March 14, 2016
So guess what! I am now in Aurora! This
week was pretty great. I was in a trio up in Brighton and I found out Thursday
I was going to be emergency transferred to the Peoria Ward in Aurora. There was
an Elder in the Peoria Ward who had to go home to take care of some things.
That left my new companion, Elder Burt companion-less, so because I was in a
trio, President felt that I should transfer to be companions with Elder Burt.
So, yeah It’s kind of been crazy with a lot of things happening in the last
week. This week started off a little slow. We were still organizing our ward
that had just been formed. We had an awesome lesson that we were able to teach
to an investigator. It was really powerful, especially as we asked inspired
questions to help them understand what we were teaching. As we taught this
family they had a greater desire to understand what we were teaching them and
wanted to learn more about the gospel. So, I got to Aurora on Friday and I was
able to meet Elder Burt. He came out at the same time as me and he is from
Pocatello, Idaho. The Peoria Ward is pretty interesting. It is in a rougher
part of town and Elder Burt was telling me about some interesting experiences
he had there. We live with a member, which is something new for me and we have
a car which is also pretty nice. A couple weeks ago in Aurora Highlands, Elder Wohlrab
and I ran into a less- active in the Peoria Ward. He had never transferred his
records but we got all his info and passed him off to the Peoria Ward. They hadn't
gotten a hold of him, but on Saturday Elder Burt and I dropped by and we were
able to talk with him and he came with us to the Stake Conference. It’s pretty
cool how the Lord is already preparing people for us to meet. I am really
excited to be here in the Peoria ward.
March 21, 2016
Things have been going pretty good in
Peoria. We taught a lot of people this week. We found a new investigator
this week his name is M R. He is about 16 or 17, but he is pretty interested in
what we have to share. We were able to teach quite a few less actives as well.
Sister F - she currently has cancer in her skull and every day she has Chemo
therapy treatments where the doctor inserts 6 inch long needles into her skull.
It is a very painful procedure, but the most amazing thing is how much she has
turned her life around and now has such a strong desire to return to church. We
also met a man named Brother M. He has a real desire to learn more about the
gospel. We had Zone Conference this week. The Theme was "What Lack I
yet?" It was pretty great. I am focusing on how I can improve as a
missionary. My Go To scripture this week is Alma 38:5 "And now my son,
Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your
trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your
troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last
day." I am really excited for this up-coming week and know I need to keep
my trust in the Lord.
April 4, 2016
This week was a great week! Monday was
a solid P-Day. We taught a recent convert the Plan of Salvation. It was very
spiritual. She was only about ten years old, which was good because I felt like
I got better at teaching simply. Tuesday was a weird day. We went to teach a
couple Muslims who had walked into Church last Sunday and wanted to learn how
to teach English. We were just going to see how it went and when we walked in
we saw two hookahs in the corner of the room. At the end of the lesson they
were about to fire it up so we decided to just leave. We got an awesome call
though on Tuesday, a man named J called us and said he wanted to meet with us.
I was trying to remember who he was and then I remembered he was a former that
I texted a week ago while Elder Burt was in a District Leader Meeting. We are
meeting with him today so I am really excited. We were also trying to meet with
our investigator J and so we called him. Before we called him he had a seizure
and we were able to give him a blessing and I was amazed at the Lords timing.
Wednesday we met L and A. They are from Liberia and they were a referral from a
member in Heather Ridge. It was and awesome lesson. They both accepted baptism
but only L accepted a date. Afterwards we met a family that moved into the ward
- the L's. They were less active but want to come back to church. Brother L
owns a vape company and he is pretty into the vape thing himself. I am not a
fan of it at all because it just makes a bunch of smoke. The awesome news was
that their eleven year old son wants to get baptized, so we are really excited
to start teaching him. Thursday we had District Meeting and I had to do some
training. Elder Burt asked me to give it the day before because I had been
studying the topic in personal study. We had baloot for dinner which was pretty
interesting. It is basically a fertilized duck egg - pretty popular in Asia,
and you eat the whole bird. It tasted good and it was a good thing to eat so I
can say I ate that. We taught J and it was a rough lesson. He kind of dominated
it and we didn't go anywhere. As he was talking I could see a concern he had and
so I stopped him and shared with him a scripture and my testimony. The spirit
was really strong and I felt that I answered his concern. Friday was cool - we
were tracting and I started to remember a training given in Zone Conference
about relating just a random object to the gospel. So, as we were tracting we
met a man named A. As we talked to him I wasn't sure if we were going to get in
but I noticed a painting in his home and I said "I like your painting."
