Email from the Mission President

Dear Casebolt Family,

We are so glad to have your Missionary here with us in the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission. Since they arrived they have had the opportunities to do a session in the Montevideo Temple and meet their trainers! they have also enjoyed some delicious home cooked meals from Sister Peterson and experienced some of the typical Uruguayan cuisine. They are now preparing to travel to their areas and begin a great adventure in the service of the Lord. Thank you so much for preparing your missionary to serve with us here in the Uruguay West Mission!

Uruguay Montevideo West Mission
 

Surprise!

Bet you werent expecting to hear from me today! Tomorrow I fly out to Uruguay at about 8:30 in the morning. I will be going with all of the other North Americans that have been here for nine weeks. So glad that I got to do the three week program. Im so excited to go but also a little nervous. It will be fun though to travel with all the other missionaries and hermana crofts. I got Jennies letter and pictures today! Thank you! Emma is so so so cute. We went proselyting on Saturday again and did much better. Hermana Campos hurt her ankle though earlier in the week so it was just me and Hermana Urdapilleta. The family we had taught the week before was not there but I actually think they were and just wouldnt come to the door so they sent the little girl out to tell us that their mom wasnt home. That was hard but Im still really glad for the improvement we made, even though i still have so much to learn. I am trying to load some pictures on here so that i can send them to you but this computer is not cooperating. I will see if i can try again later because i took a ton yesterday (The last Sunday is the only time we can take pictures while in the MTC).

Anyways, not much else to tell, just classes as always and the usual MTC stuff. But not tomorrow! I am worried about my luggage though because I got a ton of books here that I have to take and they will make my suitcases way too heavy and i dont know if i will have room in my carry on. I have thought about leaving my curling iron and hair dryer though because they are both old anyway and dont work here even with my transporter and i could just buy new ones in uruguay. We will see.

Oh, and when we went tracting on Saturday my companion wanted to buy some alfahores, which i ate one here at the ccm and it was gross but she knows what kind are good and it was amazing! It is like an orea but cakey at the same time and bigger and thicker and with a caramel layer and I love them! Best thing I havent eaten so far. Anyways I am going to go buscar my camera cord since Hermana Crofts doenst seem to be working with my camera and maybe i can get these pictures on here later. If you read this soon email back right away so I can read it before i leave tomorrow.

Love you all and I will email when I am in Uruguay! (not sure if i will be able to email tomorrow though or if I will have to wait till next p-day) Hope you got my letters!

Love Hermana Casebolt
 
(From a second email with attachments):
 
Okay here are the pictures enjoy! The one climbing the fence is because we are trying to escape from the MTC. The one with in front of the soccer goal and basketball court is my district. The one with me and a bunch of elders are the elders that I traveled here with. I will try and send some more if I can today, or later if not. Love you!
 

My Week

Hey Mom! Thanks for your email! It sounds like things are good at home! That is funny about grandma and grandpa, and thanks for the knee highs! I sent a bunch of letters on Monday, it took me a while to find stamps so thats why they didnt come sooner. I will also send some more letters today including a picture of all the districts that leave on tuesday. Thats right tuesday. I am almost done at the CCM. So crazy. I didnt get any letters today but I am assuming the mail is just a little slow but i hope they will get to the mission hope if they have to be forwarded from here. I did get one letter from Sister Gardner, it was so nice and she sounds like a really cool girl. She basically just said welcome to the mission field and stuff like that and thanks for bringing her camera, although i have not gotten it to her yet.

Last Saturday we went proselyting in Buenos Aires! It was a pretty good experience but a little hard and uncomfortable at first but I must say I was surprised that my companions who speak spanish were even more timid than I was! I had to be the one to walk up to people and start talking! It was good for me though. I wrote a letter about it so I wont go too much in depth here but we did teach a good lesson to a lady named Alejandra. We clapped outside her house and then taught her out front. She is married and has two little kids and another on the way. We have an appointment to go back on this saturday and teach her again so Im hoping it will go well and that she will have done the reading and praying that we left for her.

