finalmente

 

yippee, I'm done!

 

not really. but i am done with the mtc!  I just had my last meal and it was awful.  I cannot wait for some real food in the airport tonight.

 

Thank you a ton for your emails! they are the best!  I have been in a really good mood all today, because i know tomorrow i will be in Chile! This place has been sort of hard but the time has flown by, i cant believe it has already been six weeks. That's nuts.  This place has taught me a ton of valuable lessons and i am stoked to go out and apply them to the people.

 

I am going to call you guys once i get to Santiago. it will be between 8 am and 1 pm.  we have a five hour layover there because we fly form there to Puerto Montt.  it is going to be a tiny plane, and i am super excited.  So if anyone wants to talk to me be at the house.  Im so excited to talk to you guys!

 

as you can tell i am just really excited.  Bye! ill talk you when i get to Chile!

 

Adios,

Elder Paco Taco

 

The MTC is Terminado

 

¡Hi! 

 

¿Como estan?  I cannot beleive that this will be the last time i will be emailing you guys in the MTC!  I am so excited!!!  My teacher gave us a lesson yesterday about his mission.  He went to Argentina and loved the food, but he told us that he loved the Chilean food more.  he served right on the border so he knows a lot about both kinds of food.  But i really cant wait to get out in the feild so that i can really teach and preach the stuff that i have been learning my whole life!  So i might not be able to call you.... it depends on what Presidente Pratt tells us.  we will see.  I will check my email again tomorrow too. My companion leaves at 1 am tonight so i have to go around with the other elders from my mission.  And they are going to email as well. 

 

So this week has been hard.  Mostly because my concentration has been off.  I really had a hard time with calasses this week. but oh well. no more.  I am a ball of concentration now.  I cant wait to meet my trainer! i cannot wait. 

 

I talk every night with my dormmaits about our mission.  It is going to be awesome.  and i cannot wait to serve the Chileans.  All we do for service here is scrub walls with dirty rags until our service time is up.  But down there i have a feeling we will find lots more ways to serve. 

 

This is my companion.  he is in a hurry.

 

So this week some of the guys in our dorm decided to catch a ton of mosquitos and put them in a water jug and then let them all loose in our roommates room.  He is always getting mad at us for leaving the door open so they thought it would be super funny.  It was.  but i think I was punished for not doing anything about it because for the first night since the first week i got about 15 mosquito bites just on my hands.  he got it worse though, he got 23 on his face.  rough.

 

love you guys a ton.  ill probably send you another email tomorrow.

 

love

Elder Weston

 

 

 

 

 

 Week 5

 

dear acquaintance's,

 

how is everyone this fine week? i hope you are all fine.  One of the best parts of my week is when i get to read about how everyone is doing back home. I know it shouldn't be but this place is really starting to get the better of me.  I really can not wait until i go to Chile!  I am mostly excited about the food.  Yesterday we had hot dogs.  I honestly have never had anything like it before.  it tasted a little bit like spam but with less real meat.  We went to the temple today (it was amazing), and on the bus ride home that hot dog destroyed my insides.  I had to hold in some crazy urges for the 1 hour bus ride back to the CCM.  It was one of the most painful experiences of my life.  but i am alright now. 

 

So i found Hunter last Tuesday.  It was awesome to see someone i knew back home.  He is doing great.  he also enjoyed the hot dogs last night.

 

This week has been a lot harder than previous weeks... I am really struggling to keep focused, this being the last week in the CCM.  During our study time i find myself day dreaming of Chile.  Its not that this place is bad, its just that i finally want to apply what i have learned here to real life teaching.  But I am still learning more day by day. I do like this place a lot and it will be hard to say goodbye to my district, and to the ping pong tables.  My companion is playing in the devotional tonight and i will be in the choir.  I still really don't like to sing.  I have gone with my companion to the piano room for the past two weeks so that he can practice his piano.  I have heard the same song for 12.5 hours.  I am slowly going insane. And because i have to be with my companion at all times i got roped into the choir.  Oh well after tonight i am telling him no more piano for the next week.  maybe. if i can muster up the courage.  I have sung more here than i think any other person should ever have to sing.  maybe besides bruce springsteen.  We sing constantly, and i think i am finally getting used to it.

