para mi familia:
Here it goes.... Well, I got here yesterday at 9:00. I was interviewed right away by the president...both of us cried during the interview and I can´t help living in the advice that he gave us. So we have an entire day to say goodbye to everyone in the DF...Mexico area. I think that I´m only going to be able to go to Plateros and Tlalli.... it´s bad that I can´t go to Toluca since almost half my mission has been there, but I already left my information with everybody.
This week was not my best way to go out. I wanted to go home as a wet-back(but my back wet from the baptismal font), but it didn´t work out. Lourdes again escaped us. I thought about telling her that I was going home to motivate her more, but I think it wouldn´t have been the best thing to do. Instead, we tried to motivate her by the spiritual blessings. However, it didn´t work out. I don´t know why she keeps going to Ixtlahuaca with her family the day before her baptism when she knows that her family is completely against her getting baptized.
I called her yesterday afternoon to say goodbye. I called from a payphone and wasn´t able to say all I wanted...so I just said goodbye. I don´t think she understood what I was saying, because I had never told her how long I was going to be here. She just said "Wait, so you´re not coming back?" and I was like "No, I have to go to Mexico (DF) in an hour, and from there I will be going home," and then again she asked "but you´re not coming back?" and said "No, I wanted to say goodbye today at church but...." and then the time ran out...I gave a deep sigh and hung up, because I had no money to call her again. I trust my companion Elder González and his new companion Elder Pacheco will be able to help her understand why I have to go...and maybe it will be better that way so that she has a chance to sort things out so that she can finally get baptized.
Hurray for persistence! I thought we were wasting time with a family. We kept passing by, and Juan has been like "Oh, come by tomorrow!" we went by the next day and nothing! However this week we found them, and they told us that they were impressed by our persistence. Juan said that he felt that God was calling him through us. He actually has lived in Utah for several years, but never went to church. His wife is pregnant with a high risk of losing her baby...and he broke his hand this last week when they tried to rob him....and lost his job for it. So they´re going through some serious difficulties....but we promised them that the Lord would work miracles if they first showed their faith in him....they went to church!!!! So please pray for them, they are a great family and really showed a lot of faith. The sister went to church, even though they´ve been telling her that she has to be nonstop in a laying position....that means even to eat, take a bath, use the bathroom. But she went to church yesterday...so she has a lot of faith.
Well...I guess we´ll see each other in two days. I won´t spend too much time reminiscing....I don´t want to cry. Tomorrow we´re going to the temple as a generation and we´re going to have a great last devotional with president that night...and then Wednesday morning....going home!!! Love you so much!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
ps.....I guess you won´t be able to tell me...but I´m really worried about snow...it´s 40 degrees here and I´m cold! Hmm...welcome home Elder Blackham! And then I´m going to freeze to death before being able to give my homecoming talk!!! Hahah!!!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Weekly Letter: January 24-30, 2012
para mi familia:
Hmmm....I think I will get a chance to write you guys next week. Next Sunday after eating and baptizing, I think the missionaries from my generation currently in Zitacuaro, Toluca, or Metepec zones will be going to offices....it´s quite the list. Elder Decker, Elder Holm, Elder Lindstrom, Elder Gardner, Elder Sanchez,and Elder Bylund....and myself. So in the offices I´ll will be able to write you like I did when I got my last son...I think.
Well, this week did not go exactly as planned. On Wednesday we were going to have interviews with the president...but they got delayed twice! Finally Friday we were able to have our interviews. Later, Saturday, we had to empty and clean the font for the baptisms we were going to have on Saturday...with buckets. Wow! that was fun!
