Giving Blessings This Week

Crazy to think I’ve been in Caldwell for 2 weeks now. It feels like an area I’m gonna stay in for a while. Things are starting to pick up. We’ve been visiting members and working w/ a few less actives and investigators, but we've really been trying to fire up the members and get to know who we're working with. It’s been good in 1 of our wards. We rode or bikes out to Notus, which is about 10 miles away, from there to Greenleaf, about 3-5 miles from Notus, and got a ride back to town. Word spread pretty quick about our ride, and members are really impressed and member trust is huge in that ward now. They know they have missionaries who want to work, let’s just hope they use us.

Had a good weekend. I think I taught the most powerful lesson I’ve ever taught on my mission. This lady wants to be baptized, but has a smoking problem and I think 1 or 2 other things she needs to work on before she can get baptized. I don’t even know what I really said, I just opened my mouth and it was filled. I shared a few scriptures, shared some experiences, and just bore testimony. She knows what she has to do, and by the end of the lesson she was like "just pick a date for me". I thought she was referring to smoking, so I asked "to quit smoking or be baptized?" She said baptism, but we thought it best to fast and pray about it (this was Saturday and fast Sunday was the next day). We’re seeing her on Wednesday, so hopefully something good comes out of it.

Gave a few blessings this week too. There was an old woman in the hospital that had a stroke and they didn’t expect her to live long. We went and I gave a blessing. It was kinda weird giving a blessing to someone who's about to die. That’s pretty much what I said, this life is temporary, you will be missed, but be at peace. It was just kinda weird.

But I did give another good blessing. There’s a less active in our ward whose neighbor just got diagnosed with cancer from the neck to top of the legs. She said she wanted to build her faith back up and this guy asked if he could bring "the boys" on over. She said yes so we went. I gave a blessing and it was another one of those where I’m not too sure what was coming out. I think it was pretty much about trials and how God gives us them to learn and grow and to use this one to grow closer to Him. She said we could come back and start teaching them, so that was pretty good too.

 Still pretty slow in this area. We got about 7 or 8 people we're working with, and only 1 of them is a less active, but we could easily have more. Starting a new area is hard. Elder Bell's been here for a while, but covering 5 wards he doesn’t know too many of the people and we're still learning the area. I’m getting it down pretty good though. I can get around almost all of 11th ward. Still learning 4th, but I’m getting it. Things have gotten better since last week. We had a zone conference on Friday, and I got some things I needed to hear. I fasted last Sunday (Jan 1st) for help with the area. I was struggling hard and just needed to know what to do. Zone conference was perfect. It wasn’t everything I needed, still need some help with the people here, but I learned some things I should do to help the area.

I feel like this area is gonna be one that I’m staying in for more than 1 transfer. That's what I thought about the last 2, but I’m pretty sure I'm gonna stay this time. We’ll see though. Still plenty of time left in the transfer for things to happen, and it's all God's will anyway. Whatever he has in store for me I will do. I look back at the last 2 areas, and I’ve learned something from each area. I think I’m actually a better missionary than I give myself credit for. I’ve always tended to think I’m never good enough, but I’m starting to realize that maybe I’m just good enough.

 I think I’ve gained 5 pounds now though. The biking here is tough; I think my legs have really thickened up. it's a lot of uphill (our house is at the top of a hill, so we gotta go uphill to get home no matter which way we go to get there), lots of miles, and just difficult sometimes. But it's good. I’d still rather be biking than in a car.

Hope everything's still going well at home. I hit my 4 month mark on Saturday! Only 2 more till I burn a tie! That’ll be exciting. It’s going by so fast, yet it's only been 4 months. But I’ll be home before I know it. I’m so glad to be out here. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be right now.

Take care!

Love,

Elder Blomquist

P.S. I think I almost make my emails grammatically messy on purpose now just cuz it drives mom nuts... lol

Happy New - New Area

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

Merry Christmas

Elder Blomquist with his current companion, Elder Crosby.  He says Elder Crosby is his favorite companion so far because he has learned so much from him.  Elder Blomquist is transferring tomorrow so he is a little sad to have only been with Elder Crosby for 6 weeks. 