 

My life has changed a ton since i have come here I have really learned what it means to study, and what it means to teach.  And now i am way excited to get to Chile to apply every thing that i have learned here to my investigators.  I CANT WAIT. 

 

Well my companion is waiting for me so that he can go practice piano more. so i gots to go.  I love all of you guys so much.  I know that i am here on the Lords errand and that he will protect me.  Ill write you again once i get to Chile!

 

love,

Elder Steamer Borup

 Week 4

Hola! how is everyone doing? Sounds like you're doing good. I'm doing great! I got all of the various packages from Daniel Metro and through the mail.  They were amazing!!!  This week has been a little harder than past weeks and those packages just pepped me right up.  thank you so much.   I am really starting to count down the days until i leave for Osorno.  I can't believe I have been out for a month already.  The days are really starting to fly by.  I am a little conflicted though, i want to leave and go down to Chile but at the same time i feel like my spanish needs tons of improving.  I'm sure i'll be fine though. 

this is a view from right out side of our dorm room and it is what i woke up to this morning. 

I cant even begin to describe how amazing this place is.  we are surounded by mountains and it is always the perfect temperature.  There is an amzing spirit that is here and you can deffinently feel it. 

This week me and my compadre have really had to step up our game.  They added 3 more pretend investigators that we have had to prepare for, and less time to prepaire for them. but that is probably how it is going to be out in the feild.  Anyways we have had to adjust to how we study and how we prepair and it has all worked out fine. 

The ping pong net has been awesome! i found Daniel teusday night and we had a tournament because it was our pday. i won. But we found out we arent aloud to play games after 9:30 so we stopped. Total Obedience. At least we try.

My compadre Elder Beach is going to the Farmington NM mission.  He is super excited because most of his mission is on the Indian reservation.  Durango is also in his mission and so i have been telling him all about the million dollar highway.  And luckly Hermana is going to a different mission then me so i probably won't ever to see her after the mtc. 

I have been rocking the book of mormon this entire week.  i am already on alma 20.  That Book is amzing!  I am excited to share it with all of Chile. They will love it for sure.  I have gotten so much more out of it because i have been taking notes and writting down all of my thoughts. 

I think i am already startting to get weird.  When ever i take a break for studdying i go over to the window and just stare at the birds.  I have no idea why but i have developed a strange interest in them.  Right outside our classroom window there is a huge tree and in the tree there are at least 50 or 60 parakeets at any given time.  I just look at them and watch their behavior.  I am woried about myself.  Oh and every time i hear a plane i look up and watch it until it is out of view.

Over all i think my sanaty is mostly there.  Once i am done here we are going to go play volleyball with our branch, and before that we are going to trade ties.  i dont know if i want to get rid of any of mine yet but we will see. by the way mom those ties that you sent to me were amazing!  all of my district wants them but they will never have them.  thank you so much. 

I am really looking forward to seeing Hunter.  i miss that guy. And it will be nice to see a familliar face. Good old Pancho. (spainsh name in elementry) 

This week i made a funny spanish mistake.  i was going to go sit down and i said voy a sentir me, which means i am going to feel myself, what i meant was voy a sentar me, but the damage is done and i get made fun of every day. its alright though, it was super funny.

i probably should be going.  I love all of you guys. it has only been a month and i can already tell this is going to be the best two years for my life.  I really don't like being a way from home but it is going to all be worth it.  Till next week.

Love,

Elder Paco Borup

First Letter from MTC

 

I made it! it wasn¨t even that bad. there were ten of us all going  to chile osorno mission in dallas we met up with two more going to chile rancagua mission.  the MTC is great so far.  i dont have a companion yet but i think he will be arriving later today. 

  

So on the plane from Salt Lake City to Dallas i was able to talk to this really cool guy.  He was from Tampa and he was in Salt Lake to visit family. He sat in between me and a sister missionary who had already been in the mtc for six weeks.  We saw that he had a bible in his hand and asked him what religion he was a part of he said that he didnt really beleive too much in organized religion! Boy did I have an awnser for him.  but the sister sitting on the other side of him beat me to the punch. We had a great discusion that lasted all of the flight.  We talked about the first vission and the plan of salvation, and the trinity. He wasnt crazy about what we were saying but he definantly was interested, especially when we told him how long we were going to serve.  At the end of it i gave him the Book of Mormon dad had given me right before we left and asked if he would read it.  He said he would and then he had us write our email addresses on the tittle page.  I cant think of a better way to start the mission. 

