Happy New Year! Crazy to think its 2012 already. Time is just flying by. They always say it does, and it really does.
Caldwell is a pretty good area. Splitting it up, half our work was taken, but now only covering 2 wards we're really gonna have a chance to get to know the members and this area has some real potential. it's gonna take a lot of hard work to find it. We're basically starting from square one here, but once it's found this area is gonna be on fire. Dunno if it's gonna be while I’m here (expecting to get transferred again next transfer, seems to be the way things are going), but the potential is here and it's gonna be exciting to see it when it happens.
I’m struggling though... I don’t really like any of the other missionaries serving in Caldwell. It’s not that I don’t like them, just their choices. It’s def not the most obedient area. I want to clean it up, but I don’t want to be the one missionary that everyone here hates. I know there's ways to do it, I just don’t know how. There a some things I can control, some things I can just sit out on and obey the rules and know that I’m at least doing what I’m supposed to and hope others follow my example, but there's other things where I’ve to pick the lesser of 2 evils and break at least 1 rule. My comp is the area leader, but I don’t know how much he's capable of leading the area. I’m the one doing the planning, I’m the one deciding where to go, and for all purposes, it seems like I’m the area leader. I want him to be doing it, not out of laziness on my part, but because I think he can do it. I know what I’m doing, but I’m not sure he does. I don’t know how to teach him though. If I don’t do it, it probably won’t get done, but I want him to be involved in it and lead it, but he doesn’t seem to want to do it. I want to help him and the area, but I don’t know how to do it in a way that d, but is effective at the same time.
I’m not complaining. It’s a good chance for me to learn. It’s already been a week and I’ve already learned things. It’s been hard, but it's been good. I’m already anticipating learning so much in the next 5 weeks. Gonna try to talk with president about it and figure something out that help everyone.
This week we've just been visiting members and trying to get the work started. That’s something else that scares me about the area. We’re basically starting this area from scratch. There’s only 4 people we're teaching, so we're gonna be doing lots of finding. We met with both Bishops and went through the ward lists, so we've got a lot of less active/part member families we can visit. But I don’t know what to do... both of my previous areas have been good areas, and now I’m down to nothing and have to figure out what to do.
It’s a car share area. But I like biking better. Yes, I think I’ve been converted to bikes. I like biking better than a car, at least for missionary work. It’s a rough area for bikes though. It’s a pretty rural town, we have to ride about 5 miles or so to one of our areas, and there are quite a few rolling hills. I’m used to the cold now though. I think it's just been warmer here than in Paramount, but it's not bad. I still need to bundle up a bit, but I almost always end up taking my gloves and scarf-thing off while riding.
We’ve had our share of bike problems though. Got on 1 bike and it wouldn’t ride smooth (clunked when I peddled and almost wouldn’t ride at all) so I switched bikes which got both tires flat in one day. Luckily we met a member who's pretty good w/ bikes and he helped us get back on the road. Then the next day Elder Bell's tire flattened, and when we went to pump it up his back tire was loose and he snapped the piece that held it together, so the member we were with said we could use his bike for the time being. And it's been raining. We got out bikes on Thursday, and that's the day I had my bike problems. It rained little that day and we got a little wet, but the worst was the next day. We were riding to an appointment and the rain came out of nowhere and it was windy. There was a weather instrument in the member’s home we took refuge at and it said the wind was blowing 15 MPH. The bike lanes here are really not good. Tthis area wasn’t really meant for bikes (there's areas where there is probably only 6 inches between the cars and us at some points), so we decided it was safer to just catch a ride. The rain let up during our lesson, but as we were riding home the rain picked up again. So did the wind and it started icing too. Wind, rain, and ice... not fun to ride in. We were soaked. I’m so glad I was on bike before. My legs are used to biking, but Elder Bell struggles with biking a little bit. He’s been in a car for 10 months and this is his first bike area, it's been kinda tough. I want to stay on bikes - 1.because I like biking and 2. the other elders in this area haven’t been in bike areas and I don’t want to put them through what it is.
All in all, I’m doing ok though. It’s a struggle, but it's gonna be a good one. I’m work through it and do the best I possibly can. Hope everyone at home is doing well. It was great seeing everyone again.
Love,
Elder Blomquist
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