Hola Everyone!
I hope you've all had such an amazing week and had the opportunity to feel the spirit and share the amazing message of the gospel with others in whatever way that it may have been!! We didn't have much happen this week. It was a pretty normal week. And we also didn't have transfers, so we were a bit bummed about that. But we are excited to work super hard this transfer to find new people and have some baptisms.
We had quite a sad experience. We said goodbye to Brother Armando because he headed to the istmo her is Oaxaca to continue his military service. We've been spending a lot of time with their family and they also invited us to dinner like 3 times this week. We ate cake with them for my companion's birthday and did service and a little bit of everything!! So it was really tough to say goodbye to the brother.
Good heck, I have made some amazing friends here and my family is increasing every week as we are constantly finding amazing people here. It's great to see how dang much I truly have learned to LOVE the people here. They truly are amazing. I remember my first few transfers here and I remember when we would be walking in the street and some of the people would shout out gringo o guerro which meant white boy and I took offense to it. But now, everyone calls me gringo or guerro and they are my really good friends here. It's super funny and amazing!!
We also ended up finding an amazing family that we were teaching earlier but we lost contact with them for about two weeks. We thought they didn't want anything to do with us or the church. It was really tough because we absolutely love this family and they really have been such a blessing to teach and see the improvement and progression that they are making. So anyways, like I said, we ended up finding them again this week. It was literally a miracle and they even can to the baptismal service that we had and they really are progressing amazingly!! We even played an awesome game with their 3 daughters after one of the lessons we taught. Their such a dang amazing family and I hope and pray with all my heart that we can help them enter into the amazing covenants of baptism.
Little by little we continue to see amazing miracles out here in the mission field. Good heck, I think it gets harder every day and sometimes I feel like I'm not going to ever get to see my family and friends again because I'm never going to finish the mission. But the truth is that it is such an amazing to be here in the mission field and see the change in the lives of the amazing people of Oaxaca. I know that this church is true and I'm so grateful that my amazing parents raised me in the gospel so that I could have this chance to serve a mission. The atonement is real and just like Elder Holland said, It's impossible to fall further than the light of Christ shines.
Good heck, I love you all so much and it's so awesome to hear that so many others are getting their mission calls. Keep pressing forward and holding tight to the iron rod and just like the Book of Mormon tells us, we will have eternal life!!!!
ELDER BLAKE
Jordan
Monday, April 30, 2018
Monday, April 23, 2018
Week 35
Hola Everyone!
As always I hope you've all had an amazing week and have had the opportunity to feel the spirit and to serve those around you!! I had the opportunity to witness an amazing miracle this week and it's truly been such a blessing to be out here serving the Lord and our amazing brothers and sisters in Oaxaca. Good heck, it's not easy and it seems to get tougher, but it sure is such a blessing!! Anyways I want to share a couple of experiences with you all!!
So we got a call about two weeks ago and it was a sister that had just got here from Durango - the Durango in Mexico, not the United States :). So we set an appointment with her and we made it to her house. We got talking with the family - Norma, her husband, Armando, and their awesome little girl, Dalet. We found out that Brother Armando wasn't a member but his wife was baptized about 6 months ago. We were just talking and they asked us if we could teach Armando the lessons so he could be baptized.
Good heck, it sure was shocking for someone to say that to us! It's the first time I've heard such a thing on my mission and I sure hope it's not the last!! We have been teaching Brother Armando for the passed two weeks and he and his family have been so awesome. He has learned the lessons so fast and accepted every invitation that we have given him. He also accepted to keep all of the Commandments. So anyways, we had the amazing opportunity to see him be baptized last Saturday and he asked me to baptize him!!
It may seem like a good story, but it truly was a miracle. This brother is in the military here in Mexico and he's been traveling his whole life working and working. He's had such bad problems with drinking and doing many things that aren't right. His wife told us that not too long ago he was a man with an extremely hard heart and the change he has made in his life has been such a blessing for me to be able to see. My companion confirmed him yesterday in Sacrament meeting and he also received the Aaronic Priesthood. I know without a doubt Brother Armando will be so blessed in his life - thanks to the amazing Gospel of Jesus Christ. I had the chance to ask him how he felt as we were changing in the bathroom after his baptism and he said it was something he couldn't explain. But he told me, "I feel something very beautiful!!"
