Dec. 2016

Dec. 5, 2016

It has been pretty cold here in Denver. It was really weird because it was nice until the first day it snowed and ever since it has been really cold. Someone in my zone was serving in Broomfield and he said he met Nathan but I don't know what ward he is in. The mission office is in a church building. The office has people at the building to receive the mail.

It has been a really great week here in Aurora. Some really great things happened. First, S got baptized! I was able to go back to Greenwood Village to give a talk at his baptism. It was really exciting. He was super solid when we first met him and it was great to see him. I was able to go on exchanges back to the Peoria Ward. It was good to be back and it was really great to see some familiar faces. Going back helped me realize how much I have grown since I have been here. We had a really successful day seeing a lot of people and being able to help the Elders in that ward find people to teach. Elder Dale and I have tried to use the “Light the World” video in all of the contacts we make with people. It has really helped us in our finding efforts and people are more open with us and willing to hear our message. I think what helps is that people are seeing that we simply are here to help people come closer to Christ. We were able to meet with H and her husband C and it was really great to teach them. They have a real desire to know the truth of what we teach. They seem really excited to learn the gospel. We are also helping E and the F family prepare for baptism soon. Crazy experience! We were out tracting and a guy opens the door with a gun in his hand and then proceeds to try to convince us that his Egyptian gods are true. He let us in and the whole time I was trying to hold back from arguing with him and just trying to testify. I think earlier in my mission I would have argued with him but that won't help him to learn the gospel. Anyways, the work is going great here in the Sable ward! My GoTo this week is Alma 56:47 "Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." As I have been studying about the Army of Helaman I am amazed at the courage they showed.

 

Dec. 12, 2016

Hey Dad thanks for the letter last week I really appreciate it I hope being a Bishop is going well. Our Bishop in the Sable ward is really great he really cares about the missionary work in the ward and it is great.

My week went really well. We had a car fast on Tuesday which gave us some really great opportunities to be out of our car and talk to people as we were walking. Honestly the cold weather has made it harder to talk to people outside. There are fewer people outside and it’s cold, but it was still really good. We taught D. We have been starting to work with her a little more. The lesson went really well and she was open to the message we shared. On Wednesday it snowed and we found a way to beat the cold. We started tracting at indoor apartment complexes. It is so much better. I can’t tell you how many times this week we would be standing at someone’s door and they
would tell us it is too cold.  I wanted to be like "I know, I am in it." The whole day it was like below 15 degrees and that night it got even colder. We are still working with E. She is doing great and is showing a lot of commitment and I think she will be ready for her baptism pretty soon. On Thursday we had zone meeting and it was really good. I was able to learn a lot and I have been working on applying what I am learning. Friday was a really great day. We had back to back lessons all afternoon. A couple of really cool experiences happened when we were teaching R. We first met him last week and he is from Haiti. It was really exciting teaching him because he understood everything really well. Also he accepted a baptismal invitation and he is preparing to get baptized in January. We also have been working with the F family. E and P will be baptized this week which is really exciting. They are doing really well. We also met with C and H they were really great to meet with. They really have a desire to learn and the spirit was really strong when we taught them.

Well I am looking forward to this week. We will be busy which is great. My Go To scripture this week is 3 Nephi 1:13 "Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken." I love bearing the message of Christ; that he came here to save us. It brings me so much peace.

 

Dec. 19, 2016

This week has been a great week. It’s been really cold. It got below freezing this week. Did you say it was -32 or 32? Honestly how we deal with the cold is we go into apartment complexes that are indoors it makes a big difference. I got your package and both of your letters. Thanks I appreciated it. Also, I am not totally sure what my plans for
skype are but as of right now it will be at 3:00, but I will confirm that when I email you on Saturday.

The Work has been going really well here in the Sable Ward. We had the F's Baptism on Saturday. It snowed a lot but that didn't stop us from having a baptism. It was great! E was baptized by Elder Dale
and then P was baptized by her father. On Sunday we had the Confirmation and Elder Dale Confirmed E and I confirmed P. It was a very spiritual experience and the Spirit was very strong. What was so amazing to me was the patience that Brother F has shown. He moved here  a couple years ago and was baptized, but his family
was still in Liberia. Now they have taken the steps so they can go to the temple in a year. I am so grateful to have been a part of their conversion and to have been able to serve their family.

Also E is doing really well - she is still on track to be baptized on January 7th and we are excited for her. We also taught H and C before they left on vacation. They are still seeking an answer and that is what we need to focus on - helping them know what they need to do to receive an answer. Also we have been working with a lady
named M. She use to be Jehovah's Witness but since has turned away from God. When we first started teaching her we didn't know where to go because she didn't have a belief in God, but as we taught the Restoration I realized that would help her so much and that she could gain a testimony of her Heavenly Father and all that he has done for her through the Book of Mormon.

We were busy with a lot of administrative stuff this week. We had to drive up to judge cars for the North side of the mission and we also had to take an Elder that was finishing his mission to the mission home. I had never been to the mission home before. Also we switched our Chevy Malibu for a Dodge Grand Caravan (mini-van) we needed more room for transporting luggage and stuff so we made a trade. We had our December Zone Conference on Wednesday. It was really cool. Our mission kicked off reading the Book of Mormon in 63 Days. It has
been really exciting. I don't think I have read through the Book of Mormon this fast. As I read I am trying to focus on the Atonement. Also we had a guest speaker, Curtis Jacobs - he talked about some really great things - about how if there had been no Atonement there would be no Christmas. It has really changed my view of Christmas because as important as his birth is, it is what he came to this earth to do that is so important.

Dec. 31, 2016

My new area is the Stone Gate Ward in Parker. It borders the South Border of the Greenwood Village Ward. Parker is a really nice area. There are a lot of new homes and some are pretty big. There is a main neighborhood where the majority of the members live but it spreads out to a bunch of apartment complexes. I am pretty excited to be here. There are a lot of finding opportunities and there are really strong members to help fellowship. Elder Krulish served here for six months before he came to Greenwood Village with me and he loved this ward. My new Companion Elder Salmon was in the same MTC zone as me and I served in Greenwood Village while he was in Downtown Denver so we know each other pretty well. He is from Las Vegas.

