Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Earthquake Damage
Elder Blotter resting up from his long trip south
Rob sent us this picture of him in his missionary apartment. He said was resting from all his traveling. It was catching up to him.Elder Blotter's First Note from Chile
This is Rob's first note from the Mission field. He had a learning experience with some crooks at the Santiago airport. We told him to consider it his donation to the Chilean earthquake relief fund. Otherwise he is adjusting well to life as a new missionary and trying to learn the language. He also had his first earthquake experience with an aftershock. Sounded exciting. He sent a picture of some local street damage, nothing too dramatic. We'll try to post it to the blog.
Hola! How is everyone??? I´am now in Chile! Its been a rough start when I got to Chile though. I was stupid and lost 80 bucks to two Chileans in Santiago because I asked them for help us get to our connecting flight and I had to pay them and I didn´t know anything on the exchange rate because this guy took me to the ATM (Stupid me) and I took out money without really knowing what I was doing. I felt like an idiot and everyone in my group was just laughing at me for it so that just made it worse but theres nothing I can do about it now, it's in the past. I´m in my first area which is in the city of Valdivia and my sector is called Calle y Calle. It's a northern city about an hour and a half bus ride from Osorno. My trainer's name is Elder Simons from Provo Utah. He´s been here a year and a half and has a little less than 6 months left now. I know I´m gonna learn a lot from Elder simons and hopefully be helpful to the work with him. We met a lot of members our first day. We met the Ward mission leader, the bishop and others. They are all very nice people but I can´t understand a word they say. I'm basically looking at my trainer every five seconds when they ask me something because I can´t understand them! I hate it but it´s gonna take time because you have to train your ear and listen very closely 24/7. The house I live in with my companion is nice I guess, compared to other places he;s stayed in before so I´d say I´m pretty blessed for now. It smells like a cabin and looks like a cabin inside. Everything is basically wood. I´ve gotten used to the idea pretty much that this is how I am going to be living for the next 2 years. There are dogs everywhere!! Like literally everywhere you walk, they're like birds in the sky just everywhere! I could probably count over 60 just in the past 6 days I´ve been here!. They just don´t have animal pounds in South America so they just roam the streets. Some people have them as pets but its mostly them just wandering. You don´t wanna touch them cause they have fleas all over them and probably other diseases and might bite so I don´t touch them. Friday, I met more members and a couple of them speak a small amount of English but its really not a ton so I still need to try my best to understand them which is gonna take a while I can already tell. They all like to listen to American music and sing along with it. It´s funny that they do that because its like they sing along with it but they don´t take the words they're singing and transition it over into speaking english they only know the words through the song. We went by a less active's home with the Ward mission leader and did our first service project for someone. They had a huge pile of firewood out in front of there house and we stacked it inside for them. Firewood is the main resource here to keep their house warm so it was really helpful. The ward mission leader talked to them about the earthquake and that before it happened nobody really cared much about God but after, they were all saying oh save me help me. So he just really said we need to go to chuch every week to renew our covenants we made with God and he will keep us safe every week. We recommitted them to start coming back to church and they said yes but I didn´t see them yesterday at church. We´ve been visiting 2 boys since I got here with Elder Simons named Felipe and Alfredo. They are getting baptized on the 10th of April and I´m really excited for them! They seem like really good kids and want to do what's best for themselves. Their dad is a member already but mom is not and we're working with her right now so that she can gain a testimony for herself. We're doing an english class with both Felipe and Alfredo and they are really learning fast! They help me a bit with my Spanish but its not really my spanish that needs help its my understanding of what people are saying to me so yea haha! Lunch is the big meal here in Chile so we eat with our Mamita Hermana Moya. She's really awesome and tries to speak slow for me because she knows I´m learning. The food here isn´t bad at all, it´s pretty good except for in tomatos and lettuce when they have salad type stuff they mix in salt and I kinda don´t like it but I eat it because I need my greens and I don´t wanna be rude but otherwise its all really good. I felt my first Earthquake on Friday night when me and my Companion were doing nightly planning! It was really hard which I guess means there was an even bigger one up north but we don´t know where it hit. It shook the whole house for like 30 seconds! The table jumped up and everything on the walls was shaking! At first my companion thought I was moving the table but I said no that definitely wasn´t me. I´m expecting more of those in the next 2 years I´m here but I wonder if I will feel any really far down south or if down here you're too far off the grid to feel any . Well I believe thats all my report for the week. My p days are Mondays so this is when you should expect emails from me. I love you all and miss you all so much!! I´m sure you´ve already gotten my picture with my trainer and my group that we are in Osorno but if you haven´t then I´m sure it will come soon! Talk to yall next week!
