Finally Receiving Some Pictures!

In Palmdale, Elder Sommerfeldt was able to send us the photos that he took (which made this task, of writing the blog, extremely easy). But, since being in Lancaster, you may have noticed the infrequent blog posts. This is because the computer Elder Sommerfeldt can use has rejected his memory card. And so, for his duration in Lancaster, the posts may be infrequent.

We were lucky enough to somehow have him send us a couple photos from his time in Lancaster. These photos are a few weeks old, but I'm sure you will enjoy them nonetheless.

A Discouraged Luchador

This may look like a very confusing picture.

Elder Sommerfeldt, in his previous area (Palmdale) lived in a house with other missionaries. They formed a household wrestling league. James bought a Luchador mask. Since then, he has frequently sent photos of said mask. He calls himself The Blue Canuck.

This week James simply wrote: "This week was uneventful and boring so this [picture] pretty much sums it up. We dropped all our investigators so we went house to house knocking. No luck."

Our family gets the impression that this area is very frustrating for him. They are having a hard time finding investigators - as Spanish Elders - and the one investigator they had, a military man who James thought was really cool, decided to join another church.

All I can think of when Elder Sommerfeldt wears his mask is Nacho Libre. And surprisingly, I found an inspirational quote from that movie.

"If you fight for something noble, or for someone who needs your help, only then will God bless you in battle."

If anyone has words of wisdom or encouragement for Elder Sommerfeldt, I know he would enjoy it.

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Mother's Day Chat

Hello again! It has been quite some time since I last updated this blog. Elder Sommerfeldt has had some difficulty uploading photos in his area (Lancaster, CA) so until he either gets transferred or decides to buy a new SD card, we will only have to imagine what Lancaster looks like.

(I MYSELF HAVE FOUND GOOGLE MAPS TO BE AN EXCELLENT TOOL FOR THIS TASK)

This was a quick photo that I took on my phone of James skyping the family on Mother's Day. What you cannot see is the Google Hangout on the computer, connecting the other 20 people of our immediate family together for a momentary wrinkle in time.

It was a pleasant surprise to come home from church (I left early, don't tell my Bishop) to hear Elder Sommerfeldt's voice in the kitchen.

James delivered his door approach en espanol for us and it was quite impressive! In 6 months, he has gone from the kid who did not even know what "hola" meant to speaking the spanish language quite fluently.

I HAVE A VIDEO OF THE DOOR APPROACH, WHICH WILL BE UPLOADED WITHIN THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

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In his weekly email this week, he wrote that he misses Palmdale because he misses the people and the proximity to the mountains. He also said that the plethora of gravel paths in Lancaster is a burden to his bike-riding. (In his words: This week not much happened, crashed again on my bike. That's like a crash every transfer now, sigh.)

Also in big news, Elder Sommerfeldt has reached the 6 month mark on his mission! How exciting!

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Home Sweet Home

Well, I've never been inside a missionary's digs before, but from these photos, it looks... quaint. James mentions that they hold wrestling tournaments between the missionaries there, and that it is not uncommon to have some minor spilled blood.

James has also begun the steady decline into forgetting what "cold" really means to a Canadian. He frequently mentions that it is cold in Palmdale and I laugh. Because it was -50 degrees celsius here.

I ALSO HAVE NO SENSE OF CONTEXT FOR THE LAST PHOTO...

Joshua Trees and Surprising Weather

Yesterday at church, someone asked me, "how's James on his mission?" My response was along the lines of, "Oh James writes...that........Well, his mission is...........He says that.........Aaactually, I have no idea what his mission is like." 

NEEDLESS TO SAY, JAMES HAS BEEN LACKING IN THE "INFORMANT" ASPECT OF HIS EMAILS HOME. 

So when I saw that he had finally sent some pictures and the promise to document his mission more, I was very excited. So here is the (hopefully) beginning to more detailed emails.

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It's snowing in California!

Yes that's right, the top photo is what James describes as "rain-like snow," even though he admits he did not know it was snow at the time.

Although the weather is "a lot colder than what I thought Californian weather would be," it is nothing a native Canadian can't handle. James writes, "My comp constantly complains about how cold it is and I turn to him and say, 'aren't you from Utah?' But whatever, Utahans like to complain about everything anyway (that's my dig)."

TO ANY UTAHANS READING THIS, HE WAS JUST TEASING, IN, LIKE, A REALLY ENDEARING WAY.

One thing I have certainly noticed is that - and any other folks that have had missionaries serve in a foreign language can tell me if it's true with you too - as he learns Spanish, his English is getting progressively worse. At this point I am unsure if he is serving a Spanish-speaking mission, or a Spanglish-speaking one, because it takes a good couple reads to understand his emails some times.

James writes that his week was very uneventful. They are not getting as much success as they were hoping for, but in time it will come. Send him some positive vibes!

As for these photos, Elder Sommerfeldt must really like posing with Joshua trees. And raw chicken.

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Palmdale P-Day

This is a week late, my bad!

James is finally sending pictures of Palmdale. His pictured companion is Elder Stahelli, who is now the Zone Leader and thus, James has a new companion. His new companion is Elder Benitiz, who is from Argentina. We have yet to see a picture of him. 

As for the California forest fires, James says they haven't really hit Palmdale. In one of the above photos, he points out you can see some of the smoke from the fires in the distance. Try to find out which one it is. No seriously, please try to find out, because I have no idea.

MY MAIN QUESTION IS WHICH PERSON DOES THE EXTRA HAND IN THE LAST PHOTO BELONG TO?

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First Glimpses of California

This is a few weeks old, but James is in California!

His first area is in Palmdale, California. It is located in north Los Angeles county, separated from LA by the San Gabriel mountain range.

He hasn't said much about it (again, not a man of many words) but he is enjoying the heat, although he does miss the snow. He has said that it is harder to find Spanish families to teach than he anticipated, but I have a feeling he will settle in quite nicely.

Throwback Thursday

We're back! 

Christmas was fun because we got to Skype with Elder Sommerfeldt (thank you technology)! He was the first brother that I've been able to Skype with on their mission, and so it was a very cool experience. It was funny to watch my parents' confused looks as we tried to connect every sibling into the Skype call via 2 iPads, 2 iPhones, and a Macbook. 

CHAOS.

Elder Sommerfeldt did record a message for me to put on the blog, but I have yet to put it up. It will, however, be put up soon.

James is in California now, but it took him a few weeks to send us photos of his last days at the Mexico MTC. You can tell all the missionaries in these photos are very excited to get out into the mission field (according to James, by week 3 in the MTC you go insane).

What I love about these photos is how young all the missionaries look compared to James. Seriously, can we address the fact that his CCM companion looks like the kid from Stuart Little?

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