Just a couple pics

This week Chance wasn't able to write much of an email. He just let us know he was going to visit some Incan Ruins with his Mission President on his P-day and didn't have much time.

Sister Marler posted a couple pictures on her blog today of the missionaries preparing for the Plaza De Armas Christmas program. Looks like fun!

Chance practicing the drums

Update on the Pigeons

Holy COOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW,

   Who told Courtney she was allowed to look that old!? What is she, 20!? She looks older than I do!



 And DALLON!!!!!!! IS HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh.......... he is enormous. I cannot believe I have not seen them in almost 8 solid months now.....Time has flown on the wings of a golden flying hawk on fire..... And I do believe that we shall indeed live to see it pass completely........ wow....... Especially when Christmas hits.... I'm kind of scared to Skype home. I would much rather talk on the phone. It would be so much easier to not have to see you all. But alas, I do what I must.

Also... I found out from an Hermana this week that I am allowed to watch videos from y'all. So if you want to make a video and send it my way, I think that would be cool. I am not allowed to send back, though. So I guess you all will have to wait until Christmas. 

 

Questions

 

1. What else do you do on p-day besides soccer? I keep getting asked and I don't know.

    Soccer, Football, Fútbol, and sometimes even Pelota. That is about all.....

2. Are you on medicine yet for your parasite? The answer better be yes!

    Yes. Cured, baby

3. How often do you proselyte? Everyday or just weekly?

    Well...... we have from 6pm to 9pm every day. But sometimes work gets in the way of that... It's crazy. President told us that our office assignments always come before our area.... With that being said, sometimes we sacrifice proselyting time in order to pick people up from the airport or some other weird thing. It's hard for me to be in an office....... I have realized how much I never want an office job....... ugh..... but I am called to do what I am called to do. And I will do it.

4. When do we get pictures?

     Maybe never........

5. Have you or will you have any baptisms while serving in the mission office?

     .... Nope.

6. Do you see Pres and Sis Marler every day?

    Usually about 4 times a week. But I call them hundreds of times every day

7. Do you only have 1 senior couple in your mission?

     For now. They are awesome. We run to their house to help them with things all the time.

8. Do you have a member family that you spend time with. Like they would feed you anytime?

    Negatory. But my family in CasaGrande invited me to come to their little girl's baptism. I love them. She was 7 when I taught their family. She still had to wait a few months when her family got baptized. Little Eva. We call her Evita. She has such a sweet special spirit. And her family may be the reason CasaGrande didn't kill me. Ha ha ha. 

9. Do you feel sick having a tape worm?

     Na. Just tired.

10. Do you do service projects?

     All the time. I have already built about 2 whole Peruvian houses. Floor, walls, roof. And around here, that's usually all you need. Ha ha ha. Its cool that they are able to live so happily with so little. 

 

 

 

Update on the Pigeons..........

So I wake up one day this week, and my companion tells me the birds have gotten back in to my bathroom. I don't believe him, because I knew that I had shut the window. So I go look, and sure enough, they had figured out how to open the window, and were back...... They are increasing in intelligence........ gathering knowledge...... I guess that's Boekweg luck for you; The best and the worst, but nothing in between. Ha ha ha ha. 

 

 

Funny story.... One of the Elders is doing counseling here in the office, and so we sometimes have a psychologist kickin' around. Yesterday, she looked at me, staring deep into my eyes, and suddenly said, "You Don't belong in an office, do you? You need fresh air. You are a social person, and to be here all day alone kills you, doesn't it?" I laughed so hard. She hit that on the HEAD. I do miss the field. The office is really, really different, and really, really hard. I have seen progress in many different areas. I have learned things that I don't think the field could have taught me. Different things. And I get to collect the direct runoff of doctrine that President rains down on the missionaries. I have learned SO much that way.... but I do still miss walking entire days. I never thought Christ would ask me to serve this way. My mission is turning out to be something entirely different than what I thought it was going to be. But such, is the way of he world, I guess. You can never know beforehand exactly how things will go. And so here I will be until I receive another assignment. Sometimes, it's hard to love being a missionary when you feel like you just have a 12-hour a day job. It's hard to feel like my work and effort matters sometimes, as it is now not measured by key indicators and statistics and the level of people's conversion. Now, instead of serving the people here in Perú, I serve the missionaries who serve the people. It's like I am down one level deeper now. I see the mission from a totally new perspective. In CasaGrande, I sometimes felt isolated and alone, but here I can see the whole mission. I see everyone and everything. A bigger picture than I saw before.

