Report from Haida Gwaii

Hello, family!

Whew! Sounds like it's been a pretty crazy week for everybody back home! The skiing in Eastern BC looks like it was fantastic. I would always be envious of the people in Vernon that came to the door with windburned faces and thermals after a day of skiing. There's a member in Vernon that I think is an orthopedic surgeon and at his practice he schedules all his patients in the afternoon so he can go skiing every morning. Probably not a bad way to go!

Well, the work in Haida Gwaii has just been great. The people here are great. It's a very small place, and everybody has had the missionaries at their door a lot over the past 2 years, and so a lot of people aren't very receptive to your typical missionary approach on the doorstep. People are very friendly and talkative, and a lot are very willing to accept help with yardwork or splitting wood or whatever else they need to have done, and so you have to find different ways to start talking with people and sharing the gospel with them. As a missionary you're kind of watched like a hawk. We were heading back from washing our truck at one of the member's homes, and somebody walking past looked at us confused and asked us why we weren't "in uniform". Then half a second later he just said "Oh yeah, it's Tuesday, your day off!" And then kept going. People know that our rules are that we can't visit people of the opposite gender without someone of our own gender with us, and they'll use that to their advantage. "You can't share your message with me! I'm here all by myself and you can't come in!" It kind of creates a hubbub whenever there is a switch in the missionaries here, and so the fact that 2 new ones moved in created a bit of a stir. It's a pretty interesting culture!

We're still working with a lot of miracle people here in Haida Gwaii. I might have mentioned before, many years ago churches on Haida Gwaii had programs that would forcibly take children from their families and put them in "Residential Schools", where all sorts of abuse would take place. The LDS church had a "Lamanite Placement Program" which would place children from Haida Gwaii with families spread throughout Canada or at church schools like BYU, but it required the parent's permission, and to keep their kids away from other programs that were abusive, families would beg the church to take their children. So in general, people are relatively friendly towards the church, but there are a lot of the people here that don't really distinguish between churches. So it's really cool that we're able to meet with Sid, who is a chief, and his wife Cindy. They're really great people. Sid is always joking around with other people at his house that we think he would make a great "Mormon bishop" (he would). People are a lot friendlier towards us, because they know that at least Sid likes us! They take really good care of us, too. Sid sent us home the other day with a big bucket of crabs. I've never eaten legit crab before, but it's good! He said that in Vancouver one crab would cost $30, and he gave us like ten.

The culture on Haida Gwaii is great, too. In first nations stories, ravens play very prominent positive roles, and so even though they just tear into garbage and make messes, everybody loves them a lot. You never throw away food that goes bad, you just set it out so the ravens eat it. We had a bunch of food that was given to us that started to go bad, so we left it outside, and there was a swarm of probably 40 ravens outside our apartment. Not going to lie, we were scared to leave. But the Lord looked out for us, and we made it out. :)

Other than that, we're just looking on all obscure corners of the islands for people to teach! Riding ferries around, looking in all the different towns, and talking with a lot of unique people. We're teaching a few people that are hippies that came to escape the rest of the world, an Inuit artist who carves whalebone for a living, some loggers, and lots of awesome first nation people. We're hoping that the snow up here melts soon. When it doesn't look so cold outside, people will hopefully be more willing to jump in our baptismal font (the ocean).

And we have a really exciting week coming up! We're going to be flying down to Vancouver (and flying back up in less than 24 hours) for a mission conference with Elder Christofferson! We're super excited for it. The whole mission is fasting the day before, and then we're just going to have a spiritual feast the next day. It'll probably be the only time for months and months that we'll be off the island.

Well, hope that you all have a great week! Thanks for the emails and support!

Donga dii K'uuga ga!