This week has been pretty good but I guess I need to start with last week. Last week was a lot of fun. We went on exchanges and I went with Elder Charpentier. He is from Austin, Texas. He has only been out for 3 months but he is a great missionary. It was pretty cool - we were out tracting and this man walks up to us. We start talking to him but he didn't speak much English because he was from the Congo and spoke French, but in his hand he had his Aaronic Priesthood ordination certificate and his baptism certificate. So we gave him all the info for church. On Wednesday we had a really crazy experience. We were supposed to go to a lesson but it ended up falling through and so instead we went tracting with the member who came with us. We knocked on one door and a lady answered and she told us that she was from St. George and then told us her husband had a question. At this point I
was excited her husband had a question for us. Her husband came and he was furious. I don't think I have ever met someone so angry before and it was crazy- you could just feel the Spirit leave. He was going off about all these terrible things our Church does and he said some terrible things about the Church. Anyways he didn't like our church. The member that was with us tried to calm the man down but he was too angry. Anyways I didn't really say anything to him but afterwards we went over to the member’s house and we gave him and his wife a blessing.
Afterwards Elder Dale and I went back to work, we were trying to cope with what had just happened with that man and we're joking about what happened. As we were tracting no one really wanted to talk to us and I told Elder Dale we should stop joking about that experience. Right after I said that Elder Dale started praying out loud for forgiveness and for help that we would find someone. As soon as we finished a man came up the stairs and we started talking to him. He seemed interested and we are going to come by and teach him more. We were going to close with a prayer but right before that I asked if there was anyone we could pray for and he told us some family members had passed away. We started teaching about the Spirit World and it brought a lot of peace to him. It was an amazing experience. God does answer prayers and our message can touch people’s lives and bring hope. I realized that experience we had with the angry man was similar to Christ. Because we are representatives of Christ we must strive to follow him. Often times we focus on the miracles and the people that followed him but we sometimes forget about the rejection. Christ was rejected and spit upon and that was what we had experienced. It didn't stop Christ from loving them or from Atoning for our sins, just as rejection should not stop us from loving others or from preaching the Gospel. I am very grateful for that experience.

Also I realized that the true spirit of Christmas is serving others and following Christ. Even though I am not able to take part in all of our Christmas traditions I truly felt the spirit of Christmas this year as I tried to serve and to spread the Gospel.

Transfers were on Wednesday and I thought a lot about why I was only in that area for 1 transfer and I am now very grateful that I had the privilege to help the F family.  I found out Brother F came here in 2008 and his family moved here in 2016.  It is an amazing example of patience and I am so glad to be a part of helping the F family.

Stone Gate Ward has been great. We are spending a lot of time finding and we have met a couple people that are pretty interested so it is really exciting. I really love this Scripture 1 Nephi 19: 9 ‘And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.”

Love,
Elder Blackham

November 2016

Nov. 7, 2016

Aloha, I hope everything is going well. It is pretty great out here on my mission. It seems like it is speeding up and honestly my mission is going by too quickly. We have been really busy this week. We went to the Temple on Wednesday, had interviews with President and Sister Mendenhall on Thursday, had exchanges on Tuesday, had a meeting all day Friday, and Sunday we had a Multi Stake Conference. I also found out some new changes to the mission - we are going to be having interviews and Zone Conferences every Transfer starting next year. They are also going to extend a transfer next year by a week. This will be the second time this will happen, which means I will be out two weeks longer. I'm not sure how that will work for school. A couple missionaries that came out with me are going home a transfer early but I don't really want to.

Monday was Halloween. We were going to have a Halloween themed Zone P-Day but the Church was closed, so we had to cancel it We went to 16th street mall instead and went through some of the shopping centers, which reminds me I think I am going to need some new pants pretty soon.

Tuesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Watkins. He is from Iowa. What is really cool is that right now he covers U-hills and Bible Park, so I got to serve in my 1st area, although it was in a part that I didn't cover. On exchanges, I realized how much I have grown. I feel I am a lot better at sharing the gospel and talking to people. I was glad to be able to use the skills I have acquired to help Elder Watkins in his area. While we were there I had dinner at the Mortensen’s and he is actually President Mortensen's Nephew, so that was pretty cool – Small World. While we were in U-hills we were praying with a surveyor who let us teach her and right after these kids asked us if we could pray for their brother. We started talking to them and I learned that their brother was only a teenager and he was in prison. It was sad to hear but I had hope because I know the Gospel can help their family through a tough time.

Wednesday we woke up for a 6:00 am session at the temple. It is always great to go to the temple and feel the Divine Spirit inside. That night we had a lesson with M. We are currently handing him off to the YSA missionaries and it was a really powerful lesson. We were teaching him and at the end of the lesson we invited him to pray. M is from China and when we first met him he had a small concept of faith. It was amazing to see he has grown in faith enough to pray and it was a very powerful prayer.

Thursday Interviews were great. I am so grateful for President Mendenhall - he is an amazing man. We had a lesson with the Brother D. He has met with missionaries for a while and his wife is a member of the church. We tried to help resolve some of his concerns and help him. I see that he is really close to being baptized.

Friday we had MLC's. it was a great meeting. Training was on the Book of Mormon. It is so important to remember that the Book of Mormon is the way for us to gain a testimony of the Gospel. Also we saw the new Christmas initiative. It is going to be really cool. We also met with B that night - we tried to resolve some of the concerns he has. The lesson went well and I think B is definitely growing as we meet with him.

Saturday we met with a lot of people. One was R.  He is from India and is Hindu. The lesson we taught was focused on prayer it was really spiritual especially as we knelt in prayer with him he told us he could feel the spirit. We also met with T - she seemed really interested and prepared by the Lord to receive our message. We promised she could strengthen her faith in Christ through the Book of Mormon.

Sunday was a Multi Stake Broad Cast and it was all of the Stakes in our Area. They broadcasted it from Salt Lake City and Elder Rasband was there along with Elder Soares. We had some of the F kids and J G at the meeting which was really exciting.  At the end of our night we met someone who was going through a really hard time. She was frustrated at God because she couldn't see how he would let her lose everything she had, but it was still very powerful to see how God placed us on her path to testify of the Atonement to her.

This week is the last week of the transfer which is crazy. Hope yall have a great week!

Nov. 14, 2016

Aloha! It’s crazy that transfers are this Wednesday. It feels like the transfers keep flying by faster and faster. I found out that I will be returning to Aurora to the Sable ward. It is right next to the Peoria Ward that I served in for 4.5 months. I actually have already served in that ward for three days on exchanges. I am pretty sad to be leaving Greenwood Village. We have been having so much success in this ward and there will be some really exciting things happening soon, but I guess I will have to carry the momentum over into the Sable Ward. This week has been amazing and I have learned a lot since I have been here. A couple exciting things that are happening this week - J will be baptized this Saturday. She has really embraced the Gospel and is willing to follow Jesus Christ. Also, S is going to be baptized. He is getting baptized in the Maplewood YSA Ward but he has asked me to baptize him! Some really cool things happened this week.  First B came to church with us. It has taken him a while to come to church but thanks to the fellowship of the ward he felt a lot more comfortable coming to church. He really enjoyed it and he has made a lot of progress. Also, A was at Church as well and so was J. We had Stake Conference this week so it was really special being able to hear the great talks that were given. We had some great lessons this week one was with M. He is from China and he has been recognizing the spirit as we teach him and as he reads from the Book of Mormon. He has been going through a hard time right now but I have seen the Gospel help him through it. Each time we teach him it is very special because we have to teach so simply. We also met with S. He amazes me with how much study he puts into the Book of Mormon and his desire to know if these things are true. S is really excited to prepare for baptism. I have learned the importance of talking to everyone no matter what. We met a man who asked a lot of questions and as I listened to the questions he asked and the things he said, he told us he was struggling. He wanted to better understand his purpose here on earth and we were able to help him. It was a very special moment. I am grateful for this opportunity I have to serve others. Sharing the Gospel brings me so much joy and I have learned to love those around me. I am currently studying about Captain Moroni. I love the Scripture in Alma 48:17 “Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."

