Not Much Happened This Week

Hey guys, how's it going? 

 

It's Halloween!!! Our p-day just changed to Monday, and it's a non-pros day (no missionary work), so we literally have all of today off. We went to Meridian to play football, then to a corn maze, and I think there's a BBQ and glow-in-the-dark dodge ball after. Overall, a pretty good (but VERY tiring) day. It's nice to just sit here and email.

 

Not much has happened this week. I think the only thing worth mentioning is that we had 1 day where we taught 5 lessons (our average is 1-3)!! It was an exciting day.

 

Elder Bowen of the 1st quorum of the 70 also came and spoke with us. It was an amazing talk. He talked about the Abrahamic covenant, the house of Israel, and the oath and covenant of the priesthood. It was pretty remarkable to see how he laid some of it out. I guess I never really understood/realized some of what he said before. It was definately something I needed to hear.

 

I'm beginning to feel that discouragement of losing an investigator. Something happened with one of ours (not quite sure what), but it really hurt his relation with the church. He's still cool with us coming, but we're not sure how he feels now. We need to go visit him and see what's up.

 

Other than that, not really much happened. I know it's not much, sorry for that, but it's been a pretty standard week overall. Still having trouble sleeping. I don't have an off switch, and my brain runs 100 miles a minute at night.

 

I do like my companion. I've learned a lot from him. He's an awesome missionary, and I'm glad he's my trainer. Mountain Home is awesome, the people are amazing, and the work is starting to pick up. It'll be exciting to see what happens in the coming weeks.

 

Again, sorry it's not much. I'll try to work on that next week.

 

Love,

 

Elder Blomquist

Keeping Busy and Counting Doors

Hey guys, 

 

Gonna be a short letter. We literally could be picked up any second and not gonna have time to email later, so sorry it's short.

 

Couple things happened this week that are worth mentioning.

     1. We went to a referral's house. He's a single dad, nonmember, and the Bishop helped pay his rent and challenged him to take the discussions. We went to his house and when we knocked the girls were outside and said "get Dad, the Mormon church is here". It wasn't much, but it was so cute and funny it just made me laugh and smile.

     2. got called sexy later that night ; ] . We went to a less active's house and they were having a birthday party across the street and they invited us over. But it was def not a Mormon party. People there had a beer in one hand, a cigarette in the other. The girl who told us that had a little too much to drink I think. But it was still funny. Not often do you hear that as a missionary I think.

     3. played soccer today for p-day. It was a blast. Soccer is def more my sport than basketball is. I played goalie and everyone says I did a good job. I always think I could do better (I've always been harder on myself than I think I deserve, but that's just how I am), but it was fun. I blocked a lot of goals and it was just fun.

 

Before I forget, Alex, tell Bro Manwaring that I was in the same classroom in the MTC his son was. They have the folding desk chairs, and a lot of missionaries signed the bottom of the desk and one of the desks had his son on it. Just let him know. I think he'll like that.

 

As far as the conversation about the sheets go, no, I don't remember. I didn't know the difference between a flat and fitted sheet before my mission. Doesn't matter though, I'm making do.

 

Let's see... what else... oh, I've started counting doors knocked and houses invited in. Just something I thought would be interesting to look back on some day. Only been counting 2 days, but in those 2 days we've knocked 23 doors and of those 23 we were invited in 8 times (that's counting members, investigators, and basically any door we knock/get invited into). I thought you might like to see these numbers too.

 

Dad, I am getting your emails. I don't really have time to reply to them, but I am getting them and love hearing how everything is going back home. Which reminds me, I want to hear from Alex more!! Make her write me a letter!!

 

Hard to believe I've been out about 6 weeks now. It's crazy how fast time is flying. I'm starting to get into that "missionary mode" people talk about. I don't feel right if I'm not out in a shirt and tie with my name tag and my backpack on. Hugs are starting to feel weird too. I've had 2 kids give me hugs out of the blue, and it does feel a little weird.

