Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Chance's Apartment

    I sent you a ton of pics today, including my room. It's basically cement with windows... and you can tell which parts of the room belong to my comp hahaha.
   August marks the one year mark since I started school at BYU... THAT is hard to believe.... I can remember it so clearly. How weird. It's amazing how much the world can change in just a year. And I was thinking.... I am excited to talk to Roberto. Hopefully this Christmas I can take just a second to talk to him in his own language. I should have it down pat by then, I think. I dream in Spanish sometimes now. They say that is a big sign of progress. And actually, Roberto was in one of these dreams. I said to him, 'Roberto, por fin, tiene un amigo en la familia con quien puede hablar´. I´ll let google translate help you on that one. :)
     And as far as the blog, just post the pics. each one is theoretically worth 1000 words.
     Please send me Tyrel Barney's contact info. Tyler Kelsey's as well, as soon as he finds out where he'll be living.  Happy Birthday, Dad, Dallon, Joylynn and almost Courtney!
- Elder Boekweg

Chances bed is on the left

Kitchen

Soccer with the kids

Casagrande street

    

Monday, July 22, 2013

Chicken and Rice


   I love Getting written tangible mail.... I would really like 4 pages about what`s going on at home. The stockshow, or other things like that. Ha ha ha. 
   Tell Uncle that I need an update on the zombie situation. I love reading those stupid things. It takes my mind on a brief trip to a happy time just preceding this one. (Which is also happy.) 
   Will you send me pictures of great grandpa in WW2?
   It keeps getting colder here. And will you please just send Hunter`s mom a summary of stuff I`ve sent? I really don`t have time to write anyone else. Tell Sadie and Linzi and Laura and Grandparents Boekweg that I am continually sorry for my inability to write them all back. But I promise to catch up with them in 20 months, possibily in Krispy Kreme doughnut factory... because that may be the place I miss the most.
   I had a thought this morning in the electricuting shower..... I will be in my 5th month in 10 days... That means I am actually really close to my half a year mark. And this has all gone pretty fast. I am more confident every day that time will continue to fly by, and even accelerate until I am home again. I am almost done with my first area.... It`s weird.
   I also wanted to tell you that I did dream in Spanish once. It was about a month ago. It was interesting, because I still couldn`t understand what they were saying in my dream, but they were definitely speaking spanish. How odd, right? Maybe I will get to the point where My Spanish is perfect.
   I cannot send pics from this particular computer, so I apologize. You`ll have to wait another week. 
   Tell dad to tell the young men of the ward to study chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel. I really, really do believe that it is the most important part. At least, it has been for me so far. If you have Christ-like attributes, everything else falls into place. 
   Send me Kelsey Johnson`s wedding announcement. That´s so dang weird...
   I miss dad`s barbeque food. Hamburgers on a hot summer afternoon with Deedre`s ¨Goop.¨ I miss food that is edible.... Chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice, chicken and rice.......... I am SOOOOOOOOO SICK OF IT!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I only laugh to keep from weeping......
   I love you all, and hope to someday become a parachutist.... just kidding.... I am grateful for all of your love, and I send my own back to you.
    - Elder Bo-bo-boek-bo-boek-wayg? (That`s how the Peruvians say it)

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

What a surprise- 2 emails in 1 week!!

Okay cool... So Lima is definitely better than the rest of Peru. It is about a million times as modern as Casagrande, and a million times as big as Trujillo. I feel like Ogden is to Salt Lake, as Trujillo is to Lima.... Kind of the same, but one definitely stands out against the other. We were waiting in lines all day, which would have been a pretty lame Pday, were it not for our trip to Mcdonalds afterwards. I never thought I would be thankful for the cleanliness and greasiness of a Mcdonalds... It was a tiny taste of America. I love America. 
   I had interviews with President Marler yesterday. Right after my trip to Lima. Which means I stayed the night in the apartment of the assistants, really close to the office. Their apartment is sweet, wooden floors and hot showers. It made me miss the niceties of the United States. Long live the USA. 
   Will somebody please send me more pictures of Uncle´s new kid? Everybody tells me he looks like me, but I´ve seen one pic of him! Also, Look for the blog of Elder Bramble. He and I are buds now, after our trip to Lima. We entered the field on the same day. It´s always good to know that you aren´t alone in your situation, right? He´s a cool dude. He´s got a pilot´s license and stuff. 
   It won´t be much longer now until I am done with training, and I start rolling out in the streets as a normal Junior companion. I am really excited. Not worried at all. 
   Tell Hunter´s mom that I will write her next week when I have a little bit more time. I only got a little while to write this week. Which makes it hard to let you all know what´s going on... or maybe my explanation does more damage....  
   I posted a lot of pictures this week because I can't write much. The first is my haircut in Grandpa Thorpe army pose, so you can compare our faces, which are the same.....
 
The second is the familia Saldaña. They rock.
 
 
 The third is my average day of tracting, which we actually do all day every day.