President LOVES my song called "Headlights." He makes me play it every time I am near a guitar. The entire mission is starting to sing it to me when they see me. Everyone in the office knows every word.... It's so funny. I never thought Some Fish would have a place even in the mission. It looks like they want me to play the song for the Christmas show too..... ha ha ha. So Some Fish is going international, now. I'm playing the Plaza de Armas, Trujillo show. What a venue. There will be thousands of people, I am told. It is madness.
Here is the link to Chances song Headlights:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfxAKHST75g

 

I am so sorry that I don't have time to write everybody back.... I wish I could. I will catch up with everybody when I head home. And that really won't take all that long. Just be patient with me. Close your eyes and you will see. Everything now, as it was meant to be. Troubles somehow, set us free. Before you know it, I will sing. And tell each one of all these things..........

wow..... ha ha ha

Sometimes my job requires me to call The Salt Lake Temple, or Provo, or Ogden, etc ..... it's weird to know that my phones calls are making it so close to home base.... 

And Elder Walther.... I met him a BYU. I lived in the same building as him in Wyview, 3 floors up. He was cool. It's nice to have him around. He is the one familiar face from life before the mission. And he understands me completely, because we are in the same boat. Ha ha ha. He was in Ascope, which is about 20 minutes from CasaGrande. So for a change, we saw each other at all the district meetings. It was a blessing. Tell his mom that he is healthy....... believe me, I know. ha ha ha. He is a really good missionary.

 

Enjoy the pictures. I have taken about 5 of them in the past 2 months..... ha ha ha. And make sure Linzi's letter gets to her.

 

I love you all,

-Elder Boekweg



 

 

 

 

 Chance wants to use this picture for his next album cover

 

 

 

Brain thinking list

First off, Kelly........ I just want you to know that I love you and thought about you this week. I want you so much to be happy. My prayers are always with you.

Niki.... Enjoy my room. Hopefully you didn't find my pet, Squekers. He lives behind my headboard in the abyssalous void that I have not cleared out since 7th grade.

Eileen, your pics don't work. I love you and wish you the best.

Deedre... Sorry for not telling you sooner about my gross parasite, which I am still not taking medication for. I didn't think my mom could hack very many pics of parasites..... ha ha ha. I got Granda Lewis' history. Send me more!

Joylynn, There is a missionary who told me that you were his English teacher. His name is Matt Dority. He tells me you were nuts. Ha ha ha.

I found the Elder that Grace Duffy told me about. I'll be doing his paperwork here in the next few weeks.

Gomez Family, I love you

Fivas Family, I love you

Johansen family, I love you

Kelsey Family, I love you Linzi...... HAVE FUN IN CHINA!

Sister Taylor, I am still enjoying my vacation from you haha

RJ Scott, I miss showing pigs and steers with you in that crazy old Stockshow. I smelled some cow poop the other day, and it reminded me of your steers. Ha ha ha. And Shannon's, which always seemed to be the craziest ones of the bunch. I love you Scott family.

Elder Hayden Shofield, I love you, naive.

Elder Fivas, I love you and your pictures of food every week. We're going to work out and get ripped when this is all over............. although I believe I've said something like that before in the past.....

Elder Kelsey, I love you man. I miss rollin' in yo' thug machine feelin' like a thug nasty and crankin' the bass while speeding heinously down an urban road.... oh the memories.

I am sure I will write more notes to more people next week. These were they who made my brain thinking list this week.

