them onto my Walgreens account and post some of the pictures of my old pension to this email. Also, I do have a small request. The President told us that we can listen to any music that invites the spirit, and the CD´s that I have listened to countless time now are becoming scratched and skip a lot. So if you could just send me my ipod and the cable for the computer, I would greatly appreciate it. No, dont delete all the music and put a few church hymns on there. You can add more church music if you like, but I am fully capable of deleting all my spiritually detracting songs. I hope you have enough trust in me, haha! But yeah, if someone has already claimed it as their own, thats okay, but it would be awesome to be able to put some more church music that Elder Stephenson is constantly finding on my ipod. Just the ipod and computer cable with it. nothing else. Speakers here cost like 3 mil (6 dollars), so dont worry.
If you have any questions, let me know. I still dont know how fast mail travels here. I heard its about 2 to 3 weeks. Just make sure to cover the package with Virgin Mary stockers so the Chilean mail doesnt open it and I find it in the marketplace a few days after and am forced to buy it back.
Con Amor,
Elder Westover
Monday, September 28, 2009
Week 5 in Chile
Hey family!!!
I got some big news for this week! We had our first two baptisms yesterday!!! Their names are Luis and Luis (real inventive), but they are some of the most humble, pure people I know. it is a son and a Father. The father has a hard time understanding, as he is not the brightest bulb on the tree, but you dont have to be smart to get a testimony of the gospel. Luckily for him (or not), Luis, his 13 year old son, has a photographic memory. So that helps him out a bit. So I had the privilage of baptizing both of them. I dont know why, because I didnt really say a whole lot in the lessons, but I guess the son thought it was funny when I pretended to shoot him with my imaginary gun. It was an amazing experience, and one that I will never forget. trying to get their super long names right (luis osvalda maturana garrido) and say the prayer in Spanish was difficult for me, but I loved it so much. The smiles they had on their faces when they came out of the water made me realize why I was here. It was one of the most sacred experiences of my life to now. The funny part though was the drunk investigator that showed up. He would just stand there and stare at you, try to jump into the pictures of you and the person you are baptizing, and generally smell of a bad dumpster. But that is really besides the point.
I am having more success in the language. Saturday night, I was asked to give a talk the next day. Yeah, in Spanish. So I wrote a one page in English Saturday night, and the next morning we were off to the chapel! I got up there to the pulpit with my one page, written entirely in English, and took a deep breath. I spent the next 10 minutes saying who knows what, I dont remember. All I know is that that page shouldnt have taken that long to read, and for some reason I just translated it really fast without stopping once to think about what to say. It was strange. I guess thats what they call the gift of tongues. But my standard for the gift of tongues is pretty low right now. Basically, if I use past subjunctive in anything, I consider it a gift from God.
Thank you for all your love and support! I love you guys and pray for you every day!
Con Amor,
Elder Westover
I got some big news for this week! We had our first two baptisms yesterday!!! Their names are Luis and Luis (real inventive), but they are some of the most humble, pure people I know. it is a son and a Father. The father has a hard time understanding, as he is not the brightest bulb on the tree, but you dont have to be smart to get a testimony of the gospel. Luckily for him (or not), Luis, his 13 year old son, has a photographic memory. So that helps him out a bit. So I had the privilage of baptizing both of them. I dont know why, because I didnt really say a whole lot in the lessons, but I guess the son thought it was funny when I pretended to shoot him with my imaginary gun. It was an amazing experience, and one that I will never forget. trying to get their super long names right (luis osvalda maturana garrido) and say the prayer in Spanish was difficult for me, but I loved it so much. The smiles they had on their faces when they came out of the water made me realize why I was here. It was one of the most sacred experiences of my life to now. The funny part though was the drunk investigator that showed up. He would just stand there and stare at you, try to jump into the pictures of you and the person you are baptizing, and generally smell of a bad dumpster. But that is really besides the point.
I am having more success in the language. Saturday night, I was asked to give a talk the next day. Yeah, in Spanish. So I wrote a one page in English Saturday night, and the next morning we were off to the chapel! I got up there to the pulpit with my one page, written entirely in English, and took a deep breath. I spent the next 10 minutes saying who knows what, I dont remember. All I know is that that page shouldnt have taken that long to read, and for some reason I just translated it really fast without stopping once to think about what to say. It was strange. I guess thats what they call the gift of tongues. But my standard for the gift of tongues is pretty low right now. Basically, if I use past subjunctive in anything, I consider it a gift from God.