Elder Blotter

Haawa

Family,

Well, just like that it's been another week. It just always feels like there's not enough time in the day to get everything done that you'd like to, and so it just feels like a blur. Things have been going very well here on the Gwaii. It's so beautiful here! The weather has just been crazy, though. We've had gale-force winds and snow and rain (sometimes it's raining and snowing at the same time) and sometimes warmth and sunshine. Driving from Skidegate to Masset on Sunday along the coast there were waves so big that they wash over the road. They have to have a snowplow push driftwood off the road. The weather will literally change in just minutes. I'll try to send pictures soon (possibly later today?) because it's just beautiful up here.

The work on Haida Gwaii has been great! It's definitely a lot different than anywhere else in the mission. You can knock on every door on the island in 2 or 3 weeks. It usually takes longer because you're teaching or doing service, but there aren't exactly oodles of people up here. In church, the members will speak in sacrament meeting almost monthly, and everybody has to have multiple callings. And the people here are so faithful! Some of the recent converts here, that are coming to church even though none of their friends or family go, even though the church service here is so small and simple because we don't even have a building, are very inspiring. Because it's so remote, Haida Gwaii is it's own district, and so district meetings just have us and the Masons (who Mom is apparently already in contact with) inside of them. So, as a district leader, I'll have to find ways to make the meetings lively because there are so few of us!

The people here on Haida Gwaii are just great, thA lot of people would warm up to us if they joined the churchough. They're very laid back and very willing to talk with us. We probably find 2 new investigators every day. A lot of the first nations people here have a lot of reservations talking to religious people because of how poorly the people here were treated. A lot of natives were forced from their families as children and stuck in Catholic "residential schools", and faced a lot of abuse. It definitely takes a lot of time for people to warm up to us, and so we try to do a lot of service so they can see that we're here because we really want to help.

We're working with some very awesome people, though. We're teaching a native named Eddie who is trying to quit smoking and drinking that was raised in an LDS home but was never baptized. Sid, the chief in Skidegate, and his wife Cindy, are just awesome. They feed us all the time and we'll just be talking. We just love them. They've had a big impact on the community that they live in already as far as perception of the church in Skidegate. We've definitely been blessed by the Lord here.

The language here is very cool, as well. The Haidas have their own language that is apparently very unique. I'm trying to learn all the pleasantries. Haawa means thank you. Dongaa dii K'uuga ga means I love you. And... that's about all that I remember so far. The culture here is very cool. Haida art is very famous, and it all originates here. They take a lot of pride in their culture and history. Anciently, the Haida people were very aggressive. They had these big war canoes, and they would canoe on the open ocean to places as far as Hawaii and someone said they even went to New Zealand. Pretty crazy.

Sounds like it was a pretty great week back home! Dad, enjoy Revelstoke! You'll have to give a report on how the skiing there is! When you're driving in between Salmon Arm and Vernon, there's a place with a "Goat Walk" where you stop and you can put some food in a bucket thing, and a goat will walk over this bridge and spin a wheel or something with it's head to pull up the bucket and eat the food. The skiing is great and all, but it's a must-see. Well, love you all! Hope you have a great week!

Elder Blotter

Big Changes

Elder Blotter, of Haida Gwuaii,

Well, it sounds like an eventful week and a journey to the outer regions of mother earth.  You probably have one of the largest areas geographically among active longstanding missions.  I'm sure that the cast of characters that inhabit that island are one of a kind.  Wow.  You are also a stones throw from some great salmon fishing.  I'm sure that you will eat some fish while on Haida Gwaii.  Do they have a Subway?  As in sandwich shop.

We are in St George, which is kind of the opposite climate to your neck of the woods.  We went to the Red Cliffs today, which are really neat.  Dinosaur tracts in sandstone, Anazasi ruins, and a nice little slot canyon.  Kind of like a southern utah one stop shopping.  Claudia seemed to like it, even though she is not the type to appreciate the wonders of the Creator.  I have learned a lot about the mindset of the secular (catholic) European from Claudia.  Another thing about Claudia, is that she learned to fear me early on with regard to physical activity.  The girl has no stamina.  This is not a surprise though, as your standard European would rather stay out until 3:00 in a sweaty night club crowded with people and bad odors,  and then sleep for 2 days, than actually do something.  As a result, there is no muscle, no conditioning, and no stamina whatsoever.  It is amazing.  I don't wait well.  But we like Claudia a lot and she has been fun.  Jenessa herself has said that she is the nice sister that they had never previously had.  I don't know how I got on that subject.

