Saturday, March 29, 2014

My Dearest April

Mama,
I have a really cool story this week. But first, the questions....

1. Is this a sister already on the mission or is someone being called who has a nursing background?
    She is already here. Hermana Calle from Bolivia. She was a doctor there with her own clinic and everything. She is 20 years old.

2. Who will be her companion? Wont they have to call 2 sisters into the mission office?
    I don't know.......

3. If you leave in 1 more transfer when will you start training the Elder who will take your place?
    Probably right before June starts

4. Do you know Elder Winterton? Crazy story........Sitting at the Temple today, I was waiting for Court and Dallon. This girl sitting next to me started talking to me and she asked me if I had kids. I told her my son was 20 and on a mission in Peru. She got this shocked look on her face and said which mission. I said Trujillo and she said "my brother served in Trujillo 6 yrs ago and now my good friend is there". Elder Winterton. I told her I would ask you about him.
    Yep. He's got the deepest voive I've ever heard. He sang at the Christmas program. The Lord's Prayer.

5. So you're right I don't know much about what you do. I know you do visas and travel and medical but that's pretty general. You mentioned once you call other countries. Like what countries? How often? Do you call Provo? What do you have to do with visas? Do you deal with health insurance? Have you ever had to call a parent cuz someone was way sick or hurt?
    I do the travel, the health, the legal work, and the personal affairs of the President. It keeps me BUSY. I will probably just have to explain it on Mother's day or something. It would take forever. And a hour of internet time just isn't that long....

6. So you said there is no fall there. Is it starting to be less hot there now?
    Yeah. It's chilling down just a bit. It's super humid still.

7. You didn't say how the milk was? Glad you loved the oreos!  
    Milk was great! Ha ha ha. Everyone was jealous. Thank you!

8. Are you writing your friends? Tyler sent a pic last week of him holding a handful of hair he shaved off HIS OWN HEAD! So cool.
    That's cool about Tyler. He has the coolest mission I have ever heard of.....

9. Would you like me to send you your friends letters each week?
    Sure. It's always nice to get mail. THe more the merrier

10. When do we get some pics and more poems? You haven't sent pics in months.
    Right now....


So this week took me far, far away from the earth I knew...... I went to Otuxco Perú. THe maountain village in the Andes Mountains outside of Trujillo. It RAINED like I have never seen before. I couldn't believe how green and foggy and wet everything was. I saw llamas. I saw cobblestone streets. It really is a different life up there. It was cold! The first time I have been soaked to the bone and cold in a year! I think I caught bronchitus again. Or pneumonia...... I don't know...... Oh well. I sent pictures of it all. We taught some lessons up there and had a great time. Elder Matt Dority from Logan Utah (Who says Aunt Joy was his Enlgish teach in 8th grade) is standing next to the plastic baptismal font that they use up there because there isn't a real one. The church rents out a small restaurant on Sunday to have their meetings. The picture with all the stairs is to show you just how hard it was raining. I wish you all couldn have  seen it. It may have been the single coolest experience of my entire life. The Andes Mountains are SWEET.
 
Catholics build the coolest buildings sometimes.... there is a catheadril in Otuzco that is HUGE. Very old, also. I wished with all my heart that dad could have been there to see the mountains and the stonework. The Andes make the Rockies look like Child's play....... ha ha ha. Moss grows on every roof and even on the power lines. It was such a crazy place. Waterfalls and wild llamas. Insanity.

 
I have been wanted to tell grandpa Boekweg that I am serving with a couple from California, and the wife says she went to high school with him. She saw my nametag and said, "I knew a David Boekweg in high school. Is he your relative?" I think she said she went to West high..... Her name is Rosetta, but I don't know her maiden last name. She served a youth mission in El Salvador and Guatemala back in the day.
 
Let's see......
 
Things are back to normal after our sweet mountain adventure. I can't wait to tell uncle about all this stuff in person. I can just hear him, "WHAT BRO!?" Ha ha ha. Eileen will just drop her jaw and chuckle. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I love them.
 
Enjoy the pictures. It could be another 3 months until you get new ones. Ha ha ha ha ha. I am such a punk. Sister Taylor taught me well.......
 
Happy birthday DEEDRE! I hope you are planning on some REALLY nasty health stories when I get home, because as the world's official "least qualified doctor" I have been in some really interesting situations with health. I don't know how you do it............ people's bodies are gross.
 
Dad, Don't forget to look for my truck. Ha ha ha. Sweet beard, man.
 