Nov. 21, 2016

Hello, This week was really great! I love it back here in Aurora. So many good memories and there are so many great things happening here in the Sable Ward. I swept into Sable with Elder Dale because the missionaries in the area before, Elder Ah Nee and Elder LaRue, finished their missions. We walked into a great ward. They had four baptisms before we came in and there are three people really close to being baptized. The first is the F family. I actually knew Brother F from the Peoria ward. He is from Liberia and was baptized here, but he had to wait for the rest of the family to join him so they could learn about the gospel. Well, since I last saw him, his family moved into the States and his wife and his daughter are preparing for baptism. The other person is E. She has been working with the missionaries for a long time and is ready to be baptized. I actually met her quite a few times at one of our service projects in Greenwood Village. I was able to say good bye to B before I left. He was a little sad because he was having us over for dinner on Friday. Elder Krulish told me it was really good. B actually used to work as a Chef. Wednesday was a little crazy with transfers. We are driving a brand new Chevy Malibu, but it made it hard to move everyone's luggage. We had to throw our stuff in the sister's van and take another set of elder’s luggage, who were also sweeping in. We were planning to get our luggage that night but the Sister’s lost the keys to their car so we didn't end up getting it until the next day. It all worked out. It was a little crazy walking into a sweep because that Friday we had to coordinate a service project for our zone. It was pretty fun. We helped set up for a huge fencing tournament. We have been having a lot of success finding lately, so we can keep the work going in the Sable ward. Sunday was an amazing experience. I had the opportunity to Baptize S R. Elder Bake and I found him in Greenwood Village and after a lot of miracles he was baptized in the Maplewood YSA ward. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ - it is an amazing opportunity. My Go To Scripture this week is Helaman 10:4 "Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments."

Nov. 28, 2016

Howdy y’all! This week has been a great week we have been pretty busy with exchanges and other stuff. Elder Dale and I have been having a blast together here in the Sable Ward it is just crazy how much work there is to do. So pretty cool thing I found out, Elder Bake he is down in Parker and he got a refferal from John Washington to teach his Brother Matt and Elder Bake was able to make that connection which is really cool. So on Tuesday I was on exchanges with Elder Hinckley we stayed in the Sable Ward and had a great day. We met with E. She is getting ready to be baptized pretty soon. We haven't taught her much but she has already been through the lessons twice so we are just making sure she understands everything. We also had a lot of time to find and we were able to teach a lot of new people. We met a lady named H and I don't think I have ever met someone so excited to meet with the missionaries. After I started talking to her she told us she had been waiting for missionaries to knock on her door. She wanted to know what brought us so much joy and we are going to start teaching her. Wednesday I went on Exchanges with one of the Assistants, Elder Olsen - he is from Dallas and is good friends with Sterling Boyd. We were able to teach two Brothers in the Savory Ponds Ward and they accepted an invitation to be baptized. It was really a sweet experience. I learned a lot that day. I realized that I need to focus on the people in front of me and teach more to their needs. On Thanksgiving day we had a meeting for the Zone where we introduced the Light The World Video. We had a little bit of difficulties showing the video but it ended up working great and this new initiative has really helped our finding efforts. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at the Ploman’s. There was really good food and they cooked a turducken. Most of the day we went out to talk to people walking around we went over to a recent convert’s house for an hour. Friday we got flu shots - the mission had everyone get them at one of the church buildings. Also we contacted a referral at a hotel and the lady at the desk was actually a member of the church. She just hadn't gone to church in a long time and so we invited her to church and she came! Saturday we were able to meet with the F's and we taught them about the commandments. They are excited to be baptized. We are just trying to help them keep their commitments. Also, I was able to attend the Baptism for J. She got baptized by Elder Krulish and I was able to speak at that baptism. It is really cool to see the fruits of my efforts. Sunday E was able to make it to church and a couple other investigators. We were able to find some new people to teach. Well things are going really well and I am excited to keep them going. Hope y’all have a great week.

Love, Elder Blackham

October 2016

Oct. 3, 2016

This week was really great. Elder Bake and I tore it up! First we found out about transfers. Elder Bake is leaving to Parker South and my new companion is Elder Krulish. I am going to miss Elder Bake it was great serving with him. Elder Krulish was in my MTC district and I am really excited to start serving with him. For our P-Day last week we got out of the routine of playing basketball and went to the museum of nature and science - it was a lot of fun. We made plans this week to talk to every person we saw. A couple things that helped were that we kept track of our streak with talking to people and also we asked each other if we fear man. We said “no” to each other so we talked to people. At first, with our streak we got it up to about 20 and then we let someone pass by so it went back to 0. After that the rest of the week we didn't let anyone pass by and if we did we went back and talked to them. Our streak at the end of the week was 88 people. We had a lot of success in our finding efforts and had some cool experiences come from that. We said “hi” to a really friendly lady and she came up to us and introduced herself and we are going to be teaching her. We also taught a family that is Born Again Christian. It was pretty hard teaching them but part of it was that we didn't set the best expectations. We were walking in a park and we saw these guys playing soccer in these tennis courts. We decided to start talking to them through the fence and they were really interested in what we taught. I was really excited for Friday night because we’re going to be teaching the family we found last week and another investigator that had a lot of potential, but both lessons fell through. At about 8:45 that night we were ready to go home and then I looked at Elder Bake and I said "Fourth Floor Last Door." We decided to try a potential family that lived in the same building we were already in and the wife answered the door and we set up a time to teach their family the next day. We taught them and they are really interested in learning the gospel. It really helped me appreciate the importance of enduring to the end. Even though we had appointments fall through this week, I am starting to realize that it happens for a purpose, so we can meet those who the Lord puts on our path at a specific time. My Go To scripture fits well with this experience it is Alma 26:27 “Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.”