The Olympics.  Your mother is still glued to the TV.  She even gets into "Ice Dancing".  How is that a sport? I mean really.  Here in St. George I couldn't take Ice Dancing anymore so I did something very unusual for me.  I "took a tub".  Yep, first bath in about 40 years.  Not bad really, maybe Elder Holtby is on to something.  

Jacey is here playing in the soccer tournament.  Her team are usually killlers, but they have not fared so well.  They only have one game left.  I think a few of them are sick, as they have not been in top form.  O well, it is a fun trip nonetheless.  They play in the toughest brackets, and it is a bit rough at times among the best teams in the state.  But they usually put the hammer down as they are tough Cache Valley girls.  Anyway, coaching that team takes up too much of my time.  I began with them exactly when you left on your mission.  Going to be hard to quit because their parents think I am some sort of soccer guru who is turning their daughters into stars. 

If you feel a little ripple in the air this week, it is because your father is entering the province of British Columbia.  I will be taking the Revelstoke area by force.  It is probably good you were transferred because I was planning on attending church in Vernon.  I'm not really one to bother someone for permission, but hey, a little heliskier has to go to church somewhere.  It is only 45 minutes or so away.   So you are safe of HG, $1000 each way is too much to pay to fly.  

Well, I hope the week is a gem for you.  We are all good.

Love Dad

Re: Hi-duh g-why!

JOSHUA!!  That is so exciting and I am so happy for you!!!  I can't think of a better way to finish your mission. Someday I want to go there!  Make sure to take lots of pictures!  Did your camera make it with you?  :).  Love you so much and have a happy Valentine's Day this week.  Love, mom

Hi-duh g-why!

Family!

Sorry for no email yesterday. Preparation day has to be on Tuesday in my new area. Speaking of... cra-hay-zy news. I haven't had a small transfer yet. Whenever I get moved, I kind of go all over the place. And... I'm now in... drumroll... going

Haida Gwaii. Yep. I'm in Haida Gwaii. The Queen Charlotte islands. I can't even believe it. It's a whole other planet up here. You'll probably have to google it to find it, but more or less it's the clump of islands off the coast of northern BC, just south of Alaska. So beautiful here. And it's crazy. I have always wanted to serve in Haida Gwaii, but I never figured that I would have the opportunity to serve there. Sister Tilleman described it as President Tilleman's "jewel". Missionaries were put on Haida Gwaii for the first time in over 40 years around when I I came into the field, and a branch was started about a year ago. In the first transfer meetings I attended, Pre goingsident Tilleman was always talking about the miracles that were happening on Haida Gwaii. When President saw me at the transfer meeting, he just shook my hand and said "don't blow it." Ha ha. (He's such a great mission president. He's absolutely going to be a general authority.) going going

We just flew in on Saturday. We used to fly into Terrace, drive to Prince Rupert, then take an 8-10 hour ferry to the island, but then they found out that at the end of all that it costs the same to fly us straight there from Vancouver ($1,000 for one person, one way, per trip). And it's just beautiful here. There are a few small villages along the Northern half of the island, but it's extremely small. There just aren't a lot of people here, and so the style of missionary work here is a lot different than in Vernon, where you're just kind of a teaching machine that goes from lesson to lesson finding and teaching like crazy. The culture here is very different.

Here's how the past 2 days have gone...