Love Elder Blotter
Hola! How is everyone??? I´am now in Chile! Its been a rough start when I got to Chile though. I was stupid and lost 80 bucks to two Chileans in Santiago because I asked them for help us get to our connecting flight and I had to pay them and I didn´t know anything on the exchange rate because this guy took me to the ATM (Stupid me) and I took out money without really knowing what I was doing. I felt like an idiot and everyone in my group was just laughing at me for it so that just made it worse but theres nothing I can do about it now, it's in the past. I´m in my first area which is in the city of Valdivia and my sector is called Calle y Calle. It's a northern city about an hour and a half bus ride from Osorno. My trainer's name is Elder Simons from Provo Utah. He´s been here a year and a half and has a little less than 6 months left now. I know I´m gonna learn a lot from Elder simons and hopefully be helpful to the work with him. We met a lot of members our first day. We met the Ward mission leader, the bishop and others. They are all very nice people but I can´t understand a word they say. I'm basically looking at my trainer every five seconds when they ask me something because I can´t understand them! I hate it but it´s gonna take time because you have to train your ear and listen very closely 24/7. The house I live in with my companion is nice I guess, compared to other places he;s stayed in before so I´d say I´m pretty blessed for now. It smells like a cabin and looks like a cabin inside. Everything is basically wood. I´ve gotten used to the idea pretty much that this is how I am going to be living for the next 2 years. There are dogs everywhere!! Like literally everywhere you walk, they're like birds in the sky just everywhere! I could probably count over 60 just in the past 6 days I´ve been here!. They just don´t have animal pounds in South America so they just roam the streets. Some people have them as pets but its mostly them just wandering. You don´t wanna touch them cause they have fleas all over them and probably other diseases and might bite so I don´t touch them. Friday, I met more members and a couple of them speak a small amount of English but its really not a ton so I still need to try my best to understand them which is gonna take a while I can already tell. They all like to listen to American music and sing along with it. It´s funny that they do that because its like they sing along with it but they don´t take the words they're singing and transition it over into speaking english they only know the words through the song. We went by a less active's home with the Ward mission leader and did our first service project for someone. They had a huge pile of firewood out in front of there house and we stacked it inside for them. Firewood is the main resource here to keep their house warm so it was really helpful. The ward mission leader talked to them about the earthquake and that before it happened nobody really cared much about God but after, they were all saying oh save me help me. So he just really said we need to go to chuch every week to renew our covenants we made with God and he will keep us safe every week. We recommitted them to start coming back to church and they said yes but I didn´t see them yesterday at church. We´ve been visiting 2 boys since I got here with Elder Simons named Felipe and Alfredo. They are getting baptized on the 10th of April and I´m really excited for them! They seem like really good kids and want to do what's best for themselves. Their dad is a member already but mom is not and we're working with her right now so that she can gain a testimony for herself. We're doing an english class with both Felipe and Alfredo and they are really learning fast! They help me a bit with my Spanish but its not really my spanish that needs help its my understanding of what people are saying to me so yea haha! Lunch is the big meal here in Chile so we eat with our Mamita Hermana Moya. She's really awesome and tries to speak slow for me because she knows I´m learning. The food here isn´t bad at all, it´s pretty good except for in tomatos and lettuce when they have salad type stuff they mix in salt and I kinda don´t like it but I eat it because I need my greens and I don´t wanna be rude but otherwise its all really good. I felt my first Earthquake on Friday night when me and my Companion were doing nightly planning! It was really hard which I guess means there was an even bigger one up north but we don´t know where it hit. It shook the whole house for like 30 seconds! The table jumped up and everything on the walls was shaking! At first my companion thought I was moving the table but I said no that definitely wasn´t me. I´m expecting more of those in the next 2 years I´m here but I wonder if I will feel any really far down south or if down here you're too far off the grid to feel any . Well I believe thats all my report for the week. My p days are Mondays so this is when you should expect emails from me. I love you all and miss you all so much!! I´m sure you´ve already gotten my picture with my trainer and my group that we are in Osorno but if you haven´t then I´m sure it will come soon! Talk to yall next week!
Love Elder Blotter
Friday, March 26, 2010
Elder Blotter Assigned to Valdiva Chile
Robert's Mission President has communicated to us that he was assigned to the Los Encinos Ward in the Valdivia Calle Calle Stake in Valdivia, Chile. His companion is an Elder Simons from Provo, Utah.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Elder Blotter arrives safely in Osorno with other new Missionaries
As you can see from several pictures just posted, Elder Blotter has arrived safely in Osorno with his group of new missionaries. They arrived around 4:00 pm on Wednesday afternoon after a long overnight flight out of Dallas to Santiago on Tuesday night. He called us from the airport in Dallas to tell us their flight was delayed a couple of hours. They were supposed to leave around 8:30 but ended up leaving after 11:00 that evening. They had about a 6 hour layover in Santiago before their flight to Osorno, which we assume was on time. They all look pretty good for young men that spent the last 24 hours on airplanes in suits. We are looking forward to hearing about his travel adventures when he writes us on his first Prep Day. The Mission blog indicated that the Mission President and his wife were in the middle of having dinner and saying goodbye to a big group of missionaries that were completing their missions and heading home, so they were only able to give them a brief greeting before turning them over to the APs for training. Presumably we will also find out shortly where his first assignment will be. Exciting times!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Elder Blotter Status Update
We received several calls today from Elder Blotter. His original flight plans for Chile were changed this morning. Apparently the MTC had not scheduled enough time for them to clear customs in LA before their Chile flight scheduled for today. His group is now scheduled to leave tomorrow afternoon from SLC to Dallas Fort Worth. Then they board an AA flight to Santiago tomorrow evening and get to Santiago on Wednesday morning. They have a long layover in Santiago (8 hrs) before their flight to Osorno. He is going to call us again tomorrow from the airport. He is anxious to go and is tired of the MTC (especially the food).