I love you mom. Good luck with everything. I hope you sing My Dearest April (here is a link to Chances song) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct7qCQmfGiU&feature=youtu.be
when April 1st hits this week. Ha ha ha. I can't believe it's already been that long..... holy cow. And RJ has 10 weeks!? I feel like he just barely left! Time flies......
love,
Elder Boekweg







Saturday, March 22, 2014

Chance can cook?

1. What's with the new ties? You said you don't do a tie swap there.
I got a few new ones. They are cheap here.

2. Do you use karo syrup in your peanut butter popcorn? The sauce looked a little different. Is it double honey?
No..... I just think I'm making it wrong..... Ha ha ha ha. But they like it anyway.
 
 
 
 
 


 
3. Did My Dearest April work for Sister Marler the way I sent it? Also what is it for? (Chance wrote and recorded My Dearest April before his mission last year.)
She loves that song. I sang it for everyone, and she wanted to hear the real thing.

4. Did you get your St. Patty's day package? How did you like the milk :) Better than evaporated!
Oh my gosh....... Double stuffed Oreos are wonderful. They are so lame here... Ha ha ha ha ha. Thank you so much.....Thank you Handleys, "I" loved it.

5. When will it be starting fall there? We had our first day of spring yesterday.
Fall doesn't exist here.... It just goes from hot summer to less hot summer.

6. Do you think you will transfer next time?
No. Personal Secretaries normally stay 6 changes. This is my 5th.

7. How tall is Elder Leavitt? (Chances Companion) Way taller than you haha.
He is 6 "3" I think.

8. When do you get your iPhone? That will be funny.
I actually will not get an IPhone anymore...... but something way weirder...... I will soon be training somebody to take the medical responsibilities from me.... I will be left with Visas and flights and salidas definitivas and things. I really do have enough work for 2 people. The weird part is that the person I am training.......... is a Sister...... ha ha ha ha. She received her calling from the 1st presidency to be a mission nurse. I will be the only Elder to ever be able to say that he had a daughter on the mission. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hah a ha hah a. Uncle will die over that one. My mission is so weird......

9. Do you need anything besides Strawberry Protein? Shoes, shirts, personal hygiene products?
Nope. But the latins like to "share" everything, y'know....... so I have run out fast........ It's just simply part of the culture here.

10. Have you been sight seeing lately? Anything cool?
Nope...... Ha ha ha ha. It's been total work for at least 3 weeks now. Between doing everything that Lima asks me to do for the missionaries without documentation, and the sick people, I have worked every single day for almost a month straight. Including Pday and Sunday. I am telling you.......... I don't think jobs like this exist in the states.... I put in at least 16 hours every single day without ever taking a day off. It is the hardest thing I have ever done. By the end of every day, I am so tired that I can hardly see straight. We work through lunch and dinner usually. We work until 11:30pm sometimes. I honestly don't remember the last time I slept more that 6 hours in one night. It's absolutely insane........ and the funniest part is that I never have any idea what I am doing. I don't understand my job at all....... ha ha ha ha. Peruvian legal work makes no sense to me whatsoever. And medical makes even less......

I think we are going to have a baptism in our area soon. We have been working with a lady found the church a few years ago, but now feels ready to join it. She is an investigator of gold.... the hard part for us is finding time to teach her.... ha ha ha. Ironic.
I don't know what to write..... Ha ha ha ha. This last week was the hardest week of my whole mission. I just worked myself into the ground..... the hardest part is that nobody understands..... When the bishop asks why you weren't at ward council, or when sick elders ask why it took you so long to get to the clinic, or when Lima asks why something isn't done, it is hard to be patient. Sometimes I want to blitz on people and tell them why they are so wrong to be upset. But like I said a few letters ago, absolutely nobody understood Christ. I feel like I am beginning to understand just how alone He was in this life. Leadership is lonliness. And yet, God somehow never leaves you alone. And it's nice to know at the end of every single day, that even though people make fun of you and say you don't work hard, that there is somebody who understands and sees everything that everyone else cannot. The Savior understands it all. And someday, it will all be made right. I have found that usually when we are upset, it is because we don't understand something. There is a variable at play that we don't comprehend. So seek to understand people before making judgements. Not many people have mastered that.
I will be going to the clinic again after I am done typing this letter. Ha ha ha.


Tell Linzi that she's awesome. Sorry I am vague. I look forward to her buying me a flight to Europe to go see her when I get home.... Ha ha ha ha ha.