Sunday: Wake up and study. Grab the "church in a box" with some hymn books, 2 sacrament trays and white tablecloths, and a gospel art picture in a frame. Drive through the little village that we live in, Queen Charlotte City to a shed thing/First nations community hall, and then set up some chairs, and wait for about 10-15 people to arrive to have a little 2 hour church meeting. Pretty much everyone there is a returning less active or a recent convert, except for a family from Vernon that works for the RCMP, who is stationed out in Haida Gwaii. After the meeting is over, we drive for 1.5 hours (Beautiful drive. Everything is green here. It's usually around 50 degrees here in the winter. There are tons of things that are just unique to Haida Gwaii, though. For example, driving down the road there are just tons and tons of these little deer that are about the size of a lab when they're fully grown. They don't have any predators, so they're just all over the place.) the North part of the island, where there's a little village called Masset, where we set up some more chairs and put together second service for the people that live up in Masset. The only people there are us, the Masons, a senior couple from Saskatchewan serving in Haida Gwaii as "leadership support" missionaries, one member, and 2 first nations recent converts. All the people here are just awesome.

Monday: Monday we planned, and then went finding. There are some islands close to town that you can only access when the tide is low. When the tide is high, you're pretty much trapped on the island for 12 hours. But... there are houses on them! So when the tide was low, we sprinted out to the islands, and were trying to find all the houses connected by roads for ATVs. We found and taught a this hippie guy, but by the time we were out of the lesson, it was getting dark and we almost got trapped on the island. On Haida Gwaii there are pretty much just a lot of natives and people who just want to escape from the world. A lot of reclusive people. In the evening, we taught one of the chiefs on Haida Gwaii. We're literally teaching a chief. They're such great people. Everybody here is just so nice. All of the members just do so much for you and take care of you.

Today, this preparation day has been crazy. A gallon of milk is $8, a box of Mac n' Cheese is $2. Groceries come in on a ferry Monday night, and the produce (which is insanely expensive) is usually gone in a day or two. I'll probably only have an hour to email, instead of 2, which might make it so that my emails are shorter. Sorry about that!

My companions right now are Elder Rose and Elder Owens. Elder Owens has been here for about 6 months and will leave in a week. He's just here showing us around for now. Elder Rose and I will be staying. They're both awesome and are from Idaho. Elder Rose is from Idaho Falls and is pretty much your good-natured Idaho potato farmer. I'm for the most part sure that Haida Gwaii will be my last area. When you're here, you're usually here for a while.

I miss Vernon a lot! There were so many good members and converts there.Toni Edenshaw, it turns out, is half Haida. I have to go find all the Edenshaws here... They have amazing things up here. Haida art is like world renowned. And... it's all pretty much made here. They have this valuable rock here that only formed on Haida Gwaii called argellite. Elder Owens has a carved wolf worth about $800 sitting on his desk that was given to him.

But in the end, I'm just really excited to get involved in the work up here! We're just going to find all the people we can on this island. It's a small, small place, and there have been missionaries here for a while, but we're going to do everything that we can. Even just being here is a miracle. Thanks for all of the emails and support, everyone! Hope that you have a great week!

Elder Blotter

Dearest Josh......

Elder Blotter,  Good morning!  I am sitting at Les Schwab, waiting for the van's alignment to be fixed. Well, WHERE are you? Did you stay or did you go? I've been wondering all week! Can't wait to hear about your week. And it sounds like last week was pretty special with the baptism and Elder Baker back for a visit. What an amazing experience you are having. So proud and thankful for your desire to serve the Lord.
      The Winter Olympics have started and of course I am loving them. I love the little personal stories of the families and everything that comes with the Olympics. I don't really watch TV except for every four years and I don't want to miss much. Dad was laughing at me that I didn't even want to miss the opening ceremonies and watching every country marching in. Jacey is careful to cheer for every Canadian.
      I got an email from Tanner Duncans mom about housing. It sounds like it's gotten pretty expensive. And then I ran into Jade Burt's mom at the grocery store and he is not going to make it home in time to start school in the fall. He won't move out until at least January. It sure is a lot cheaper with less distractions if you want to stay at home for a bit.
    We are all doing well and keeping busy. Ethan seems to be feeling a bit better and has stopped throwing up. Preston Blotter got second in the state wrestling meet. Hannah is loving serving her mission in the Provo South Mission at the moment.