So yeah, one of our baptisms that we were going to have last Sunday fell through. Lourdes got sick last Saturday and went to Ixtlahuaca to check things out but wasn´t able to come back in time for her baptism...and with all the baptizing in metepec things that were going on, I think it would have been even harder trying to help her find the church in Metepec. So on Tuesday we visited her, and she said that she felt a whole lot better, and we asked her permission to organize a baptismal service for this sunday (or yesterday) she said that it would be okay, but that she didn´t have much time but on Thursday she would call us so that we could visit her that day. (we will talk more about her later)
Then that same day we visited Maria de Refugio, who said that she would be willing to be baptized the fifth of February...and that she would accompany us this sunday to confirm that date...so you can imagine my excitement right? I was like Yes!!!!! I´m going to baptize my last three weeks of my mission. Later, Elder Robledo did an interview for Jaseth to see if he wanted to get baptized, he said that he would like to later on. That same day my companion and he were able to commit Alejandra to go to church with her family to see if she would get baptized on the fifth, too...and then went with another family that lives close to us and commited them to the same thing....so I was pretty excited...huh?
That was when Friday happened. After the interview I called Lourdes because she hasn´t called us, and she tells me that she meant to call us and she wanted to talk to us that night....and I asked "okay, but how are things looking for Sunday?" that was when she paused and asked if we could go by that night. We went by and she said that she was really confused that she felt that she wanted more time....we tried to enter in her house to share something, but she said that she couldn´t at that moment. I asked her if we could pass by the next day and try to clear her doubts, and she said she was planning on going to Ixtlahuaca again, but that she was going to work hard to be home again at 7:00 pm....so we went at 7:00, and.....she wasn´t there. We called her again and she started saying the same things, I mentioned to her that time really wasn´t the issue because she had accepted a baptismal date the sunday prior and almost shouted with happiness. I asked her if there wasn´t something else that was getting in her way...but she wouldn´t answer....she was suddenly silent. I invited her to at least come to church and come prepared to be baptized if she felt so indicated....she didn´t answer....after a minute, the line died....and with it my heart sunk.
Then everyone - EVERYONE that had possibly commited to go to church fell through. We went with Alejandra and she said that she would not like to go to church or get baptized ever. So that was pretty heartwrenching. We called Maria de Refugio, and she said that she would return Sunday morning early...so there was yet hope going into Sunday morning.
But the next morning...everything fell through. Lourdes wouldn´t answer...and Maria de Refugio didn´t come back until the afternoon. So yeah, it was pretty tough....but other weeks have been worse. Tania, Mitzi and Eleni got confirmed so that´s good...because sometimes people have been getting baptized but not confirmed, and so it was good that they were able to complete the baptism....they seem really strong. I think they may activate the sister that gave them as a reference!
Well...time is short. We´re going to see if we can help Lourdes feel good about baptism this week, and we´re going to help Jaseth to feel good about it too!
Love you all!
Finishing Stronger than ever!
Elder Blackham
Sunday morning we called four or five times but she wouldn´t answer either.
Hmmm....I think I will get a chance to write you guys next week. Next Sunday after eating and baptizing, I think the missionaries from my generation currently in Zitacuaro, Toluca, or Metepec zones will be going to offices....it´s quite the list. Elder Decker, Elder Holm, Elder Lindstrom, Elder Gardner, Elder Sanchez,and Elder Bylund....and myself. So in the offices I´ll will be able to write you like I did when I got my last son...I think.
Well, this week did not go exactly as planned. On Wednesday we were going to have interviews with the president...but they got delayed twice! Finally Friday we were able to have our interviews. Later, Saturday, we had to empty and clean the font for the baptisms we were going to have on Saturday...with buckets. Wow! that was fun!
So yeah, one of our baptisms that we were going to have last Sunday fell through. Lourdes got sick last Saturday and went to Ixtlahuaca to check things out but wasn´t able to come back in time for her baptism...and with all the baptizing in metepec things that were going on, I think it would have been even harder trying to help her find the church in Metepec. So on Tuesday we visited her, and she said that she felt a whole lot better, and we asked her permission to organize a baptismal service for this sunday (or yesterday) she said that it would be okay, but that she didn´t have much time but on Thursday she would call us so that we could visit her that day. (we will talk more about her later)
Then that same day we visited Maria de Refugio, who said that she would be willing to be baptized the fifth of February...and that she would accompany us this sunday to confirm that date...so you can imagine my excitement right? I was like Yes!!!!! I´m going to baptize my last three weeks of my mission. Later, Elder Robledo did an interview for Jaseth to see if he wanted to get baptized, he said that he would like to later on. That same day my companion and he were able to commit Alejandra to go to church with her family to see if she would get baptized on the fifth, too...and then went with another family that lives close to us and commited them to the same thing....so I was pretty excited...huh?