 

One thing I forgot to mention was how great General Conference was. It was great to hear the Prophet’s voice. As a missionary the exciting thing was that I saw a trend that it was focused on the simple gospel and a lot was what we teach as a missionary. Elder Stevenson talked about how the Book of Mormon is the Key Stone of our religion that is so true and I am grateful for a testimony of the Book of Mormon and would invite you to follow the commitment he left to read from the Book of Mormon

Oct.  11, 2016

This week was really great and some sweet miracles happened this week. Tuesday we had one of the members of the Stake Presidency coming out with us to an appointment. The appointment ended up canceling but as we were heading back we met with a guy named C. He has gone through a lot in his life and was in a rough situation as we talked with him he wanted for us to come by and help him. We also met with B and we brought a really cool member that is a really good fellow shipper for him. He really wants to come closer to Christ. We just have to help him see how he can. Wednesday, Elder Bake left and I met up with Elder Krulish. I am really excited to be companions with him. We taught A about the restoration and the lesson went really well. On Saturday I went on exchanges with Elder Sekona in the Savory Ponds Ward. It was really great. We were able to find a lot of people to teach. One of them got really frustrated but he ended up wanting to come to our church. Also a Lady came up to us and told us her mother was a member that wanted to meet with us. We met with the whole family and they
wanted to start coming back to church and we invited their children to be baptized. Sunday was pretty crazy. G was able to make it to church about 30 minutes into gospel principles class and we had to leave a little bit afterwards because Elder Krulish had to go confer the Aaronic Priesthood to someone he recently baptized. G had a really great time and enjoyed church. Also we met with M right after church. He is from China and doesn't have a faith and so we started from the very basics of who God is and what it means to have faith. We were able to meet with the F Family and it was a really amazing experience. There are five in the family and we met with
four of them they were really receptive and their daughter E was really excited. She read the pamphlet to her siblings and she watched General Conference at her home. They all accepted the invitation to be baptized which is really exciting. I am really excited for this week and for opportunity I have to share the gospel. I am very grateful for the experience I am having as I am able to serve the Lord is a great blessing from God.

 

Oct. 17, 2016

This week has been a very great week. Elder Krulish and I have really been working hard and it is really paying off. Elder Krulish really likes to work out, so we have been waking up at 5:45 in the morning and going to a park where they have some basic exercise equipment and we have been working out for about an hour or so. I feel like it
actually gives me quite a bit of energy for the rest of the day. A couple big things happened this week as well. First the Fort Collins Temple was dedicated and so they broadcasted it to all of Colorado. That was my first temple dedication and it was really cool. President Uchtdorf was there along with Elder Renlund, Elder Soares, and Bishop
Waddell and a couple other General Authorities. There were some really great talks about the blessings of the Temple. One of the things I learned is that Christ is the Cornerstone and everything points towards him. The other three cornerstones of the Church are the first vision, the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the priesthood. It
was a very special experience to see the Dedication of the house of the Lord. Also we had Zone Meeting as well and I learned a lot. We had some pretty sweet things happen. First, the F kids that we met with were able to go to the youth activities and really enjoy it. We had some really great lessons this week and we had quite a few members with us, which made a huge difference. We had quite a few lessons where when we had a member the lesson fell through, but we had back up people to drop by and it was amazing to see how the Lord made it possible to still teach someone with the members we were with. One example was when our lesson with a new person we were teaching fell through, so we walked over to another person we are teaching and she was in her car about to drive out when we saw her, but we were able to talk with her in her car and teach her. What is really cool is how members play a huge role in being able to relate to the people we are teaching. We have quite a few people that fit perfectly. We also have kept our finding efforts up and we are continuing to have success in our finding. We have some exciting things lined up for this week so it is going to be great!

 

Oct. 24, 2016

This has been a crazy week! A lot of good and not so good things have happened. I went on exchanges with Elder Severn this week. It was a really great day we had an appointment in the morning that fell
through and so we went finding and we met four new people we are going to start teaching. That ended up being the story for the whole exchange. We had quite a few lessons fall through but we had a great
time as we were out and about talking to people. Elder Severn is a really great missionary. The sad part is Elder Severn ended up going home this weekend because he has been dealing with stress and anxiety,
I hope he will get better and return soon because the Lord needs a missionary like him. We also took our car to the shop and ended up getting another car - this is the third car I have had in this area. With all the logistics we had to deal with, it was a miracle how many people we taught this week. The work has been on fire here in Green Wood Village. We are continuing to find and teach a lot of people. We received a referral from a former Mission Presidents Wife from the South Mission. When we taught him our lesson went really well. He is a single father and his daughter is 3 years old. His ex-wife is actually a member and one of the reasons he is investigating is so he can be a better father for his daughter. He wants to make changes in his life and right now and is really willing to progress in the gospel. We handed off one of our investigators S to the YSA ward. He is excited to be baptized and for him the gospel is making a lot of sense. We haven't been able to meet with the F Family and we have to start meeting with them more often so they can progress because there is so much potential. I feel I am growing as a missionary. There are a lot of things that I am starting to improve on. One thing that has helped me in my studies is I am asking questions before I study and searching for answers as I study. It definitely helps me keep my studies focused. Also, as we have been teaching I have been praying for my companion as he teaches and it has helped the lessons go well and kept me in tune with the spirit. I am really excited for another great week of serving the Lord.

October 31, 2016
This week has gone by quick and it was a really great week. It was filled with some exciting events and a lot of hard work. That is what I have been realizing this week is the blessings of hard work. The difference with right now and in the past on my mission is that I feel that I am more persistent, especially with people we meet. Even though someone may not seem interested I do my best to not give up on them; especially when it comes to teaching people on the street. I feel that if I don't teach them then or do everything I can to continue to meet with them that I am not giving them the perfect opportunity to accept the gospel. A couple different ways that we teach people no matter what is if someone is not interested, we ask for a referral and then try to teach about how our message could help the referral. If someone is busy we ask to come back another time and then we leave them
with a pamphlet with our info, and while one of us is writing our info we begin to teach. I feel that when I am the happiest on my mission is when I am teaching someone. By the end of this day I am pretty exhausted but it feels good to give everything I have got. We have been bringing a lot of the members with us to lessons as well. As a
missionary there is nothing better than bringing a member because they are able to relate a lot better to those we teach. Sometimes we have lessons that fall through and when that happens we take the member to another person in the area and it is pretty cool how the Lord makes things happen. An example this week was when our lesson with M fell through we decided to go to E and as we knocked on his door no one answered, but right then when we were about to move on E came up the stairs and we were able to teach him. We rescheduled with M and had another member come out with us. We knocked on M’s door and he told us he had to go pick up his wife and would be back in 15 minutes. Instead of just waiting around we went to H's house and his mother answered. We began to teach her and she allowed us to come back. When we came back she accepted the invitation to be baptized and she also went to church with us on Sunday! We met with S this week and he is doing great. He really wants to continue to learn and he is working hard to live the word of wisdom. Also we met with the F family this week and taught the Plan of Salvation. They are really excited as they learn and they committed to be at church this week. Also, S is doing great at the YSA ward and we handed off a couple more investigators to YSA. We had a hand off lesson right after the Maplewood YSA Ward got out. While we were waiting I saw Coulter Brown. It was pretty cool but really weird just because I know him already and I'm not used to that. The work is going really great!
Love,
Elder Blackham

