Been a good week for us here in Eagle. We taught 19 lessons this week. We almost had 20, but our 20th rescheduled. That's more lessons than I've taught in about 11 months. Usually it's around the 12-15 mark, but we hit 19 this week!

The area's doing pretty good too. We're starting to see some success from our wards. We've had a steady flow of new investigators and less actives to work with since I've been here. Working 5 wards is difficult though. I'm sad that I won't be around when missionaries work 1-2 wards per companionship. I loved only covering 2 wards in Caldwell. Even in Nampa when we covered 3 family and 1 singles ward, that was pretty much working 3 wards, that was awesome too. I'm hoping Eagle will be split and Eagle 3 created. With the 9 wards we have here collectively, I hope to see a 3rd companionship here with all sets covering 3 wards. There's lots to be done here. I've said it in all my areas (and I firmly believe it too), but Eagle's got a lot of potential. I think I see more potential here than I have in any other of the areas I've served in.

Really don't know what to say. Things are good right now. It's hard, but that's usually when the good times are as well. These last 3 months have been some of the hardest of the mission, but have also been the times of biggest growth.

Take care everyone!

Elder Blomquist

4-15-13

 

Yesterday as my 19 month mark. I don't even know what to say about it anymore, it just keeps rolling on.

 

Been another interesting week. Went on exchanges again, but I went to Weiser this time. We had a good time up here. In the 3 days I've been here we found a new person to teach, passed out 5 Book of Mormons, and committed someone to baptism (scheduled it for May 4th). It's been a good 3 days up here. Nice to get away from how things have been in Payette and have a change of pace. I'm happy to get back, there's something about the area your serving in, kind of a "my area" feel, but it's good to shake things up every so often.

 

4-22-13

 

Didn't get the above email out last week, spent the whole time emailing individuals I didn't get the general letter out. Here's the update with me.

 

Tore my PCL. Got a MRI last Tuesday and had the results today. The good news is that this is the least needed ligament in your knee. Said that it was only partially torn, and that through proper care and strengthening, I'll be back to normal in probably 4-6 weeks. Said there's college football players who have completely torn their PCL, so it's not that big a deal as long as I don't re injure it again. So the good news, I'm gonna be ok! It's been steadily getting better over the weeks, so I'll be fine.

 

Transfers are in 2 weeks, and I'm ready for them. Pretty sure I'm due for a transfer, and I kinda hope so. Mostly cuz of my companion (like usual). I love Elder Witbeck, he's an awesome guy, but over the past few weeks something's changed. I don't know if it's me, or him, or what, but things have changed. We've had a few heated arguments (over stupid things), he seems down and moody a lot more, and it's getting hard to deal with. I've tried to find out what's wrong and how I can help, but he just keeps using the line "no one understands my logic" or "you're not listening to me. If you were listening to me you'd think the way I do". Then when I try to understand his reasoning and figure out what it is he wants me to do he can't give me a straight answer. It really drives me crazy. I tried to tell him that we need to figure something out, cuz it's starting to get to me, but then he just says that I need to not let people get to me (which is funny, cuz he's always saying how he hates everyone and wishes they would just shape up. He's letting people get to him then telling me not to). but as a companion, and someone I spend 24/7 with, he affects me more than he realizes. It's amazing how much a companion and his attitude affects me. It's getting harder to deal with. It's been a good learning experience though. I'm learning how to deal with people and try to solve problems without getting angry (still working on that one). 2 weeks until transfers, I can do this.

 

Also decided I'm coming home early. President officially changed my release date to August 15. It was a hard decision, but I feel confident about it. (His original release date was Sept 15th, but classes start Aug 19th.  He'll come home and start right up with classes.)

 

Teaching's kinda going slow right now. We have about 20 names we're working with, but about half of them are single sisters who we don't have set appointments with. We can't really drop by and teach them. We can set up a return visit (which we do), but then when we go with a brother from the ward they cancel. That's how it's been for the past few weeks. It's really frustrating. We have all this potential, but it keeps cancelling. But I think we've taken steps to try to combat that. I don't think it'll be while I'm here, but I think this are will soon explode. It's really neat to see what's happened here. We went from having about 6 people we working with to about 20. 4 months of hard work has paid off. It's nice to step back and see some results. I always feel like I'm not doing enough or that there's more i could be doing, but then I step back and see what it is I have already done, it's interesting.