Thank you for all your love and support! I love you guys and pray for you every day!
Con Amor,
Elder Westover
Monday, September 14, 2009
Week 3 in Chile
¡Hola Amigos!
Well, its the third week in Chile, and I am doin a lot better! My companion and I are making a lot of headway with some of our investigators and I think, and Im coming along with the language pretty well. I just hope that they can continue to progress. We went on a hike up the moutains today. It was so awesome! They make me really miss the ones in Utah. Im kind of bummed that I never hiked them ever. I guess i need to put that on my TPNTDWHCH list (maybe we should shorten that to my Back To Life (BTF) list. If anyone feels like I need to do something when I get home, just let me know. Actually, let my dad know, he is the one putting this whole list together.
I got kind of scared the other day. We went to a member´s house to have lunch, and they had just had a birthday for their 2 year old kid. My companion looked at me and said: "You know, your going to be out here for as long as he´s been alive." I really hope it goes by faster than that!
But so far, I havent really been hit too hard with homesickness. Yeah, its bad sometimes, but really, I think that if I was anywhere else right now, I wouldnt be nearly as happy as I am now.
Spanish is progressing poco por poco. Im just having a hard time right now being able to understand the order of the words in the sentences. I can pretty much pick out 50% of the vocabulary at this point, but understanding what goes where is still kind of tripping me up. Other than that not much has been going on. We had Communist day on the 11th. I thought that was kind of funny. Nothing really happened though, dont worry mom. Hopefully I will be able to start sending photos as soon as I can get my cable cord for the camera. Then you will be able to see a bunch of the photos that I have taken so far. Unfortunately, I cant take too many, because taking out my camera would be a big risk of getting it stolen by some flighte kids. haha, I dont know. Maybe I´ll have to take more.
Alright, I am SUPER hambre, so im goin and getting something to eat. Thanks everybody for the letters! I am really enjoying reading what you guys have been up to and what is going on in your lives. Take it easy and I´ll talk to you all again soon.
¡Chao!
Love,
Elder Westover
Well, its the third week in Chile, and I am doin a lot better! My companion and I are making a lot of headway with some of our investigators and I think, and Im coming along with the language pretty well. I just hope that they can continue to progress. We went on a hike up the moutains today. It was so awesome! They make me really miss the ones in Utah. Im kind of bummed that I never hiked them ever. I guess i need to put that on my TPNTDWHCH list (maybe we should shorten that to my Back To Life (BTF) list. If anyone feels like I need to do something when I get home, just let me know. Actually, let my dad know, he is the one putting this whole list together.
I got kind of scared the other day. We went to a member´s house to have lunch, and they had just had a birthday for their 2 year old kid. My companion looked at me and said: "You know, your going to be out here for as long as he´s been alive." I really hope it goes by faster than that!
But so far, I havent really been hit too hard with homesickness. Yeah, its bad sometimes, but really, I think that if I was anywhere else right now, I wouldnt be nearly as happy as I am now.
Spanish is progressing poco por poco. Im just having a hard time right now being able to understand the order of the words in the sentences. I can pretty much pick out 50% of the vocabulary at this point, but understanding what goes where is still kind of tripping me up. Other than that not much has been going on. We had Communist day on the 11th. I thought that was kind of funny. Nothing really happened though, dont worry mom. Hopefully I will be able to start sending photos as soon as I can get my cable cord for the camera. Then you will be able to see a bunch of the photos that I have taken so far. Unfortunately, I cant take too many, because taking out my camera would be a big risk of getting it stolen by some flighte kids. haha, I dont know. Maybe I´ll have to take more.
Alright, I am SUPER hambre, so im goin and getting something to eat. Thanks everybody for the letters! I am really enjoying reading what you guys have been up to and what is going on in your lives. Take it easy and I´ll talk to you all again soon.
¡Chao!
Love,
Elder Westover
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Hola from Chile
[Sept 7, 2009]
¡Hola from Chile!
I'm over in rainy rainy Chile right now, and I'm loving it and hating it at the same time. haha, more loving it than anything though. It has been raining for about 3 or 4 days now, and I think its about to let up. The gutters are filled with water because the sewer system are not real great, and the city put out little walkways for people crossing the street to get over the water. Its pretty ridiculous, actually. Jeffrey would love it over here. There are some HUGE puddles to jump in.