So the story of the week is this: I walk in to the bathroom on Thursday night, and see sticks all over the bathroom floor. My first thought was that one of the Elders put them all there to bother me (I have a bathroom minus a shower all to myself, because all the 6 people in the office have found out that I can't poop without clogging a Peruvian toilet) But then I noticed the window was open. I thought some jerk kid was probably throwning sticks in the window after watching us go inside, because it's fun to tease missionaries. I shrugged it off, and started shaving. The next night I came in and there was more sticks..... the window still open.... and this time, I realize that my razor blade is gone. There are paper scraps all over the floor this time, too.... I think it's weird, but I don't care enough about it to tell anyone. Then the next morning comes, and I walk in to use the bathroom. I see two pigeons gently sleeping in the window sill.... Now everything makes sense, and I try to scare them off. One of them goes without a fight, but the other lunges at me before flying out. I almost got pecked. Ha ha ha. I will be keeping my window closed now.... especially because the stupid birds flew away with my shaving blade..... dumb things.
I LOVED the raspberry hot chocolate. I made a cup of it, drank it, and then realized that I accidentally used water from the tap....... which is like instant death here in Perú for a gringo..... But I'm not sick yet.... Ha ha ha.

I love you all very much and I will write more next week. I love you Courtney.

Changes week was MISERABLE.... I was in charge of all of it. I have slept 8 hours in the past 3 days because I have been working here in the office until 11:30pm every night, and waking up at 5:00 to take missionaries to the airport to go home... I am SO Tired.

Also Dad.... I showed my comp a picture of you, and I apparently look nothing like you.... But the further I get into my mission, the more I want to be just like you. You are my hero. The example of working as hard as an ox. I miss you so much. 2 Days ago, I remember I just wanted to talk to you so bad, but I couldn't. I love you dad. Pink Floyd still rocks.

Mom.... I could write a billion paragraphs about you and still not do you justice. Just know that I love you.

 

- Elder Boekweg

 

Chance hasn't sent pictures in some time. This was on his mission blog. You can see him in the background in the blue tie, laughing about something, not realizing he is on camera!!

Soccer on P-day

Familia,

Wow... I forgot how beautiful fall is in Utah. I miss that old tree. And ask dad if he listened to Pink Floyd in my car. That would have been sweet.

So President Marler, his wife, my companion, and I are driving to a market (Sister Marler shops a lot) and he asks us what we used to do before the mission. I tell him I used to record music. He asked if there was anything I had done online. I said yes. He then proceeded to look up Potato Girl, and play it on his Iphone. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. It was so weird. He said he liked it. What I am gathering about him and his wife is that they were hippies back in the day. They love music too. President Marler has played Simon's guitar (from Simon and Garfunkel). They like all those types of groups. It's cool. Ha ha ha ha. You should hear our planning meetings about the Christmas program.

Okay..... I have to go use Pday to play soccer now..... like we do every week...... ugh........... I 'm getting kind of tired of soccer EVERY DAY. Why do they want to spend the only free day we have doing the same thing we do in the mornings of every other normal day? We always work through Pday. And when we finally get a free second, they all want to play soccer...... I love soccer, but there are things I would rather do with a free day in a foreign country. The problem is, all the Elders are Peruvian, and have already seen all the cool Incan ruins and things. Ha ha ha ha. Oh well. I feel better now.
I'll write more later today. I've got about 30 minutes left this week.

See ya

Back Again-

I miss you all. Sometimes I feel farther away than others. Usually Tuesdays. Brayden is still a dork. I wrote Sadie a huge letter this week. I think Linzi is getting one this next week. And Tali is halfway through her mission. Now THAT is weird. It seems like no time at all has passed since I sat at her ordination....... and now she's on the downhill home........ holy cow. Tyler is good, I hope. I hear there's some crazy stuff in Africa. I am crazy jealous of his safari adventures. Tyrel Barney is also doing well, I hope. I still need his contact information. I bet he's killing it over there in the Philippines. }

Send me Mason's wedding invitation..... I can´t wait to see it.... NOVEMBER 30th??? Dang.

Kason looks like a butterball. Little fat happy dude. Do I have that right? I can't wait to see him for the first time. He may be talking by then.