That was when Friday happened. After the interview I called Lourdes because she hasn´t called us, and she tells me that she meant to call us and she wanted to talk to us that night....and I asked "okay, but how are things looking for Sunday?" that was when she paused and asked if we could go by that night. We went by and she said that she was really confused that she felt that she wanted more time....we tried to enter in her house to share something, but she said that she couldn´t at that moment. I asked her if we could pass by the next day and try to clear her doubts, and she said she was planning on going to Ixtlahuaca again, but that she was going to work hard to be home again at 7:00 pm....so we went at 7:00, and.....she wasn´t there. We called her again and she started saying the same things, I mentioned to her that time really wasn´t the issue because she had accepted a baptismal date the sunday prior and almost shouted with happiness. I asked her if there wasn´t something else that was getting in her way...but she wouldn´t answer....she was suddenly silent. I invited her to at least come to church and come prepared to be baptized if she felt so indicated....she didn´t answer....after a minute, the line died....and with it my heart sunk.
Then everyone - EVERYONE that had possibly commited to go to church fell through. We went with Alejandra and she said that she would not like to go to church or get baptized ever. So that was pretty heartwrenching. We called Maria de Refugio, and she said that she would return Sunday morning early...so there was yet hope going into Sunday morning.
But the next morning...everything fell through. Lourdes wouldn´t answer...and Maria de Refugio didn´t come back until the afternoon. So yeah, it was pretty tough....but other weeks have been worse. Tania, Mitzi and Eleni got confirmed so that´s good...because sometimes people have been getting baptized but not confirmed, and so it was good that they were able to complete the baptism....they seem really strong. I think they may activate the sister that gave them as a reference!
Well...time is short. We´re going to see if we can help Lourdes feel good about baptism this week, and we´re going to help Jaseth to feel good about it too!
Love you all!
Finishing Stronger than ever!
Elder Blackham
Sunday morning we called four or five times but she wouldn´t answer either.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Weekly Letter: January 17-23, 2012
para mi familia:
Thank you for your letters as always. I think I am one of the only missionaries that can possibly say that my parents wrote me every week in the mission. You should be proud! Thinking about it, this may be the second to last time that I write you guys from Mexico. I´m not sure how I feel about that....other than that I don´t like it! The interviews with the president have been postponed until this wednesday....which will be a week and half before my last interview with him. I imagine it will be quite a unique interview. The interview I had two changes ago was very emotional....and I still had 3 months left....ouch. 16 days and I will be in utah.
I love you all for your support, and I am looking forward to seeing you all again. I hope that you all understand that when I talk about the not wanting to go home, that I´m not saying I don´t want to see you guys. These two years can´t have flown by any faster. I suspect that after the mission time keeps flying....I hope not. I want to be able to enjoy the memories. I really regret not being able to write in my journal in the mission (I was once good at that, but I have long since lost track of time). I guess these letters will be a type of journal for me....I imagine that you may want to kill me because I am also very bad at taking pictures....I guess I didn´t inherit that gene from any photo-happy relatives.
But enough of reminiscing...(is that how you spell that?) It´s time to work! We had three souls go into the waters of baptism yesterday. But... as always, there were complications. Lourdes that had a baptismal date for yesterday could not come because she got really sick saturday afternoon and went to Ixtlahuaca because her brother lives there and is a doctor. She sounded pretty ill that night that we called her. She told us that she was going to see how she felt the next day, and see if she could get to church early. However, her brother checked her out that morning and told her that she couldn´t leave. We called her sunday morning, and she said "It´s at 1:00, right? Can I get there at 1:00 and it will be okay?" She has so much faith! However, there was another complication that affected both her and the other family that was to get baptized yesterday.