 

I am really blessed to have travled so much growing up.  i felt confident and safe while traveling.

 

so we got our schedule right when we got here, and boy is it packed.  tuesday is my temple and preperation day. i hope i can get to go there a lot.  but it is one of the most beutiful places ive seen. 

 

This is going to be a great experience and although i will miss you guys a lot I know that this is the lords work and that Joseph Smith is a real prophet and so is Thomas S. Monson.  Love all of you (especialy izzy).  I hope that by the time i get back i will have the confidence.

Love,

       Elder Weston Borup

 

 

We got this email  the next morning.

So my companion came at 10:30 last night.  he is awesome, he has great spanish and i hope i can learn from him.  but what is really great about him is that he is a huge lord of the rings fan.  we get along great and so far we still havent had any kind of instruction, besides go to breakfast.  it is beutiful here, we have a gigantic campus that has lots of benches and parks.  We do have our own shower and bathroom.  there is a small problem with mosquitos though. I have completely unpacked and everything is either hung up or folded.  if you could send me my emunization dates through email in the next few days that would be amazing. love you.

 

Elder Borup 

 

I think that the best way to contact me is still through email. I think it would fun though to get some letters.  i have no idea how often we would get them but it would still be fun. 

 Week 3

 

This has been an awesome week.  Thank you so much for the emails, they mean a lot to me.  This place is getting a little monotonous but i am loving it.  I learn more and more every day and the spanish is coming along slowly but surely. 

 

its good to hear how every one is doing.  Dad you need to get that paddle for the long board. that sounds awesome. Mom thank you so much for cleaning my room for me and for sending that stuff down. i havent seen any busses come in yet but i will find Daniel Metro when i see them start to come in. How should i send the camera back?  we get tons of new missionaries in every week and so far none have left. besides the latinos who only stay for 2 weeks.  Have you gotten any of my letters yet? i have sent 8 so far. 

 

Dear, Scott

 

Happy Birthday Scott. I hope it was a good day. 

 

Sincerely,

Weston

 

P.S. I cant wait to murder you in solitaire

 

So this week we had a ton of lessons to teach. we got two new pretend investigators and me and my companion are killing it.  I hope we can get them to commit to baptism before the end of this week.  probably not.  I hope though.  Our branch president, Presidente Machado, challenged us to re read the book of mormon before we leave.  Initially i was upset with that because i was in ether chapter 12.  I decided to take notes though while i read, it has helped me so much.  You get so much out of the scriptures when you are writting every thought that comes into your mind. It has been fun and i am already to 2nd Nefi ch. 15.  it has been a very rewarding experience. 

 

This week for Pday we ran out of ping pong balls so we have been playing volleyball.  haha! It has been super fun though.  all of the elders in  my districto play and it is awesome!  I am not good at all but it is still very fun.  maybe by the time i get back i will be able to feel confident enough to play at the swain christmas party.  probably not.  but maybe.

 

i played one of my roommates in pingpong today.  he said he was the best in his entire district. Whooped his bottom.  It was great. Thanks dad for teaching me all of the tips and tricks. Cant wait to get home so i can beat you.

 

It is weird how much has happened in a week and how little i can remember from it.... there is a story about Hermana though.  She has been sick all week, and when she blew her nose this sunday something unearthly came out. She then went around and showed everyone in the entire building what came out.  she is just the best.   

 

Durring testimony meeting this week something crazy happened. Hermana was bearing her testimony and i had zonned out.   I was just sitting there thinking about lunch, when all of a sudden i felt this weird feeling.  I heard her say something about her Gandma who had died a while back. I started thinking about Grandpa Borup and how dad said i would feel closer to him on my mission.  And then i just started crying.  I felt his love. And i felt the love from all of you guys back home.  It was like our whole familly was in a room together again.  It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.  I know that we will all get to see Grandpa again. I felt it. 

I love all of you guys so much. 

 

Love,

Elder Weston Borup

 

P.S. i havent seen anyone from our stake here, but so far i have seen two from my school. Cameron Burr and Trevor OBrion. And the food is still aweful. the highlight of the week was when we got cereal dispensors. I have had fruit loops for breakfast every day. and some times for dinner.  And so far i weigh the exact same as i left.