 
 My mission consists of OYM´s and nothing else. That is how we contact, and usually how we ask people to teach them in their houses tambien. A veces es interesante, porque las calles, y las entradas son casi la misma cosa. Entonces, realmente no sé si hacemos contactos de la puerta, o de la calle. Casagrande es bien diferente que Tooele. Ha ha ha ha. Just realized I typed all that in Spanish. Sorry. Use google translator, because I don´t have time to type it again. Tell Roberto that I need to know where he lived in Lima. Ask him for ¨su dirección.¨ I want to start asking the throngs of people from Lima here if they knew him. I know it´s a long shot, but I really do meet people from there every day. EVENTUALLY it´s got to happen, right?
   Got to go. I love you all. I´ll write again on Monday. And I will be going to Lima again in 2 or 3 weeks, so if my letter is a few days late again, don´t worry. 
   - Elder Boekweg

 P.S. LINZI KELSEY... You should write me the details of Alaska. I can print things off here, and I am curious as to what it was like there. Send me some pics, too if you can. I miss seeing green things.
 
1. Do you receive any money from the church for your purchases? Do you buy your own toilet paper? Food? Shampoo? How do you pay for your expenses? I am issued 80 Soles a month for that. Which is about 30 dollars.
 
2.  Are you changing seasons yet? Shouldn't you be going into spring? No change of seasons yet. They say it will continue to get a bit colder until Septiembre.
 
3. Are you getting close to transfers? How does that work? Transfers are in 3 weeks, and then my training is done. I will get a new companion, but I will stay in my area for at least another 6 weeks. 
 
4. Will you be part of the new technology change for missionaries? You know the IPADs and Facebook? No word on that yet. I sure hope they don´t give us Ipads... I don´t know how to use them. I am a bit old fashioned. Also, I can´t imagine they would issue us anything like that in this mission. especially in places like Casagrande. 
 
5. Did you hear about the dress code change? More colorful ties and colored pants? WOW all the changes. I have also heard nothing about that. You´ll have to send me the details. 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Back from Lima

****FYI- Chance didn't email us on Monday like he usually does so that will help you understand his email.


Hey. I´m not dead. I had to go to Lima yesterday for my residence card. So don´t worry. Also, They say I can only write this email to tell you that I´m alive right now.... So this may be all you get this week. Ha ha ha ha. Sorry. Try to send me whatever Tali was talking about with her mom´s thing. I guess she and I did something famous in Tooele or something? I don´t really know. Also... Swedish Fish will always be appreciated. In greater numbers. And a giant hershey bar.... maybe 2 or 3. MAN I miss American chocolate. Basically any form of candy that I used to like. Flavored water stuff again. And if you can, there are these pens that they sell in the MTC Bookstore, They´re called Vball pens. They are perfect for writing small in the planners. Mine is running out of ink. I could use a few more of those. Just had an interview with President Marler. He told me to tell you about my baptisms. I have had 6. They have all been great. 4 of them were a complete family, and now they are getting ready to head to the temple in Lima in a year.... which I think will pass more quickly than I think. I have 1 and a half months until my 6 month mark..... and from there, it´s straight on toward a year. I can´t believe I´ve already been here for a solid 2 months. Tell Dallin and Dad I said hi.
I love you all. Thank you for your letters. I LOVE receiving real letters from home. I know it´s expensive, but know that they are GREATLY appreciated.
I will write more next week. Sorry this week was weird.
- Elder Boekweg

Monday, July 8, 2013

A Challenge

A couple questions:
 
1. Are you still sick?
   No I´m not sick anymore.
2. Should I send you socks?
   No.
3. How is your Spanish?
   Mejorando cada dia. Pero necesito practicar mucho más todavia. 
4. Did you get my package? and do you get the pouch mail?
   YES! I got it yesterday. And Mother..... I love you. The food here STINKS...... Ha ha ha ha. I think Brayden lucked out with his ability to choose what he´s going to eat every day and how much. His comment about White Castle  hamburgers made me want to destroy him. Ha ha ha. We eat rice twice a day... every day....... and that candy was so sweet that it actually hurt my tongue.... like a burn or something. I forgot that I haven´t tasted good food in like 80 days now........ Ha ha ha ha. Only 630 more...... Wow I still have a long time. 
 