What a blessing it was and is to be able to see the changes in the lives of so many people. Maybe I won't have 50 baptisms on my mission, but the JOY I have felt bringing other souls to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is something I can't quite explain. No, it's not easy out here - it's super hard and there are days when I just want to be home playing sports again. But I have received so many blessings in my life because I made the decision to serve a mission and I know I will continue to receive so many more!!
My testimony has grown so much here on the mission and it's continuing to grow. The people here in Oaxaca truly have softened my heart. I know without a doubt the church is true and the Book of Mormon is true. But like one of the Apostles said, that's not enough. We need to help others come to know that it's true and we also need to live the teachings that are in the Book of Mormon and that we learn at church and through our leaders. No, it's not easy. But at the end of our lives I hope we can all have a smile on our faces knowing that we helped so many people hear the amazing message of this restored gospel!!
I'm not perfect by any means and I have made many mistakes in my life, but I want to live with my family forever and I know that you all want to as well - so let's make it happen!! I love you all so much and I hope you all have such an amazing week!!
ELDER BLAKE
P.S. It was pretty awesome because I also ran into one of the members of the ward Bosque and she knew Elder Shumway or Maverik when he served here!!
As always I hope you've all had an amazing week and have had the opportunity to feel the spirit and to serve those around you!! I had the opportunity to witness an amazing miracle this week and it's truly been such a blessing to be out here serving the Lord and our amazing brothers and sisters in Oaxaca. Good heck, it's not easy and it seems to get tougher, but it sure is such a blessing!! Anyways I want to share a couple of experiences with you all!!
So we got a call about two weeks ago and it was a sister that had just got here from Durango - the Durango in Mexico, not the United States :). So we set an appointment with her and we made it to her house. We got talking with the family - Norma, her husband, Armando, and their awesome little girl, Dalet. We found out that Brother Armando wasn't a member but his wife was baptized about 6 months ago. We were just talking and they asked us if we could teach Armando the lessons so he could be baptized.
Good heck, it sure was shocking for someone to say that to us! It's the first time I've heard such a thing on my mission and I sure hope it's not the last!! We have been teaching Brother Armando for the passed two weeks and he and his family have been so awesome. He has learned the lessons so fast and accepted every invitation that we have given him. He also accepted to keep all of the Commandments. So anyways, we had the amazing opportunity to see him be baptized last Saturday and he asked me to baptize him!!
It may seem like a good story, but it truly was a miracle. This brother is in the military here in Mexico and he's been traveling his whole life working and working. He's had such bad problems with drinking and doing many things that aren't right. His wife told us that not too long ago he was a man with an extremely hard heart and the change he has made in his life has been such a blessing for me to be able to see. My companion confirmed him yesterday in Sacrament meeting and he also received the Aaronic Priesthood. I know without a doubt Brother Armando will be so blessed in his life - thanks to the amazing Gospel of Jesus Christ. I had the chance to ask him how he felt as we were changing in the bathroom after his baptism and he said it was something he couldn't explain. But he told me, "I feel something very beautiful!!"
What a blessing it was and is to be able to see the changes in the lives of so many people. Maybe I won't have 50 baptisms on my mission, but the JOY I have felt bringing other souls to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is something I can't quite explain. No, it's not easy out here - it's super hard and there are days when I just want to be home playing sports again. But I have received so many blessings in my life because I made the decision to serve a mission and I know I will continue to receive so many more!!
My testimony has grown so much here on the mission and it's continuing to grow. The people here in Oaxaca truly have softened my heart. I know without a doubt the church is true and the Book of Mormon is true. But like one of the Apostles said, that's not enough. We need to help others come to know that it's true and we also need to live the teachings that are in the Book of Mormon and that we learn at church and through our leaders. No, it's not easy. But at the end of our lives I hope we can all have a smile on our faces knowing that we helped so many people hear the amazing message of this restored gospel!!