Until next week, I suppose things will go on as they do. I hope Courtney doesn't transfer to GHS, or I will disown her. ;) Ha ha ha ha. I am sending something special home this week. Sorry for the lack of pictures once again. I always forget my camera. I think I have taken about 150 pictures. That's almost one for every day, I think..... wait...... I have no idea how many days I've been out now.... maybe 200? Anyway.... It's going to be crazy to see Luke Jones hit his year mark, as I feel like he just barely left in Nivember of last year. And from there, we will all start taking turn hitting the year mark. after that, it's full steam ahead to the 2 year mark....... how crazy. I love my mission. It means everything to me. I am going to sob even harder coming home. I'm not sure how it'll all go down. I can't even imagine the day when this ends..... a mission was as far out as I ever planned for. I guess I just assumed it would never get here, let alone end someday. Now all I know is that I'll go back to BYU...... I don't know what I'll study, where I'll live, or who will be there with me. All I have now is ideas. No plans, really. Should I be worried? For the time being, I am not making any plans. There is far too much to worry about already. Although, quiero viajar a Perú de nuevo con Roberto eventualmente para ver las cosas que no tuve la oportunidad de ver mientras estaba aquí sirviendo una misión. Lugares como Cuzco, o aún Lima. Tengo amigos aquí ahora, y ellos quieren que les visito en el futuro. Entonces, hay que viajar a Casa Grande para verles también. Roberto, ¿quiere ir conmigo a un lugar se llama Hawai? Creo que es cerca de Casa Grande. Quizás 30 minutes más norte, en la cierra. Allí viven ellos. También, quiero decir de nuevo que estoy tan animado para hablar con Usted cuando llamo a mi casa en Diciembre. Será lo maximo. Tiene que decirme si mi Castellano es bueno, o todavía falta mucho para ser entendible. Ya no puedo creer que he aprendido tanto en un tiempo tan corto. Pero sé que también, tengo mucho para mejorar. Mi manera de hablar es un poco raro. Estoy tratando estudiar la gramática lo más posible. ¿Tiene algo que puede ayudarme? Si quiere visitar a Perú conmigo, avíseme no más, y nos vamos. ¡Chao!

I love you Mom, Courtney, Dad, and all the others who love and support me so much. I can feel your love and your prayers every day.

- Elder Boekweg

Short & Sweet

Lets start off this week with the questions:

1. Do you do exchanges with members?

    Yes. "Jovenes" go with us all the time on visits.

2. Did you burn a tie for your 6 month anniversary?

     Na. That's dumb. I'd like to keep what I paid money for. Ha ha ha

3. What is your address where you live? Dad wants to google earth it.

      my house is: Trujillo, Perú, calle los tilos, Urb. California        The office is: Avenida Larco, WONG. If you do    street veiw. you can actually see 2 missionaries standing outside the building. It's funny. 

4. Are you taking medicine for your parasite?
    ............. Not yet...........
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Who told I have a parasite? Was it sister Marler? Yes, it is true...... I caught a tapeworm...... ha ha ha ha ha ha. Just when you think you can´t lose any more weight...... I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to freak out, like I am sure you're doing right now.... Ha ha ha ha ha. Deedre will love that, I'm sure....... ha ha ha ha ha ha
5. What kind of foods do you eat now?

   NOT CHICKEN AND RICE

Disneyland, huh? Eileen is sick with envy. Ha ha ha. I hope you rode the pirates of the Caribbean ride for me. That one was my favorite.

Also, dad. I have missed dad so much lately. He doesn't know how much he means to me. I wish somehow I could tell you everything, but I just never have enough time. But I do have this: President Marler asked me to write a song for the Christmas program in Spanish. So you can look forward to seeing me play the Plaza de Armas Trujillo Perú venue this Christmas. Ha ha ha. It'll be cool. I am so excited to come home and be... different. I guess I'm saying that I'm excited to be more like dad. Improved. more willing to sacrifice, and work and bleed and die for things worth working and bleeding and dying for. Dad tried to teach me that my whole life. I am so thankful for his example. It may never have seemed like it, but I feel like especially towards the end of my time before the mission, I understood his "simple man logic" perfectly. My brain thinks the same way.

Alrighty, then... I believe that's it for one week. 

- Elder Boekweg

The Plaza De Armas in Trujillo PERU
They do a Christmas program here every year.

