Week 31

Hola Everyone!

Well as always we had some good ol times this week in the mission and I sure hope that you all had an amazing time as well during the week!! So me and my companion have been working hard in our new area and we have one transfer here. It's so amazing to have the opportunity to serve the amazing people here in Oaxaca. My love has grown for these people like crazy. Yes, I do get called White Boy a lot, but it doesn't even bother me anymore!! So we had some awesome and funny (as always) experiences that I want to share with you guys.

First I want to share a crazy, experience. So this passed week was Semana Santa (Holy Week). It's a week here where all the people remember Jesus Christ and what He did for us. It's crazy some of the things they do. There's a thing called Via Crucis where the people of a different faith pick a member and this member has a year to prepare and be worthy and everything. During Semana Santa they literally crucify this person - and yes, many people have died from this! So as we were walking to another appointment this week, every person has a table outside their house with candles and pictures of Christ. They basically worship their pictures during Semana Santa. So there were a bunch of people in this street singing and worshiping these pictures and my companion turned to me and said "venga la apostasia" or here comes the apostasy. It was hilarious. I just about died laughing. I had to hold my laugh in until we passed the street!

Anyways, so we always have a good time finding people and things so we can get a good ol laugh, but we have so many amazing spiritual experiences here in the mission too. So this week we had the opportunity to teach one of my favorite families - the family Gutierrez. It's a family of five and all three of their kids are girls. They're so dang awesome. Every time I have walked out of their house from teach a lesson with them, I have the biggest smile on my face. This time it was the same, so we walked out of their house and there was this same guy selling his corn on this street. It was so weird because we had never found him in this part of the area. But the second we walked out of this street, he was on his bike selling his corn. I always buy corn from him when we see him. So I walked up to him and shook his hand and we had a good conversation. As he finished preparing this corn for me, he asked me a question that not very many people do. He asked me if I had a book I could give him. I had given him a pamphlet of the Restoration earlier, so I gave him a Book of Mormon. He told us how he wants to change and be that strong, working person he was before he drank alcohol and everything. It was truly was amazing. We put his directions down and we're going to meet with him this week. It's so truly awesome how Heavenly Father works and how true it is that He has people prepared for us.

I can't even tell you all how dang grateful I am to be here in the mission. It's such a blessing in my life and I truly have learned so much in these months that I have been here. Aren't we all so truly blessed to be members of this amazing church? I know I say this every week, but it's so true. I know without a doubt that this church is true and when and if we follow the teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we can and will be blessed beyond what we can possibly imagine. Just like President Monson said. It's absolutely necessary to read the Book of Mormon every day. And if we prayfully do it every single day, we will be able to reject those tempations that surely will come to us. I love you all so very much and I hope you all have such an amazing week. Never forget in any moment how truly blessed we are to be members of this amazing church!!

ELDER BLAKE

Pictures from Zone Conference (from Facebook )

Week 30

Hola Everyone.

As always, I hope you have all had an amazing week and that you've all had the chance to share the gospel with those around you. We truly are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives. Anyways, as always, I have some experiences that I would love to share with you all.

So we have been having a lot of success here in our area. I think I've taught more lessons in this transfer than I did in my first three transfers in the mission. And really, time is flying by because we are working so hard. But one thing that we're struggling with here is investigators coming to church. It's so dang hard to get them to come to church.

I had the feeling this week that we needed to fast as a companionship. So we ended up fasting this Saturday for our investigators. And I know without a doubt that our Heavenly Father heard our prayers and He answered them too!! On Sunday, we had 7 investigators in church and it was literally a miracle. We had more this past week then we had the past five weeks! What a blessing it was to be able to see them sitting in church with us and taking the sacrament. When we do our part, there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that our Heavenly Father does and will answer our prayers and hear our cries!

So another experience I had this week is a little bit funny. So every week in the ward, me and my companion bless the sacrament and I usually bless the bread. So I got down on my knees and started to say the prayer, looking at the words in Spanish, and I started saying the prayer in English! I finally realized it about five words in, so I restarted in Spanish and did it right the second time. It was funny and me and my companion got a good laugh out of it later!!

I don't have a whole lot to say this week, but as always we're working hard and having amazing experiences. No it's definitely not easy that is for sure, but there's nothing I would rather be doing than serving my brothers and sisters here in Mexico. It's an amazing opportunity that I have!! I don't think my faith or my testimony has ever been tried more in my life than here on my mission, but it's also never been stronger!

I love you all so dang much and I hope that you have an amazing week. This church is true. We are so dang blessed to be members of this amazing church. No we're not perfect - not a single one of us - but good heck, we sure are all trying. Just like Elder Holland said, we will never be able to be perfect in this life, but if we continue to be faithful, we will become perfect, even as our Heavenly Father is perfect. I'm far from perfect that is for sure, but good heck I'm trying to do better every single week. And I know without a doubt that this is the only true church on the face of this earth and I know that we have had so many of our brothers and sisters that gave all they had so we could be where we are now. I'm truly grateful for their sacrifices for us. We are truly blessed.

ELDER BLAKE

Week 29

Hola Everyone!

I hope, as always, that you've all had such an amazing week and had yet another opportunity to share the gospel with those around you. I always think back to Mission Prep when we practiced teaching a lesson and I wonder how in the heck was I ever scared or worried about doing that. Sharing the Gospel is the most amazing gift that we have. Think about all that we know about the Gospel and how much happiness we have in our lives thanks to the Gospel. Just thinking about that makes me want to share the Gospel with everyone that I possibly can!!!! Anyways, I have some awesome and funny experiences that I want to share with all of you!!