Well, this has been the first coherent week for me, really. My area, called El Parque, is great! It has a pretty widespread diversity, economically. But compared to American standards, it still doesn't compare. They would probably all be in the lower bracket of the middle class, for the most part. Everyone´s roof is leaking, because they are all made of tin. No one has central heating and it can get pretty cold during lessons sometimes. But I'm not really complaining. I'm loving it for the most part.
The main problem for me right now has been the language. I'm having a hard time helping people with their doubts and concerns, when it sounds like their speaking Japanese sometimes. Well, its not that bad, but sometimes it is. A lot of people in the last generation forgot about dental hygiene, so they are all missing like 20 teeth. So when they talk, a lot of the letters kind of slip out the gap in their teeth. I am understanding a lot more, but it continues to baffle me how im ever going to fully understand this language. In terms of understanding, I probably am catching 30-40% of what they say, and speaking, I can still only say like 20% of what I want to convey. But its okay, because the lord works through me, and even if I don't have confidence in myself, I have confidence in Him.
Yesterday my companion and I were knocking some doors in the lovely rain, and I turned to the other side of the street that we already knocked, and decided to be weird and knock anyway. (Oh yeah, a side note: we dont ever really knock doors, we yell from the gate "Alo!") So I shouted from the gate, and we got no answer. But we weren't real worried, because it takes Chileans about 15 minutes to get from wherever they are to the door. So we yelled again, and finally decided to move on to an investigators house. Right when we decided to move on, an old lady walked up the street and came to the house. We asked her if she lived there, and she replied that she did. Immediately she invited us in. We then taught her a wonderful 1st lesson, and she agreed to be baptized. haha, no, not really. That would have been cool. We did get in, but she was super super catholic. I don't know why we were supposed to go to that house, but we were. It was pretty cool just because when we knock, we really don't get into any houses. I don't know who told me about Latin American hospitality, but they must not have gone to Chile. The people are nice for the most part, but we have only gotten into like 3 or 4 houses this week from knocking on doors.
Other than that, we basically go off of references that we get from members and less actives. I love going to their houses though, the less actives. They let you in, AND they´re crazy. We stopped by Victor, a less active member who has a problem with the word of Wisdom. We couldn't tell at first, but about the time he started pulling out all his belongings and showing them to us, we realized that we was pretty drunk off his butt. It got really exciting when he showed us his night stick and knives and tried to demonstrate how to fight with them in a 15 by 10 foot room. Yeah, i wont go into details to save mom from some more grey hairs (I know they´re there mom, I´ve seen them... haha)
That's about all I have for right now. I hope everyone is doing well, and no one is worrying too much about me. I'm doing fine. I have the Lord with me wherever I go. That's better than anything I could ever ask for. Thank you for all of your prayers! I have been greatly blessed because of them. Love you all!
Elder Westover
¡Hola from Chile!
I'm over in rainy rainy Chile right now, and I'm loving it and hating it at the same time. haha, more loving it than anything though. It has been raining for about 3 or 4 days now, and I think its about to let up. The gutters are filled with water because the sewer system are not real great, and the city put out little walkways for people crossing the street to get over the water. Its pretty ridiculous, actually. Jeffrey would love it over here. There are some HUGE puddles to jump in.
Well, this has been the first coherent week for me, really. My area, called El Parque, is great! It has a pretty widespread diversity, economically. But compared to American standards, it still doesn't compare. They would probably all be in the lower bracket of the middle class, for the most part. Everyone´s roof is leaking, because they are all made of tin. No one has central heating and it can get pretty cold during lessons sometimes. But I'm not really complaining. I'm loving it for the most part.
The main problem for me right now has been the language. I'm having a hard time helping people with their doubts and concerns, when it sounds like their speaking Japanese sometimes. Well, its not that bad, but sometimes it is. A lot of people in the last generation forgot about dental hygiene, so they are all missing like 20 teeth. So when they talk, a lot of the letters kind of slip out the gap in their teeth. I am understanding a lot more, but it continues to baffle me how im ever going to fully understand this language. In terms of understanding, I probably am catching 30-40% of what they say, and speaking, I can still only say like 20% of what I want to convey. But its okay, because the lord works through me, and even if I don't have confidence in myself, I have confidence in Him.