I'm not perfect by any means and I have made many mistakes in my life, but I want to live with my family forever and I know that you all want to as well - so let's make it happen!! I love you all so much and I hope you all have such an amazing week!!
ELDER BLAKE
P.S. It was pretty awesome because I also ran into one of the members of the ward Bosque and she knew Elder Shumway or Maverik when he served here!!
Area Missionaries
Yep, I got KFC today. Boy was it good!
Monday, April 16, 2018
Week 34
Hola Everyone!
As always, I hope you all had such an amazing week and yet another opportunity to serve those around you and to feel the spirit!! I have been reading a book called Our Search for Happiness by M. Russell Ballard and it's SUPER AWESOME! I have also been thinking so much about our investigators. There are a lot of times we have to pass on investigators and I just can't quite understand why they won't accept the Gospel or can't understand the story of the Restoration of the Gospel. It's super crazy. Just about the only thing we ask a lot of them to do is read the Book of Mormon, ponder in their hearts if it's true, pray and ask God, and go to church. For some of them it's such a hard task that they won't even do it or maybe it's so easy they just don't want to do it. It's super hard because we've had to drop so many investigators that I know have felt the spirit because they won't pray or go to church!! Anyways, I wanted to share one of the experiences I had this week.
So we had two baptismal dates for the 21st of this month and we have been working super hard with these investigators. We even cleaned the entire house of the sister that we're teaching. It was actually really fun! Anyways while we were planning our week, we had the feeling that we needed to fast for them, so we ended up having a special fast on Saturday for them. So we got to church on Sunday super early and we were waiting and really excited to see them all come to church so we could follow through with the baptism this week. Anyways the sister that we've been teaching for probably about two months didn't come. It was really tough and it was super tough on my companion as well. But I just looked at him and said sometimes we just have to accept the Lord's will!
I learned a lot through this experience and the biggest thing I learned was accepting the Lord's will. It's something that is not easy at all, but I have an extremely strong testimony that when we accept His will, there is no doubt we WILL be blessed.
I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life and I'm blessed to have the chance to see it bless the lives of my brothers and sisters here in Oaxaca!! Life is not easy but we will be eternally blessed as we continue to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ in our lives. I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all your amazing examples in my life. Just keep moving forward and don't ever look back!! Have an amazing week everyone.
ELDER BLAKE
Some pictures. The bus picture is how they protest in Oaxaca - they block all the main roads with buses so people can't get from place to place. It's pretty crazy. And the food is what I had for breakfast today!!
As always, I hope you all had such an amazing week and yet another opportunity to serve those around you and to feel the spirit!! I have been reading a book called Our Search for Happiness by M. Russell Ballard and it's SUPER AWESOME! I have also been thinking so much about our investigators. There are a lot of times we have to pass on investigators and I just can't quite understand why they won't accept the Gospel or can't understand the story of the Restoration of the Gospel. It's super crazy. Just about the only thing we ask a lot of them to do is read the Book of Mormon, ponder in their hearts if it's true, pray and ask God, and go to church. For some of them it's such a hard task that they won't even do it or maybe it's so easy they just don't want to do it. It's super hard because we've had to drop so many investigators that I know have felt the spirit because they won't pray or go to church!! Anyways, I wanted to share one of the experiences I had this week.
So we had two baptismal dates for the 21st of this month and we have been working super hard with these investigators. We even cleaned the entire house of the sister that we're teaching. It was actually really fun! Anyways while we were planning our week, we had the feeling that we needed to fast for them, so we ended up having a special fast on Saturday for them. So we got to church on Sunday super early and we were waiting and really excited to see them all come to church so we could follow through with the baptism this week. Anyways the sister that we've been teaching for probably about two months didn't come. It was really tough and it was super tough on my companion as well. But I just looked at him and said sometimes we just have to accept the Lord's will!
I learned a lot through this experience and the biggest thing I learned was accepting the Lord's will. It's something that is not easy at all, but I have an extremely strong testimony that when we accept His will, there is no doubt we WILL be blessed.
