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.

 

 

Welcome to Peru



Part of Chances new position is to be on the welcoming committee for incoming missionaries.

 

 

 

 

I have some questions for you: (the first 2 are from Grandma Boekweg)

 

1.  -     Is your apartment at, by, or close to the mission office? (He talked about taking calls until midnight)

    The apartment is about a 7 minute walk from the office. But my area is about a 45 minute walk from the office.... so that gets kind of old. You spend an hour just getting to area to proselyte.

 

2-     When he has to go out around Trujillo (i.e. taking a missionary to catch the bus) is it on foot or does someone drive?
       I usually walk. My companion is the mission´s financial secretary, so he is always looking to save money. In other words, we don't spend money on taxis unless somebody is missing a leg. Ha ha ha. But it´s all good. I love the walk. It's cool. We walk past the only Fender guitar store that I think exists in Perú. If only I could play guitar........  ha ha ha

3. Have you been healthy?
    Aside from some parasite symptoms, yes. That would be fun. It would be my own problem, as I am over the health of the missionaries.....

4. What do you do for P-day now?
     I usually have to work through it. People are always sick. Sister missionaries call me round the clock. Ha ha ha. I have never talked on the phone with girls so much in my life.... pretty ironic. This is another one of those things that I could only see happening to myself. Ha ha. I have only had 3 Pdays here, so I don´t really know yet.

5. From Eileen- So chance - how is the new area? Peanut Butter? Does that mean it's a pretty big city? What could you compare it to? Is it going to be easier to get packages and letters? Are you able to do something besides soccer now on pday? What do you usually do for service?
     Nutella is far superior to peanut butter, and they do have it here! The new area is weird. we got assigned to this place that is like a big construction site. It's basically empty. Nobody lives there yet, because none of the houses are finished. But we also have a really poor area of the city too. There aren´t really any skyscrapers here, it's just like endless amounts of suburbs and apartments. But it is really dirty. I think I compared it dirty Madrid or something. La plaza de armas aquí en Trujillo parece exactamente como una parte de España, pero creo que todavía, hay menos edificios y cosas así.

6. Did you get Dads letter?
    Yes. By the end of the first paragraph, I cried. Thank you so much for writing me. Especially such a long letter. As a missionary, there are few joys greater than reading mail from your family. So it's always good when you find that a letter will take you a long time to read. It takes you home for just a second. I was glad to hear about all the things going on at home. I know it´s not easy for you to write letters. It's not easy for me to type. I understand perfectly. But I love you too. Did they get you to trade, your heroes for gold? Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? Did you exchange, a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? Righteous. Rock on, my father.

7. It takes so long for me to ship you anything that Ive been thinking about Christmas and if you will need a calling card to call us? I have a package ready to go (not your Christmas package) and I can put a calling card in it so you will have it for sure. Should I?
    No calling card. I get to Skype. 40 minutes. I'll be doing it here from the office. I hope I myself can get it figured out. 
  

I love you. Things are crazy here. Still haven´t had time to take pictures.  *The pictures on here are from Sister Marlers Blog.

-Elder Boekweg

20 new missionaries

 

Helping with the Sisters luggage

 

 



Welcome to Peru

 

Life in the Mission Office

Questions first:

1. Do you go on the trips to other places with the Marlers?

    Yeah. They told me I'll see the entirety of this mission, including some areas that haven't been opened up yet. I get to help President open places. That'll be sweet.

2. Does Pres. Marler know you know how to play the guitar? Are you going to get the chance to play his?

     He knows. He told me he wants me to do a musical number sometime. I'll told him YES. Ha ha ha. He has the nicest guitar in Perú. Haven't had the chance to play it yet.

3. When you make a facebook can we friend you?

    Don't have one yet. I'll resist it as long as I can. Ha ha ha ha. Funny how I will only get one when God Himself wants me to..... Ha ha ha ha.

4. Are you going to have an IPAD?

    Don't know..... I would say though, that if anyone here is getting one, it's the assistants, then me. 

5. Did you get Dads letter? I know shocking, he sent you one.

     Nope. I got one from Sister Taylor, though! She is awesome. I miss her unique brand of humor. People here don't laugh at the same stuff I do. I'm always looking weird because I laugh at things that nobody else does. Ha ha ha.

6. Will you send us pics of your new apartment and city?

     I will when I get some. This job keeps me so busy that I haven't had time to take even one pic of Trujillo. But I feel like I just got transferred from Perú to Spain. It's a lot nicer here. REALLY European. It's like........ a filthy version of Madrid.

7. Do you do the trainings for zone conferences?

    Yeah. President Marler also told me that in the future, I will be doing splits with the assistants to go work with Zone Leaders, and we will be teaching them how to become better teachers..... which is a daunting task for me, as I have never been even a senior companion yet......... apparently, My job floats somewhere between Zone Leaders and Assistants. I'm like a weird 'special task' missionary. They're even going to make me get a new plaque that says I'm from the office. It's all very weird. It's very humbling, because I stink at just about everything that this job entails. Ha ha ha ha.

8. Where will you watch general conference?

    Thanks to my new job, I will be watching it at the mission President's house..... right at his side.... I am going to learn SO much. It's so cool, because already, I will be somewhere with President, and he will lean over to me and teach me some profound doctrine that I had never thought of before. I am so lucky to be able to spend so much time with him. It's like drinking straight from the spring. Unfiltered, pure and personal. I LOVE that part of it.