 

Well, that's pretty much it. Hurting my knee, getting canceled on, it's fun.

Take care everyone!

Elder Blomquist

Been another week. What do I say about this week? It's been fun, I'll say that.

Went on exchanges with Elder Downey. Actually, the exchange lasted about 3 days. He's a pretty good friend of mine, and we just stuck together for longer. Usually it's just a 24 deal, but we made it longer. He's made me into a pyro too. He's the 1 who showed me how to set my hand on fire, and we spent most of our nights together playing with fire. I wish I could send videos, but the emails wont let me. I juggled fireballs. We took some alcohol and doused tennis balls in it then lit em up and juggled them! It was a little harder in the dark, wish we would have turned on our stove light, but it still looks pretty cool. Then we figured out what else we could do. Took one of those tennis balls, lit it on fire, then threw it at Elder Downey and lit him on fire. We put some alcohol on an old shirt, then when the tennis ball hit it lit up. He started flailing around and screaming, and it was hilarious (it didn't hurt, we made sure we knew what we were doing before we actually did it). It made one heck of a video.

Based on what we did, we decided to have a contest to see who could do the best with fire. This week (starting today) we're seeing who can take the best picture with fire. It's gonna be pretty fun. So if you hear about something burning down in Payette, it's probably us.

Been a slower week lesson wise. We had a good week planned, we were looking at 20 lessons. But just like weeks before all of them cancelled (most at the door) and we only taught about 9 or so. But this area's seen a lot of improvement. When I first got here, I didn't know anyone. There was no records kept (and I've not been the best at keeping them up to date either, but working on it), I didn't know if we even had any investigators (we prolly had 3-5 people we were teaching when I got here), and it was a mess. But I've been working to turn things around. I feel bad cuz I feel like I could be doing more, but looking at everything I've done here I've done a lot. I think we're up to like, 14 or so people we're working with. Struggling to meet with them all every week, but there's been a lot of growth in this area. This'll probably be my last transfer here. But I'm glad for the opportunity I had to serve here. It was hard, but there's been a lot gained I think.

6 days till I hit my 19 month mark... I feel so old. There's not many missionaries left that are older than me. But it's an exciting time to be a missionary. There's so many changes happening throughout the world. We've got about 3 months till our mission splits, that'll be exciting. I'm hoping to stay in the Nampa mission, but will go where I'm asked.

So what y'all think of conference? Amazing as usual. I really liked Elder Holland's talk. Usually I'm not a big fan of him (it's a bandwagon thing. Most every missionary idolizes him cuz he's so bold and fired up and all that), but I thought his talk was amazing and something I needed to hear.

Week 3 of the transfer, going by fast.

Take care everyone!

Elder Blomquist

Suitcoat season is finally over!!! I can go around in my short sleeves now! I'm just a little excited about that one if ya can't tell.

This has been a very slow week. Don't know if that's cuz of spring break or not, but we're looking at a good week next week. Most of our people were out of town for the break or just cancelled their visit for one reason or another, nothing we're not used to. Next week we're hoping for 20 lessons. We've got a lot of set appointments. From about 4 on or so every weekday we're busy every hour. Weekends are typically slower for us, but weekdays are crazy busy.

Something I forgot from last week, I almost got a tree dropped on me. We were helping a member clear some elm trees, and while trying to move a particularly big one, I hear "LOOK OUT!! LOOK OUT!!" Look and there's a tree falling. Run out of the way just in time to not get hit, but it was a close call. Then a couple days later I get hit by a car. I'm just waiting to see what's gonna hit me next. Tree, car, what's next?
We were on a doorstep talking to a sister outside when the husband pulls up in the van. The whole yard could be the driveway pretty much, so he chooses to stop right behind me (2 feet or less). He's the jokester type, so I just ignore it, then he nudges me a couple times. So no need to worry, didn't have to go to the hospital or anything.

I really don't know what to say... I've never really been good at conversation. People are surprised when I tell them I haven't heard from y'all for about a month now. (This is so not true.  He gets a letter or e-mail every week.  I just think he wants more mail.)  How bout this, everyone sends me an email, then I reply to it. I can do that!