As I said that, he said come on in. As we taught him, he told us he had a dream
that we would knock on his door. it was super exciting. Saturday was cool we
planned on watching the morning session with L and A. It was awesome. A was
really funny sometimes. He was way into it - clapping, or saying amen, and
other times he looked like he was falling asleep. When Elder Hallstrom spoke
about his experience in Liberia L woke A up and told him to pay attention. You
could tell that it was meant for them and that it really touched their hearts.
After the Priesthood Session I felt prompted that we visit a less active
family. The M family is from the Philippines. While we were there we were able
to give her son a blessing. I asked them if they were all baptized and everyone
but there 10 year old daughter was. Her mom asked her if she wanted to get
baptized and her face lit up and she said yes. We were so excited! Sunday after
General Conference we dropped by an Investigator and we taught him the first
lesson and after wards we invited him to be baptized and he said yes! This week
was amazing! General Conference absolutely strengthened my testimony that our
Church is led by a Prophet of God and that the talks given are truly inspired
and meant for each of us. Brother Owens talk stood out to me. We are all placed
in positions where we are to lead and the best way to lead is by following
Jesus Christ. My GOTO scripture this week is Proverbs 3:4 Trust in the Lord.
April 11, 2016
So this week was pretty great. We
taught more lessons than I have ever taught my whole mission. The great part
about it was that the majority of the lessons we taught to our investigators we
brought members with us. Monday we went to get haircuts. We were told that
there was a barber off Colfax that gave free haircuts to missionaries because
the Barbers wife is Mormon. So we set up an appointment, but the main barber
wasn't going to be there. We got to the barber shop and it was pretty funny
because it is like a barber shop for mostly black people.The guy who gave us a
haircut was named St. Louis. He told me had been working there a couple years
and that he didn't know how to cut hair with scissors - he only used clippers,
it was an interesting experience, but hey it was free. We taught a former named
J, and when we walked up to teach him he was talking with his neighbor, so we
taught both of them and they were interest in hearing about the Restoration.
Afterwards, we headed over to A's. She has been struggling with cancer and was
completely inactive for a long time but with this trial her heart has softened
and she has a really strong desire to come back to church. She told us she had
watched all of General Conference and had re watched it as well. We shared with
her Elder Hollands talk and it was a powerful lesson. Tuesday we taught a
recent convert and her mom. The really cool thing was that we had given her mom
a blessing before she went in for knee surgery and a week after that surgery
she was off crutches and walking around normally. Earlier we were asked to give
a blessing with a senior missionary in the Colorado Children’s Hospital (we
give a lot of blessings there because it is in our ward boundaries). The child
was two years old and had passed away the night before but they revived her and
had her on a breathing machine. It was a very sad situation, but while I was in
that room I felt the Spirit testify to me of the Plan of Salvation, that God
had a plan for this child and that this childs death was not the end. As we
gave the blessing it was very powerful. Wednesday we had a lot going on we had
Zone Meeting and then we taught three of our investigators. While we were at
dinner I was reaching for a pot and I knocked my water cup over and spilled it
all over the member right next to me. Looking back it is kind of funny, but boy
I was a little embarrassed when it happened. I'm going to skip to Saturday
morning at 2:00 am when we heard a really loud noise upstairs. A couple minutes
later we walked up stairs and find out some drunken guy was trying to break in.
This guy was kicking at the door, so Papa Q got his pisto,l peeked out the
window, saw the guy was unarmed, cracked open the door pointed the gun and said
"What do you want?” The guy started to walk away so Papa Q called the Cops
and the guy got arrested. Later that day we taught A. We brought our ward mission
leader Brother V because he served a mission in Honduras where A is from. We
taught him the Plan Of Salvation and he committed to baptism. Sunday we only
had one Investigator come to church which was disappointing. We were trying really
hard to get more of our investigators to come but Sacrament attendance will be
something we will have to emphasize this week. We taught S at his rehab home
and he invited one of his roommates K to listen and so now we have another
investigator. During my studies I realized the mindset that the Sons of Mosiah
had when they went to teach the Lamanites. They didn't see them as who they were
but as who they could become. That is the way God sees us and that is something
I am trying to work on. So my GOTO scripture is Alma 26:3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the
Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how
many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the
blessing which hath been bestowed upon us that we have been made instruments in
the hands of God to bring about this great work.
April 18, 2016
This week is transfers and I am staying
and I have been given the assignment to be a district leader which is exciting
but humbling at the same time. My new companion is Elder Glen. He is a couple
transfers behind me but President told me he is a hard working Missionary. Also
Elder Ah Nee is going to be my Zone Leader which is exciting because I enjoyed
being with him in for a week in Brighton.