I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life and I'm blessed to have the chance to see it bless the lives of my brothers and sisters here in Oaxaca!! Life is not easy but we will be eternally blessed as we continue to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ in our lives. I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all your amazing examples in my life. Just keep moving forward and don't ever look back!! Have an amazing week everyone.
ELDER BLAKE
Some pictures. The bus picture is how they protest in Oaxaca - they block all the main roads with buses so people can't get from place to place. It's pretty crazy. And the food is what I had for breakfast today!!
Week 33
Hola Everyone!
We had a good week this week and we really worked hard. And as always, I hope you all had an absolutely amazing week!! I had an awesome experience this week and I would love to share it with you all.
So I got a call from a sister that just got here and wanted to talk to us so that she could know what time church started and a little more. So we set an appointment with her and on Wednesday we went to her house. It happens to be that she only has six months as a member. Her husband isn't a member and he's in the military. She told us her story and it was amazing.
So her husband has been in the military for 20 years and he's been traveling to every part of Mexico. It's been really tough for her because her husband is never home. She decided about a week ago that she was going to get a divorce. She talked with her Bishop and he told her that she needed to go to the temple first and do baptisms. From there she could decide. So she went to the temple and got her answer. Now she is living with her husband in Oaxaca and she will be with him the rest of this year while he finishes his military service. We are going to be baptizing him this month! And they have further plans to be sealed in the temple. It was such an awesome experience and I truly am so blessed to be apart of this experience with this amazing family!
I know I didn't have a lot to say in my email, but I'm truly so grateful for the opportunity to be serving my brothers and sisters in Oaxaca. I love the people here with all my heart and I've very grateful I was called to serve in the Mexico Oaxaca Mission. I know without a doubt I was called of God to serve here. I hope you can all continue to have amazing spiritual experiences and find those who need to hear your testimonies. Have an amazing week everyone and know how dang much I love you all!!!
Elder Blake
We had a good week this week and we really worked hard. And as always, I hope you all had an absolutely amazing week!! I had an awesome experience this week and I would love to share it with you all.
So I got a call from a sister that just got here and wanted to talk to us so that she could know what time church started and a little more. So we set an appointment with her and on Wednesday we went to her house. It happens to be that she only has six months as a member. Her husband isn't a member and he's in the military. She told us her story and it was amazing.
So her husband has been in the military for 20 years and he's been traveling to every part of Mexico. It's been really tough for her because her husband is never home. She decided about a week ago that she was going to get a divorce. She talked with her Bishop and he told her that she needed to go to the temple first and do baptisms. From there she could decide. So she went to the temple and got her answer. Now she is living with her husband in Oaxaca and she will be with him the rest of this year while he finishes his military service. We are going to be baptizing him this month! And they have further plans to be sealed in the temple. It was such an awesome experience and I truly am so blessed to be apart of this experience with this amazing family!
I know I didn't have a lot to say in my email, but I'm truly so grateful for the opportunity to be serving my brothers and sisters in Oaxaca. I love the people here with all my heart and I've very grateful I was called to serve in the Mexico Oaxaca Mission. I know without a doubt I was called of God to serve here. I hope you can all continue to have amazing spiritual experiences and find those who need to hear your testimonies. Have an amazing week everyone and know how dang much I love you all!!!
Elder Blake
Monday, April 2, 2018
Week 32
Hola Everyone.
First of all, I hope you all had an AMAZING, Happy Easter and that your hearts are filled with love and joy for our Savior. What a blessing and opportunity we all had to listened to conference. I haven't felt the spirit quite so strong in maybe all my life. It was such an amazing experience and I hope you were all able to have the same or better experiences as well.
You know, I'm not going to lie to you all. I've been struggling out here and I think that's pretty normal. I've also had many thoughts about going home, because the mind, well really Satan, makes you think that everything will be good if you go home. So anyways, I want to share with you all the amazing experience that I was able to have this week.