Anyway, take care everyone!

Elder Blomquist

Staying in Payette another transfer! I'm both excited and not about that. We've been picking this area up like no other, but I was kinda hoping to go zone leader or just for some change, but it's whatever. They're redoing my district too. Before it was the sisters in Nyssa and us, but now we have us, the elders in Weiser (my best friend out this way), and the elders in McCall. McCall is 2 hours away though, so I've got a pretty big district. But it's gonna be good. Gonna be weird not having sisters in my district. Been 10 months or so since I've had a full elder district. I can actually do exchanges now.

We've had a pretty good week. These past 2 weeks have been the best we've seen in this area. Things are just exploding here. Not sure what it is, we're really not doing anything different than we had been, but all the work we're putting in is starting to show some results. We've found a bunch of new people to start working with.

My camera broke. The button to take pictures doesn't always go through. I can still take pictures, but takes a while sometimes. I'll send pics when I can, but I don't know how many more I'll be able to take.

 

Remember back when I set my hand on fire? I actually found a lesson to teach with that. I relate it to the atonement, and how we sometimes hold on to these things that hurt us (the fire). We let it stay so long it hurts us (still got some scars on my hand from the 1st time, was probably a 2nd degree burn after all). But there is a cure, the atonement of Christ. After I burned myself I put on a LOT of aloe to help it. I relate that to the atonement and how after we get burned, we can apply the healing balm of the atonement and take our pain away. We'll still have our scars, they remind us of where we've been, but they don't hurt anymore. Through the atonement we can be healed. What do you think of that lesson? Yes, I actually do set my hand on fire again when I do it. This has become one of my favorite lessons to teach people.

Well, gotta run now. Hope to hear from y'all soon!

Elder Blomquist

This has been an interesting week, I'll say that. It's felt long, but it's gone by quick. It's actually been one of our better weeks, we taught 15 lessons this week. Most our work is dealing with less actives, but that's alright. We've found a couple new people to teach. One is a less active, and another we know nothing about. They're members, been here for 9 months, yet nobody in the ward know who they are. This area's been dead for a while, but we're slowly bringing it back up. We've been doing a lot of work, I'm always amazed at how many lessons we teach a week compared to how many people we have to teach.

Transfers are coming up. It's in a week. I've only got 4 transfers left. Crazy to think that I may only have 1-2 more areas and 1-2 more companions.. I think I'm gonna stay another with Elder Witbeck, but we'll see what happens.

Have some food stories. That's one of the only problems I have serving in Idaho, the food is all normal. So that means we have to go and make our stories happen. We had a member offer us a cow tongue. Another member we're close with works at a BBQ place, so she smoked it up for us. It was pretty good. It kinda tasted like a mix between beef and pork. Was better fresh though, it didn't reheat very well. Also tried cow liver. Same family that gave us the tongue gave us the liver. The liver wasn't that good though. So now I can say I've eaten most of a cow now actually. Had the oysters, the tongue, liver, and steaks. Can also add pickled pigs feet to the list.

Had our house inspections this week. We won a grand prize! It was pretty cool, only took 18 months. Not that I was trying before, but it's cool to get it once.

well, that's about it as far as this email goes.

Take care!

Elder Blomquist

 

 

 

18 month mark tradition - burn a pair of pants.

 

My usual P- Day Crew
(from left)   Elder Witbeck, Elder Blomquist, Elder Andelin (in the suit), and Elder Downey



 

Been another week. Elder Witbeck rolled his ankle last week on pday, so we spent a few days inside. It's not been too bad though, we found 3 new people to teach this week. This area needs that bad. But it feels like I've forgotten how to teach. We've spent most of our days contacting, so my door approaches have gotten better, but teaching is a new concept now = P . But it's all good, such is life. Some areas are good, some need to be worked till they are.

This week feels like it's gone by so fast, they all seem that way. Was realizing last night that \I've only got 4 transfers left... Where is all the time going? I've been getting trunky. It's a new kind of feeling. All throughout you get those trunky moments, but it's nothing like this. IT's that "ready to come home feeling". But more than just being ready to come home, it's that it's actually becoming a reality. When I was out 3-10 months it was just like, "yeah, that would be nice, but it's so far away". Now at 18 it's like, "dang, that's close". I'm still out and working and all that, but it's coming close.