Sounds like the ward and the family are passing through some hard times right now..... I love them.
 
Is Roberto's shirt too small?
KAYLEE HOPPER..........
I don't know how much you know about my job..... what would you like me to tell you about it?
I love you all. Send me more tangible pictures. I love them.
Love you mom,
-Elder Boekweg
 
 
 
SMALL
One man said to another more small,
“The world’s not really that big at all,
You’ll find through life, you’ll come to see,
The man and place you’re meant to be,”

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Walk Forward

1. Amy Bate wondered if you got her letter?
     I loved Amy Bate's storybook. She is SO stinkin' creative. HA HA HAH A HA. And the one drying his bum............... I died laughing.
2. How is it being with Elder Leavitt again?
    It's a blast.  I love him like my own brother.
3. Did you meet Elder Frankhauser?
    Yes. He is cool. I gave him a training on Wednesday after they all arrived. "don't eat lettuce, pork, strawberries, ceviche, or crude water".
4. Were you able to write Hayden?
    Yes. Enough said.... I love Hayden. I am sad with him.

I thought about the Gomez family this week. They are so cool. I wish I heard more about them. I sure do think the world of them. Sometimes, I see these missionaries here from places like Arequipa or Huánuco Perú, who are serving in their home country, and I can't help but wonder if Medardo wasn't somewhat the same. En la Ciudad de México. El hombre de Piedras Negras. There are quite a few Mexican Elders here also. I feel like they are kind of on "my team" like we sort of came from the same place..... We are both from the north, maybe? I don't know. But they talk really cool.

I wish I had enough time to write everyone back........ But I can't......... we have an hour.......
I just got told that I will be the first and only missionary to have an iPhone in our mission..... This is so ironic. The only guy who hates technology ends up running around as the only guy with an iphone in Perú....... what on earth? I can hear Uncle's laughter from here.....

I love you guys. Can't believe it's already been a year.

Should I keep sending poems home, or are they just getting weird? I kind of feel like they are.... ha ha ha.

I send home my love to everyone. Sorry my letters home are so lame. I'd send home pictures, but you all already know what airports look like. Ha ha ha. Just ask me more questions.... or request pictures of something...... I don't know.... I have never been a good facebooker. I don't even know where to start.......

I also wish that I had enough time to write home about all the things that happen in a week. I just can't. there's not enough time. I'll just tell you all everything when I get home. Ha ha ha. Oh my gosh....... I am just like my father....... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I just hope I never go bald. With a head like mine, I couldn't afford to lose my hair..... EVER.

I need more strawberry protein. I love it. You should see the size of my triceps. They are approaching Tyler Kelsey status. Linzi Kelsey.............. do whatever feels right......... I'm winking right now. Ha ha ha. I also got your birthday package. Thank you so much! Those are my very favorite things to get.... Tangible pictures and letters!

KAYLEE HOPPER!!!!!!!!!!!! You already know...............

Advice for this week.......

"If you want to walk forward, walk forward."



Until next week, I love you all

- Elder Boringkweg


These pictures are from Sister Marler NOT Chance :)


 
Office Elders
 

 

 





If you will notice the blonde head just behind Elder Leavitt.....Yep, those are Chances hands on the guitar. Too funny!





 