 

We've been keeping so busy lately. I need to do better about waking up (sleeping in till 7-7:30 these past few days) though. I have plans, it's just a matter of sticking to them now. Missionary work is tiring... especially Sundays. On Sunday our day starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 9 p.m. We usually go to sacrament at 9, gospel principles at 10 but leave early to make it to another ward's sacrament at 11, gospel principles at 12 but we have to leave that one early too for another ward's sacrament at 1. We are literally at church from 7-2:30(ish).

 

Our morning schedule is pretty nice though. We start personal study at 8-9, companion study at 9-11, lunch at 11-12, so we're usually out around 12-1. Depends on the day too. There's some paperwork and weekly planning we have to do throughout the week, so 2 days we get out later than that, but it's a busy schedule either way. We get in at 9 then have daily planning for the next day which can go anywhere from15-50 minutes depending on how it goes. Then I write in my journal and shower (I shower at night. It supposedly helps you fall asleep, something I've been struggling with).

 

Well, I need to go now. Need to write president. Hope everything is going well at home. Keep sending letters!! (and let people know that it might take me a while to get back to them if they do write.  We're really busy.)

 

Love,

Elder Blomquist

Purpose as a Missionary

Sorry this letter is so late.  We went to Boise today to play some basketball and just now got back. 

 

It's still amazing out here. In the last 2 days I've given 4 annointings and 1 blessing. It's pretty cool to see how it all worked too. On Sunday we were just going out to go to the bathroom and we got pulled over to give a blessing. Then one of our investigator (part member family) had 2 sick kids so we gave them blessings. On Monday we had some time to kill, so I just threw out a name we could go visit. We went and it turned out she was in pretty poor health, having some breathing problems, so we showed up gave her a blessing and by the end she was breathing fine. Then later that night we were driving to someone's house to talk about some stuff when we thought of another name we should visit while we were in that area. It's an older member and he's been having health problems as well. He had some doctor appointments today, so we gave him a blessing last night. It's crazy to see how each of those worked out. That's really the Spirit guiding us. It's really cool to see.

 

I've been thinking a lot about our purpose as a missionary as well. We've been doing everything, being obediant, contacting, and doing everything we should, but we really don't have numbers. I know that's not what makes success, but it's nice to see our hard work accomplishing something. But then I really got to thinking about our purpose. As it says in Preach my Gospel, it's to "invite others to come unto Christ". It says others, not less active, part member families, or investigators, but others. When we gave our first blessing yesterday, the lady we visited said "I love having the missionaries over. You guys just radiate peace and really lifts my spirit". It was then that I realized that that's what it's all about. We have been successful. I've learned a lot. We listen to the Spirit, and things are really moving forward. It took me a while to see that, but it's been a whole lot better feeling knowing that now, even though it's only been one day since I came to that realization.

 

Sorry I don't have pictures. We're kinda in a hurry (dinner at 6 and it's now 5:30), so I don't have time to upload them. Funny story though, well, not really, but you bought me 2 flat sheets instead of a fitted and a flat. I meant to send that 2 weeks ago, but it just slipped my mind. I've just been using one of my flats as a fitted. Just  thought you might like that.  (When I bought the sheets, the "what to bring list" said two flat sheets.  I asked Ricky if he wanted two flat or did he want a fitted. He said he didn't care, "but if the list says two flat, maybe you should get me two flat."  Now, he thinks it's my fault that he doesn't have a fitted sheet.  How soon they forget.)

 

There's not really much to say. We spend all our days contacting and teaching maybe 1 or 2 lessons a day. We did commit one guy to baptism. He's had all the lessons, just hasn't been able to get over a drinking and smoking problem. We talked about baptism and read 2 Nephi 31 with him, and invited him to be baptized. The girl he married is LDS and has some kids, one is 7, and he said he'd be baptized when she was. We then talked about how if he was baptized before then, he could baptize her and how much more special that would be. I told him my experience baptizing my first week, and I think it really got him thinking. He looked like he was seriously pondering about it. I think he will be baptized. He loves his family and with the look he had on his face when we walked out of there, it looked like he wanted that for himself and for them.