The font wouldn´t empty! It still had water from over a month ago! So we called the Zone Leaders in Metepec (which is the next closest church with a font...both Tenancingo and Santiago Tianguistenco don´t have one!) And crashed their baptismal service...it was fun. So Tania and her two daughter Mitzi and Eleni were able to get baptized yesterday. They loved the service despite all the complications....so yeah, they were able to get baptized! However, we tried calling Lourdes, but she wouldn´t answer her phone...it just kept ringing. We still tried last night and nothing. We´re planning on calling her today, too. I hope everything is okay.
Yeah, so we are getting things done over here. A really cool family was going to go to church this week, but then the parents of the mom started saying things about not respecting their own religion and all that stuff...they didn´t tell her not to go, but she felt uncomfortable going, so she and the son Jaseth didn´t go. However, Jaseth Sr. did go with us. He had read in the pamphlet that the men usually go in a suit and tie, and he took that suggestion and ran with it! It was awesome! Some people thought he was an inactive member, but nope...he was an investigator. At the end of the services, he had to run to check something at home that his wife called him about, but he said I liked the services, that they were very interesting. He said to have patience with his wife, that she needs a little bit of time. We told him to tell her about how he felt in church and invite her for next week.
Well, we are going to have good week this week! I can feel it! I know that it will not be without the disappointments, I´m sure...but I´m beginning to enjoy even that aspect of the work. When else can you feel so bad about something that has nothing to do with you? I imagine that in the mission we really get a glimpse into fatherhood and what our heavenly father experiences with every one of us.
I love you all! Keep praying for me...and thanks for maintaining my excitement in check. I love this place!
Still Finishing Strong!
Elder Blackham
Thank you for your letters as always. I think I am one of the only missionaries that can possibly say that my parents wrote me every week in the mission. You should be proud! Thinking about it, this may be the second to last time that I write you guys from Mexico. I´m not sure how I feel about that....other than that I don´t like it! The interviews with the president have been postponed until this wednesday....which will be a week and half before my last interview with him. I imagine it will be quite a unique interview. The interview I had two changes ago was very emotional....and I still had 3 months left....ouch. 16 days and I will be in utah.
I love you all for your support, and I am looking forward to seeing you all again. I hope that you all understand that when I talk about the not wanting to go home, that I´m not saying I don´t want to see you guys. These two years can´t have flown by any faster. I suspect that after the mission time keeps flying....I hope not. I want to be able to enjoy the memories. I really regret not being able to write in my journal in the mission (I was once good at that, but I have long since lost track of time). I guess these letters will be a type of journal for me....I imagine that you may want to kill me because I am also very bad at taking pictures....I guess I didn´t inherit that gene from any photo-happy relatives.
But enough of reminiscing...(is that how you spell that?) It´s time to work! We had three souls go into the waters of baptism yesterday. But... as always, there were complications. Lourdes that had a baptismal date for yesterday could not come because she got really sick saturday afternoon and went to Ixtlahuaca because her brother lives there and is a doctor. She sounded pretty ill that night that we called her. She told us that she was going to see how she felt the next day, and see if she could get to church early. However, her brother checked her out that morning and told her that she couldn´t leave. We called her sunday morning, and she said "It´s at 1:00, right? Can I get there at 1:00 and it will be okay?" She has so much faith! However, there was another complication that affected both her and the other family that was to get baptized yesterday.
The font wouldn´t empty! It still had water from over a month ago! So we called the Zone Leaders in Metepec (which is the next closest church with a font...both Tenancingo and Santiago Tianguistenco don´t have one!) And crashed their baptismal service...it was fun. So Tania and her two daughter Mitzi and Eleni were able to get baptized yesterday. They loved the service despite all the complications....so yeah, they were able to get baptized! However, we tried calling Lourdes, but she wouldn´t answer her phone...it just kept ringing. We still tried last night and nothing. We´re planning on calling her today, too. I hope everything is okay.