Saturday, March 8, 2014

We are never alone

The purpose of the Gosple of Jesus Christ is not to help us avoid problems or trials, but to help us to be able to overcome them. If we take a step back and think about why exactly we are here on this earth, it becomes clear that trials are a necessary part of life. God is trying to make us into Gods. He wants us to become exactly like Him. His joy is full and complete, and He wants us to experience what He has. One could question how we could ever be happy with trials. Doesn't being "happy" mean being free from hard things? No. There will always be hard things. Even God has trials. Imagine how He feels when one of His children, who He works endlessly for, rejects Him, and foolishly chooses to cling to the "small things" of the world. Things will never be easy. It is contrary to existence. However, we can find happiness even throughout the trials that come our way. It all depends on our focus. If we thought that God was helping us to grow and become like Him because He loves us enough to teach us, every time a hard thing came our way, I am sure we would take it smiling. If we stopped to think about our grand potential and how small most things really are, happiness can be found anywhere. I have a testimony that every human being on this earth can be happier than they now are, based on their application of the tools God has given us.
It all starts with the Atonement. When something hard happens, when we make a mistake, when others offend us, when we are sick, when we are scared or worried or simply unsure and anxious, we can count on our Savior to help us carry the load. WE DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS ALONE. We are never alone. Jesus Christ is always at our side ready to help us carry the cross we have been given. He is strong and able to help us, no matter what problem we have. He can erase guilt. Help you to forgive an offensive comment. Give you peace when your soul is in unrest. He can do it! We have no idea just how close He is to us in moments of hardship, just waiting for us to ask for help. Pray for help, and it will come. I have seen it so many times. No person is strong enough to successfully make it throught this life alone. And that is why we always have Him. The friend who never tires, never betrays us, never stops caring, and never leaves us to ourselves when the hard times come. When we rely on Him, we find that we can have unbreakable spiritual strength. I always think back to Van Heder. I am still in awe at his example. He affected my life forever when he came walking out to the stake conference pulpit all those years ago. He had Lukemia. I can only imagine how hard it must have been to even sit up that morning for him. But he was not a man of excuses. I wonder if I would have had the fire that he did to deliver that message that Sunday. I can't remember a word of it, but I remember what his actions taught me that day. That we are not subject to trials. In Brother Heder's own words that I once heard him say, trials do not define us, they reveal us. We have the power to overcome it all. Jesus Christ stands ever-ready to walk the road with us, no matter how bleak it may appear. I love Him and I know that He lives. I know that He died for me so that I can someday be with Him and Heavenly Father again. It is the plan. We are supposed to be happy. I testify that the only way to that lasting happiness is through Jesus Christ. I am grateful to have spent one year now in His service with my whole ability and self.


I wish the Schofield family well. I love them all. I will pray for them. President Schofield is an inspiring man, and throughout my youth, has taught me many things. Hayden has been a good friend to me for years. And Sister Schofield was patient enough to let me spend a lot of time at her house making a lot of noise.
 
I hope Courtney does well in school. It is so important. Don't blow it off. You make or break yourself in high school. I know it isn't easy, but it is worth it to stay home on a weekend if it means being to able to study for a test on Monday. We can do hard things.
 
By the way, Sister Halligan..... thank you for teaching me that quote. "We can do hard things" has been a constantly repeating sentence in my mind for my whole mission. You are awesome, and I love you! I also understood the birthday picture. I laughed super hard.
 
I got the pillowcase and snowballs, Grandma! Thank you so much! I had to teach the Latins how to snowball fight..... most of them have never even seen snow.... it was fun.
 
Dad..... buy my truck. Ha ha ha. Don't forget. I'm starting to get worried. I know how KSL works, sometimes..... I love you.
 
Kaylee Hopper....... How is your "way back" going? Don't give up on this. It is worth it.
 
Did Roberto get his shirt?
 


Austin King Bieber.... I missed you this week, you dork.
 
I love you, mom. I look forward to your letters every week. I wish I remembered the tune for "cast away" You might have to sing it in a video for me. Ha ha ha.
I have to go now..... man these weeks go by fast. Changes happen this Monday, and then I will have 8 changes left..... which is halfway. Crazy, huh? Missions are short. It just feels like normal life, now.
 
I think Dad might be the ONLY one who understands this poem.... it's pretty "Pink Floyd"-ish. Maybe you'll like it...... meh. How many have I sent home now?
 
I love you all,
-Elder Boekweg
 
 
 
The Road to Where I’ll Was
 
I walked a million miles from home, and saw a million things alone,
Helped a million crippled walk, so they themselves could make it home,
My back with sweat from half day’s work, my face with half day’s dirt,
I look towards the sun again, to see it stop and make a turn,
For where it rose, it starts to set, to tell me things will change,
I hear that it gets darker now, and darker seems so strange,
I never thought I’d get this far, to stand in half day´s sun,
To see my face, in time’s own pools, and know what I’ve become,
I have come so far from where I was, and what I used to be,
The road’s been rough, and steep enough, to ask the most of me,
I write my dearest April now, as March kicks through again,
Let her know, I don’t know how, we’ve stayed to such an end,
The start, I guess is over now, and night time’s coming soon,
It’s getting fast, and day’s roll through, to greet the rising moon,
Here and there, and there and here, a trip from B to A,
I’ve found that time forgets itself, if we close our eyes and pray,
It’s hard to carve a word in stone, a message chipped away,
But harder still to carve in heart, a word that always stays,
I’m running even faster now, though I have lost my feet,
No longer to depend on me, I fly through city streets,
This war will take the best of men, and give it back anew,
But better still, than that before, if those who give are true,
I till the ground to plant the seeds, my Master has so asked of me,
The season grows to point of age, as I walk out to center stage,
The middle of the show, they’d say, I work the set of patterned ways,
My back turned to the high-noon sun, I count the million days,
Each is but a moment, a memory fleeting fast,
And soon I fear, my labors here, will all be quickly passed,
This race is only halfway through, and yet is halfway done,
The work my Father gave to me, a symbol of His Son,
The suffering, the sacrifice, and all the bitter tears,
Are hidden up, in works of love, and spread through two whole years,
 