My Spanish is also improving much more quickly here. Half of the office speaks English, so I am constantly having to switch between the two. They say that's better for retention of a language. Sometimes I can't remember if people just told me something in English or Spanish. Even some of my own thoughts are that way.... Not to mention I have to call places like Argentina and Puerto Rico now, so I get to hear all sorts of accents and forms of Spanish. Argentinians have beautiful Spanish. It's soft and gentle. At least, more so than the Caribbean guys.... they are barely understandable. Especially over the phone. Ha ha ha ha. This job has grabbed hold of every one of my weak points and is just pulling on them to make them grow. I can't believe how much I'm learning here. It's disgusting.

Like I said before, I am the health guy too. Which means I get to work not only with President, but Sister Marler a lot too. She is crazy. it's so funny, because she is way more....... brutal than President is. President always wants to send people to the clinic for any sickness. But Sister Marler always wants me to tell them to buck up. Ha ha ha.

And the clinic.................. Uncle, imagine Verruckt zombies level. That is exactly what the hospital here looks like. I always envision Nazi Zombies jumping down from the holes in the ceiling when I have to go there....

My job requires me to not ever sleep..... People call me late at night from Lima asking questions about Visas and things. Last night, I went to bed at around 12, and then woke up at 5 thirty to take a missionary to the bus stop to get to Chimbote. And that's just a normal day! I am working SO crazy hard here....... by the time my time here in the office is done, I am going to know everything about everyone. This must be how Brand Reynolds feels. Maybe he can help me learn about parasites, since pretty much everybody here has them. By the time I come home, I will be like a witchdocter/ultimate survivalist. I will know how to cure every problems that one can acquire in the 3rd world country of Perú. Ha ha ha. Maybe that will come in handy when my own kids get sick.... maybe to some extent, I will know what to do when they get bitten by death mosquitoes and piranhas. :) I love this weird country.

Roberto..... ¡estoy esperando su respuesta! Tengo una invitación de una familia en Casa Grande para regresar un día y gastar una semana con ellos en Hawai, (cual es un citio cerca de Cascas) y me dijeron que puedo traer mi familia. Entonces, Tal vez podemos visitarles juntos un día. No sé, quizás aún visitar a Lima también. Quiero ver su país con Ud. Sabe mucho más que yo a cerca de la cultura y todo.



I love you all, especially you, mama.

- Elder Boekweg

 

Big Changes

I got a call from President Marler, and he asked me to accept the assignment of being the ''Personal Secretary to the President.'' Which means I will now live in the office of the mission in Trujillo. I don't really know what that job entails. It looks like I'll be in this position for at very least 6 months, but probably more like 9. I'm really nervous. I have to have perfect Spanish for this job, because I'll have to talk to the mayor of Trujillo and stuff. I also get to call the Provo MTC to organize the new coming missionaries. It looks like I will be working HARD in this position.

 

 

We had some questions for him:

 

 

1. What is your new apartment like?

    We have hot showers here! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I can't explain the ecstasy of taking a hot shower after only having either cold or molten lava showers for 5 months...... The apartment is nice. It is much cleaner than the Casagrande place. I live there with 5 other Elders. All the office Elders live, work, breath, and die together. We do interchanges ALL the time. Stuff gets CRAZY here.... I can't believe how hard my job is.... until now, I felt like a mission was do-able. But now...... the computer has ruined my mission, too. Ironically, I'm going to have to learn facebook on my mission.... I swear that is a problem that only I would ever have in the entire world. Ha ha ha ha

2. No pensionista? Do you do your own cooking and laundry now?

    The local bishop does our laundry and things, and we have a lady make lunch every day except Sunday. The rest of the time we are on our own. Which I am eternally grateful for.

3. Do you shop for your own food?

    Yes. There is the Peruvian attempt at a Walmart called ''Wong's'' right next door to the office. 

4. Do you have a companion in the office?

    Yes. Elder Tway is from Parker, Colorado. He is the definition of what you'd think a financial secretary would be. He came to Per'u at the same time I did. We are both being trained for our new spots right now. It's good to have a buddy that truly understands your situation. We will probably be comps for a very long time... maybe up to 9 months. You should get in tough with his parents or something.

5. What is Trujillo like?

     Picture Salt Lake..... but without laws or cleanliness. Tons of chicken joints. That's basically all I know about it so far.

6. Will you get your mail quicker now?

    yes. By a week or so. Now I can get it the minute it comes in to the office. Normally, I'd have to wait another week.

7. Can you buy your own socks now :)?

    yes.

8. Will you be on the greeting committee for the new missionaries at the airport?

     Yes.

9. Is it the same apartment you stayed in when you went to Lima?

     Yes

 

 

  Wow..... I was NEVER destined to be an office worker. My computer skills are pitiful. Everybody laughs at me. Ha ha ha ha. They're all convinced I am a hick. A pig-raising Tooele County hick. I guess they're right.... Ha ha ha ha. At least it gives me an excuse for my computer abilities. Elder Tway, on the other hand, was a financial secretary for an insurance company before the mission. That's a bit different from being a pizza guy or a warehouse worker... Ha ha ha. He is having a much easier time with this transition than I am. It is SO hard. I can't believe how many things I have to worry about now. One of my jobs is health.... and right now, the mission is receiving like 20 new sister missionaries every change. But I still proselyte too..... I am going to be SO responsible at the end of all this. I have to keep track of a hundred little things every day. College will seem easy in comparison to this. 

   I love you.

- Elder Boekweg