We were able to Skype with him today for Christmas.  It was wonderful to see him.  He looks good and says he hasn't gained or lost any weight yet (but he has only been out 101 days so there is still time).  He never was much of a conversationalist so we had to keep asking questions to get him talking.  He says he is LOVING Idaho.  He wants to be transferred often so he can see more of it and meet more of the people.  He says all the members he has come in contact with have been wonderful and take really good care of the missionaries.  They had a Christmas lunch and two Christmas dinners lined up for today.

Bad Week for Biking

So it's the last week of the transfer. We get calls on Friday then transfers are Monday, so send any mail to the mission office this week. Not sure if I’m staying or not and that would be best to avoid what happened last transfer. I had to wait like, 2 weeks to get the mail that was sent. Better safe than sorry.

Been a good week. Taught 22 lessons, the most in the zone. There are 12 companionships, and we had the most!

It’s been a bad week for bikes though. It’s been pretty warm, between 35-50 this week. It’s only when the sun isn’t out that it gets cold. We’re hoping for a white Christmas, but we'll see if that happens or not.

I clipped a mailbox with my handlebars as I was riding by and took a fall. Luckily I fell into a flowerbed and landed in dirt vs. the cement, but it still hurt a bit. It was about a week ago now and my knee is still popping pretty often. Think we're going to a chiropractor later tonight who can look at it and tell me everything's ok w/ it.

Elder Crosby took a pretty hard fall. He was standing on his bike signaling we were turning and squeezed his front brake a little too hard. He went tumbling over his handlebars and his bike just followed him. He caught it before it landed on him though. We were turning into church parking lot and there were some cars pulling out, so he had a little audience and got up and bowed. I was terrible, I just laughed. I was always behind him and just laughed. Should have checked first, I know, but I couldn’t help it. He was fine though. Chipped his helmet and gave him a shiner on his knee, but that's it.

Caught my pants in the chain too. Didn’t make me crash or anything, but ripped the seam a little bit. Pretty rough weeks for bikes, wouldn’t you say?

So I get to Skype home Sunday!!!! We have video capabilities, so find a camera. I’m super excited to see everyone! It’s only been 3 months, but I miss all of you. Crazy how time flies right?

Saturday (Dec 24^th) will be my 100 day mark, not that I’m counting or anything... it goes by so fast.

Jump started my 1st car this week. A person we are visiting had a dead car, and as we were pulling up she was pushing it into her driveway. We showed up and helped her jump start it. Cars are heavy and it was only a little one... I had to push it alone cuz of everything else we had to do to get it ready, everyone else was busy. I would have been able to do it if I could have gotten traction. These shoes don’t have the best traction. I would push, the car would move, then I would slip and it would roll right back. 

I’ve been feeling sick again lately, and it feels worse. I’ve been waking up feeling just drained and needing more sleep. I don’t know what it is, but in the morning I feel like throwing up and like I need more sleep, but it usually goes away around lunchtime. I’ve thrown about the same number of times in the last month than I did the whole time we were in Simi (it's only been twice, I’m not throwing up all the time, so don’t freak out). Just something I wish would get better. I think it's just from riding a bike and being in the cold all day.

Well, don’t know what else to say. That’s pretty much the highlights of the week. Been writing in my journal almost every day. Counted it out, and I’ve missed 11 days of writing the entire time I’ve been out. I’ve told you most of the stories, but there's always something I forget or just don’t mention, so maybe I’ll let you read those when I get back. We’ll see.

Hope everything's still going well. Glad to hear the roof is done and you're on cleanup.

Exciting to hear my plaque is up!

Love,

Elder Blomquist

Almost forgot...

Elder Crosby should be calling you sometime on Saturday to set it all up. My guess is it'll be in the evening sometime, but not sure exactly what's going on. I know we're bouncing around different families with our zone leader (whose companion went home last Saturday), so not sure what's all happening. Hopefully I won’t be sick this year. It’s been pretty bad recently, so keep me in your prayers that I won’t get sick.  (For several years in a row, he has been sick on Christmas Eve.  I has become a family joke that we just expect it will happen. But, this year, please keep him in your prayers so that he won't be sick.)