Well first off, we have been working dang hard with all of our investigators we have here and we have a ton that we have found and are teaching. So the other day when we were planning our day, I had a thought that we need to take Sister Jaquelin, one of our investigators, to the church so we could show her what we do at church and explain how everything works a little bit. Anyways, we ended up doing that and on Sunday she came to church with us and it was AMAZING! She liked it a lot and I'm just about positive she is going to be baptized!!!

Another awesome, funny experience I had was I got to give a talk in church on Sunday. It was so awesome. So my companion and I were supposed to talk for about 7 minutes or a little longer each. I asked my companion how long his talk was and he told me 7 minutes, or a little longer. Anyways, he's new here in the mission and he speaks Spanish, but he's more timid when it comes to talking. So he went first and I think he talked for literally a minute and a half tops! It was funny. So I got up there and the Bishop and his Counselors told me to please take my time. So I ended up talking for about 13 minutes which is an absolute miracle because I always remember those times when I couldn't even explain what the word Gospel meant in Spanish or things like that.

So I was giving my talk and my Spanish is still not the greatest by any means. Words that have accents are extremely hard for me to pronounce. I was trying to say the word parable in Spanish and finally the Bishop had to help me out. But I'm not shy about it at all. So I said parable or something like that and all the members got a good ol laugh out of it. I ask myself a lot of times, "Why in the world am I speaking Spanish in the mission when I can't even pronounce half the words in English correctly?" But Heavenly Father is literally there helping me every step and even when I don't say the word correctly, he helps our investigators understand what I'm saying. It truly is a miracle every day out here and I'm so dang grateful for his help!!

A special happy birthday to my amazing sister, Maquel today, aka Little Mick. I sure do love you and hope you have an amazing day and that all is going well with you and your baby!!!! Also a special late happy birthday to Uncle Jeffy and Aunt Callie last week. I sure do love you guys so dang much.

I hope that you all have an amazing week and find an opportunity to share the Gospel. My testimony is growing out here every single day and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to share the gospel with my brothers and sisters here in Mexico. We are so blessed to be members of this Church. I love you all so much. Have an amazing week!!

Elder Blake

Me with the Mystery Machine - Pretty Sweet!

This is how Latinos learn to pronounce D&C 4 correctly in English - ha!!

Week 28

Hola Everyone!

As always I hope that you all have had a super amazing week and that you can always find a way to share this amazing message of the restored gospel with those that we encounter.

This week has been another awesome week. We've been having a lot of success with teaching lessons and finding new investigators to teach in this area. I know without a doubt it's because the Lord's hand is in our work here. The only thing holding us back from baptisms is that the investigators have such a hard time wanting to go to church because it's just not something they're used to. It doesn't help when we invite them and tell them it's at 8:00 in the morning. But, we all know that with sacrifices comes blessings. Anyways, I want to share an experience or two I had this week.

So one of the most interesting things that I've encountered in the mission happened this week. We received this referral from the Church Headquarters. So I was really excited to contact this person. We went and contacted him and he had been in the United States for awhile accepting lessons from the sister missionaries in the United States. We talked to him about why we're here and a little bit about our missions. Then we taught him the restoration and left him with a Book of Mormon. Before we left, we invited him to read it and ponder in his heart and ask God the Eternal Father in the name of Jesus Christ if the book is true. And this is what he told us. He said, "I know without a doubt that the book is true." My jaw just about hit the floor when I heard that. So I asked him if he had prayed to come to know that it was true. And he told us that he believes with all his heart that it's true, but he's scared to ask God because he believes he will receive an answer that the Book of Mormon is true and that our church is the only true church on the earth. I was a bit shocked with his answer. He's scared to get baptized and to fully engage himself in the church, but we will keep working with him and I have a lot of confidence that he will be baptized.

We had another super strong experience this week. After sacrament the old Bishop of our ward grabbed us and we got in his car and took off to one of the referrals he had for us. We entered the house and he was super straight forward with this guy telling him that he wants him to be baptized. He asked the guy if he would accept lessons from the missionaries and the guy said yes!! We left that house and the Bishop looked me straight in the eyes and said, "There's three baptisms. I've done my part and it's in your hands now." I felt the spirit hit me very, very strongly. And I looked him right back in the face and told him that we will do our part and those three people will be baptized. It was one of those moments where I had the opportunity to feel the spirit so strong and another opportunity to just motivate the heck out of me to work even harder than we are because we're not doing good enough.

Anyways I'm so dang grateful for the experiences I've been able to have in the mission field. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's hands are in their work in these last days. What JOY I have felt to truly have the opportunity to teach my brothers and sisters here in Oaxaca. My heart is full of love and joy and peace - especially when I get to teach the gospel. Have an amazing week everyone and share the gospel every chance you get.

A special shout out to good ol' Grandpa Balch. Happy, happy birthday, gramps. Sure hope you have an amazing day and week. And don't stop exercising just because you have another year under ya. Ha ha. Love you, Gramps!!

This church is so true. I'm so amazed looking back on all the sacrifices that many amazing people have made to take part in this church. The question I want to leave with you all is how much are you willing to do and sacrifice to take part in this church and to truly live the gospel? I sure do love all you guys so dang much. Have an amazing week.

Elder Blake

Amapolas Stake Conference 25 Feb 2018 (Thank you Facebook!)