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

Goat Heads

Sis Marler put this pic on her blog. She says "4 goat heads...ooops, that is 3 goat heads and Elder Boekweg"

 

 

 

 

So lets cover a few questions first:

 

1. Do you go out proselyting everyday or only on designated days?

     Sometimes, I have too much to do here. So we don't always go out proselyting. But I hear that as soon as me and Elder Tway get the hang of things, we will be going with the assistants to proselyte in different areas and zones almost every day. That'll be fun. I´ll see the whole mission.

2. Are you gaining any weight yet? I know you are eating better. I saw the pics of you eating tres leche cake. It looked delicious!!

    No..... Just raw muscle. It's awesome. Me and Elder Tway have this sweet nightly exercise program worked out, (not to mention my 200 continuous sit-ups every morning) so We're actually getting pretty ripped. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Also... I don't know what's up with my facial hair, but all of the sudden I have tons of it. It practically grows up to my eyes now.

3. I am starting to try and figure out your Christmas package. Do you need any American things like medicine or deodorant or whatever?

   Nope. Just buy me a banjo for Christmas and leave it downstairs until I come home. :) Just send me a picture of it. Really. I mean it. Ha ha ha ha. Seriously.

4. Is it spring yet?

    As the nickname suggests, Trujillo is the ´city of eternal spring.´ Every morning is chilly, and every afternoon is warm. After being in Casa Grande, Trujillo is PARADISE. Ha ha ha. There´s Wong's, and nice showers, and even floors............

 

Now.... I just got done watching General Conference in the mission Pres´s house.... and Sister Marler made cinnamon rolls.... I felt like I was home again. They really have become my surrogate grandparents. I feel completely at home around them. I love them. President teaches us things all the time. I am SO grateful for that. It's like living in the presence of FOUNTAIN of knowledge.

Also... I want to Roberto to know how much I like his country. I love it. I love the people, the architecture, the climate, the language, everything.... except the rice and chicken. I just have to mention how different it is from what I'm used to. Amo al Perú.

Mission President asked me to write a song for the mission that they can sing at all the zone meetings. So it looks like I get to leave a part of my music here too. I am so happy about it. He has a guitar, and although it is a nylon string, it seems like the greatest and only guitar in my world right now. By the way Sadie, how is my old guitar doing? You should send me a picture of the old girl sometime..... Oh how I miss her.

No puedo creer cuan diferente es la vida ahora. Y en verdad, todavía estoy aprendiendo el idioma y todo, pero puedo ver el progreso en maneras que antes yo nunca creí eran posibles. All my friends are going to laugh at me and my spanish when we get home, because in comparison to theirs, mine is very formal and proper. But I hear that´s just how Peruvians talk.

Dad... I am still crying about your letter. I'll let you know when I can worthily reply back. I'm sure you understand my logic. Mom won't. Ha ha ha.

Mom.... this week, Sister Marler had me call the Salt Lake Temple to submit some names of struggling missionaries and their families.  I know that God is well aware of our struggles, and loves us enough to bless us always, even though when all is said and done, we probably don't deserve any of it.

Uncle and Eileen... I love you and your kids. Uncle, I want you to know that your nametag is always on the inside of my suitcoat.  And I want to hear more about y'all.

Familia Gomez... You people are awesome. That is all for now.

Familia Fivas... Your son is a dork. That is also all fow now. I love him.

Familia Johansen/Sadie... Tell Taylor or Nate to send me directions of how to make your hair look awesome even when you accidentally cut it like a fool because you were doing it alone?

Familia Kelsey... Tyler is hilarious. Linzi is brave. Also, there is an Elder going home this change named Elder Vanden Bosch. He plays soccer for Dixie. You may want to look him up. He is 6ft 5in and has hair like the Johansen boys. Jacee, I hope is stoked about her last year in high school. And Kamry...... I believe enough has been said. I love you all too.

And to all the rest who I did not have time to write, I love you and wish you a happy week. Enjoy conference. And Brett Paulick.... this does not count as a church attendance. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

- Elder Boekweg

Did y'all go to Elder Young's homecoming? Can Deedre send me some more interesting stories about my ancestors? Will you tell Taylor Gregrich I said hi, and that she is an example to me of faith? Will you also send me pictures of mountains? I miss them.