Yeah, so we are getting things done over here. A really cool family was going to go to church this week, but then the parents of the mom started saying things about not respecting their own religion and all that stuff...they didn´t tell her not to go, but she felt uncomfortable going, so she and the son Jaseth didn´t go. However, Jaseth Sr. did go with us. He had read in the pamphlet that the men usually go in a suit and tie, and he took that suggestion and ran with it! It was awesome! Some people thought he was an inactive member, but nope...he was an investigator. At the end of the services, he had to run to check something at home that his wife called him about, but he said I liked the services, that they were very interesting. He said to have patience with his wife, that she needs a little bit of time. We told him to tell her about how he felt in church and invite her for next week.
Well, we are going to have good week this week! I can feel it! I know that it will not be without the disappointments, I´m sure...but I´m beginning to enjoy even that aspect of the work. When else can you feel so bad about something that has nothing to do with you? I imagine that in the mission we really get a glimpse into fatherhood and what our heavenly father experiences with every one of us.
I love you all! Keep praying for me...and thanks for maintaining my excitement in check. I love this place!
Still Finishing Strong!
Elder Blackham
Monday, January 16, 2012
Weekly Letter: January 10-16, 2012
Well, we played soccer today. I saw 4 people from my generation today, and they said two words. Three weeks. I mentioned to Elder Lindstrom how I was not a big fan of that idea, and he told me that the president gave him a hard time, saying that not counting the days in the mission is like not counting the laps in a race....ouch! I`ve got an interview with him this Friday so I`ll have to repent soon.
This week went a little better and little worse than planned. We focused on finding new investigators and inviting them to go to church to get baptized the next week. It worked fairly well and we now have 4 people that have a date for this Sunday. The only thing is that the five we had lined up for Sunday fell through indefinitely....at least for the time being. They were the family that went to church on Sunday. The dad loved church, but the mom is used to the Presbyterian way of doing things. She said that she didn`t feel as good as she`s used to and wants to go back to her church. Unfortunately, she didn`t give us a lot of time to explain about the Holy Ghost, but we did the best we could to leave the seed.
The highlight of the week was by far was the lesson we had with Lourdes Barron. She has studied with the Jehovah`s Witnesses, but she doesn`t like some of things they tell her. However, when we talked to her about baptism, she accepted everything. When we put a date with her she was soo happy she said "the 22nd is my birthday!" We weren`t able to see her again until Sunday when she showed up to church. The talks were about the law of Tithing and the Word of Wisdom. The speakers did a very good job and she loved the messages so everything looks good for this week. Our district leader is going to talk to her on Wednesday and she should be one of four baptisms.
The other three are a single mom and her two daughters. We were going to visit them Sunday after they came to church. However, they live in a town that is close to the chapel, but far from everywhere else we work. We went at the time we had set the appointment, but they weren`t there. We tried getting a hold of them several times, but without success. We finally got to teach them on Saturday. They accepted everything so well with such faith. I think the sister that brought them to church was preparing them from the beginning. So we invited them to baptism the next day, and they accepted! But then the teenage daughter mentioned that she had some personal problems and could not get baptized this week. We tried to help her feel comfortable with it, but the mom decided that it would be better that they get baptized as a family the next week. However, they didn`t get to church yesterday, so we`re thinking of calling them to make sure that our appointment for tomorrow is good for their interviews. Sigh
We also had one more person that was going to get baptized, she`s 20 years old but lives in her parents` house. The parents don`t want to get baptized, but she does. However, she didn`t get baptized this week because the mom needed her help in her work. I`m not an untrusting person, but the fact that she says that her daughter can get baptized if she wants, but them impedes her from doing so, makes me think that she really isn`t a real big fan of the idea.....other sigh.
Oh well, but we have 4 with a date this week, and we`re going to visit some other possibles for this week. So keep praying for us. We`re getting it going pretty nicely here. It was pretty rough the first little while but now we`re feeling good! Thanks for you support and prayers!
Finishing stong!