So like I said, I've been having a tough time out here. The mission is not easy, but life is not easy either. But EVERYTHING is possible through this amazing gospel. So I had been thinking this week that maybe I needed to go home. But, I knew I couldn't make this choice without my Heavenly Father being on my side as well. So I went into Conference fasting and praying very hard - I even turned down BBQ wings and french fries to keep fasting. It was pretty rough!! So, I got my answer a lot faster and stronger than I thought I would get it. Through our amazing leaders of the church I was able to feel and KNOW through the Holy Ghost that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be and that this is where my Heavenly Fathers wants me to be!! I have never quite felt the spirit like I did during conference and I'm so grateful that I was able to receive this answer. I know the mission is not going to get easier and I know that life is not easy by any means, but I know that everything and anything is possible through this gospel and that with the help from our Heavenly Father who ALWAYS has his hand stretched forth for us, we just need to do our part and grab his hand and He will pull us to safety!!!!
Anyways, I always have another funny experience to share. Every week I think laughing and smiling are some of my favorite things to do. So we had just exited the church from watching conference and we were in the middle of the city. The girls here dress very immodest and there are a lot of crazy things that happen. My companion turned to me and said, "We just got done watching conference and we can see the apostasy with our eyes." Good heck it was hilarious. I was literally dying laughing for quite some time and I also hope you guys get a good laugh out of it!!
To end I just want to tell you all how grateful I am for this church and the fact that we're members of the ONLY true church here on this earth. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ leads His church through our prophets and apostles. I know that because of Him we can and will live with our families again, but I also know that it's not easy. It's not easy because what Christ went through wasn't easy. I know that as we follow the teachings of the prophets and apostles and the things that we learn in church we WILL be happy in our lives. I love you all so much. Have an amazing week and always, always remember that HE LIVES!!!!
Elder Blake
First of all, I hope you all had an AMAZING, Happy Easter and that your hearts are filled with love and joy for our Savior. What a blessing and opportunity we all had to listened to conference. I haven't felt the spirit quite so strong in maybe all my life. It was such an amazing experience and I hope you were all able to have the same or better experiences as well.
You know, I'm not going to lie to you all. I've been struggling out here and I think that's pretty normal. I've also had many thoughts about going home, because the mind, well really Satan, makes you think that everything will be good if you go home. So anyways, I want to share with you all the amazing experience that I was able to have this week.
So like I said, I've been having a tough time out here. The mission is not easy, but life is not easy either. But EVERYTHING is possible through this amazing gospel. So I had been thinking this week that maybe I needed to go home. But, I knew I couldn't make this choice without my Heavenly Father being on my side as well. So I went into Conference fasting and praying very hard - I even turned down BBQ wings and french fries to keep fasting. It was pretty rough!! So, I got my answer a lot faster and stronger than I thought I would get it. Through our amazing leaders of the church I was able to feel and KNOW through the Holy Ghost that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be and that this is where my Heavenly Fathers wants me to be!! I have never quite felt the spirit like I did during conference and I'm so grateful that I was able to receive this answer. I know the mission is not going to get easier and I know that life is not easy by any means, but I know that everything and anything is possible through this gospel and that with the help from our Heavenly Father who ALWAYS has his hand stretched forth for us, we just need to do our part and grab his hand and He will pull us to safety!!!!
Anyways, I always have another funny experience to share. Every week I think laughing and smiling are some of my favorite things to do. So we had just exited the church from watching conference and we were in the middle of the city. The girls here dress very immodest and there are a lot of crazy things that happen. My companion turned to me and said, "We just got done watching conference and we can see the apostasy with our eyes." Good heck it was hilarious. I was literally dying laughing for quite some time and I also hope you guys get a good laugh out of it!!
To end I just want to tell you all how grateful I am for this church and the fact that we're members of the ONLY true church here on this earth. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ leads His church through our prophets and apostles. I know that because of Him we can and will live with our families again, but I also know that it's not easy. It's not easy because what Christ went through wasn't easy. I know that as we follow the teachings of the prophets and apostles and the things that we learn in church we WILL be happy in our lives. I love you all so much. Have an amazing week and always, always remember that HE LIVES!!!!
Elder Blake
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