Oct.
26, 2015
I can't believe I am already done with
my first transfer. The thing about transfer weeks - there is all this
excitement built and nothing really changes. So Elder Sevilla and I are still
in Bible Park. In the other set Elder Denny finished his mission and Elder
Weller got transferred to Parker. The new Elders replacing them are Elder
Christiansen and Elder Mcbride. Elder Mcbride was actually in my MTC zone so we
are pretty good friends. We were able to go to the temple this week which was
awesome. It rained all day Wednesday and Thursday which wasn't that fun to bike
in. Saturday was a Zone Blitz in the City Park Ward which was down town. We
were looking for less actives which isn't the most exciting but it was needed.
The cool thing was that we crossed the Colfax Street which is the longest
street in the United States. Sunday was cool - we had a man walk into the
Church, so we taught him the first lesson - although we don't think he is in
our ward boundaries so we may have to refer him to another set of missionaries.
We also taught an investigator (although he is turning into an eternigator) the
lesson started off great but ended not so great. My companion may have turned it
into a bible bash because the lesson did not end great anyways. that's all for
this week.
Nov.
2, 2015
So this week was pretty great. Elder
Sevilla and I set some great goals that will really help us both become better
missionaries. We have had a lot of success from using “The Family a Proclamation”
because people have been very receptive and its helped us find a lot of
potential investigators. Elder Sevilla is pretty funny. Wednesday morning I
walked into our kitchen and saw Elder Sevilla was cooking tilapia and salmon
for breakfast - not to mention he cooked his fish with allspice and he was
baking a steak he was going to eat for lunch. One cool experience was that we
had been teaching a less active whose husband was not a member. We had never
been able to meet him. But we called on Wednesday and were able to teach him a
couple hours later. On Friday I taught my first law of Chastity lesson. It was
a great lesson because we first taught self-worth and used that topic to
transition into the law of Chastity. Halloween was actually pretty fun. We had
to be in our apartments by six unless we were at a members home. One of the
members invited us and the other elders to their house so we handed out
candy and even snuck a few pass a long cards in their buckets. Sunday was
fast and testimony meeting and I convinced my companion to bear his testimony
because I bore mine last month. Then my companion kept nudging me to bear my
testimony and since not a lot of people were bearing testimony I went up and
bore mine. Sunday we had 3 appointments cancel but we found a new investigator
at dinner with a member. We had dinner with Sister V, she is an old lady from
Liberia who was baptized a couple years ago. She cooked Liberian food for us
which was really good. Who knew I would be eating African food in Denver
Colorado! Sister V’s nephew ate with us and after we were able to
teach him the first lesson. We really have been blessed by the Lord this
week and I am so excited for this week to see what the Lord has in store
for us. I was able to read D&C 31:3-5 today and it reminded me of
how great it is to be a missionary and to be able to declare the message of the
restoration of the gospel. There is nothing in the world I would rather be
doing right now! I want to leave you with my ponderize scripture this
week D&C 104:82 “And inasmuch as ye are humble and faithful and call upon
my name, behold, I will give you the victory.” I bear my testimony that this is the
Lord's work and that Jesus Christ is our Savior.
November
9, 2015
Hi Family,
This week has been one of the best
weeks we've had. There have been a lot of cool experiences and the Lord has
definitely blessed us. Monday night we met with a less active part member
family, the M’s, and taught the Plan of Salvation. It was great and we were
able to commit them to attend church this Sunday. Tuesday started rough but my
companion and I were able to work some things out and we finished the day with
a great experience. We were with our ward mission leader and knocked on a
less active's door and no one answered. As we walked to our ward mission
leader’s car the less active walked up to us. He had just gotten home and
normally would be working at that time, but he didn't have to take the shift
today. His name is Brother C. He has had some really tough trials he was going
through but things had been getting a lot better for him. Wednesday after
tracting and finding some potential investigators we were a part of a miracle.
On our way home we chose a different way to travel home. On our way Elder
Sevilla asked a lady if she needed help. She said “no” but asked if we knew
Sister C. Sister C is a member of our ward and passed away that day. This had
been very hard for this lady because Sister C had a huge impact on her. But it
was great that we were able to comfort her and pray with her. This lady had
first been introduced to Sister C by missionaries. She felt that we were a sign from Heavenly
Father and that Sister C was in good hands. This is one of the great joys of
missionary work being able to lift someone up. Thursday it snowed! It wasn't a
lot and was all melted by twelve, but my companion and I had a great time
exercising during our snow ball fight. We had our district meeting. During
district meeting we talked about barriers and one of the barriers that every
companionship brought up was working with members. Honestly that is one of
the hardest things as a missionary - working with members. Friday we taught
O and it was great. We had the young women’s president Sister D sit in as we taught
her about following the prophet and obeying the Word of Wisdom. Saturday I was
reading in “Our Search for Happiness” by Elder Ballard and one of the phrases
that really stuck out to me was that "The Heavens are Open." That is
so true and I felt it so much today. We went to knock on a less actives door
and no one answered, so we knocked on her neighbors door and we met a man named
R. We were able to give the first discussion and commit him to read the Book of
Mormon. He is a really promising investigator. He is from the Dominican
Republic, I guess the only bump in the road for him is that he wants to
get into the Marijuana business, which is weird because he hates
smoking. Also, as we walked to our bikes Sister O, the less active, saw us
from her balcony and we were able to meet her and invite her to church. What
was funny about sister O was that we actually met her my second day out in the
field. When we were at the library she ran up to us and took some pictures to
post on Face Book. That's the good thing about Sister O she loves
missionaries. Anyways… Sunday was great because we had two investigators at
church and quite a few less actives. Also we had three dinners (a first). We
had dinner with Sister V again, although this time she made more authentic
Liberian food because it was so SPICY!!! No exaggeration. It tasted really good
it was just hard to eat because of the heat. What helped me eat it was that
it just made Sister V laugh as I ate it. Also because Sister V's husband is not
a member, but he has really appreciated the fact that Elder Sevilla and I Love
the food they make. We also taught her nephew J and he is really promising
because he is looking for a church right now. We also taught the D-S family
from Nepal they are getting better at speaking English. The funny thing was
after our lesson they had Nepali food for us - it was really good! Then after
our next appointment fell through we went to a less active that we had been
trying to schedule an appointment with. It was great to meet Sister S and what
is even more amazing is her desire to keep the faith even though her husband
isn't the best example. Also, that was our third dinner because her husband
offered us pigs in a blanket - yeah we ate all over the world today. It has
been amazing how much the Lord's hand is in our life and confirms my testimony
that God is our loving Heavenly Father and he wants the best for each of us.
Remember the Heavens are Open!
Love,
Elder Blackham