So there's been a change in email policy for missionaries, now friends can email as well. We've been given more time to email as well. So anyone who write me can now do so by email and I can write back.  (Ricky's e-mail is richard.blomquist@myldsmail.net.)  It's actually pretty neat, since I've not been much to writing letters.

Let's see, what else? Guess I'm not much for writing emails either. I've been sitting over this one for almost 2 hours now = P

New missions coming soon! I hope I stay in the Nampa mission. (His mission area is splitting in two to create a new mission.) All my friends are there. It's exciting, as are the transfers in 2 weeks.

well, that's all for this week, gotta run now.

Take care!

Elder Blomquist

This has been a crap week. It's probably the most frustrating and disheartening week I've ever had. We had a lot of potential for this week, we worked hard the week before and set up a lot of visits with a lot of new people. Every single one of them cancelled. We had like 12 or so lessons set with people, and only 2 of them held their appointment. Every single one of them cancelled. This area is dead, there's no work going on here. We still have some names of people to go try, our wards (or 2 of them) have been pretty good about supplying us with names of go visit, but we're down to contacting and tracting. This area is dead and it's gonna take a lot of hard work to revive it. It's not gonna be fun, we're pretty tired of contacting and all these cancelled appointments, but I guess that's how it goes.
We also might be losing one of our investigators. The only 1 who has a baptism date, and she might be moving to Nampa unless she can find a place here in Payette.

But the one contact that did keep their appointment was good. It's a family of 4, and we were excited for that. There was a possibility of 2-4 new investigators depending on the ages of the kids. We're glad they held their appointment, as they said they were gonna feed us dinner too. We go and find out the parents are both already members, just less active, and the kids are 7 and 5. It was kind of a bummer that there was no new investigators outta that visit, but it was a good visit. They've both been less active for a while and want to start coming back to church. We need to start at square one, they don't really have a knowledge of the gospel, but we're the right ones to talk to about that. They're awesome people, I hope we can help them.

There's not much else to say about this week. Lots of cancelled visits, disappointments, and hardships. Every month I've identified an attribute I wanna work on and a scripture associated with it, March is "optimism" with a verse in Alma 4 "... nevertheless the spirit of the Lord did not fail him". I think it's fitting for what's going on here. I'm working to have the optimism to work through all the disappointments. This is my hardest area, it's def trying me. Hopefully I can keep up the strength, patience, and faith to keep working through the disappointments.

Take care!

Elder Blomquist

Last February in the mission field... where has all the time gone? This time last year I was only out 5 or so months, now it's 17... time is not on my side right now.

Been a good week for us. Our wards gave us a lot of names to go contact, and we've spent this week contacting them all. All of them set appointments for this week, but we're looking at like, 10+ new people to teach this week. Should be good. It's not been the most fun contacting them all, but that's the "work" in "missionary work", the finding.

Elder Witbeck's been a good comp so far. He's a follower for sure, he just goes along with the things I say to do. It's pretty annoying at times, I'm ready to be the follower again for once, but such is the way it goes. We get along pretty well, so I'm not complaining about it. He likes to play chess, and I've got a chess board, so that's been pretty fun. I'm better than him, but he'll catch me if I make mistakes.

I've got a question, This is something that's been troubling me a lot lately. I feel like I don't get along with our zone leaders. I just feel like the curve ball in the zone. They seem to have this vision about how the zone should be run, but my ideas are different. They're trying to tailor the district meetings to match that vision, but I don't completely agree with it. It just seems like everything they're trying to do I don't agree with and we butt heads. I don't want to just conform to them, doing that I would feel less effective since I don't believe in it, but I don't want to go against them since they are my zone leaders and the ones in charge of this area, it's a hard thing for me. Do y'all have any advice for me?