I don't have a whole lot of time, but
these are our top investigators right now. All four of them were at sacrament
meeting. L and A are the couple from Liberia. Somehow they got a marriage
license so they should get married within a month and then L will be ready to
be baptized. A says he will get baptized but he hasn't committed to a date so
we are going to work on that with him. A(diff. A)is excited to get baptized but
the thing I am worried about with her is that her parents gave her permission,
but they have been going to a different church and I feel like that might make
it a challenge for her, but I think she can also be a great example for her family.
For our investigator J we brought a primary teacher with us so he could help
keep J interested and focused. This was great. One thing I have learned this
transfer is how much a difference members can make in helping investigators
learn and progress. We have been teaching a lot and we have been pretty busy
which is good. I am really excited for our investigators as they get closer to
baptism it gets even more exciting
April 25, 2016
This week a lot of
cool miracles have happened. It makes it clear to me that this is the
Lords work. My new companion is Elder Glenn. He is from Yucaipa,
California and has been out one transfer less than me. He is a really good
missionary because he has a strong desire to serve the Lord. Here are some
highlights for this week.
Monday- P-Day found out transfers and
that night we visited the W’s. Elder Burt was really sad to leave Peoria so we
visited some people.
Tuesday- We taught L and A and we found
out they were getting married on Saturday which was super exciting! We taught A
the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she is getting ready for her Baptism on the
14th.
Wednesday- Transfers - cool experience
- it was about 8:15 and our plans fell through so Elder Glenn suggested we pray
and then he asked if we were teaching a person named M. We were, and so
we dropped by and he wanted the address to the church building and we gave him
the address and taught him.
Thursday- We taught G. She is from the
Congo and she told us she believed that the restoration was true and we invited
her to be baptized on the 21st of May
Friday- as we were walking out of a
lesson a lady asked how we were doing and we began to talk to her and we set an
appointment up with her for tonight.
Saturday- We were walking out of an
apartment complex and I heard someone trying to talk to us but I couldn't see
anyone. I walked towards the voice and it is coming out of someone’s window. The
man wanted to talk to us and invited us in. We are going to teach him the
restoration on Tuesday. We also had L and A wedding - it was pretty cool.
Bishop Doxey married them.
Sunday- A was the only investigator who
came to church, so we are going really focus on getting our investigator to
come to church. We were going to visit a member but I couldn't find a parking
spot so I parked across the street. We walk over and talked to the member and
she tells us that the building across the street is a crack house and that
every apartment except for two are doing crack and that expensive cars pull in
and stuff like that. The police know about it but they haven't done anything
yet. Well, that was the building I parked in front of. As we are walking back
to the car this sketchy motor home had just pulled up and before we get in someone
in the motor home says something. I was pretty nervous and didn't really know
what to expect. A lady and her husband walk out and they tell us they are
members from Wyoming and are trying to turn their life around immediately I
felt a love for them and we talked to them about coming to church and about how
the gospel will change their life. I could see hope fill up in their eyes and I
knew the Lord put these people on our path.
This week has been full of tender
mercies that the Lord has blessed us with by putting people on our path it is
truly amazing to know who is on our side. My GOTO scripture this week is
D&C 50:26 He that is ordained of God and sent forth, the same is
appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least and the servant
of all. I am a servant to the people here in Aurora but my Master is great he
is Jesus Christ.
May 2, 2016
This week has been really great we are
seeing some amazing things happen in the Peoria ward. Elder Glenn and I are
doing great together I am surprised at how in sync we are with each other. One
thing that has been on my mind is that we are teaching a couple ten year olds
and they are keeping the commitments, but one of them, her family is inactive.
They support her decision; I just hope that A will be able to continue to
progress despite the fact that her family is not centered around the restored
gospel. Honestly I really love it in this ward because the people here are just
great and I love the people we are teaching.
Monday- We met with A(diff. A). The
change she has made in her life is amazing and now she is completely free of
Cancer she is the definition of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. She even
wants her boyfriend to start taking the lessons. She bore her testimony in
sacrament meeting! We had an opportunity to give a blessing at the children’s
hospital - now I cherish each time we have the opportunity.
Tuesday- We taught A and when we asked
how her reading was doing she told us she read the first seven chapters in the
Book of Mormon. I was so excited for her!
Wednesday- One of my weaknesses is street
contacting because I am just used to tracting. We went street contacting in a
park. Luckily, Elder Glenn is pretty good at street contacting, so he was
helping me out. Elder Glenn told me to talk to a man walking his dog, and I was
hesitant because he had already passed us. Elder Glenn told me to shout at the
guy and so I did. We started talking to him and now he is a new investigator.
