Week of April 18, 2011

Sounds like if we were to send an air conditioner and spring water to Corban and maybe even a washing machine that he would think that he had died and gone to heaven. Corban's email:

"Hey ya'll,
Well, bout to have my first companion exchange this week, should be on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to it, but will miss my companion, that is if we have a exchange. Who knows. I was happy to receive letters this week, especially from Jeanette! Sounds like people are doing well in the life of the us citizen. Believe me when I say, central air and fresh water have never been so good. lol. But everything is going well. No one ever said that the mission would not be tough, and let me testify in saying, it is tough, xD. But I manage day to day. The baptism was great, I baptized two of the three brothers that were baptized. Santiago, and Ismael. 8 and 13. Other than that this week was pretty much spent just preparing for the baptism, and their mom said that she wanted to be baptized too, so if I stay in Guapilo that is one baptism for the next exchange. The picture of me standing next to the canal is my area. There are plenty of canals in this area, for the rain, but the clouds here are always big and puffy. It is beautiful here. If they had a beach, it would be more popular than mexico, lol, but I'm glad to here from you all. I'm not quite sure what exactly will go down on moms day. I get to talk for an hour I think, and I will get to call, dad and mom. So peeps, if you want to talk to me go to one of those places, lol. Well good hearing from you all, hope to hear from you next week.
love,
Elder Schafer "

Remember everyone letters and skittles...oh and of course fresh water and a/c. Corban would love to hear from you!

Take care,
Sandy

Week of April 11, 2011

Here's Corban's email received April 11, 2011. Corban's Email: "Just thought I would let everyone know this week that I have my first baptism. It is with three brothers, one 15 other 14 and the other is almost 9. I have the opportunity to baptize one of them. I'm really pumped and looking forward to this weekend, but have a lot of work ahead of me this week. Have one week left of my first companion exchange. Sad to say that I might not be in the same area again. But I'm happy to go where I need to be. Things are going well here. Nothing too bad. Had some bad wind the other day and had some extreme sol the other day too. The sun is the hottest part here because it is so strong, I never thought I would be so grateful for shade(sombro). Believe me you need it here, especially with no ac to cool you down. Other than that things are great. Might get to eat my first pizza in months today, looking forward to that as well. Gotta do all my laundry today, and let me tell you it will take probably 3 hours to do it. Gotta love hand washing. Just thought I would let you all know that I love you all and hope that you are all doing well. I know that things are difficult, but our trails are what make us grow in this life. Hope that things aren't too hard at this point in time. Time is going by quickly here in Bolivia and I know that I will be home in no time. i hope to see you all soon. oh btw thank you Dakota for the letter Thursday. He was the first to send one here. I'll send picks next week. love you all
Elder Corban Schafer"

Until next time everyone take care and please write our missionary!!

Take care,
Sandy

April 4, 2011 Post General Conference

Well we have the go ahead to send letters and packages!! Not to sure how much it'll cost but I know he'd like to have some skittles!! Corban's email: " Okay, so this week went by pretty dang fast. I think with conference and everything it went by to fast. Now I'm just waiting for the ensign, because I cannot look stuff up on the internet. Well, today will be tons of fun. I get to go to the zoologico de santa cruz. Yeah I'm going to take plenty of fotos and hopefully send some that I like next week. Oh btw, everyone can send any packages and letters now, just ask mom for the address, or mom... put the address on facebook. Just letting you all know that I am doing fine here in lovely Santa Cruz Bolivia. The people here are wonderful. and very compassionate. But needless to say that I do miss you all. I am very grateful to receive your letters weekly, they help me in the field and out of it too. Hopefully in two years when I get back I will be able to share more stories than I can right now. It is great here. only story I have now is I got to see some huge tarantulas the other day. And let me tell you thing. Panza is not the best thing to eat in the world. btw, Panza is the stomach of a cow(vaca). Yeah, and a family wants me to eat cow intestines this weekend. can´t wait. :) Hopefully I will be able to get back to you all about that. Yeah I think I am missing American food just a little bit. But the family tells me that intestines are Rico. They say that about Panza too. Hopefully my stomach will not be too bad when I get back. I'm ready for some chipotle. Well, what else is there that happened this week. Other than that I'm not really sure. It is cool to see the people here progress in the gospel. and I'm happy to see the changes that it has on there lives as well. We had a family come to the Saturday session of General Conference, it was awesome. They have three kids 9, 5,and 4. the 9 year old is awesome, but he cheats at board games. I will try and send some pictures of my area next week. to show you guys a piece of Bolivia. Well, I love you all and hope to hear from you next week.
love Elder Schafer