 

Other than that, yeah, not too much to say. Starting to warm up, but everyone says the cold is coming. They say it gets like 10-20 degrees, with cold snaps of like 0 sometimes. Yikes! I'll stay warm though, that jacket really is nice.

 

Thanks for all the letters. I really love getting letters. I don't have too much time to write back (well, none practically), but I love getting them and reading them and seeing how everyone at home is doing. I will definately write back when I can. If there's anything you want to know about just let me know. I know you said I don't give a lot of detail, if there's anything you want to know about I'll try to make sure I address it.

 

Hope everything is still going okay back home. I really miss you guys!

 

Love,

Elder Blomquist

No Mail... and My Day

Haven't gotten any mail or email since I got here. Only been a week, but yeah, nothing.

 

That's great that you got to go to the temple. I love temples and love going. Cannot wait for Boise to be redone so I can go to that one. Pretty sure Meridian won't be done before I leave, so I'll have to make sure to come back one day and go to that one.

 

Yeah, we've been so busy I really haven't had time for pictures. Our day starts at 6:30, shower, breakfast, other stuff to get ready, personal study at 8, companion study at 9, an extra hour of companion study since I'm a new missionary, then lunch depending on what time/day it is, so we usually start working somewhere around 12-1. We get back to the house around 9, then have a daily planning session which usually goes till around 9:30-9:50. Then I write in my journal which takes up the rest of the night before bed. I almost literally have no time. And it's been taking me a while to fall asleep, so I'm not getting as much sleep as I'd like/need. I'm always tired. But I'll try to do better about pictures this week and have some to send home next week.

Time Really is Just Flying By

10-11-11

 

So it's P-day. Hard to believe a month's gone by already. Time really is just flying by. A month isn't a long time, but it's going.

 

I love it here in Mountain Home. It's really small, wouldn't want to live here, but I love it here. We don't have very many people to teach though. Our day consists mostly of contacting less active and part member families. There are a few regular investigators we're teaching. There's one that claims to be a hippie. He calls God "the dude" and drinks beer during the lesson, but we're working with him. He's starting to get more comfortable calling Him God, and he's going to quit drinking, and he came to church on Sunday. He's a pretty cool guy.

 

There's a lady we teach that's pretty interesting. The lesson we had w/ her was the first lesson, and it was pretty interesting. She kept asking about the hierarchy of the church, and she was saying something about Adam and Eve being primates. We are teaching her very slowly to make sure she understands it all.

 

The wards up here are pretty small. There's not a lot of people here. But the members are awesome. Often times when it's around dinner time and we got to a members home for something they almost always ask if we've had dinner or an appointment. There was one family we went to one of my 1st days that put more food on when we said we didn't. The members up here are all really amazing people.

 

I know I'm forgetting something... there's so much that it's impossible to say it all. But at the same time, not much is happening. Like I said, we spend most of our days contacting people. We hardly ever get in a house though. Most of the time they're not there, or we caught them at a bad time. People are telling us to come back at a better time though, so that's a good thing. Oh, we did get a door slammed on us. We were out tracting and we knock on the door and an old grumpy looking guy walks out and very emphatically says "no" then walks back in and closes the door. We didn't even get to say anything. It was pretty funny.

 

Missionary work is a lot different than I thought it would be. I'm surprised at how much we're not teaching. In the MTC, all they taught was teaching, so it's kinda frustrating being out here and not teaching. They never taught us how to get member trust, contact, or anything like that so this is all another big culture shock for me. It has been a difficult week, I've definitely had to make some adjustments, but I still love it. Still nowhere else I'd rather be right now.