We also taught A that night and it was a really cool experience. A is able to
feel the spirit really strongly when we are with him and when he reads
and he feels really good about our Church we are just trying to get him to come
to church.
Thursday- We had District Meeting and
afterwards we taught two of our investigators M and C, - she is blind. That
lesson M kept on trying to get off track so we really had to work to get the
lesson back on track.
Friday- We taught V - she is a new
investigator. She had met with missionaries a long time ago. She is interesting
because she is Roman Catholic, but she believes the Book of Mormon is true and
that Joseph Smith was a prophet. But she isn't ready to commit to anything.
Saturday was a really good day. We had
been teaching a guy named C but every time we met with him he would try to argue
over the scripture. I felt that he wasn't ready yet and so I told him that we
were here to help him gain an understanding about the Gospel and if he wasn't
willing to do that we couldn't teach him. I felt like it was one of the best
drops I've done because he told us he wanted to learn but that now wasn't the
right time. I think timing is really important for people to progress in the
gospel.
Sunday- was amazing we had 5
investigators at church, which is the most I have ever had attend. It was
really cool! We also taught a new investigator T and hopefully she will take
the message of the restoration to heart.
This week has been truly amazing these
are just the highlights a lot of the work has been the small and simple things
that we are doing to help our investigators progress in the Gospel and help
them gain a testimony for themselves. I am grateful to see the work increase
not only in our area but in our whole district. My Go To scripture this week is
D&C 68:6 Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am
with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus
Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I
am to come. This work is a joyful work because the Lord is with us as all of us
bear testimony of him. Hope you have a great week.
May 9, 2016
This week has been a really great week.
Although it felt like we had quite a few appointments cancelling on us, we were
able to be just as productive this week. Here are some of the highlights
We had zone p-day, so we played whiffle
ball and basketball and we had lunch together. Afterwards we taught KM and her
sister BM started to listen as well, so we are now teaching her. We taught A
afterwards and it was a very spiritual lesson. He can feel the Spirit really
strongly when we are there and he is gaining a testimony for himself but he
needs to start acting on it. We have been teaching A this week and we are
trying to help her get ready for baptism. We were planning on that this week
but we felt that we need to push it back a couple weeks so that she will be
ready. We have been teaching a Seventh Day Adventist whose husband is trying to
get active in our church. It has been difficult teaching her because while she
agrees with a lot of things we are teaching there are somethings she having
trouble understanding. We also had a really good District Meeting and I learned
a lot about resolving concerns. We were able to apply it when we taught V. She
wasn't reading from the Book of Mormon but we helped her understand the
importance of it. Friday we had a barbecue with the M family. They are less
actives that we just started meeting with and we had dinner with them. The food
was really good. We also found a really solid investigator his name is K and he
is from Vietnam. He was interested in learning about the things we were
teaching him. I enjoyed the time I was able to skype my family it gave me a
good boost.
My GOTO scripture this week is D&C
84:83 For your Father, who is in heaven knoweth that you have need of these
things. I think it is really comforting to know how much Heavenly Father Loves
us and he know exactly what we need.
May 16, 2016
Hi! First off I will wish a Happy
Birthday to Mom and Tyler! This week was a little different. It seemed like we
had two days this week where we were really busy and taught a lot of people. We
were able to meet with A this week and we had a really good lesson and we were
able to get her parents more involved. We also got the Restoration Video and
the Children’s Book of Mormon to help A have a better understanding. We taught
L and A and we are really excited for L's baptism this week. She has a really
strong desire to be baptized. Something pretty cool is that A’s cousins are
Ashton and John Youboty. They both played football for Klein High School and
played college ball and I think they even played in the pros. We also have been
getting J ready for his baptism this week as well, which is really exciting. We
also found a really solid new investigator. Her name is V J. We taught her the
first lesson and we extended a baptismal invitation and she accepted. Some
other exciting things that happened this week were that we had zone meeting and
one of the trainings was on a real cool idea called the Calendar for
Conversion. What we do is when we set someone on date we give them a calendar
and we plan on the calendar lessons and commitments and it helps people see how
they are doing on keeping commitments. It helps us as missionaries plan and
keeps us accountable to make sure we teach everything. We had a District Leader
Meeting which was very helpful. It helped me see ways I can be a better leader
in my District. Also we went on exchanges this week. I was with my old
Companion Elder Ah Nee! It was a really fun exchange and part of it was because
we already knew each other really well. One of the things I was able to realize
is how important it is to have fun. Missionary work is hard - if you try to
find joy in it - it is definitely there. One thing that really helped me this
week was that I tried to view people as Children of God. That really helped me
have a desire to share the Gospel with them and to just not get frustrated over
things that happened. My Go To Scripture this week is 2 Nephi 33:15 For thus
hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey. Amen. I think Nephi's attitude
that he must obey is the perfect attitude to have and it is the last words that
he shares with us so it is probably something pretty important.