Yesterday my companion and I were knocking some doors in the lovely rain, and I turned to the other side of the street that we already knocked, and decided to be weird and knock anyway. (Oh yeah, a side note: we dont ever really knock doors, we yell from the gate "Alo!") So I shouted from the gate, and we got no answer. But we weren't real worried, because it takes Chileans about 15 minutes to get from wherever they are to the door. So we yelled again, and finally decided to move on to an investigators house. Right when we decided to move on, an old lady walked up the street and came to the house. We asked her if she lived there, and she replied that she did. Immediately she invited us in. We then taught her a wonderful 1st lesson, and she agreed to be baptized. haha, no, not really. That would have been cool. We did get in, but she was super super catholic. I don't know why we were supposed to go to that house, but we were. It was pretty cool just because when we knock, we really don't get into any houses. I don't know who told me about Latin American hospitality, but they must not have gone to Chile. The people are nice for the most part, but we have only gotten into like 3 or 4 houses this week from knocking on doors.
Other than that, we basically go off of references that we get from members and less actives. I love going to their houses though, the less actives. They let you in, AND they´re crazy. We stopped by Victor, a less active member who has a problem with the word of Wisdom. We couldn't tell at first, but about the time he started pulling out all his belongings and showing them to us, we realized that we was pretty drunk off his butt. It got really exciting when he showed us his night stick and knives and tried to demonstrate how to fight with them in a 15 by 10 foot room. Yeah, i wont go into details to save mom from some more grey hairs (I know they´re there mom, I´ve seen them... haha)
That's about all I have for right now. I hope everyone is doing well, and no one is worrying too much about me. I'm doing fine. I have the Lord with me wherever I go. That's better than anything I could ever ask for. Thank you for all of your prayers! I have been greatly blessed because of them. Love you all!
Elder Westover
Monday, August 31, 2009
First Letter from Chile
FAMILY!!!!
Hey, its me, From Chile... Oh yeah... hahaha! So I guess we can use Gmail on our mission now, which is pretty cool. My Mission president is AWESOME!! He is pretty laid back, but he gets things done like no one I´ve ever met. Its crazy. Also, he has the strongest testimony I have like ever heard. He is seriously the coolest guy.
So I'm sure you want all kinds of details about my mission. Well first off, let me apologize. When I called my parents at the Salt Lake Airport, my time had already expired somehow on my card. It was really really dumb. So I had to take someone else's card and I could only talk to my parents for like 5 minutes, but that was even hard because I started crying over the phone because I was going to miss them so much. And it made me even more sad knowing that I wouldn't be able to talk to you before we left. I tried to find a way, but then our plane started to board. I'm so sorry Ashlee.. I wanted to talk to you so much just to hear your voice one more time.
Anyway, so fast forward through a 20 hour plane ride...uggg..... And we end up in.... Chile!!! I was starting to wonder if they would actually send me there. I guess so... Anyway, It was totally surreal for the first time to see the country. When we drove from the airport, there were lots of nice houses. It had a distinctly European feel to it for some reason. However, when I got to my area, I realized that that would not be the case. My pension, or apartment, is a small two bedroom apartment that we use for the four of us. (Your going to have to see the pictures. They are pretty classic missionary pictures) We have no light in the kitchen or our bedroom. Our bed room is a little smaller than a walk in closet with just enough room to walk in and hop into bed. Our study room is where we keep our clothes, our stuff, and where we do pretty much everything else. We have to hang our clothes up, and the shower is not the best, to be nice. But our place is actually a lot better than most people. There are some richer parts where people can afford solid walls and a place to sleep. The other part of the area is very poor. All the houses have tin roofs and not a lot of place to live. I remember one house we were in where the woman was an investigator in the church. We were teaching her one night, and when I came into her house I felt so bad for how I have been living before. The walls were made of thin wood planks that they found, and their windows were old disney bedsheets. There was two rooms. We taught in one room with the woman, her two year old son, and their rabbit that would come in and out (I'm not sure if he is going to be baptized) The husband was drunk asleep in the other room, so we stayed away. But when we taught I saw a bumper sticker over the door. It said ¨I don't have all that I love, but I love all that I have.¨ I decided that I wanted to have that optimism. We cant have everything in life, but we can make the best out of what we have. That sister is one of the nicest, most humble people I know. I hope I can learn a lot from the Chilean people.
The Food is great, but the language is sooo HARD!!! everyone cuts of the end of their words, and says ¨po¨ after about everything that they say. Mom and dad, I dont know how you did it. It's just gonna have to come in time i guess.