Which reminds me.... I have a challenge for everybody reading this post. The Book of Mormon, in English has about 530 Pages. I have about 630 days left here. So I invite everyone to read just one page a day. You should be able to finish just in time to be excited for me to get home. I´ll have about 4 months when you´re done. I have already seen this exact act of faith change peoples lives. The Book of Mormon really is amazing. And It´s crazy how much it just.... makes sense. In every way. It has withstood over a hundred years of detailed searching for faults, or any kind of incorrectness, and has remained. It is true. And in it, we find the way home. The way back to the presence of God our Father, who I bear my testimony loves us and is aware of our needs and situations. I know that He sent his son Jesus Christ to provide the bridge from imperfection to perfect cleanliness and happiness. And there is no other way. Only by embracing Him, and choosing to accept His will, do we find happiness in doing anything. It´s interesting that only in surrendering, do we win. Only in giving up our will, do we attain victory in this life. And if that means being in the most desolate, primitive, forsaken desert I have ever seen, amidst people who mutually don´t understand me, walking through a thousand dusty streets in the heat of the afternoon, then I will do it. I recently studied the last chapter in St John in the New Testament, when Christ asks Peter if he loves Him 3 times. Jeffery R Holland tells us that in this instance, Peter changed completely. He understood that he could never go back to his old ways, fishing, like before the Savior came. When Christ had asked him to follow Him, it was forever. And it is the same with a mission. I understand now that I can never go back to my old life. I can´t ever be the same as I was before. And like Peter, when my mission in Peru is over, I cannot go back to my ¨fishing¨. The things I used to do. I can´t think the same when this is done. 
   This means conversion. I have also recently learned to a greater depth the difference between having a testimony, and being converted. There will be a billion people who have a testimony that do not make it to the celestial kingdom. It is not enough to say ¨I believe¨, and be done with it. Life requires constant action and growth. Like I said before, only in completely losing ourselves can we really find ourselves. It´s interesting. And I´m only just starting to understand it.
   Stuff is really hard right now. The language, the people themselves, the culture, the food, my new haircut that has made me look exactly like grandpa in Vietnam (I am dang near bald right now. probably only millimeters of hair.) and being so far away from the people I love.... but I am here until the end of this. I will die in Peru if necessary. Please pray for my investigators. 
   I love you Courtney. Try not to kiss anyone on your first date, or you´ll screw it up... trust me....
   Dad. Adios Amigo. Te amo.
   Mom. Thank you for all that you do.  Tell Sister Taylor that I thought of her when a fly buzzed in my ear the other day. I love you.

     - Elder Boekweg

Monday, July 1, 2013

Hot Peruvian winter

Mom and all-
   Alright.... before I start the answers to your questions.... I have one for you. What on earth made you take a picture next to the grizzly bear in the woods? That's dangerous...
 Ha ha ha ha. Dad and his beards...
   Now...... Here are your answers.
 
I want you to tell me when you get your package so I can see if it made it safe and well.
1. I have not recieved any packages yet. I don' t know when you may have sent them, but I haven't seen 'em yet.
 What soccer team jersey did you buy?
2. Chelsea and Manchester United. They are sweet.
Is there a place you can buy socks there?
Unless I am wrong, I think that was all the questions... oh yeah, there is a place to buy socks here, but I don't know if or when I'll have the chance to do that.
 
 

Okay... so the first pic is just so you can see my face again.

The second is a pic of me walking towards a Huaca, or an ancient Incan temple ruin of some sort. They are everywhere out in the desert. I sent you a letter about it. Let me know when you get it. I thought dad would enjoy seeing a REAL desert... Ha ha ha. It was hot in the middle of the Peruvian winter.
 
   Tell Uncle I loved his giant letter. And Linzi too. And Grandma Boekweg too. And everyone who´s love I am unable to reply to. I really feel bad about not writing back, but the truth of it is that Im just REALLY don't have time to do it.
   So you want a story........? Try this one out:
   We are teaching a family by the name of Saldaña-Castillo. I love these fools. Their son was my first baptism here. There are 2 sons, a daughter, the 2 parents, and a grandma. The grandma was all set up to be baptized 2 weeks ago, when she decided to take a suprise trip to Trujillo. During her trip, she DIED... So she missed her baptism by a few days. She was 85 years old. Now the family is super sad, but super receptive to the Plan of Salvation. They are all fired up to go to the temple and do  her work now... crazy how the Lord works. I was really sad too. I never imagined that I would be teaching people with life situations and events as real as this. This lady straight up died... And as sad as it is, the world goes on... I can't believe how time is behaving right now. Do you realize that I've already been gone for more than 3 months? July is my 4th.... Freaky... and then I think about Brayden, who's already been gone for almost 6..... this is all so weird. I'm going to be home before I ever felt like I was gone. Let me know how Terrance Palmer's homecoming talk was. I was excited to know. And Brock's, too. 
   I have some advice for dad and his young men: If you can train them not for trivial knowledge of Preach My Gospel and the scriptures ( like memorizing references, thought that too is important) but train them to adopt Christ-like attributes instead, they will be miles ahead when they hit the field. The field is built to teach young men the references, but the attributes take much longer to get the hang of. Figure out how to teach them patience, selflessness, humility, and all the other good qualities that good men need to be called good men. If that even makes sense.... Ha ha ha. 
   I really do love you guys. I am always sad when the dude that owns this little internet shack taps my shoulder, and sends me spiraling through another crazy week where I can't update and tell you my situation every 10 seconds. But my journal is filling up really fast. I think I'll be sending it home around Christmas. Merry Christmas. It'll be all you guys get from me this year... Ha ha ha. And oddly enough, by Christmas, I will already have 9 months in the mission. Eileen could have 6 more kids by then. It's an odd prospect. Time is weird...... Enjoy the green grass and showers that don't electricute your head when you acidentally touch them.

 -Elder Boekweg