More stuff I forgot = P ...

They asked us to speak yesterday. Our topic was service, something I’m a tad familiar with. We were speaking at a missionary homecoming (the 3rd of this transfer, and there's another one coming home next week... 4 missionaries coming home this transfer). But the meeting was running late. There was a baby blessing, and about a million people at sacrament meeting, so it was 11:40 by the time we started speaking. Since it was a homecoming, they asked us if we could keep it short to give him more time. Both of us prepared 7-8 minute talks, but ended up having us both done in 5 minutes. Had to really condense that talk. But it was still good. We both hit all the points we wanted to, just in less time and with less detail.

We have Pictures!!!

Elder Blomquist finally sent pictures home.  Most of them are from Mountain Home, ID area.

                                                                        Here he is with Elder Ryan Nadybal at the MTC.  Elder Nadybal is from SS5 (here is Simi Valley).  Elder Nadybal was sent to Baltimore, MD Spanish speaking.

                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

The name tag.  Of course, you can't miss the planner in the front pocket.  What kind of missionary would he be without that?!     

                       

                                        

 Debra, his first baptism.  The first week out in the field, he was able to baptize someone.   

One of the members in Mountain Home was really into hunting.  Here Elder Blomquist and Elder Ika are holding deer antlers.

The Mother Lode of Lasagna

Lasagna made in one of those industrial trays they use in buffets.

Had to be a good 6 inches deep. We had 6 people eating that meal, and only got about halfway through that thing. We had leftover lasagna in 4 Tupperware containers stacked to the brim and there was still 1/4 of the lasagna left. 

 (In case you don't know, he really likes lasagna.)

This Week's Missionary Stories

Pretty good week this week. Got some stories for this week.

First one is pretty funny. We went contacting some less actives, and this house no one was home. As we were putting our helmets on and getting ready to leave they pulled up. They opened the garage door and we waited for them to come out and talk to us. But before they even got out of the car they shut the garage door on us. That’s one way to get a door slammed on you.

We’ve had some amazing lessons this week. We had a total of 20 lessons this week. Monday and Tuesday were slow, only about 2 lessons for both days, but starting Wednesday we taught like, 4 lessons a day. There’s one in particular that really stands out.

It’s a part member family. The dad has been less active since he was about 17 or 18 (probably in his mid-late 40s now) and the wife and kids are all non members. There are 5 kids, 2 are hers from another marriage and 3 are his from another marriage. This is just the most amazing family though. They invited us over for dinner and a lesson, and it was probably the most powerful lesson I’ve taught on the mission. We taught the lesson and the Spirit was just so strong. I felt it, and I’m pretty sure they did too. It would be the most amazing thing to see this family embrace the gospel.

There was a baptism on Saturday. The other Elders had 2 teens getting baptized, and my comp actually served in their area before he came to this side of the stake and had started teaching those kids. The Spirit was crazy strong there too. After the baptism, they asked the missionaries to share their testimonies, so between the actual ordinance and the 4 missionaries’ testimonies, the spirit was strong. There are few times I’ve felt it as strong as that.

I was planning on skyping home. My comp will call Christmas Eve and coordinate things w/ you that way. Not sure what we're doing for Christmas yet though. Calling home is the only thing I know about.  We probably should figure that out pretty soon though. We’ll have about an hour. At least, they say we should try to limit it to an hour, but every missionary who talks about it says it always goes over. I’m looking forward to skyping home. It seems like so long ago since I saw everybody. It’ll be 3 months on Wednesday... it's gone by fast, at least for me it has. But at the same time its like "only”? It's gone by fast yet not too much time has gone by.

Well, can’t think of anything else to say... got my camera, so I guess I’ll upload some pics now. Hope everything is going well!

Love,

Elder Blomquist

There’s a story I forgot...