So it sounds like he would like to hear from everyone! So let's send those cards, letter's and Skittles!!

Sandy

Corban's address:


Mission Santa Cruz Bolivia
Calle Saavedra, esq. Cochabamba, Edif. Torres Cainco
Piso 7 Bloque empersial
Santa Cruz Bolivia

March 28th, 20011 I think he has forgetten English....

I think that the boy is trying to forget all that he learned about English!! Corban's Email: "Buenos Dias de Bolivia!
Como estan? la clima aqui hace fria hoy. Hay mucha lluvia tambien. los tres dias en pasado hicieron muy lluvia. pero esta bien. un otra dia en la obra misional. entounces como estan ustedes hay mucha calor en los estados o no. bueno yo hablaré en ingles ahora. how goes it everyone. I hope that all is well. The language is coming along. Everyday it is getting harder and harder to remember words in English. I hope that it keeps up and i never remember. xD. Well how goes it. I hope that the weather is good there. It has been chilly these past couple days like 70 degrees. I'm getting use to all this hot weather and now I have to put up with cold weather. But all is well. I'm getting excited for this weekends General Conference. I hope that they show a picture of the new temple plans for Indy. I also have the opportunity to listen to it in English! What a treat I know. I have several roommates now. i have a cockroach named pancho. A gecko named George and a spider named Dave. I know Dave is weird cause it is not Spanish. But he´s a gringo what can I say. well. I hope that everything is peachy and that you are all enjoying the benefit of central air. xD well I think I'm gonna cut this short. Have a good one everyone and keep me in touch with everything that is going on in the outside world. But it is all good. I hope you guys are experiencing the blessings of a mission as much as I am.
love, Elder Schafer


Ok one has to worry when he starts making roommates out of bugs....lol...just kidding I think that he is doing great. Sorry for the delay in getting this out this week. Take care everyone!!

Sandy

March 21, 2011 No hot water in Bolivia!!

He has worn out one pair of shoes already and had no hot water and has to wash his clothes by hand....ok is anyone else having a hard time believing that this is our Corban... !! Corban's email: "Hey everyone how is it going. It is going well here in Guapilo. Yeah that is the area that I am in right now. My companions name is Elder Gerber and he has been out in the mission field only three months more than I have, and he is my trainer. It is all good. I think he is doing a wonderful job, even if we are only two gringos in a place full of Latinos. It is nice to have a companion who knows English also. So far I love it here. The work is hard and the weather is hot, but it is fairly nice as of right now. The time seems to be passing by pretty quickly. I can still remember when I left the airport like it was yesterday. But I'm lovin it. Had to sit out two days this week because I had a total of 13 blisters on the bottom of my feet. Yeah it was pretty painful, but I'm all better now and ready to work my tail off like I did the last couple of days next week. I'm getting pumped for April. Get to listen to those prophets and apostles talk in general conference. It is awesome to have the opportunity to listen to them every 6 months. Seems like just yesterday we were in the house listening to them speak in October. Weird to think that 6 months have past. Just thought I would let you all know that I miss you all and that my mailing address in Bolivia should be the return address on my letters that I sent from the ccm in Peru. If you don't have it I will try and get a hold of it and send it next week. I can only send mail once a month here. Which is weird, but I have no post office in my area, which is why I can only send once a month. So just expect to get emails from me for a while. My next cambio should be some time late in April and Mothers day is coming up in late may I think. I'm not sure the exact date. Let me know that. But everything else is chill right now. So let me know everything and like I said I have p-day on Mondays now so write me letters before now so I can read them all. I love you all and know that I miss you.
Elder Schafer"


Corban sent me an extra email that told more about his shoes and that he has worn out one pair so far and is in need of another already. He also told of no hot water and washing all clothes by hand and loving it...."where is my son and what have they done to him"...a mother can only laugh. I hope that everyone is well, so until next time take care!!