I’m older now, or so they say, and I’ve been gone awhile,
But don’t know how, I lived to now, to walk the second mile,
I’ve bled and been so soaked in sweat, that my own soul, my work would wet,
Working under half-day sun, I wondered where I’d get,
My life is not my own these days, myself I must forget,
At times it’s hard, to heal the scars, that mankind has long kept,
 
I’m sailing through an ocean, of risky rising tides,
I’d like to say, I know the way, as sailors love to lie,
I chase the light, that turns the night, to bright and hopeful day,
And pray to someday catch it, and in its presence stay,
I wait for days of sunshine, of snowfall, and of rain,
The flavors of the universe make every day a change,
I sit on stars at night and think, about the world that lies beneath,
And from my glowing seat, I see, the gleaming people speak,
My boat only stays afloat, although the ocean’s deep,
Because I’m unaware of it, I am too small to sink,
 

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Smile No Matter What

Questions First:

1. How many ties do you have? Do you trade ties with everyone?
     I've got like....... 8 ties. One for every day of the week and change. I don't really trade them out.... that's not a big thing in this mission.

2. Do your pants fit?
    Yes. Thank you so much! I needed them SO bad.
 
3. Did you ever meet Seth Frankhauser? (Grace's friends son) He went to the Lima MTC in like Jan I think.
    He comes into the mission on March 10th. Looks like I'll pick him up from the airport.
 
4.  Who cuts your hair? Do you pay for it?
    Elder Tway uses his buzzer and whacks the top with a 5 and the sides with a 3. He says no shorter.
 
5. Last night I was thinking and suddenly remembered I sent you a lego for Christmas. Did you ever put it together? And how did you like your Christmas stocking? Did you give the other one away?
     I got it. It was sweet. It's on my desk here. Ha ha ha ha. I loved my stocking! thank you so much! I gave the other to Elder Hernandez. He's from Honduras, and has not recieved a letter from his parents for practically his whole mission. They don't have internet where he lives. He was very grateful.
 
6. What was in Aubries tootsie roll can she sent you for your bday?
    Aubrie's tootsie rolls and bracelets were awesome. Thanks Aubrie!
 
7. Also do you have enough socks at the moment or should I keep sending a few pair with every package?
   I've got enough for now. They get lost at a rate of 1 pair a month.
 
Elder Tway will no longer be my companion as of March 10th. He's training the new Financial Secretary Elder LEAVITT. Elder Leavitt was my comp in the MTC, then we were born in the same zone. Now we're comps again. Crazy........ I spent exactly half a year with Elder Tway, 6 months...... wow......... a quarter of my mission. And now, I can't even count Elder Leavitt as a "new" comp, because I've had him before. I've had 4 comps in my whole mission. Ha ha ha ha. One of which I only had for 4 weeks........ how weird, my mission is.

My mission is nothing like I thought it would be. And honestly, I didn't really know how it would be to begin with. But I never imagined it would be like this. God has this really interesting way of giving you exactly what you didn't think was coming. Just when you think you know the next step, you find out that you are in fact very much off course. I just hope my mission turns out to be everything I's "hoped" it would be. God gives you what you need, but not always what you want. That's part of maturity. Learning to smile no matter what happens. We have to love and trust God and His plan more than anything else in this life. It is the only way to remain constantly happy. When things don't turn out the way we thought they would, and we feel like nobody can understand our pain, or the cross we bore, we should remember that there is ALWAYS someone there who understands. I give my witness that Christ, our Savior bore the heavy burden of all the pains of the world. He alone paid for every last debt that the rest of us bring about. He never complained. He never gave up. He never worried that nobody would ever understand Him and His duty as the Savior of the world. He simply went and did. He completed everything His Father asked of Him. And we have to do the same. 
 
I am out of time this week,
 
I love you mom, and everyone else,

- Elder Boekweg
 


Chance's 20th Birthday at the Mission Home. Thank you Pres. and Sister Marler.