One example of things the zone leaders have done that I don't agree with. In the month of February they wanted our zone (8 companionships) to find 100 new investigators. It's possible, but as the month went on it wasn't looking like it was gonna happen. The last week of the month they called us and told us we needed to find 8 new investigators that week. They told us we should cut out less active work in order to have more time for finding. That's one thing I don't agree with. These less actives are just as important (more important depending on who you're talking to) as non members. I don't feel we should cut out that work in order to reach that number. Not that we had much work going on anyway, but I feel that's wrong to ask of someone. That's just one example of my differences with zone leaders. I want to repair our relationship, but I don't want to just conform to them. I've got some ideas, but any suggestions y'all have would be great.

There's a lot of good things happening though. I don't know if y'all know already or not, but they're splitting the Boise mission into 3! There's gonna be the Boise, Twin Falls, and Nampa missions being made outta this one. That's crazy! As far as we know, there's no other mission in the world being split into 3. 58 new missions worldwide, 17 of em in the states, and 2 of those are here. It goes into effect July 1st, so I'll have about 3 months or so with the new changes. Funny thing too is that one of the mission presidents is a President Cannon. about 1/3 of the mission will have 2 president cannons. But it's exciting to see the changes. They're looking at getting missionaries into 1-2 wards per companionship vs the 4+ that we have now. I'm really excited for it. That won't happen in my time, when the split comes we're gonna be split a little thin still I think, but it's exciting to see what's happening in this area.

I'm excited for this week. There's good things happening, both in the mission and our area. Let's keep up the good work!

Elder Blomquist

Transfers just happened. I'm staying in Payette with Elder Witbeck, an Elder from my last district in Nampa. I just can't get away from it! My whole new district was in my zone in Nampa, it's pretty crazy.

This has been an interesting week. Elder Downey, our 3rd wheel for the week was sick almost all week. We were house-ridden from Monday-Friday. I had cabin fever big time. The days went slow but the week went fast. But even so, it was a pretty good week. There was a family we met in Weiser, and they were pretty cool. They're pretty devout catholics, but we had a good lesson. Pretty much all we did was talk about them and their doctrines. I learned a lot about the catholics that I didn't know before, it was really interesting. Most of it didn't make sense. They believe in the bible as scripture, but they said they're not an "una scriptura" or something like that church. From what I understood of it, the Pope and bishops interpret the scriptures. The scriptures are the word of God, but the church leaders say what they mean. It makes me wonder what's the point of reading the scriptures at all then. The pope says what it means, so why do we need to read it and know? It just didn't make sense to me at all. But it was really interesting to see all the similarities a well as the differences.

I'm kinda glad to be away from Elder Martinez. I like him a lot, he's a really good guy, but it was hard to work with him. And over these last 2 weeks he's changed so much from when we started (especially this last week with Elder Downey). He reminds me a lot like Kevin, he'll take a joke and stretch it till it's not funny anymore. He just got annoying. He never really wanted to work in the first place, but it was even more difficult to work with him this past week. I never spent too much time with Elder Witbeck, but I heard he's socially awkward at times, but I like him. Should be a good transfer.

So you know the saying you play with fire you're gonna get burned? well, it's true. Set my hand on fire pretty hard core, think it's a 2nd degree burn I got. Took some hand sanitizer and coated our hands then took a lighter to it. I help mine way too long (about 10 secs or so) and burned my hand pretty good. But it made great pictures, I'll have those coming as soon as I get them. Took some pictures of my hand, will send those.



Think that's all I can think of for this week. Spent most of it inside, but that's alright. Excited for the new transfer, should be a time to really turn the area and myself around.

Take care everyone!

Elder Blomquist

This week is gonna be a crazy week. There's an Elder from a neighboring area who just got sent to Mexico today, so his comp is rolling with is for a week. We're covering 3 towns, Payette, Fruitland, and Weiser now. It's gonna be interesting juggling 2 areas, but I'm excited. Elder Downey (the 1 rolling with us) is a cool guy, we're gonna have so much fun.

My ear's been acting up again. It started 13 months ago, and is starting to bother me again. It feels clogged and kinda amplifies sound (specially base) and makes my head and stomach hurt a bit. I'm thinking about calling it in, but part of me doesn't want to do that. Last time there wasn't really anything they could do about it.