 

September 2016

Sept 6, 2016

This week went really well even though not everything went the way we would have liked. I felt like we did our best to accomplish those things. We had a lot of meetings this week which took up quite a bit of time, but we managed to keep things going. We spent quite a bit of time finding this week and towards the end of the week we were able to find some new investigators. It took a lot of work to find them but it was definitely worth it. One funny thing that happened while we were finding in an apartment complex - a man walked out and I tried to talk to him but he wasn't having it and he blew smoke in my face. Even as we walked away he was cussing at us and I kept a smile on my face the whole time. Maybe earlier in my mission I would have let that affect my attitude. This week we were teaching a Catholic lady who was really devoted to her faith. As we began to teach her she brought up a lot of objections at first. I tried to respond to them through the Bible and by teaching her but I realized that the best way to respond to her objections was through the Book of Mormon. She wouldn't read the Book of Mormon which was pretty sad. There was also a baptism in our ward. We didn't get to teach her because she wanted to be taught by sisters, so the sisters in our zone taught her, but hey we are all on the same team. This week we are going to be able to meet with some of our investigators that we haven't met with in a while so I am really looking forward to this week. Also, Elder Bake and I are giving a training on “planning” in Zone Conference this week, which is humbling because I am realizing how much I need to work on planning. My Go To Scripture this week is D&C 112:28 – “But purify your hearts before me; and then go ye into all the world, and preach my gospel unto every creature who has not received it.”

 

Sept. 12, 2016

This week has been really good. We had Zone Conference this week and the theme was Luke 22:32. I learned a lot on how I can improve as a missionary. Elder Bake and I gave a training on Weekly Planning. I was a little nervous just because it was going to be given to the whole mission. It went well though and if anything we got a lot out of it and realized what we can work on in our planning. Also a lot of missionaries gave their departing testimonies and it is crazy how many are going home in the next couple transfers. We had a really cool experience on Thursday. We had been finding all day and we were pretty diligent at talking to everyone and then at about 8:45 we met a man named E. He was really humble and interested in the message that we shared. The greatest part is that if we hadn't been talking to everyone we saw we probably wouldn't have found him. Those are the days that feel the best when we work all day and the Lord rewards us at the end of it. We had to take in our car on Friday so we have been on bikes lately. We were able to teach B also. We focused on helping him read the Book of Mormon and the lesson went really well. I could see how much the Gospel could bless him in his life. The best part was he committed to the invitations we left him. We are going to start helping at an English Class put on by one of the wards in the mission. It is focused on helping refugees and it should get pretty big because there is a large amount of refugees and a huge need to help them in Denver and Aurora. We met with M and she is showing a real interest in knowing what is right for her and her family. Sunday was great we had a special stake Conference because Bishop Causse from the presiding bishopric spoke to the Stake. What is cool is that he was at the MTC almost a year ago to speak to us there. He spoke about how some people believe that churches or religions are pretty much the same and how that is not the case with our church, especially because of the first vision, the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of Priesthood keys. I am really excited for this week. We are working with some really great people right now and hopefully we can find more! My Go To Scripture this week is Romans 1:16 16 - “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

 

Sept. 19, 2016

This week was a good week. I am realizing that every week in the mission is good. There may be some weeks where things don't go the way I want, or where it feels like I have to work a lot harder to teach people, it is always good. We had a Zone P-Day on Monday. It was a lot of fun and we were able to play whiffle ball. Tuesday we had a Car-Fast where no missionary in the mission drove their car from 10:30 to 5:00 - it was nice to be out. We were down in the south part of our area doing service when my bike got a flat tire which slowed us down a bit. We also did a lot of finding. We were tracting in a nice neighborhood in the middle of the day and there were a lot of people home. It was pretty unusual for a week day. Everyone was really friendly that we met. We were able to find a new investigator this week named F - she is from Sierra Leon. We were only able to teach her but hopefully we can teach the rest of her family. Wednesday we had Zone Meeting and I learned that I can have more positive thoughts and I can cast out doubts that I have. We taught N. We found him working on his car a couple Sunday’s ago and we taught him the restoration. He seems to have a pure interest in learning and seeing if it is true. One way I could tell is that the questions he asked were very thoughtful and sincere and we are excited to keep teaching him. Thursday I went on an exchange to downtown Denver. It is a pretty crazy place. There are a lot of people and that can be a good thing because there are many opportunities to share the gospel, but towards the end of the exchange I started to feel overwhelmed and didn't do the best at talking to everyone. We had a cool experience towards the end of the night. We were walking outside and a guy in a sushi truck called us over to talk to him. We were able to teach him the restoration and he seemed really interested in learning more. We went to the English class again and there were a lot of people there which was really cool. They said we are going to be teaching next week, we will see how that goes. We had the Denver Stake Fair which is a pretty big deal and apparently there were a lot of non-members there. It was cool because I saw a lot of people from Bible Park Ward. They had us help scoop ice cream. After that we taught G. She is from Africa and was raised Christian but now she believes that Christ is more of a philosopher. As we taught her she was really involved, but she seemed to understand that she could learn if it was true for herself. On Sunday, I realized I was making excuses and I decided to talk to at least 2 people I didn't want to. After I talked to one person that I didn't want to it made talking to every one way easier and we were able to talk to 31 different people that day. Also I realized I need to testify more frequently because when we talk to people sometimes I can get a little frustrated and try to convince them, but I think the best way is to just testify. My Go To Scripture is D&C 6:31 – “But if they reject not my words, which shall be established by the testimony which shall be given, blessed are they, and then shall ye have joy in the fruit of your labors.”