We are headed to St. George for a soccer tournament this weekend. Hopefully it will be very warm. I saw the weather in Vernon earlier this week and it was freezing! We are having a bit of a warm spell at the moment. It's been raining!
       
      Well,  have a great week!!  We love you to pieces.  Love Mom

Rain in February?

Elder Blotter of the Okanagan?

Well, it sounds like you had a bang up week.  You will always remember winding your way through those remote Canadian towns and doing missionary work.  It sounds like things are just going gangbusters.  I was glad to hear that you are taking it easy at McDonalds, which is a good thing because, well, 206 miles is a very long distance.  I'm here to tell you!  And the pace will be brutal.  I am still reliving the glory of September.  Elder Fitzner has some unusual eating habits. 

Anyway, we have had serious drought in Utah, and no snow, with critically low snowpack for the second consecutive year.   There was a statewide fast this past Sunday, for snow.  This following week it snowed 4 FEET in Logan Canyon.  Logan Canyon has been closed all day today due to avalanches.  I have never seen this in my 46 years.  An interesting thing for the non-believing world to consider.  Quite the statistical outlier of a week from a snow standpoint.  I went to the Beav on Friday for 2 feet of fresh new powder and it was glorious.   I thought "Why pay big bucks to go to Revelstoke BC" but then I decided that the Powder there will be glorious there as well.  

In other news, things are well.  We are well into the Winter Olympics and your mother is glued to the television, so if you don't hear from her this week you will not need to worry.  She is fine, just addicted to the Olympics.  Anymore, winter olympics are kind of a USA versus Canada with a few token Germans and Russians in the mix.  Jacey always cheers for the Canadians, just because of you.  Claudia cannot understand why Jacey is cheering for Canada, but she is learning a lot about family bonds from us in many ways.  I am certain that you are immersed with winter olympics in the great white north.  

In other news, Jenessa is doing well.  A little huggy and kissy with Daniel Lemon's older brother.  I'm sure you find that a little weird, as do I.  She studies all of the time.  She is finding that statistics is awful.  Overall, not a bad kid. 

Jacey Lou is doing great.  A few hints of the hormonal mood swings that are about to destroy my precious little angel, but hey, I have already survived that once, so I am ready.  Jed, our newly minted Latter Day Saint is doing great, but has had fever for 10 days, and might have whooping cough.  Otherwise, there is a non-stop flow of disorders of the Ear, Nose, and Throat set before me and I carry on.  I will say, however, that medicine is a very rewarding career.  I have made some  fantastic relationships over the years.  I had to trudge into the hospital yesterday to see a 67 year old lady who fell and had facial fractures.  Her daughter was adamant that Dr. Blotter, and only Dr.  Blotter, would be the doctor to address those fractures.  She is a long time patient with her family.  It kind of fun to have people put that kind of trust and confidence in you.  It is hard earned, but it is a very worthwhile thing. 

Grandparents day was a hit, as always.  They all seem to be doing well.  Grandpa Blotter is a tough old bird, and he had a rough year last year.  He is doing just great now.   Grandpa Jorgy, well, he is still with us in body.  Your Uncle Jared is their caretaker, and he is a example to us all. 

Well, I hope the week is a great one.

Love Dad

Miracles have not ceased! (Moroni 7:36-37)

Family,

 

I just don't even know how you start an email recounting a week like the past week! I guess like this: "Jed! Congratulations on being baptized! That is so exciting! Good for you! I wish that I could have been there to see it, but you absolutely made the right decision. We can't even begin to understand how big of a deal baptism is, but you'll be blessed for your whole life. Here's what the Savior has got to tell you about it:

 

21 And [since Jed] will hear my voice [he] shall be my sheep; and him shall ye receive into the church, and him will I also receive.

22 For behold, this is my church; whosoever is baptized shall be baptized unto repentance. And whomsoever ye receive shall believe in my name; and [Jed] will I freely forgive.