Next transfers gonna be an interesting one. It's gonna be 5 weeks instead of the normal 6. That means I'm gonna go home a week early. Transfer calls are on Saturday, so that'll be exciting to see. Transfers are always a time of high anxiety and excitement. Part of me wants to stay, this area still needs a lot of work, but this has also been my hardest area and I'm eager to leave these memories behind. But I'll do what I'm asked to do, that's just the way things go. I think God has a sense of humor, so if I did get transferred it'd probably be to a harder area or a harder companion = P .

I need to be going now. I'll have some pictures next week (forgot my computer plug thing). Hope to hear from y'all soon!

Elder Blomquist

February already... in about a week and a half I'll have 17 months out...

Saturday was pretty awesome. Elder Christofferson was pretty amazing. He's become one of my top 3. He emphasized the importance of the Book of Mormon in our work, and it really gave me some guidance and direction. I need to do a better job about using the Book of Mormon, now I just need to figure out how to do that.


The general authorities are all pretty funny. Elder Christofferson has a small print triple combination, and Elder Ballard has a standard size. Elder Ballard said "I'm amazed at Elder Christofferson's small book. I don't think it has everything in it mine does (holds up standard size book)". They bantered back and forth about that the rest of the meeting, it was pretty funny.

We've spent a lot of time this week with the active members. Trying to get to know the people so they can know us and trust us and we can move the work forward. We're making progress with our investigators I feel, but it's slow. There's a less active we've been teaching, and she just loves us. We've split a lot of wood for her (I love splitting wood) and talked about the church a lot, and she just loves us. She came to church yesterday too. She's got a problem with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, she says "we have one testament of Jesus Christ (New Testament) why do we need another one?" Has a few other problems too, mostly things that Christ said "don't do" that was ok at certain points (mostly Nephi killing Laban and polygamy). She says "Christ said no, so why was it ok?" I think she's coming around though. It's been rough at times, I've had to be pretty patient with her, but it's been working. She keeps telling us she's grateful we're so patient with her. I guess I'm doing something right = P

Elder Martinez and I are getting along. We get along, but I don't feel we work well together. We haven't really had many teaching opportunities, it's mostly to active members where I share the vision I have, but we get along alright. I'm ready for a change though. I've had companions who I get along with, but we don't work well together, companions we don't get along but work well together, just not a companion who we get along AND work well together, I'm ready for that. President in interviews told me "yes, you've had a lot of rough companionships, but you're a leader, and you're good at it." I was reading "Jesus the Christ" recently and it talked about the importance of a name and what it meant to the Hebrews. I thought back to my name (Richard) and what it means (powerful leader/ruler). Thanks for that one = P

Well, that's pretty much my week. It's week 5 of the transfer, only this one then next to go before the next transfer, time's just flying by. It always seems to go by so fast. Should have some pictures coming soon!

Take care!

Elder Blomquist

My District

From left to right: Elder Macfarlane, Elder Blomquist, Elder Nicholls, Elder Shumway, Elder Fernandez, Elder Crosby, Sister Cline, Sister Huffman.  Kneeling in front: Elder Mitchell and Elder Witbeck

I think we've had a decent week this week. We taught more lessons than we have any other week, it's been kinda nice. I'm still trying to learn who's who in the area, but I think I'm getting it down. I know mostly how to get around, but I still would probably get lost looking around.

We've got some interesting people we're teaching. We were teaching the plan of salvation to someone, and they surprised me. Usually the idea of having a body in the afterlife and all that gets people excited, this guy was like "that's not appealing to me. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe we will have our bodies and I'll be surprised". He has a lot of questions. When we taught about Adam and Eve he asked how it was they couldn't have children in the garden. How are you supposed to answer that? We tried to explain it as best we could, but there's no real proof I guess on that, it's all just speculation, which does no one any good. I want to tell him these things don't matter, but they're concerns he has so I don't feel right in saying that. It's been interesting working with him, he has such a different view of the things of eternity.

I think the area is starting to pick up a bit. We've been working to gain the trust of the leadership, and it'll go uphill from there. It'll take some time to get things rolling again, but I'll probably be here a while to get things going. There's still a lot of improvements that need to be made, both personally and work wise, but things should pick up here in the next few weeks.