Sept 25, 2016

There have been some amazing things happen this week that I am very Grateful for. First off on Saturday Brother Vouama baptized his wife and his daughter. I baptized Brother Vouama in the Aurora Highlands Ward about 9 months ago. I am so excited for them and what is cool is that my trainer Elder Sevilla is in that ward and helped prepare them for baptism! Some of the Highlights this week - On Tuesday we had an appointment with E but he told us he wasn't feeling well. Later that night we were walking in his apartment complex and I saw someone and went over to talk to them. Well it ended up being E. He was picking up his mail and so we talked to him and he read the pamphlet we had left him.  We gave him a Book of Mormon to start reading. He enjoyed talking with us and he really wants to meet with us. Wednesday, I was on exchanges with Elder Fry and we had a whole day of finding lined up. We were able to talk to a lot of people and set some times to meet with people but we hadn't found a new investigator. Towards the end of the day we still hadn't found a new investigator and then we talked to a mom and one of her kids. It was really cool because as we were talking about how the Gospel blesses families, the Daughter said "do you have any handouts because we really need to go to church." I thought she was going to say we really needed to leave but we were blessed by the Lord. We are really excited to start teaching them this week. I feel that they are really ready to hear the gospel. After that we were about to leave the same place when I saw one of our investigators that we hadn't been able to get a hold of for a month. We taught him and recommitted him to meet with us - it was really great. We helped with a huge service project for the Rocky Mountain Down Syndrome Association on Saturday. They were setting up for a huge 5k run fundraiser and we helped set a lot of it up. We had a couple less active families attend church this week that we were really excited for, but we are still trying to help our investigators attend church. It’s a good thing we have conference this weekend because it will be a great opportunity for them and for myself as well. My Go To Scripture this week is D&C 15:6 – “And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father.
Amen.”
Love,
Elder Blackham

 

Aug. 1, 2016

This week has been a great week even though it was hard. We have had many appointments cancel, and times when no one would answer their doors, but there have been a lot of cool things happen as well. First, we set V and B on a baptismal date for September 10^th. It was really cool because we were a little nervous about extending the invitation and after we extended it we realized it was all fears that we had built up. We also found some very solid new investigators, one is an older lady but she lives next to a family in the ward. We tracted into her and she wanted to learn more. We also met a man named R. He is from Jamaica and is super cool so we taught him and he is going to continue to meet with us.  Also, I was able to go on exchanges this week with Elder Fry in Cherry Creek and Piney Creek. We put in a lot of work. We had quite a few lessons set for the day and all of them except one fell through, but we used that time and we were able to find four new investigators so it ended up being a great day. My Go To scripture this week is 1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” I feel it is important to remember the Priesthood we are entrusted and the power by which we are set apart.

 

August 8, 2016

Hello. This week was a great week - we were really busy. First off our car has had some problems. We drove up to downtown Denver to do exchanges and when we started up the car. It wouldn't start so we got it jumped by the senior missionaries that live pretty close. That morning the car wouldn't start again and so we got it jumped and took it into the shop and they told us the battery was fine and that the starter needed to be replaced. We took it to the Chevy dealership and they ended up just fixing the key and it works great now. Our car also has 6,000 dollars’ worth of hail damage so they had to get another estimate because they might end up just selling the car. So I went on exchanges with a new missionary, Elder Gonzales - it went really well. One of the things I realized is that the adversary will create fear before you try to talk to someone who is receptive. We were knocking on a door and then a lady walked into her apartment. Part of me said to go talk to her and the other was telling me to mind my own business. Any ways we went and talked to her and she was interested with meeting with us and wanted to learn more about the Fort Collins Temple open house. We got to go to the temple this week and it was a very special experience. Even though it is hard to wake up for a 6:00 am session it was definitely worth it. Thursday was Mormon night at the Rockies. We didn't get to go, but we set up a booth on the 16th street mall which is really close to the stadium. We had missionaries rotating in and out throughout the whole day. Friday we had MLC's.  It was my first time going which was really cool. There were some really powerful teachings and it will be exciting to relay the teachings to the rest of the zone.  A barrier we are seeing in our area is that the investigators we have found are not keeping their return appointments. It’s been a struggle lately and so we are trying to find ways to help them keep their return appointments. One Investigator that seems really solid is B. He has had a rough past and used to be an alcoholic, but he seems to have a lot of potential, which is great. My Go To Scripture this week is John 16:33 – “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

 

August 15, 2016

Dear Family,

This week was a good week and it ended really well. I was able to buy some Oakley sunglasses on Monday. I didn't know what kind I was going to buy but I really like the pair I got. They were pricey but they are cool and the lenses are polarized. We also found two new investigators the first one is Ch. He is an interesting guy. When we first met him he wanted to take a picture with us and post it on facebook but he was willing to listen and so we taught him. I will tell you about the other investigator later because it is a really cool story. We moved the M family to the Arapahoe Stake. We are teaching their daughters who aren't baptized. The really exciting thing is we get to go to the Fort Collins Temple open house with their family today. I am really excited because I don't remember ever going to an open house. We had Zone Meeting on Thursday. It was a Great Zone Meeting. A video that I really like that I had never seen before is "Staying Spiritually Fit". We made a program for it. I'll send it to you if you want to see it. We have been teaching a former member and it has been very powerful teaching him. Each time we are there the spirit is very strong. Saturday was really cool. My District Leader Elder Fry had committed the District to study Charity each day this week. On Saturday as I was studying and I was looking over some notes I had made on Compassion specifically the Parable of the Good Samaritan. As I went over that things just seemed to Click and I realized how well it relates to talking to everyone and how we can't pass by people. I like this quote from Jesus the Christ "When the Samaritan came along and saw the wretched state of the wounded man, he had no excuse for he wanted none." I really felt the importance of talking to every one about the gospel. Later that day we taught our investigator BJ. We had tracted into her but her neighbors were members as well so we brought them. It was a very spiritual lesson as we taught the restoration. We even sang Joseph Smith’s First Prayer to her and it was really cool how it brought a special spirit into the room. We also arrived to one of our investigators places at the perfect time. We were just dropping by to see if he was there. As we got there he walked out with his dog and so we were able to teach him and he accepted a baptismal invitation. We were really excited. I had a really great experience Sunday night as we were ready to head home and as we walked to our car a man walked out of one of the buildings. We walked by him but we should have gone to talk to him. Elder Bake had gone in the car and was about to start backing when I thought that we needed to talk to this man. So we turned off the car and walked over to him and taught him and now he is a new investigator.  I am so grateful for the things I am learning in proclaiming this gospel. I am not perfect by any means but I can see the improvements I am making. My Go To scripture is Luke 10:33 “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him."

