August 31, 2015

We FINALLY heard from Caleb!  Woohoo!  Since he traveled last week, we didn’t hear from him.

Here is what he had to say this after noon.

“well first week was rough but its been good its been rough because its really hard to comunicate with my compañero.  his name is elder martinez from colombia and doesnt speak a lick of inglish but i can still get by because i know im way more prepared to come here than most missionarys because i went to colombia and all the other missionarys that went to mexico say that when they started out they knew way less!!! so i guess im i little more ahead but it is still really hard i kinda feel like a dog running around tring to figure out what people are saying but its ruff!!  the first day i didnt even have time to unpack we just went straight to an investigadores house and taught leccion 3 to them and all i did was like bear my testimony and try to say as much spanish as i could but it was kinda hard ugh and now its just like that all day teaching people.  i just try and try and try and people always look at me and get mad a me because i cant understand them but i know its been more rough for others but still i just feel inaffective as a missionary. 

i love my companion tho he is super cool and plays rugby and is way patient with me i will send a pic later. you are going to hate me but i didnt take many pics.  also today we went to the mall and suprisingly the malls look like absolutlye no different than the ones in the us even alot of the signs are in eglish and yes there is a cinemark in the mall like the one in af.  our sector is the poorest sector in the city of guayaquil but there is other places poorer in our mission.  i actually live in the guayquil west mission too so i dont even sleep in my mission but we walk over to our mission just across the road. 

 it is really poor here like really when we go to members houses to eat lunch i feel bad cause after i eat there isnt any more left for the family.  the food is just rice and some meat and beans if you get lucky. but ya its like tin shacks for houses but they are so happy.  also dad it looks like south america has not changed a bit from how you described it hahaha”

“no time to write much but crazy first week first day in ecuador i have a lesson to teach spanish is hard im in the poorest part of the city of guayaquil really poor houses with tin houses concrete walls dirt floors and giant tvs.  god bless the usa.  ecuador uses all american dollers so most everything is like 25 or 50 cents.  so many dogs controling the city i swear.  really hot and humid feels alot like texas ill send more next week with pics my companion is awsome.  i have no more time so i have to go love you all”

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!

Caleb’s address has changed!  If you plan on writing him letters, please use this address.  The other address will no longer work.

AND THE NUMBERS LISTED BELOW MUST BE IN RED.

Elder Caleb Anthony Blackhurst
Misión Ecuador Guayaquil Norte
Casilla de correo 09-04-160
Guayaquil, Ecuador

Thanks for all your love and prayers.

 

 

August 23, 2015

Here are emails we got from Caleb on Thursday.

“aqui” (how he begins all emails)

“this week i probably tripled my spanish because of elder rojas!! he is in there hes the brown one haha anyway i will take a more clear picture for you before we leave.  also i leave for ecuador or tuesday but actually like at 3 or 4 in the morning and i might be able to call in the air port but not sure yet so monday night when you go to bed i dont know for sure but just a for warning”

I asked how the Latin missionaries say ‘Blackhurst’:

“haha oh ya thats what i keep forgeting to tell you haha its so funny blackharssssssT hahaha really funny anyway now they call me benito blackhurst i have no idea why but all these guys are crazy!!!”

“i want to get out of here soo bad!!! He (Elder Rojas-his companion) is from bolivia but lived in agentina buenos aires for a while and was born there ya i am going to miss this place actually a lot and the teachers cause they are really great!! also can you just make a blog for and add some up dates about me that i tell you for me and then people can just look at that cause it is too hard to write a massive group message”

Rob asked if he had gone to the temple in Bogota on Thursday before he wrote to us:

“yes earer today really fun last time for inglish for 2 years haaaa”

“oh ya you stictly get only 1 hour so the camera is a life savor”  (His camera emails the pictures directly so he doesn’t need a computer, just wifi, which is usually in all church buildings)

“ya my new district it the pic infront of the flag pole with all latinos and 2 nortes”

“also tell dallin and josh and allyssa and cammie and megan that they are my heros aand i constantly think about them”

I asked about the one sister missionary in his previous district of all Americans:

“she had a comp but they just wert in our district and yes now she does and she has a latino just like all the other 5 and 6 weekers”

I asked if everyone in his new district is going to Guayaquil with Caleb and Sister Nielson:

“no but alot are there are two venesualans that talk so fast and i cant under stand haha”

“bye love you”

Sounds happy.  Hopefully we will hear from him on Tuesday morning extremely early, and if not, we might not hear from him till the following week when he is in Ecuador and on his Pday (which hopefully we be the same day every week, most likely Monday).

He sent lots of pics again so I attached a few.  Hopefully his companion is one of them.

I think he likes converse tennies

Last pic with his district of Americans

New Companion:  Elder Rojas

New district 2 weeks before he leaves the MTC

 

August 13, 2015

Here is Caleb’s update for week 4

 “hahah yes i saw the pics and took pics of them so i can look at them always also today we went on a tour like up a giant mountain and a catholic inglesia was on top and i was like how in the world could they possibley build anything up here this high any way i took a bunch of pics i will send them too you.  the latest this week was that ive noticed my inglesh is getting really bad and i just rather speak enspañol cause it is easier. and we actually get our latin comps tomarrow but i already know who he is and stuff. his name is elder rojas and he is from bolivia so im super excited for that and he is going to the same mission as me!!! and so are a bunch of other latinos that are coming.  and yes i love alma 17 excesially the first verse and the book of enos excpecally verciculos 13 y 16 they are like talking to me in those verses.  and matthew 17:20 the mustard seed one.  i know it is like one of the biggest scripures in the world but it didnt really hit home till one of my teachers that like entire district loves his name is hermano polo shared it with us last night cause thats the last time he will be our teacher and he gave us all a mustard seed that i will probably keep forever. and i forgot to tell you that we were fasting for his son that wass in the hospital and i guess it was really bad and because we all love him so much we fasted for him then like a day after we stopped fasting he got to come home so that was incredible!!!!”