We went tracting on Tuesday, and we ran into a pretty interesting character. He was a pirate!! Had the hook and everything! His arm was cut off about the elbow, and there was a legitimate hook in its place. His tongue was also cut off about halfway, so he had a hard time talking. And to top it all off, he was NAKED! He was trying to hide, and he did a good job, but I could tell he wasn’t wearing any clothes. Def gave me a greater appreciation for people who actually answer the door with clothes on.

December Already... and One More Thing

Red comments are my comments/clarification on things he said in his letter.

December already... crazy.

We’ve had some pretty cool experiences this week. My 1st interview w/ President and some new investigators. Nothing special about the interview, but the new investigator was something else.

We rode past a house and Elder Crosby felt we needed to go and knock on the door. We did and she wasn’t interested. But apparently we looked cold and so she invited us in. We made small talk for about 20 minutes or so and then tried to make it a gospel discussion. We asked her if she went to church on a regular basis and she said she hadn’t. She couldn’t find the right church, all the preachers preached different things and how she thought some were amazing speakers and others she couldn’t stand. We tied that in to Joseph Smith and taught the restoration. It looked like she was just soaking it up. After we taught about the Book of Mormon she said “I know it's true." We thought she was talking about the bible and asked her about it. She said "the Book of Mormon. I know it's true." We gave her a copy and left her 3 chapters to read, and by the time we sat down she was already halfway through the 1st chapter. We’re seeing her again tonight, I’m excited for it.

The work's going well. We’re teaching a guy who's less active and he actually invited us to dinner on Friday and wants us to share a message. He drove us home and we talked about his family and some of the expectations he has in meeting with us, and we got some good info about him and his family. He says that we showed up at a good time in their life and good things are happening to his family. They met them before I got here and challenged them to pray as a family, and they've been doing that and can tell a difference in their lives. He’s less active and the mom and 5 kids aren’t members. It’d be cool to see him get reactivated and have his family join the church. That would be cool. They’re an awesome family.

so my typing drives mom nuts huh?? lol... well, i guess i dont really see the need to be grammatically correct or capitalize everything when im typing. in my letters i still do all that, jsut not in email = P . I left this part the exact way he typed it so you all see why it drives me crazy.  I just fix capital letters- not grammar.

I can’t believe I forgot about Taylor’s birthday!!! I remembered like on the 20th. Happy birthday Taylor!!! Was gonna say something about it last week, but forget then too = P

I like Meridian. I really don’t think I would mind living here someday. It’s pretty cold though. The weather's taken a turn for the worse. Today has a high of 32 at noon and 21 at 6. It’s cold... but in a car vs. a bike, I think it wouldn’t be bad. It’s getting colder though... I just bought me some better gloves, so I think I’m doing alright for now though.

I forgot my camera today, or I would have pictures. I’ll try better to have them next week. I know how to do it; I just don’t have my camera today. Every week he seems to forget his camera and hasn't sent pictures home.

Glad to hear everything's good w/ the roof. Hope everything else is going good as well.

Love,

Elder Blomquist

P.S. ok Alex, I gotta know... is it cuz of a boy that you've been so busy or are you just pulling my leg? I read that part of your letter and freaked out (not in a bad way though). If I don’t get a letter this week from you, you'll never hear the end of it from me till I do get one. You have no idea how much I’ve been freaking out over this! Alex wrote him (finally) and asked would he believe that the reason she hasn't written was that she was too busy with a boy.  Of course there is no boy (yet) but she just wanted to tease him.

New e-mail received 5  minutes later.

And another thing... we can skype on Christmas!!! Do you have skype capabilities? We need to start working out the details pretty soon. Not sure what we're doing on Christmas yet, but I'm sure we'll just be chilling w/ memebrs, just not sure who though. 

Another e-mailed received another 5 minutes later.

And about buying me a bike, I just got a call from the office today and they told me they have a lot of bikes in storage, so I can look through them and decide if one of those would work fine. I'll keep you updated if I need one, but I'm sure I'll be able to find something.

And one more.

I just can't say enough... I keep forgetting things...

 

I was sick on Saturday. I wasn't able to keep food down almost all day. Almost the whole time I've been out I've not felt the best. Most days I'm ok, but there have been days I've felt pretty bad.