 

I'm so glad we bought me that jacket. It's been raining almost every day since we got here. It's cold, wet, rainy, and would've been miserable without it. It is really cold here, not as cold as it will get, but still cold nonetheless. They say it gets down to like 10-20 degrees or so in the winter, definitely not looking forward to that. But they say we don't get too much snow here. Like it'll snow one day, then 2 or so days later it will all be melted and that cycle just repeats every now and then. Dunno if I'm excited or upset by that. Never had a snow with winter before, but neither my companion nor I have ever driven in the snow and it's cold, so mixed feelings there.

 

Got to go to the temple today. We drove down to Twin Falls and went to a session there. I love the temple. Would've been better if we didn't have to get up around 4:30 to get there. I kinda fell asleep at various points, but it was still a wonderful experience.

 

Oh, one big thing I forgot to mention, I had a baptism!! There was a lady they were teaching before I got here, and it just happened that last Saturday was her baptism date, and I got to baptize her! I was really excited about that.

 

What else do I have to say? I wish you all were here so I could tell you everything in person. There's so much that it's impossible to write everything. I guess just wanted to say I'm doing alright. Having a bit of a rough time, so keep me in your thoughts and prayers. Hope everything is going well back home. I forgot my camera but I'll have pictures soon. Love you all.

 

love,

Elder Blomquist

Mission President's Letter

Dear Missionary Parents:

We are especially grateful for your son’s safe arrival to the Idaho Boise Mission and consider ourselves blessed to have this opportunity to serve with him and all the other elders and sisters here in Idaho and Oregon.  This is clearly a very special mission.  We are blessed with noble young elders and sisters, wonderful members and much success.  We will do all we can to watch over, care for and build Elder Blomquist as we move this important work forward.

We have enjoyed getting some photographs with our new arrivals.  Attached are two photos with your missionary: one with my wife and me and one with his trainer, Elder Ika.  We hope you receive this email in good health and hope you enjoy the pictures.

With love and appreciation,
President and Sister Cannon

Elder Blomquist and President and Sister Cannon

Elder Blomquist with Elder Ika and President and Sister Cannon

1st Area - Mountain Home, ID

Hey, so Mission President wanted me to email you to let you know I'm here safe and sound. (10-5-11)

So my 1st area is a place called Mountain Home. (about 45 minutes from Boise)  I've never heard of it before today. It's a pretty small town, about 10,000 people or so I heard. There's 10 wards and 2 branches. There's 2 companionships serving here, so we cover 5 wards and 1 branch each. That seems like a lot = P .  I'm so excited though, I'm ready to start working. Oh, and one ward already has me speaking on Sunday. That came as a shock when I heard that. I'm just excited, scared to death, but excited.

Another funny fact, usually (at least they tell me) it's pretty dry here in Idaho, but it's been raining since we got here. Kinda like how Simi was in a drought before we moved and got 2 weeks of rain. Kinda like rain is God's way of saying "this is where you need to be"; rained in Simi, rained in the MTC, and is now raining here. Thought that was kinda funny.

It's cold... dunno if it's just the rain or if it's normally this cold, but it is cold. I'm so glad we got me that big jacket. It's still in my luggage (which isn't at the house yet so I havent been able to use it yet) but I'm glad I have it. They say it can get down to like 10-15 normally in the winter. They say it doesn't snow that much here though. Not sure if I'm happy or sad about that.

We live with a member. It's kinda interesting. Don't know anything about them and have only seem them once in passing, but we share a house with a member. Like I said, there's 2 companionships here, so we also share it with them. The other Elders who serve here, well, it's Elder Jiminez, my MTC companion. We were together 3 weeks at the MTC and now we share the same house. Not his companion anymore (my companion's name is Elder Ika (pronounce ee-kuh). Heard good things about him so I'm excited.). But I mean, 3 weeks with Jiminez as my companion and I can't get rid of him! Not that I want to, but still...