Elder Blackham
This week went a little better and little worse than planned. We focused on finding new investigators and inviting them to go to church to get baptized the next week. It worked fairly well and we now have 4 people that have a date for this Sunday. The only thing is that the five we had lined up for Sunday fell through indefinitely....at least for the time being. They were the family that went to church on Sunday. The dad loved church, but the mom is used to the Presbyterian way of doing things. She said that she didn`t feel as good as she`s used to and wants to go back to her church. Unfortunately, she didn`t give us a lot of time to explain about the Holy Ghost, but we did the best we could to leave the seed.
The highlight of the week was by far was the lesson we had with Lourdes Barron. She has studied with the Jehovah`s Witnesses, but she doesn`t like some of things they tell her. However, when we talked to her about baptism, she accepted everything. When we put a date with her she was soo happy she said "the 22nd is my birthday!" We weren`t able to see her again until Sunday when she showed up to church. The talks were about the law of Tithing and the Word of Wisdom. The speakers did a very good job and she loved the messages so everything looks good for this week. Our district leader is going to talk to her on Wednesday and she should be one of four baptisms.
The other three are a single mom and her two daughters. We were going to visit them Sunday after they came to church. However, they live in a town that is close to the chapel, but far from everywhere else we work. We went at the time we had set the appointment, but they weren`t there. We tried getting a hold of them several times, but without success. We finally got to teach them on Saturday. They accepted everything so well with such faith. I think the sister that brought them to church was preparing them from the beginning. So we invited them to baptism the next day, and they accepted! But then the teenage daughter mentioned that she had some personal problems and could not get baptized this week. We tried to help her feel comfortable with it, but the mom decided that it would be better that they get baptized as a family the next week. However, they didn`t get to church yesterday, so we`re thinking of calling them to make sure that our appointment for tomorrow is good for their interviews. Sigh
We also had one more person that was going to get baptized, she`s 20 years old but lives in her parents` house. The parents don`t want to get baptized, but she does. However, she didn`t get baptized this week because the mom needed her help in her work. I`m not an untrusting person, but the fact that she says that her daughter can get baptized if she wants, but them impedes her from doing so, makes me think that she really isn`t a real big fan of the idea.....other sigh.
Oh well, but we have 4 with a date this week, and we`re going to visit some other possibles for this week. So keep praying for us. We`re getting it going pretty nicely here. It was pretty rough the first little while but now we`re feeling good! Thanks for you support and prayers!
Finishing stong!
Elder Blackham
Weekly Letter: January 3-9, 2012
para mi familia:
Well, this wasn`t the worst week in history, but it was not the best either. We fell short on several goals. We had 80 contacts, 24 lessons, 5 new investigators, 6 in church, none with baptismal date, and none got baptized. However, I feel like we worked much more efficiently. The only thing I don`t like about Toluca areas is that they are huge, and have a lot of little towns, which I am sure are gold spots, but it not possible to go to every town every day. We have several pueblos here, we have San Andrès Ocotlan, Ex-Rancho San Dimas, Valle del Nevado, La Concepciòn, San Antonio la Isla, San Lucas, Rayòn, Tenango del Valle, Jico"something" (I`ve never been there), Atlatlahuca, and San Pedro Cictepec...plus several others that my companion doesn`t even know how to get to. Basically, we tried focusing a lot on two centers of work, where there are more members....namely San Dimas and Atlatlahuca. However, I think this week we are going to try to incorporate a little bit of time in Tenango when we`re in Atla, and a little time in Valle del Nevado, San Antonio, and San Lucas, which are close to San Dimas. Really, we`re trying to expand our efforts little by little, because what we were doing the first week did not work.
We`ve been having a little bit of success. Now that the holidays are out, we find more people in the streets, which is awesome! We found some really cool people that look really interested in our message, but they told us that we should pass by this next week, and we weren`t able to teach them. Hence, that is why we have no new investigators. We are constantly filling up the tank with new people, sifting them through to find the really golden ones, and leaving the rest to ripen a little more.