This week has been a little more frustrating as far as the language goes and really just everything in general, but I still love it, its such a good experience to have. My teacher has told our class that they are lucky that I have a buena onda, good way or personality or something, because I guess sometimes when other sisters have been put in latino districts they have not handled it well and would not get along with everyone and cry a lot and stuff. So it makes me feel good that he thinks I am doing so well.

Unfortunately Hermana Smith has not been doing so well. She hasnt really adapted the missionary lifestyle and doesnt really understand that obedience is a principle that we must follow even if we dont understand all of the rules. I still get along with her really well but she has been butting heads with other elders, the teachers, and even the president. I also wrote to you more about the situation but one of their big concerns is she spends a lot of time talking to one specific elder and they kind of segregate themselves in the classroom and at sports. This morning President George called me to his office to talk about the situation and see if I could offer any extra insight or advice on what could be done. I didnt have too much to offer because quite frankly i think she needs to humble herself before she can be taught anything and if she doesnt do it soon shes going to have problems.

I have been getting really close to Hermana Crofts this week. She is so great and we are hoping to be companions eventually. Last night I got in one of my roommates lockers and then Crofts and Smith asked her if they could borrow her nail polish so she went to get it and i was in there when she opened her locker and I scared her so badly. It was hilarious and we laughed about it so hard! She took it well though and told me the war is on! You should have seen her face though, it was sheer terror! So funny.

Jennie, thanks for your email, Im glad Emma is doing so well. Ive got a picture of her in my scriptures and i show it to everyone and talk about her all the time. I miss you all so much but she is one that I miss most because I know how much she must be changing already! I love looking at her pictures though and it just makes me want to kiss those kissy cheeks! She is such a little cutie!

I hope that you get my letters soon and if you have gotten them send me a quick note so that if Im able to recheck my email later i will know. I sent one to you-mom one to jennie and ryan, one to amy and paul and one to the girls and grandma and grandpa. Just dont think I havent been thinking of you because I have, I just had to find some stamps, but luckily another elder gave me a bunch because he said he only emails. Not much new has happened this week so I dont have a ton to say, we just have classes and the usual stuff. It has been so fun but i{m glad i will be able to go to Uruguay on Tuesday rather than doing another 6 weeks here of the same stuff. The next email you get I should have a lot of news to tell you! Until then I love you so much! I blow a kiss to our family picture every night! Please forward this and I have amy or jennie post my district picture on facebook please!!

Love, Hermana Casebolt or Rayo which means Bolt and I also use sometimes. Till next week!

Hellooooooo!!!!!!

Okay I only have a half hour so I have only sped read some of your letters and Im going to hurry and write my because i have so much to say. first. today was the best day ever! i woke up at 6 to help my district clean the classrooms before breakfast where i ate OATMEAL SQUARES and then at lunch I got a PACKAGE and a letter from renita and judy!!! thank you sosososososo much i cried a ton. Also, mom thanks for your cards they were a huge comfort. i wrote a long letter on the planes about that day so i wont get into that here and i should be able to mail it today, i can only write and send mail on thursdays too.


so far i really honestly love the mtc. the first day right after i emailed you i went and talked to the president in spanish and he put me in a latino district so everyone in my district and classes are from chile, argentina, uruguay, and one from nicaragua who is our d.l. and a really good one at that. so i will be leaving the mtc for the field in only two weeks! three total. sometimes it is hard because my classes are taught to natives, so the spanish is fast and i have a hard time following but sometimes i follow really well, i know that Heavenly Father is helping me so much with the language. when i get frustrated my two companions are so patient and helpful. their names are hermana campos and urdapilleta, even the latinos struggle with that name. i am called hermana casey or hermana case. i love it even more than yessica. the elders are also so nice when i am having a hard time they will try to talk to me in english or make me laugh or just give me encouraging smiles. in my setting a part i was told i would develop a love for the people early on. i didnt realized to would be so early. i truly love these brothers and sisters. i have approached this experience with the idea that if i cant always express myself with the language i can express myself through a positive attitude. i have tried to smile and be really a happy and laugh and try to talk to the others so that they will know what i am saying through my heart if not my words. i feel like this has helped me so much especially when i have used mexican words that are swear words here but they know i dont mean it because i say with a smile and in a nice way. renita you talked about how light and darkness cannot occupy the same place. i know that is true because as much as a miss you all and wish i could see you, i dont feel homesick. i dont know if that makes sense but when i should be sad or frustrated because i have to focus so hard to understand the language that i dont actually learn what is being said, i still feel so happy. i know that is because there is so much light here that it is nearly impossible to get depressed-not to say that there arent hard times, there definintely are.

