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
Monday, October 5, 2009
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
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