Sandy

March 14, 2011 1st week in Bolivia

So far so good, Corban has been in Santa Cruz Bolivia for one week. He sounds happy to finally be in his new area. Corban speaks of hearing of the death of my father from the week prior to the email. Corban's email: "hola all, I hope that you are all doing well. I have made it through my first week in Bolivia. I have been here for 6 days and so far I'm becoming adjusted. Sorry if my English is getting worse as time goes by but all I'm talking is Spanish. So my first week has gone well. I'm talking and working with my new companion Elder Gerber. He is my first North American companion since Provo. It is nice to have a North American companion, but he wont speak English with me unless he absolutely has to. Which is better for me in the long run. I didn't hear about grandpa until Sunday. I was a little upset but I'm glad that I figured out before today. Yea it was really unexpected, but I know that is was for the best. I hope that you all are doing well, and I'm glad to have heard from you all. Oh btw. the return address on the cards that you guys got is my address here. Just thought I would let you know. oh by the way I attached a picture of my house. It is pretty nice compared to some of the other houses I have seen. So I am really grateful to have the blessing. The weather here is funny. The first day that I got here it was hot and then when I got to my area it was hot. The first day that I got to proselyte was bad, but it got better. Today it is roughly 70 degrees, and I am freezing. But I think that I will be fine. The food here is good. Saltiñas are the bomb. I'm sure that Casey will know what they are. All is going well. Monday is my p-day from now on. I hope that everything is going well there. Hopefully this picture will send. If not I'm sorry. I have roughly 1000 more pics left on my card, so I wont send it anytime soon. But maybe I will send it sooner or later. Oh I get to hand wash my clothes for 2 years. Isn't that awesome! Yeah I'm looking forward to it too. I'm humbled at the chance to be able to be here and glad that I can speak with you guys. I will find out what I need and report back to you guys next week. Love Elder Schafer "

So until next time everyone take care!!

Sandy

His last few days in Lima.....March 2, 2011

This weeks email provides another look into Lima with pics as well as insight on Corban's last few days in Lima before moving on to the Santa Cruz Bolivia Mission next week.

Corban's email: " Here are some more picks from my tour around Peru, which happened almost two weeks ago, but it is all good. I'm gonna send another email with some more pics so I will make this brief. Yeah that is a second story McDonald and if you look close you can see the wrappers in Spanish. The other two are of down town Peru. one is in the capital square and the other is a pic of a street that I was walking on. well. Send a second one in a bit."

Corban's second email: "Okay, so these are all my districts that I have been in thus far. One from Provo with all the gringos and the others are my last Latino district, and my last gringo district in the Peru MTC. Well, I have about 6 days before I leave for Bolivia. I'm getting really excited to know where my first area is. I hope I get stationed I the jungle first. I have heard some stories about all the things you get to see and do. So I am pumped needless to say. I really want to see an anaconda, which my teacher said that he saw a bunch of. So if I see one I'll try and shoot a pic. I'm looking forward to everything that I get to do, and serve the people. I'm not sure how good the mail is yet there, so I'll let you know later when I get there. I'm not sure what I need to expect from this place but the first day I spend with my mission pres so I'm sure that he will let me know what I need to do. Well, just know that I love you all and that I am anxious to get to Bolivia and do the work of the Lord. I love you all and I will talk to you later. "

So that's all for this week! He's doing great and soon he will finally be in Santa Cruz. I will provide updated mailing info as soon as it becomes available. Til next time take care!

Sandy