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Elder Blotter with Elders Zebley, Louk and Reynolds (Geneva Ward Missionaries) in the MTC
These young men were all Teachers together in the Geneva Ward. Elder Zebley and Reynold's families have since moved from our area but they were all in the MTC at the same time. ELder Zebley was going to the Georgian Mission (former USSR), Elder Reynolds is going to Madagascar and Elder Louk to San Jose, CA
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Elder Blotter Headed to Chile on March 23
Hola!
This week has been a long one and were counting down now! We got our flight plans yesterday! we leave a week from Monday! Its so crazy! We report to the travel office at 8 am and leave to the SLC Airport flight takes off at 11:15 land in LAX at 12:19pm have an hour layover and then get on a plane to Santiago of LAN Chile S.A. We fly forever! 1:20pm on the 22nd of March and get to Santiago at 5:25am on the 23rd! holy cow! and then we have like a 4 hour layover in Santiago and then get back on a plane at 11am and fly down to Osorno Chile and get in at 12:40pm! The longest day of my life on a plane! We're all excited to leave for our missions! I'm the travel leader of the 13 of us going to Chile and all I do is if there are problems with our flights I call Church Headquaters so yea its gonna be crazy! I feel like I've learned just about everything I can here at the MTC like I can understand just about everything that people say to me in Spanish and speak about everything I want to say. It's the congigating thats gonna kill me for a while haha!
I love the temple I'm going to miss it when I leave cause we won't have a temple in Chile close to us. I already feel the blessing from the temple and I need and want to have it in my life.
I guess they shut down the MTC in Japan and are shipping all the Japanese missionaries here because it's cheaper, so a TON of Asian missionaries showed up these past days so that was odd to see but understandable.
I still have my running skills also I run 25 min. a day in the gym at my old pace. I'm still running strong! I timed myself two days ago and I ran a 5:02!! I still got it! My goal is to beat the month mile record which is 4:57 think I could do it in a week?? haha. Still hearing about after shock telemundos (Earthquakes) in Chile and it sounds like pretty big ones but probably not really affecting Osorno so will see what happens in a week if we are delayed or not. Oh! Just a heads up I found out when we go to the airport we are allowed to call home to family before we board or have layovers, so be prepared! Send me numbers if you wanna say bye for the last time!
This week has been a long one and were counting down now! We got our flight plans yesterday! we leave a week from Monday! Its so crazy! We report to the travel office at 8 am and leave to the SLC Airport flight takes off at 11:15 land in LAX at 12:19pm have an hour layover and then get on a plane to Santiago of LAN Chile S.A. We fly forever! 1:20pm on the 22nd of March and get to Santiago at 5:25am on the 23rd! holy cow! and then we have like a 4 hour layover in Santiago and then get back on a plane at 11am and fly down to Osorno Chile and get in at 12:40pm! The longest day of my life on a plane! We're all excited to leave for our missions! I'm the travel leader of the 13 of us going to Chile and all I do is if there are problems with our flights I call Church Headquaters so yea its gonna be crazy! I feel like I've learned just about everything I can here at the MTC like I can understand just about everything that people say to me in Spanish and speak about everything I want to say. It's the congigating thats gonna kill me for a while haha!
I love the temple I'm going to miss it when I leave cause we won't have a temple in Chile close to us. I already feel the blessing from the temple and I need and want to have it in my life.
I guess they shut down the MTC in Japan and are shipping all the Japanese missionaries here because it's cheaper, so a TON of Asian missionaries showed up these past days so that was odd to see but understandable.
I still have my running skills also I run 25 min. a day in the gym at my old pace. I'm still running strong! I timed myself two days ago and I ran a 5:02!! I still got it! My goal is to beat the month mile record which is 4:57 think I could do it in a week?? haha. Still hearing about after shock telemundos (Earthquakes) in Chile and it sounds like pretty big ones but probably not really affecting Osorno so will see what happens in a week if we are delayed or not. Oh! Just a heads up I found out when we go to the airport we are allowed to call home to family before we board or have layovers, so be prepared! Send me numbers if you wanna say bye for the last time!
I'm just soo excited to finally be leaving down Chile! I can't wait to bring people unto this great gospel that has been restored in this dispensation! I know it has been restored for this time and that I am where I am supposed to be in my life and serving the Lord. I love you all and miss you all very much! Primero Nefi capítulo tres versiculo siete...Y sucedió que yo, Nefi, dije a mi padre Iré y haré lo que el Señor ha mandado, porque sé que él nunca da mandamientos a los hijos de los hombres sin preparles la vía para que cumplan lo que les ha mandado. I love you all!! Love, Élder Blotter
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Geneva Ward Missionaries in the MTC gather for a group picture
Sister Tori Blomquist - Phillipines
Elder Chris Reynolds - Madagascar
Elder Josh Louk - San Jose, CA (Spanish)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)