The Villegas family were those that went to church this week. They have a Christian background, the wife has gone to Pentecost meetings, and the oldest daughter has too. The dad is Catholic, but wants to turn his life around. He just swallows every word we say with a hunger that I have seldom seen. This not only pleases us, but also his wife who has not seen him have so much enthusiasm about religion before. The other two kids are 15 and 12 and they are very mature for their ages. They all seemed to be excited about the church. In fact, after church, the dad asked after the last hour if we were going to get together again like we did in Sacrament meeting. When we told him that we weren`t he was surprised "That was all! It was quick!" We are going to try to put a baptismal date for this Sunday. We`ve already invited them to get baptized, and they`ve accepted, but we weren`t able to put a good date because they left out of town last week.
Yeah, we are really really excited about this week. Man, just talking about them gets me excited! I don`t remember having enjoyed something so much! Please keep praying for us! We are going to get some miracles going this week!
Thanks for everything! I love you all so much!
Finishing strong!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Well, this wasn`t the worst week in history, but it was not the best either. We fell short on several goals. We had 80 contacts, 24 lessons, 5 new investigators, 6 in church, none with baptismal date, and none got baptized. However, I feel like we worked much more efficiently. The only thing I don`t like about Toluca areas is that they are huge, and have a lot of little towns, which I am sure are gold spots, but it not possible to go to every town every day. We have several pueblos here, we have San Andrès Ocotlan, Ex-Rancho San Dimas, Valle del Nevado, La Concepciòn, San Antonio la Isla, San Lucas, Rayòn, Tenango del Valle, Jico"something" (I`ve never been there), Atlatlahuca, and San Pedro Cictepec...plus several others that my companion doesn`t even know how to get to. Basically, we tried focusing a lot on two centers of work, where there are more members....namely San Dimas and Atlatlahuca. However, I think this week we are going to try to incorporate a little bit of time in Tenango when we`re in Atla, and a little time in Valle del Nevado, San Antonio, and San Lucas, which are close to San Dimas. Really, we`re trying to expand our efforts little by little, because what we were doing the first week did not work.
We`ve been having a little bit of success. Now that the holidays are out, we find more people in the streets, which is awesome! We found some really cool people that look really interested in our message, but they told us that we should pass by this next week, and we weren`t able to teach them. Hence, that is why we have no new investigators. We are constantly filling up the tank with new people, sifting them through to find the really golden ones, and leaving the rest to ripen a little more.
The Villegas family were those that went to church this week. They have a Christian background, the wife has gone to Pentecost meetings, and the oldest daughter has too. The dad is Catholic, but wants to turn his life around. He just swallows every word we say with a hunger that I have seldom seen. This not only pleases us, but also his wife who has not seen him have so much enthusiasm about religion before. The other two kids are 15 and 12 and they are very mature for their ages. They all seemed to be excited about the church. In fact, after church, the dad asked after the last hour if we were going to get together again like we did in Sacrament meeting. When we told him that we weren`t he was surprised "That was all! It was quick!" We are going to try to put a baptismal date for this Sunday. We`ve already invited them to get baptized, and they`ve accepted, but we weren`t able to put a good date because they left out of town last week.
Yeah, we are really really excited about this week. Man, just talking about them gets me excited! I don`t remember having enjoyed something so much! Please keep praying for us! We are going to get some miracles going this week!
Thanks for everything! I love you all so much!
Finishing strong!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Weekly Letter: December 27, 2011-January 2, 2012
para mi familia:
So thanks for the news about Eric, congratulate him for me....or I guess I may have a chance, huh? I hate that feeling.
Well, 2012. We`ll leave it at that.
Today we had a sort of New Years Party as a district. We went to Costco to buy pizza, and then as a Zone we watched two of the movies that President had approved for us to watch mission-wide in our zones today. We watched Kung Fu Panda 2 and MegaMind. They were really well done in my opinion....or maybe because they were simply not Testaments or Finding Faith in Christ....who knows! They were good, but I hope it doesn`t take long to get focused again in the work. I mean, I appreciate that the President tries to choose uplifting movies to watch as a kind of Christmas present...but still, it`s kind of....weird.