I'm so excited to be here. Heard from Elder Ika that the work here has kinda been dead, but we're gonna change that. He's been serving here for a bit, but we're basically starting from scratch. I love it here. Small town is definitely different than what I'm used to, but I am so excited to be here and start teaching and serving.

Hope everything's okay at home.

Love,

Elder Blomquist

Phone Call Home

Elder Blomquist was able to call home from the airport on his way to Idaho.   He called at 6:45 a.m.  Unfortunately, Robert, Alex, and Ryan were already off to work and school and missed out talking to him. 

He said he was definitely ready to leave the MTC.  Three weeks there was plenty.  Sixteen hours a day of scheduled out lessons and activities.  He is ready to get to the "real world" of missionary work.

He said to thank everyone for writing. The letters and cards mean a lot to him. You can write to the mission office.  We will update his address when he gets into an apartment.

And in case you are wondering, the shoes we sent fit great!

Leaving the MTC tomorrow

10-3-11 (there's your date = P )

 

So it's not P-day, but we're leaving the MTC tomorrow and they said we could email. I'll be able to call home tomorrow (probably early in the morning. We report to the travel office at 5 am, so my guess is we'll be around the airport sometime around 6 or so, so if the phone rings that early [I know it'll be 5 a.m., but I'm calling anyway] it's me from the airport).

 

This has been the worst week I've been here. It all started Wednesday; I got sick. Wednesday I had a slight cold, runny nose, itchy watery eyes, that sort of stuff. Thursday it hit bad. I had what I had Wednesday, but also this massive headache that hurt like no other. I couldn't focus on anything it hurt so bad. Luckily Elder Ryan Nadybal (from SS5) lives next door to me and was able to give me a blessing. I could've had my companions do it, but I wanted him to. Immediately after he gave me the blessing the headache went away. It was amazing to see how that worked. I still had the cold symptoms, but my head didn't hurt at all and I was actually able to function and sleep again. Had a doctor apt. the next day and he had some concerns. He said there was definitely stuff in my lungs (been coughing stuff up and my chest was hurting when I coughed) and he was also concerned that my head had been hurting (it hurt in my eyes and sinuses). He gave me some good stuff. The meds he gave me have been really working. The cold has gone away and I can actually breath again, and I'm not hurting at all anymore, but I'm still coughing things up. At least I don't hurt anymore though, that's the best part.

 

Got into a little argument with one of my companions yesterday; not proud of that. I lost my ministerial certificate, was trying to go to conference (half hour early), and he was treating it like a joke. He's 21 and really immature for his age. Sometimes I kinda feel like I'm the only one in my district really trying to take this seriously. We're down to our last few days and I think people have senioritis big time. It's really hard to stay focused and on top of things when no one else is. I just snapped. I got angry with him and brought the spirit of contention, it hurt me the rest of the day. I didn't feel as in tune with the spirit as I have been, and I felt really awful. How do I work with people who don't take it as serious as I do?

 

Conference was amazing. I got like, 12 pages of notes. It was interesting to see the difference between just watching it vs watching with a purpose. I was listening as a missionary, not just a member and it was amazing to see the difference in what I got out of it. 

 

That's pretty much been my week, nothing too exciting. I'm really looking forward to going out into the field tomorrow. I feel like I'm ready. They've taught me all they can here in the MTC, and I felt like I've learned enough to go out now. I am so excited. It's time to start the real deal. I am nervous though. It's real life with real people now. But there have been some things that have helped. I am excited to go out and serve.

 

Hope everything's going ok at home. Start writing to the mission office if you haven't already done so. Write to me. even if you have nothing to say, I just love hearing how everyone is doing and what you're up to. I love letters.

 

Love,

Elder Blomquist

MTC Companions

Elder Smith

Elder Jiminez



Missionary Map

Got to have the picture pointing to Idaho on the famous missionary map.