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