 “dad thank you thank you so much your email made me cry a bit and yes i am proud to stand by the best human life to be on the earth.  salvation is not easy and never will be and i know that what ever i feel here good or bad there will allways be someone standing right beside me so thank you thankyou so much for your testimony i understood it all except orgiolloso thats all.  

 last week there was two elders from agentina here and they were pretty cool kids and they always talked about mano genobly and how he so good haha and with wiliston that is soo cool im super jelous and wish was there believe it or not  haha and thank you so much for taking me tha one time.  you have been a great dad to me and i love you a tons and thankyou for always being a great dad to me also start taking pics of just random things even in norte dakota i dont care where it is.  and send them too me i want to see whats going on even if it is of stupid suff yo se que dios es nuestro padre celestial nos ama se que mi familia reciben bendiciones de mi servicio un mission.  not perfet but you get the idea”

 “also we went to some gold mueseam and these things are like stait from lamanites i have a bunch of pics i will send”

 “also every email in the week send me a scritpur e that you really like and i will send you one back i think that would be cool”

 “hahaha i love you mom and that goes the same for you too take a ton of pics and send them i promise it wont make me home sick i just want to know how everyone is doing and i want to see it too”

 “haha alright sounds great.  also tell grandma and poppy i love them and i got there second letter today some how haha and i will respond more hopfully when i get to ecuador but i always know that they are praying for me i have to go now bye love you” 

 

Colombian MTC Food

By the water cooler

Amazing View

Caleb's district of Americans

His email is cblackhurst@myldsmail.net if anyone wants to write him and send pics.

August 6, 2015

Here is what Caleb wrote this week.  We were going back and forth because he didn’t have time to write a letter.  They only have about 25 minutes on the computer, so I will copy and paste without editing the things that he wrote.

“i didnt get a chance to read your emails but i tooke pics of them and will read later and write responces and next week will be able to say everything i want to say”

“this week went pretty quick we go proseletising tomorrow again and now im out for revenge so im thinking 21 refrences hah no for real tho”

“the spanish is ok i guess i can communicate with almost all the latinos so that good but still nobody else going to my mission exept me and hermana also we get latin comanaions next week so next time i email you i might be in mental termoil or really happy not sure yet haha”

“ya im sure i will and the espiritual moment of this week was actually just yesterday and we watched a video of a guy sharing his expierece about coming to church for the first time and he said it was crappy because him and his family were not greated at the door and sat by themselves and after sacrement no one even talked to them so he just went home then five years later missionarys invited him back and he went and it was entirely different the way he described it was intenso because the spirit was just beeming off this guy and he was so happy i stink at describing things but i actually started cring a little because i knew that i was going to make people just like him so happy”

“haha and also im pretty sure it takes like for ever for mail to get here and most of the time it doesnt even come so i would hold off on sending letters till Ecuador”

“thanks so much also tell dad that i really dont get how he went 8 weeks with out getting out ones haha”

“ok i got to go i will respond to all your emails next week by love you and i really miss you”

Hopefully it all makes sense without my end of the conversation, but there wasn’t a whole lot of asking and responding.  More just him writing things and me responding, so it should still make sense.

July 29, 2015

So last week’s email was back and forth, so it is too difficult to describe everything. His district has 7 elders and 1 sister. We are still trying to figure out how the sister missionary doesn’t have a companion, but oh well. He likes the food at the Colombia MTC, and sometimes they get American food (hamburgers, steaks, etc.) so that makes Caleb happy too. The first week was pretty tough and intense but all is good. He is excited that he can teach the first lesson in Spanish. He is also grateful to be in the Colombia MTC because all of the teachers are from South America, not American’s teaching kids how to speak Spanish. Caleb feels like he is being taught the right accents and other language helps from these guys. The kicker is that they don’t speak English, so communicating with the teachers is hard but fun. He is loving the MTC so far.

 Last week, he said that his pday would be on Wednesday of this week, but it was Tuesday, so we missed him, but here is what he said. Not a ton of info, but definitely a neat experience. I’ve copied and pasted the part in blue so that is what he wrote.

 “tracking wasnt the best because it was really scary at first but we got used to it”

 “but today our district went to the immagration place so that was fun and the only people that could go in were the people actually going to comombia but im the only one in my district going to ecudor so i had to wait outside all by my self then i sat next to a lady and chated with her in espanol and then i gave her a book of mormon and she was like oh cool and stuff. she said she was a protestent and believed in god and jesucristo and stuff and i just explained to her that this was another testoment of jesucristo and she seamed pretty interested and i got her number and address and stuff to give to the actual missionaries in that mission pretty great right! she laughed alot at my spanish and she was a super nice lady!!”

Thanks for all the prayers.

Elder Hansen with Caleb

 

Colombia MTC

 

Bogota Temple

 

 

Caleb's district in the Colombia MTC