Oh yeah, my trainer is pretty awesome!! He is very humble about everything, and always helps me with the language, even when the people laugh at my broken spanish (Yeah, the Chilean people don't really care all that much if your feelings get hurt or not). But yeah, his name is Elder Stephenson and he´s from Saint George. He keeps me working hard, and I am learning lots from him.
Sometimes it gets hard when I think about back home. I guess I just get homesick when I let myself. I have missed you guys so much these past few weeks, its awful. But I know that coming home is not what the Lord wants me to do. When I know I have your support and the Lord at my side (both, actually), I am able to walk with my head held high, knowing that the work that I am doing is the greatest thing I may ever do in my life.
Well, I have to go. Im super hambre right now, so Im going to go throw down on a Sopapilla. Soooo good!!! Let me know how things are back home!
Lots of love from Chile!
Elder Westover
Hey, its me, From Chile... Oh yeah... hahaha! So I guess we can use Gmail on our mission now, which is pretty cool. My Mission president is AWESOME!! He is pretty laid back, but he gets things done like no one I´ve ever met. Its crazy. Also, he has the strongest testimony I have like ever heard. He is seriously the coolest guy.
So I'm sure you want all kinds of details about my mission. Well first off, let me apologize. When I called my parents at the Salt Lake Airport, my time had already expired somehow on my card. It was really really dumb. So I had to take someone else's card and I could only talk to my parents for like 5 minutes, but that was even hard because I started crying over the phone because I was going to miss them so much. And it made me even more sad knowing that I wouldn't be able to talk to you before we left. I tried to find a way, but then our plane started to board. I'm so sorry Ashlee.. I wanted to talk to you so much just to hear your voice one more time.
Anyway, so fast forward through a 20 hour plane ride...uggg..... And we end up in.... Chile!!! I was starting to wonder if they would actually send me there. I guess so... Anyway, It was totally surreal for the first time to see the country. When we drove from the airport, there were lots of nice houses. It had a distinctly European feel to it for some reason. However, when I got to my area, I realized that that would not be the case. My pension, or apartment, is a small two bedroom apartment that we use for the four of us. (Your going to have to see the pictures. They are pretty classic missionary pictures) We have no light in the kitchen or our bedroom. Our bed room is a little smaller than a walk in closet with just enough room to walk in and hop into bed. Our study room is where we keep our clothes, our stuff, and where we do pretty much everything else. We have to hang our clothes up, and the shower is not the best, to be nice. But our place is actually a lot better than most people. There are some richer parts where people can afford solid walls and a place to sleep. The other part of the area is very poor. All the houses have tin roofs and not a lot of place to live. I remember one house we were in where the woman was an investigator in the church. We were teaching her one night, and when I came into her house I felt so bad for how I have been living before. The walls were made of thin wood planks that they found, and their windows were old disney bedsheets. There was two rooms. We taught in one room with the woman, her two year old son, and their rabbit that would come in and out (I'm not sure if he is going to be baptized) The husband was drunk asleep in the other room, so we stayed away. But when we taught I saw a bumper sticker over the door. It said ¨I don't have all that I love, but I love all that I have.¨ I decided that I wanted to have that optimism. We cant have everything in life, but we can make the best out of what we have. That sister is one of the nicest, most humble people I know. I hope I can learn a lot from the Chilean people.
The Food is great, but the language is sooo HARD!!! everyone cuts of the end of their words, and says ¨po¨ after about everything that they say. Mom and dad, I dont know how you did it. It's just gonna have to come in time i guess.
Oh yeah, my trainer is pretty awesome!! He is very humble about everything, and always helps me with the language, even when the people laugh at my broken spanish (Yeah, the Chilean people don't really care all that much if your feelings get hurt or not). But yeah, his name is Elder Stephenson and he´s from Saint George. He keeps me working hard, and I am learning lots from him.
Sometimes it gets hard when I think about back home. I guess I just get homesick when I let myself. I have missed you guys so much these past few weeks, its awful. But I know that coming home is not what the Lord wants me to do. When I know I have your support and the Lord at my side (both, actually), I am able to walk with my head held high, knowing that the work that I am doing is the greatest thing I may ever do in my life.
Well, I have to go. Im super hambre right now, so Im going to go throw down on a Sopapilla. Soooo good!!! Let me know how things are back home!
Lots of love from Chile!