my typical day is that i usually get up at 6:30 and get ready, go eat, go study on my own, then as comps, then we have district (class) then lunch at 12:15 then district then sports at 3:30-my favorite part, i play ultimate frisbee with the elders or sometimes i get my butt kicked in soccer. it is so fun. then we go to district again, dinner at 6 45 and district till nine. then we plan and practice discussions till 10 ish. bed at 10 30. my teachers are hermano seta and hermano catron, they are both so nice and i really love the lessons they teach.

i am kind of in a weird situation as far as companions go because hermana smith is my companion so i try to be with her sometimes because she is alone a lot since shes the only girl in her district but i also am in a threesome in my own district so it is hard to balance. i love hermana smith though. she is crazy like me and we have fun laughing and joking. her second day she was really struggling with the language-i am the only one who came here with any spanish background at all-so i stayed up later helping her and she is always telling me how much she loves me and appreciates me which really helps to boost my confidence. also with the whole trying to have a positive attitude thing, a lot of people tell me how they love that i always am so happy and they cant imagine me ever being sad, this also helps me because i can see that people are noticing and that it really makes a difference. also hermana crofts is from the st george, she and hermana smith knew eachother there, and she is so fun and loves to play sports and we get along so well.

there are four girls in my room. 2 latinas and me and smith, i am on the top bunk and i put our family pic on top of a high book shelf at the foot of my bed. i blow you a kiss every night! we can see the temple right out our window not 100 yards away, but it is pretty torn up right now with the remode. i have so much more to say but my time is about up. please forward this to everyone i dont want to take the time to add their info, also please send to holly roch and lanae you, hollycsorensen@gmail.com, lanunu11hotmail.com, and rochelleleigh@gmail.com, i can only email immediate family so girls, write me!

i love you all so much! i miss you but know that i am so happy and loving this work. Heavenly Father is blessing you so much and I know he is blessing you because I ask him to everyday. I have to go! bye!!

Estoy en Argentina

Hi everybody.  This is Amy, not Jessica.  Just so you knows, before Jessica left she told me I could post copies of her emails onto her blog for everybody to read.  I'll probably use her subject lines as blog titles.  So here is the first email that my mother received and forwarded to me:

Hi mom! I dont completely know how to use this keyboard so I might emit some punctuation marks. I also dont really know what to tell you first. Right now Im at the MTC in Buenos Aires. We got here about one or two hours ago and just ate lunch. The flight was long. Really long. I wrote you a letter on the plane telling you about the first day and the other missionaries so I wont go into all of that right now unless I have time, I dont know how much time I will have. So my email is jessica.casebolt@myldsmail.net and I will email on thursdays. So make sure that you email me back by Wednesday. You can probably just reply though. I had a really hard time sleeping on the plane during the night so I feel really tired but at the same time so wound up that there is no way I could sleep. My comapañera is hermana smith. She is from st. george and I met her at the airport in Salt Lake. She seems really nice and I think we will have fun together. Im the only one in our group that speaks any spanish which will probably have pros and cons. It will definitley be useful, it already has been, but I think Im becoming the know-it-all missionary. Thats ok though. At the airport I came out of security first (I also am probably the most comfortable navigating through airports) and I saw this lady waving us over. She was just dressed in everyday clothes and I dont even know if she is LDS but she picked us up and drove us to the MTC. She is from Buenos Aires and doesnt speak more than a few words of english so I had to translate to everyone. It was fun though, I think they plan it to be that way where there is one missionary in each group that has language experience. I met sister crofts at lunch and she said it was the same when their group came and hermana gardner was the only one that knew any spanish. she also said that hermana gardner was only here for three weeks before she went to uruguay and that there is no six week program at this mtc so Im interested to see how long I will stay. Sister crofts doesnt have a companion right now and she still has three weeks here so there is a possibility that she and I will go to uruguay at the same time. I hope it works out that way because I dont really want to do nine weeks in the mtc. Not that I wont like it here, I think I will but Im excited to get into the actual routine of a missionary.

