Every Member a Missionary

Hey. Guess what? I am in a building in Trujillo Perú. Yesterday I saw a drunk guy stumbling down the road, and he wanted to shine my shoes for money because he thought I was rich. Everybody here thinks White people have a lot of money. Then don’t understand that even though our jobs pay more money, everything in the states also costs a lot more. Anyway, so this drunk guy starts yelling at me and telling me to sit down so he could shine my shoes. I told him no, and he screamed like I just cut off his foot and started walking away.

People here are so weird. And things like that happen EVERY DAY. Especially when I was in Casa Grande. Weird stuff happen ALL THE TIME in Casa Grande. I used to hear gunshots and screaming at night. People were getting killed 20 feet outside my front door. It was SO dangerous. Ha ha ha. I heard stories about people getting robbed every single day. On the weekends, there was nobody to teach because every human being in the town was drunk. Including the kids. People were always puking in the streets, and sleeping on sidewalks and stuff. I was teaching a lesson one time, and we heard shotguns being shot out in the street probably just ten feet from the door of the house. My companion and I were like, “Is that normal?” and the people shook their heads “no,” but they didn´t act like they were scared. Elder Zavaleta and I were terrified. Then we finished the lessons and had to go home…. so we walked out the door, and found that 5 or so drunk 25 year old´s were shooting beer cans in the middle of the street! And here in Perú, there are no such things as yards. People´s door are attached to the sidewalk, which is 2 feet wide, and then you have the 15 foot wide street. So these people were shooting REALLY close to other people. Ha ha ha.  

                Want another story? It was my very first night in Casa Grande, and we had a lesson appointment… so we show up, and this lady asks us for a blessing. We were mid-conversation, and then all of the sudden her baby started crying. So she starts breastfeeding it in front of us… who were complete strangers. Anyway, I gave the blessing while she was feeding her kid. It was the weirdest thing ever. But now, if I had a nickel for every time a woman breastfed her baby in front of me, I would have at least 5 bucks I´m sure. It´s not even weird anymore.
                I take people to the clinic almost every day, if not every week. So I see a ton of sick Peruvians. We were waiting in a lobby yesterday, and a lady came up to us and introduced herself as a member from Lima, who was visiting her sister who had been hit by a mototaxi and was now hospitalized. She wanted us to give her sister a blessing. So we follow her into some obscure dirty corner of this gross old hospital, and the nurses make us wear Doctor´s aprons. So we arrive at her bedside, and she opens her eyes. She looks amazed. Probably she just woke up from a coma to see some gringo with blonde hair at her bedside, but maybe also because we were now dressed completely in white. I wonder if she was scared that she died. Ha ha ha. Her blessing was cool. All she did was smile. It’s so cool to bless people´s lives like that.
                I found out that Chicama, Perú has the world´s largest left-breaking waves, and is a glory hole for surfers. So we always see surfers in the airport when we send missionaries home. I was 20 minutes away from Chicama while I was in Casa Grande. So I bought this dumb necklace that I’m going to try to send to you, carved from a jungle tree seed that has oceany stuff carved into it; a dolphin or something. It’s pretty cool. I got it for 2 soles, or about 75 cents.
               Oh yeah… that reminds me….not to make you all sad, but my coming home date got changed from March to May of 2015. Which means I’ll actually serve a 25 month mission. Cool, right? I have 19 months left. Ha ha ha. Falta un poco tiempo…..

We had two questions for Chance:

1. Can you print emails and read them later?

  Yes

2. How do you dry clean your suits?

 Our bishop does them. Funny story about that actually, the first time I gave it to him (Which was the first time my suit had been washed in over 6 months) I got it back with 3 gigantic holes in it...... ha ha ha ha. But my pensionista sewed tham back up, so It's all good. Too bad I only brought 1 suit.


Mom, can you send me a German book? Maybe the same one I used for college? I'd like to study it... ha ha ha. Also, do you know something that you could do for the missionaries that would make them super happy? If you offered to go with them to a lesson at an investigator's house sometime, they would probably die. Even better, if you offered our house as a lesson place that they could bring investigators too, they would love you forever more. And when you do that, when you go with them, bear your testimony into the eyes of the investigator. Let them know you are a real person who really believes these things. Nobody can deny a local member's testimony. You will leave their house having made them wonder about the truthfulness of these things. As missionaries, we too have power to witness of the Gospel, but it is always a little different coming from an active member. Investigators know it is a missionary´s job to say things about the Gospel, but when members volunteer to do it, there is a special power about it. Please help the missionaries as much as you can. We all need it. Give them whatever they need. However, if they are disobedient, crack the whip. I have realized just how important members are in missionary work. Without them, NOTHING happens. People think the missionaries can somehow baptize people and keep them active without any help. IT DOES NOT WORK LIKE THAT. First of all, Mmbers should be involved in EVERY step of the proccess. Finding people to teach, the actual teaching, and the helping of keeping the investigator active, once baptized. God gives us any and all success that we have in this life. The missionary´s really don't do much of anything on their own. At least, they shouldn't have to. So please help them. Make is to that nothing happens without the members. Tell the young men to volunteer to accompany them in their visits. I am so very grateful for the chances I had to go with them before the mission. It was the single best practice I had befire the actual mission itself. The young men don't have time to wait. They need to do things NOW. A mission comes so quickly. And even with all the mission prep class I took both from our ward and BYU and every other source I could find, I still felt unprepared. DO. THINGS. NOW.

That is all. Ha ha ha ha

I love you all, especially you, Mom.

- Elder Boekweg

Still singing

Still playing soccer