May 23, 2016
Hi Family! This week was a really exciting
week. We were preparing for the baptisms we had this week. I felt really tired
this week for some reason. Part of it is probably because we had to put a pause
to playing basketball in the morning. But I just kind of had to push through.
We had some cool experiences. We have been working with a Less-Active. She has
been trying to get her life in order. It is pretty cool to see her make that
change in her life. She even made it to sacrament meeting this week. We also
had been teaching a guy named M and we retaught the restoration to him and set
him on date and it seemed really solid. Well… two hours later he called us and
told us he wasn't being himself and dropped us - hey its mission life. We are
working on getting A baptized this week. It may happen it just depends on if
she remembers everything we taught her. We found a new investigator this
week.His name is Q. He is a pretty cool guy and is willing to find out if our
message is true. We are still working with V as well. She says she believes
what we are teaching her but she wants to talk to a Catholic Priest before she
commits. It is a little bit frustrating but we should be able to work out her
concerns. We had the Baptism for L and then J and his brother Z. It was really
exciting! We had a lot of support from the ward which was great. Bishop Doxey
baptized L and I Baptized J and Z was Baptized by Elder Burt. The Baptism went
well. The water was a little hot but the Spirit was definitely there. We had
the confirmations on Sunday and I was able to confirm L. That was my first confirmation
which was exciting. I was a little nervous but it was a really great moment.
Some other cool things that happened this week were that we had dinner with a
convert and his mother. The things was he never told his mother he was Mormon
and he felt that having us over for dinner would be a great way to let his mom
know. Well it ended up going really well and at the end we left them a
commitment to read from the Book of Mormon together and they did it and had a
really good experience. Also we were contacting a referral and we were in an
apartment complex and Elder Glenn went through a door into a courtyard. I
wanted to make sure we would be able to get back through the door but when it
shut it wouldn't open and so Elder Glenn had to climb a wall to get back over
where I was. it was pretty funny. This week I am really just focusing on being
more diligent and achieving the goals that we set for the day. My Go To
Scripture this week is D&C 58:27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously
engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring
to pass much righteousness;" Hope y’all have a great week
May 31, 2016
So I found out about Transfers
yesterday and I am staying in Peoria, although there are going to be some
changes. First, Elder Glenn is getting transferred to downtown and my new companion
will be Elder Parsons. We are losing our car so I am going to be back on a
bike. The reason why we are going back on bike is because our mission is adding
two new stakes to our mission: the Boulder Stake and the Parker South Stake. I
am still very excited because it will provide us a great opportunity to be even
more effective in our area. Anyway,s some really cool things have happened this
week. First was Monday night - we had 3 appointments cancel and so we prayed
and I felt prompted to look for a less active named O and so we found their
address and when we got there we realized the address didn't exist, so we
tracted around the area and we found two new investigators. Later that night we
taught J. We found him last week during a picnic we had with some members. We
were walking back to the car to get our Jackets and I saw a kid’s football team
and one of the Dads (J) watching them. I talked about football with him and
then scheduled a time to teach him. We met him Monday and taught him the first
part of the restoration. It was a really cool lesson because the spirit was
really strong and you could see his desire and interest in what we were teaching
him. We also reset A's Baptismal date for the 11th of June. We found that she
is able to learn well when we use drawings so I've been using my creative juices
to draw out the lessons for her. On Wednesday things were just not working well
for us so before we started tracting an apartment we prayed and asked for God
to put someone on our path. Well we tracted into a Less-Active that was not
even on the records #notrandom! We also started teaching V again and it is so
much fun teaching her because she gets really excited when she understands
things. We also are working with a boy named J. He is 14 and has been in some
trouble and so his Grandma who is a convert wanted us to start teaching him. We
taught him twice the first time. He really didn't want to open up so we gave
him some time and we taught him again the second time. I felt that we just
needed to teach him and as we went through the lesson he would open up. Well
that’s what happened - he started to talk to us a little more. Monday we had a
mission 5k run so we met up in Westminster and ran as a mission. It was a whole
lot of fun to be all together as a mission. Well this upcoming week will be an
exciting week and I hope we will be able to carry the momentum forward.
Love,
Elder Blackham
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