23 For it is I that taketh upon me the sins of the world; for it is I that hath created them; and it is I that granteth unto [Jed] that believeth unto the end a place at my right hand.
24 For behold, in my name [is Jed now] called; and [because he knows me, Jed] shall come forth, and shall have a place eternally at my right hand.
(Mosiah 26)

Secondly, Toni got baptized this week! It was such a miracle. We set the date on Friday, and she got baptized 2 days later. We were talking on Thursday about how Elder Baker and Elder Lindemann (another missionary who has served in Vernon previously) were going to be in the Vernon area for exchanges, and so they'd be at church this Sunday. And we thought, why doesn't Toni just get baptized this weekend? Everything would just be perfect! Toni has been taught since sometime in August, and I've been working with her ever since coming to Vernon 4 or 5 months ago. And we've probably planned in her baptismal service 5 or 6 times in the previous months. And she was SO READY to be baptized. But she travels a lot, was sick a lot, and had different obstacles to her baptism, so it had just never happened. She was going to be out of town this weekend, but she ended up not going on her trip so we went in to go and teach her with the goal of setting a baptismal date.  We started by talking about how she's gotten answers to her prayers, how she knows the Book of Mormon is true, how she's gotten her connection with God back, and how she knows that she needs to be baptized. And then we invited her to be baptized on Sunday and the spirit was so strong. It was amazing. At first she was kind of incredulous, but then she started to think about it, and just said "I guess I don't have any reason not to be baptized. Yeah. I'll be baptized. What do I need to do?"  It was amazing. We just pulled together a baptismal service, there were a few more bumps in the road (it almost got delayed for another month so that her friend in Alberta could be there, etc) We just kept going, and the result was one of the most powerful baptismal services that I've ever attended. Since Elder Baker was around, he was able to baptize her. When she came up out of the water, she just said "wow". 

And... now it's transfer calls later today, and I am very sincerely hoping that I don't get transferred, because I want to be able to confirm Toni next week, on top of all the other miracle people that we're teaching here in Vernon. But... we'll see!

In between church and the baptismal service, Elder Baker and I had the chance to go on a brief exchange for a few hours. It was awesome. We had an appointment with one of our investigator's future daughter-in-law, (complicated situation) who's future husband is a less active member who just loves the church and is working on coming back. Anyways, she's now pregnant, which has forced her to stay away from partying and the rest of her previous lifestyle, and so she's been able to get some perspective and she's totally ready to be taught. There are just so many miracles. But anyways, it was just great to work with Elder Baker again. We're just two peas in a pod. So that was miracle #2.

Lastly, we've just been seeing so many miracles with the people that we are teaching! Vicki, who I've previously mentioned, is just getting closer and closer to quitting smoking. She's been facing a lot of social pressures from people at the church she previously attended, and is just staying strong. She's meeting with us consistently and just doing great. At one point, she was on the streets of Vancouver (which is why a member family raise her kids) and she has just turned her life around and is just doing great. The Krugers are doing great, too. Sister Kruger now has a job, and so that family has some sort of income. They just need to quit smoking, too! Tobacco. It's just the worst. Canada has horror-movie status warning pictures and messages on the boxes of their cigarettes, and they're taxing the daylights out of them, but people here are still just smoking machines sometimes. It's the worst. You can definitely see that following the guidance of prophets is the right thing to do. Tis better far to avoid all those issues.

Elder Fitzner and I have a deal going that if he can eat 7 McTanks (which is what we call when you put McDonald's entire dollar menu ($1.40 here...) chicken sandwich in between the patties of their dollar menu double cheeseburger) then I have to pay for all of them. BC missionaries don't have the same weight loss concerns as in Korea. We still eat seaweed, but usually it's in the form of all you can eat sushi, and the rolls are deep fried.

Well, sure love you all! Thanks for all of the support. Hope that it's just a great week for one and all.

Elder Blotter

Elder Lindemann, Elder Baker, Toni, Elder Fitzner and Elder Blotter