 

August 22, 2016

This week has gone really well. Monday we were able to go to the Fort Collins Temple open house. We brought the M Family with us. It was a really cool experience to be able to tour through the temple, but what was really special was taking a family with us so that they could hopefully feel the spirit. We also had a hand off lesson with them where we went with their new Elders and introduced them to the Elders in their new ward. After that our week flattened out a little bit but some cool things happened. We were walking around in an apartment complex talking to people outside and then this lady from the HOA kicked us out. Well as we were walking around in the complex next to it we met a lady that had been having a rough day and was actually a member that probably hadn't gone to church in a while. It was a great experience to be able to lift her spirits up. We had interviews with President Mendenhall as well. It was really cool. He asked me how I was relating the Book of Mormon to myself? I shared how I had been studying the book of Mormon and he asked me what my relationship with my Savior was? I shared with him what I felt and then he explained that I had just testified personally of the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ without saying "I know" or "I testify." It was really cool to see how I can make my testimony more personal. Saturday was really great. That whole week we had struggled with finding new investigators. We were tracting and I was getting a little discouraged because we hadn't found any one yet when someone let us into their house. They are a family from Nepal and we are going to see them again tonight. After them we were about ready to head to dinner but we decided to knock two more doors. The last door was a new investigator and we were able to teach them the next day which was really cool. They are from India and are Hindu. When we taught them we were able to make connections with God and parts of the Gospel so they could better understand. We also taught our Investigator B. We brought Brother Nelson with us and it was really cool because he made a huge difference in that lesson. B is really close to accepting a baptismal date as well so we are really excited for him. Also this week is transfers and I am staying with Elder Bake in Greenwood Village! I am really excited for this transfer. My Go To scripture this week is 2 Nephi 2:27  - “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.” When we look at choices we make this way it makes it a lot easier to choose the right.

 

August 29, 2016

I had a really good week and it started off really well. With transfers on Wednesday we had to spend most of that day moving missionaries around. It will be an exciting transfer. We have quite a few new missionaries in our zone. We have been able to find quite a few new people to teach and we were able to meet with a couple of the people we have been teaching lately. Some of the highlights this week were when we were able to teach L. As we taught her about Jesus Christ she really had a desire to learn and even a couple times she had us stop to re-explain some of the things we were teaching. We had more success meeting with some of our investigators but we haven't been able to meet with people enough to really help them progress in the gospel. It’s made it a little bit harder to find because it seems like every one we find has been really flakey. I was talking about this with my District Leader and he told me that I should pray to find someone who is prepared to hear the Gospel. So I did that Saturday night and on Sunday we found three new investigators. One of them I felt is really ready to hear the Gospel. It’s amazing how we were led to him. Earlier that day we had reached the goals we set for new investigators and total lessons but we were still dedicated to use our time effectively. It was about 8:00 pm on a Sunday night and we were walking around an apartment complex. Not too many people were out and we saw a guy in his garage working on a car. We went and started to talk to him and as we listened to him I could feel how much the gospel applied to him. It’s something I am still trying to get better and better at talking to everyone no matter what. I feel that I am definitely improving. I am really excited for this week and my Go To scripture this week is D&C 123:17 “Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed. “

Love,

Elder Blackham

 

June 20, 2016

Sorry I haven't emailed you the past two weeks. The first week I wrote Josh's Philmont Letter and then last week I had to write a rather long email to President talking about my companion and I. Hopefully I can manage to sum up the past three weeks. My Companion is Elder Parsons. He has been out for 19 months and is from Chicago, Illinois. He served in Aurora Highlands a couple transfers before I did. Our companionship is interesting because he is very open when he is just with me or when he is with members, but when we are talking to people on the streets he struggles and a lot of times he won't say too much. I have been dominating the companionship too much and I need to give him more opportunities to talk, even if it means that very awkward and painful moment of silence. That is something I need to work on. We have been on bikes for the past two weeks which posed a challenge because our area is very large and we have appointments lined up. Saturdays are the hardest because it seem like we just bike all over the place. There are some really great opportunities that come from it by talking to people that we see on the street. This week I went on exchanges with Elder Gray in the Sable Ward. It was a really good experience. Elder Gray is very good at talking to people. We were tracting and we ran into these guys and the first thing they said was “hey do you want to smoke a joint?” We said, “No,” but then Elder Gray started talking about Marijuana with them and talking about different strands and the thc and cbd ratio and stuff like that. He learned all of that from an investigator we were teaching. It was pretty cool because the guys really opened up and really liked us. They gave us there business cards - it was pretty funny. When you can relate to people they get off their guard. We taught A M this week. Her baptism is going to be July 2^nd. We have been working on reading the scriptures and she read all the way to 2 Nephi Ch.4. She was marking verses - that’s pretty good for a ten year old. We also met with A. She is from Rwanda and we taught her and her family. She was a referral that we got over three months ago and we finally got to teach them. We had a really cool experience on Saturday. We had been tracting and people weren't opening their doors. As we were heading back to the car someone pulled up in their car. It was a member who was from the Marshall Islands. She hadn't been to church in a long time and her cousin was with her and she wasn't a member so we scheduled a time to meet with them. After we were about ready to head home because it was 8:50 and I felt prompted to ask God if our work was finished. After we prayed we were walking and I saw a potential I had met a week ago and we started talking to him. We came to find out that his mother was in town and she was a Holocaust survivor. We are planning to meet him and his mother later this week. Also we got a car on Friday which has been a big help. Sunday was great - we had A, V and A at church. I have been studying about Abinadi lately and I am amazed at his commitment to his mission that the Lord gave him. Even though he knew he would die he was determined to deliver his message to King Noah. My GoTo Scripture is Mosiah 13:9  “But I finish my message; and then it matters not whither I go, if it so be that I am saved.” The message that we have is so great! I desire to be as determined as Abinadi to share this message with the people here in Aurora.

 

June 27, 2016

This week seemed to start a little slow. Lately we have been finding a lot of people to teach but when we show up for the return appointment many of them just haven't been home. We still had some really exciting things happen this week. We met Sh last week and we dropped by and taught her.  As we were teaching she talked about how she wanted to make changes in her life and start to turn her life around. We were able to set up a church tour with them for next week which is exciting. We also taught our investigator Ar he is currently trying to find a place to move to in our ward and we taught him in the church. It was pretty cool as we were showing him the church we showed him the baptismal font and he said that he would probably be the next person to get baptized. We taught him the restoration in a class room and then we stepped out in front of a painting of the first vision and the spirit was very strong. We found a lot of new investigators this week. I think the one with the most potential is W. It was really cool how we were led to him. We were knocking on doors and some kids asked us if we were going to knock upstairs and we were like yeah. We followed the kids upstairs and they got their uncle and he started talking to us. At first he didn't seem too interested and then he asked if we had some basketball league?  I told him that they played every Thursday night at our church. He got excited about that and then we started talking more and he really saw how our message could help him in his life it was really cool. Also A M will be getting baptized this week and I am really excited for her. She has done a lot to prepare and she is really excited to get baptized. The really cool thing is that every  companionship in our District is having a baptism this week. I am very grateful for the opportunity I have to serve the lord. My GoTo Scripture is Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” It is so great to be here in the mountains of Denver to share this gospel