I also met an Elder here that was in my mission prep class at school. Do you remember me telling you that someone else said they were coming to this mission? Well thats him. It is funny because the MTC and everything is different than I expected. When I thought missionaries and the MTC I think classes and studying and all that, but really its just a bunch of kids who still like to talk and joke and socialize and laugh a lot. So its been fun.

On the plane from Dallas I sat by this guy from Vancouver who is originally from Buenos Aires. He speaks like 5 languages and is a scientist coming for a conference on a new drug to cure blindness. He said they have made mice, rats and 2 kids in montreal gain their vision. Anyways, I tried to speak Spanish with him and he literally cringed at my accent. Like turned his head in disgust. I told him that I learned spanish in mexico and thats why my accent is different and he pretty much said, well you will have to learn it the right way in argentina. He was super nice about though and i really liked him but its like, if youre going to act all sickened when i speak im not going to be very inclined to talk to you. so im hoping it wont be like tat everywhere. he was very excited to talk about the olympics though and the hockey game and how much fun vancouver was. he was also quick to point out how americans get a bad rap because president bush dogs on other countries that are all friends and allies. it was so weird because he was nice about all of it the whole time and would smile and laugh as he said it but at the same time i wanted to say, even though youre being nice youre saying some things that could be really insulting to people. it was kind of interesting.

I really dont know what else to say since not much has happened because we just got here. I hope everything is good at home and Im sure you will forward this to everyone so hello all, i love you! I hear people speaking spanish here and it makes me so excited to be fluent. I feel so conflicted in a way because little thoughts will pop into my head about home and how I miss you all so much already but then at the same time I get these huge bursts of excitement for being here, I think it is going to be tons of fun as well as a wonderful experience. So far it is beautiful and actually looks a little like the Bay Area, at least more so than anything else I could compare it to. I will send that letter as soon as I can, its just details not super newsy but I dont know when it will get to you.

I am so happy to be here, I can feel the spirit in this process and we havent even had class or sung hymns or had prayers or anything. I just feel like this is so right and almost familiar. It is a feeling I did not expect but is really comforting to me. I hope it is comforting to you too and that you maybe are feeling it on your end as well. I love you so so so much and I wish I could give you a hug right now. Cant wait to read your response next thursday, i wish i could check my mail tomorrow. tell everyone else to mail me too even if it is just short. In fact its probably best if everyone elses is short. Start sending letters too so because I dont want to have to wait for three weeks to start receiving mail...if it takes that long. Next time I email you i will have a lot more to say because i will have actually had a week here but until then, i love you! Talk to you later!
Love, Hermana Casebolt

Dear Emma

You have your own folder of pictures on my computer. And it is pretty full. And you've only been alive for like three months. Here are some of my favorites that I have taken:

Too bad this one is fuzzy because that face is priceless.

I Scream You Scream

We all screamed for ice cream! So we went to Leatherby's. And by we I mean my parentals and brother, my grandparentals, and my aunts. If you haven't been there you are missing out. Our family has been going to Leatherby's for ice cream since before I was born and it is delicious. Most everyone gets a sarah-sundae with toasted almond ice cream and the most wonderful caramel, or with vanilla ice cream and the yummiest hot fudge. But you all know how I am when it comes to ice cream so I get both! It's called the Bart's Black and Tan, it's a tall glass with layers of vanilla and toasted almond with caramel or fudge in between and it is so so so good. I got an extra dish of caramel on the side last night. Mmmm....



Bart's Black and TanGrandma got swiss milk chocolate with marshmallow topping. It was good too.

Ate the whole thing.


By the way...this could be my last blog post for 18 months!!