Elder Westover
Monday, August 17, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Letter Dated July 4, 2009
Dear Grandma & Grandpa (Westover),
!Hola! ...My first week was crazy! My companion, Elder McCammon, is very nice and laid back. We work very hard though, here at the MTC. Right off the bat, we began our work to prepare to teach the people of Chile. So far we have contacted numerous people at the MTC, in English and Espanol. We taught our first "discussion" last night! Granted, they were just volunteers, but it still made me very nervous!
My district is great! All the people are very nice and they make me excited to go and spread the word of God.
All the (care) packages of food have made me very popular with all of the guys in my building. However, I don't think you guys need to send any more packages with food! It will take awhile to finish all of the food I have right now!
Love you guys!
Elder Westover
!Hola! ...My first week was crazy! My companion, Elder McCammon, is very nice and laid back. We work very hard though, here at the MTC. Right off the bat, we began our work to prepare to teach the people of Chile. So far we have contacted numerous people at the MTC, in English and Espanol. We taught our first "discussion" last night! Granted, they were just volunteers, but it still made me very nervous!
My district is great! All the people are very nice and they make me excited to go and spread the word of God.
All the (care) packages of food have made me very popular with all of the guys in my building. However, I don't think you guys need to send any more packages with food! It will take awhile to finish all of the food I have right now!
Love you guys!
Elder Westover
Sunday, July 5, 2009
"I'm Alive" Letter & First P-Day Letter
Paul's branch president in the MTC had the missionaries write a quick letter home on Wednesday, his first day at the MTC. The most poignant piece of information we got out of Paul's letter was: "Well, I'm alive." His P-Day is on Saturday and his first P-day he wrote the following tib bits: "It seems like I've been here 2 months already!" "My companion is great, and so are the other two elders in our room. I'm really happy to end up where I did. " "I really feel overwhelmed...but I know that I am where I need to be." "I am grateful for all the your packages (and so are my roommates)." He ends his letter with a short testimony in Spanish. He sounds like he misses the life he left behind but is looking to the future and what is in store.
Departure from Grandma & Grandpa's House
After a blessing from his Grandpa, Paul left from his Grandparents house directly to the MTC.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
New Stop-and-Drop Send Off Procedure
Here we are at the MTC grounds right by the new stop-and-drop location where families park their cars, unload the missionary's luggage, take a few pictures, and are soon told by a BYU traffic cop that their parking spot is needed...and that's how you say good-bye for 2 years.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
To Elder Westover...
Paul, good luck on your mission . Don't have any regrets and work your hardest and the time will go by faster!! i know God loves you and will help you get over obstacles you will face! read the book of mormon for answers! and rememeber Hakuna matata - it means no worries! l love you all!!!
love, elder robison
love, elder robison
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Elder Westover's Farewell, May 31, 2009
Paul and Ashlee made this incredibly yummy chocolate peanut butter cake for Paul's farewell lunch! It took them hours to make it but everyone that ate it thought it was well worth their time!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
A Trip to Missionary Mall!
The first stop for every newly-called missionary in Utah County is Missionary Mall in Orem!
Two new Elders head for South America!
Elder Paul Westover and Elder Stephen Jensen show us on the world map at Missionary Mall where they will be serving! Paul will be in Chile, Santiago, East and Stephen will be serving in Argentina, Buenos Aires, South! They will be entering the MTC within 2 weeks of each other!
FREE SOCKS!
Paul gets an inservice on socks! Who knew there was so much to learn about socks! It was worth listening to the salesman, Jack, because both Paul and Stephen got a free pair of socks to try out!
You can never have too many white shirts!
Paul and long-time friend, Stephen Jensen, from Sandy, Utah, get the sales pitch at Missionary Mall! The great thing about M.M. is that everything is guarenteed for 2 years!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Suspense Has Ended!
Congratulations, Paul!Chile, Santiago East Mission!
Reporting to the Provo MTC on
June 24, 2009
It was a good size group that came to support Paul!We just wish that they would have brought their appetites with them!
It was surprising how much food they DIDN'T eat!
So much for starving students!
Or maybe they were all trying to be polite?!
But we all enjoyed meeting them and getting to know Paul's friends!
Where will he go??
So many of us thought for sure since Paul was tall with blonde hair he would surely be sent to Asia! But I am pretty sure he will stand out just as much in South America!
It's Anyone and Everyone's Guess!
Family and friends all took a guess as to where Paul would be called on his mission! Everyone chose one foreign and one domestic location!
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