I'm excited for this Saturday. We're having some general authorities come and speak to us! We're getting Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder D. Todd Christofferson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy, Elder Craig A. Cardon of the Seventy and Bishop Gerald Causee, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric! It's gunna be pretty sweet, I'm excited for it. We had Elder Ballard speak to us last year, so we get to hear him again. I'm excited for this!


Well, that pretty much sums things up. Things are improving here, but at a slow pace. Hopefully we can get things rolling pretty soon. I've almost got all the tools I need to do it, now i just need to buck up and do it.

Take care everyone!

Elder Blomquist

Been another week like last week. Had the fewest lessons this week than I have in the last 8 months. Elder Martinez is so done. Part of it's my fault, I haven't said " let's go!" We've got interviews with President Cannon on Wednesday, so I'm going to talk to him about it then.

Went back to Nampa last Saturday. One of the people I taught got baptized. Was good to see. Taught him most of the lessons and was hoping I didn't go too far so I could see it.

Funny thing happened at church yesterday. there was a kid sitting in front of us, and he kept sticking things in his ear. First it was a brown crayon. He put it in there and let it sit for like, 10 mins. Then he took it out and replaced it with a toy battleaxe and then put a lance in the other ear. It was really funny, couldn't stop laughing for a while.

 

Take care!

 

Elder Blomquist

16 Months Today!

16 months today! Can you believe it's been that long? Seems like a blink of an eye.

Payette is gonna be a struggle, my biggest yet I think. The elders before me didn't take care of this area very well. All our records were trashed, I don't know who our investigators are, I have a companion who's only got 3 months left and doesn't care much anymore, it's a struggle. I feel like my mind has been shutting down lately. For the past 13 months I've been the driving force behind the companionship. It's be me to say "let's work" and where to go, even when my comp has been in the are longer than me. I'm getting tired of it and don't know what to do.

But the area's alright. It's small, but that's kinda a nice change at the moment. I don't wanna stay though. This has been a hard week on me mentally, and I'm ready for another change. We haven't really done much since my companion is ready to be done, but there's some good people out here.

 

I don't know what else... Things have just been hard and I'm ready for a break. Hope everything is going good for y'all.

 

Elder Blomquist

Got Transferred

So I did get transferred. I went to Payette, a small town on the Idaho/Oregon border. I went from a town of 80,000 to one of 7,000. It's gonna be a pretty big change. I'm excited though. It's bittersweet to leave Nampa though. Especially when the Bishop announced that I was leaving the area and everyone said their goodbyes at church. IT really did feel like home. But I got a new adventure ahead of me, new challenges, new people, new everything.

so before I forget, here's the new address.

 

1106 1/2 2nd ave s

Payette, ID 83661

It's a nice little place. It's pretty much our own house.

 

My comp is Elder Martinez. He's from Peru, but lives in Utah. It's only the 1st day, but I think we'll get along. He was a Spanish elder who went English, so he doesn't speak the best English, but I can understand him pretty well.

Little bit from my last week in Nampa, we had 3 baptisms on Saturday. 1 was a YSA (young single adult) who we've been teaching for a few weeks. We actually moved up her baptism a week, and it was good to see before I took off. 2 were some kids that didn't get baptized at 8, so we had to come teach. They were supposed to get baptized in September, but the step dad wanted to baptize them, but wasn't married and living together yet, so he couldn't till that happened, and then one thing after another just piled up to push it back. It finally happened and was good to see. There's another baptism on the 19th that I'll be able to go back and see, so I got lucky on that 1.

 

I'm nervous about the area though. Elder Shumway was a struggle for me. Had to teach him people skills, and it was hard to deal with at times. One example is that we would go over to members house for dinner and he would belch at the dinner table. That one didn't last long, I got on him pretty quick about that one. But also the Elder who's coming in with him, I'm nervous about him as well. I don't know much about him, but I know he's one I would not want to serve with. Nampa just feels like home, so I don't wanna see it go down the drain.

 

It's been a long time since I've packed my bags. I've accumulated so much stuff... I came to Nampa with 1 1/2 suitcases, I left with 3 bulging suitcases. I probably will send some home (eventually).

Well, I'm out of things to say... 1st day in an area is always interesting. 1st week too for that matter. we'll see what this week brings.

Elder Blomquist