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!
Monday, October 26, 2009
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
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