July 7, 2016

Happy 4th of July! Wow this week was so exciting. First we were helping A prepare for her Baptism this Saturday. She was very excited. It was a little stressful getting the program ready because we procrastinated but in the end it all worked out and it was a great baptism. I had the opportunity to baptize her which was very special. It is a really great experience to be able to baptize someone and for me it is really hard to describe. Elder Parsons confirmed her on Sunday which was also really cool. Not to mention we had one of the best fast and testimony meetings that Sunday as well. What was also great was that the other two companionships each had a baptism this
week so our district had 3 baptisms this week. I interviewed the Sisters investigator Av, last Sunday and I got a call later that night that Av wanted me to baptize her. So, I was able to Baptize Av on Friday. With so many baptisms this week I was reminded of a quote in Preach My Gospel by Elder Henry B. Eyring “The Lord sets His standards so that He can bless us. Think about those blessings: He promises those who meet the standards the help of the Holy Ghost. He promises personal peace. He promises the chance to receive holy ordinances in His house. And He promises those who endure in living His standards that they will have eternal life. … Because we love the people we serve, all of us want to do better in lifting our Heavenly Father’s children to the faithfulness and purity they need to have all the blessings of the Lord. … You begin by holding up the Lord’s standards clearly and without apology. And the more the world drifts from them and mocks them, the bolder we must be in doing that” We have high standards so that the Lord can bless us.

We also taught our investigator V this week. She is doing great and she gets really excited about every new thing that we teach her. We had to move her date back to July 23rd but she is really excited to get baptized. We also taught our investigator Ar he is really excited and willing to learn. A member that hadn't been to church in a very long time called us and he wanted us to give his neighbor a blessing. We began to talk to the member and he told us how he should have been giving a blessing but that he wasn't able to. It was a reminder for me about how great of a blessing it is to bear the priesthood and to be able to use it to help others. He wants us to start teaching his daughters so that they can be baptized. Another really cool thing happened on Sunday night. We lost contact with our investigator Al for about six weeks. It was pretty hard because he had a lot of potential and he fell off the face of the earth. He called us Sunday and we hurried over to meet with him and we met his girlfriend as well and she is also really interested in the church. The Fourth of July was a lot of fun. Our whole zone got together at a members home in Bennett. In Church we sang the Star Spangled Banner and I like in the third verse the line that says "And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"" It is important to remember that this land was prepared by God for the restoration of his Gospel so that we can all worship him freely.

My GoTo Scripture this week is D&C 59:23 "But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come" These are great blessings of the gospel, blessings that everyone deserves the opportunity to receive.

July 11, 2016

Hi, So I got a call from President this week and he asked me to be a Zone Leader. I responded and asked if that meant that I was leaving Peoria and he said “yes.” I am sad to be leaving Peoria. It is such a great area to serve in. I am going to be a Zone Leader in my birth Zone in Denver. I will be in the Green Wood Village Ward serving with Elder Bake. I haven't served around him much but from what I hear he is a really great missionary.

This week was a great week. We found quite a lot of new investigators. One of those is a family from the Marshall Islands. There are a bunch of family members that live in this same apartment and two of them are members of the church. The rest we are teaching even though at times it can be pretty hard because their English isn't the best. We weren't able to teach V this week but she attended a baptism in another ward with us. It was really funny because the convert was bearing his testimony and he mentioned how missionaries are really persistent and V said out loud "I know right!" It was pretty funny. She also came to church and in Gospel Principles the Ward Mission Leader mentioned that it was my Birthday and V was like “we should sing him happy birthday” and so she led the whole class in singing happy birthday and even added a second verse that I had never heard. Something really exciting is that the Fort Collins Temple Open House will be in August and September. We are trying to invite members to attend the open house. I have been dropping by and saying good bye to the people we have been teaching. It is really sad to say good bye especially with so many good things happening but I know it is the Lords will. Brother Valentine bought me a cookie cake and I got all the presents that you sent and I really appreciate it.

Hope you have a great week!

July 18, 2016

So My New Companion is Elder Bake he is from Missouri He has been out 6 weeks longer than I have. Greenwood Village is a lot different from Peoria - for example we live with members in a really nice home and they buy all of our groceries which is really nice of them. The best part is we have air conditioning! So there are some really wealthy parts in our ward and there are also still a lot of apartments. Our area borders the south border of Bible Park but I was on the north side the whole time I was there. I got the birthday video last week but it was upside down. The photo was right side up though. I appreciate the extra scripture case. Since we were in a car I got tired of carrying around my bag while we were proselyting so I started to just take a scripture bag. The new one will be for my nice scriptures. The ward is really big and reminds me of our ward back home. They fill up the whole over flow at church. I am adjusting really well and I am really excited for this transfer. We also had a huge hail storm for like 15 minutes. It was throwing golf ball sized hail and so our car is all dented up and we are going to have to take it into the shop. And we may not have a car for a bit. This week has been fantastic! It was hard to leave the Peoria Ward and I will always remember that ward and the people there. Things have been great with Elder Bake and I feel like our minds are on the same page and we both have a strong desire to serve. Elder Bake has really helped me improve in talking to everyone and already I feel so much better because we aren't giving up any opportunities to talk with people. This week we have been focused on finding and searching for people to teach. The teaching pool is slim here but we are excited to build it back up. We found two investigators while I have been here. One whose name is H. She was very open and we shared with her the first vision, and are going to meet with her this week. The other investigator we found is named K. She has some friends that are members and she was really open as well and we are going to be teaching her next week also. We had a really cool experience at dinner on Saturday. We were talking about temples and the Fort Collins open house, and as we testified to them that people were prepared for this event she felt prompted to have us teach in relief society for five minutes after she finished teaching. It was a great opportunity for us to share with the ward the importance of inviting our friends to the open house. My GoTo scripture this week is Mosiah 23: 24 “And it came to pass that he did deliver them, and he did show forth his mighty power unto them, and great were their rejoicings.” I am really excited to be serving here in Greenwood Village!

July 25, 2016

Hello, this week has been a really great week! We have been pretty busy this week we had a lot of meetings. We had a mini Zone Meeting for the new temple open house, District Meeting, and a Zone Leader Meeting. The Zone Leader Meeting was really cool because it was themed off of the school of the prophets and so we got to learn a little bit before the meeting and it is really cool to see how it prepared the early leaders before they went to spread the gospel. We also did quite a bit of service this week. We went downtown as a Zone to Denver Rescue Mission, where we prepared a lunch and served it to the homeless. We have been really focused on finding and we were able to find 6 new investigators this week! We plan to find even more this upcoming week. We are currently working with two girls V and B and they want to get baptized. The only thing is that they are moving in a couple weeks and have some family situations that may cause some complications. It has been really fun serving with Elder Bake and the work is really enjoyable right now. My GoTo scripture this week is D&C 6:36 “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.” Focusing my thoughts on the work is so important and there is so much strength that comes from it.

 

Love,

Elder Blackham​

 

My cute missionary!