Happy birthday tomorrow brothers! It`s weird, they`re going to be 18 aren`t they? Weird, I was 18 too when I was their age.(hmmm....I didn`t mean that to be so funny, but I guess I`ll leave it that way)
Alright, well, about Atlatlahuca. Nobody here actually knows the town... it`s near a bigger town that`s called Tenango. When we explain that, they seem to understand better. We live about 20 minutes away by taxi from the church in Atla... ouch on the budget. This Sunday we did not have the success that we expected to have. Everybody, EVERYBODY fell through. We did confirm the two people that got baptized last week though, which is good. However, I feel like the people we have in teaching really don`t want to progress, that they are only telling us what we want to hear so we don`t leave them. We`re going to look if now that the majority of the holidays are over (just Dia de los Reyes Magos, but it`s not as big, seeing as the kids are going back to school tomorrow.) maybe they`ll progress. If not, I think I might have to be the bad guy like I was in the Molinito. I might have to say, "Sorry, we love being with you, but we got to look for the chosen" obviously not in that way, but usually that`s what they come away with. The spirit needs to be the biggest instrument in the work. You have to find by the spirit, or you won`t find the chosen investigators. You have to teach by the spirit, or they won`t progress. And you have to leave by the spirit so that the investigators aren`t offended.
When it`s done right, the old investigators end up starting to do the things we ask them to do when we leave them. They golden up for the next missionaries to come in, who then ask "Why did they stop visiting these investigators? They`re cool!" Really, I keep going back to the words of Elder Johnson in the mission conference he gave. Obviously we have to be persistent with the investigators. Obviously we can`t teach with mediocrity and simply shake our feet so to speak, saying that we don`t have the blame that they aren`t progressing. We have to do everything in our power to help them progress. However, he said, and he`s very right, that we as missionaries usually can tell in the third visit at the latest if the people are going to progress or not. We have to be patient, we have to be loving, but the Lord has said that we are here not to prepare all the people until they become chosen. We are to harvest what is already "white." As missionaries, it is out of our hands. We have the scythe ready for the harvest, so why are we working in the green parts of the field? Let`s give it a little water, a little encouragement, but let`s move to the white in the field, and then maybe that other part will be white when we come back. It doesn`t make sense to be sitting there day by day waiting for a green plant to ripen with wheat, while tons of wheat are being wasted because we don`t lift the gaze.
It`s true that it is one of the hardest parts of the mission. I don`t know why it has always been my part that I play in almost all the areas where I have been. I guess I still haven`t learned enough. In Molinito, my zone leader told me something, that we shouldn`t think that leaving them was the same as abandoning them. He said that if we have spiritual ears to hear, we would hear them saying "Love me enough to leave me."
Don`t go on thinking I`m depressed. It does get you down when you think that this week we may be dropping a lot of investigators, but I feel that we will get more new investigators than we will drop. We WILL complete with the excellence goals. The one thing I have failed in in my mission is not having faith in being able to complete every single one of these goals. But this week from January 2 to January 8, 2012 we WILL. That would be the best birthday present: 140 contacts, 30 lessons, 10 new investigators, 6 in church, 4 with baptismal dates, and 1 baptismal service. We will do it! Pray for us so that we can do it. A lot depends on the agency of others, but we have not even come close to doing our part.
I love you all. Keep praying for me. Elder Gonzalez is really good, and a hard worker. This last week, we have been working on working more efficiently. This week I feel we will have more success!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
So thanks for the news about Eric, congratulate him for me....or I guess I may have a chance, huh? I hate that feeling.
Well, 2012. We`ll leave it at that.
Today we had a sort of New Years Party as a district. We went to Costco to buy pizza, and then as a Zone we watched two of the movies that President had approved for us to watch mission-wide in our zones today. We watched Kung Fu Panda 2 and MegaMind. They were really well done in my opinion....or maybe because they were simply not Testaments or Finding Faith in Christ....who knows! They were good, but I hope it doesn`t take long to get focused again in the work. I mean, I appreciate that the President tries to choose uplifting movies to watch as a kind of Christmas present...but still, it`s kind of....weird.
Happy birthday tomorrow brothers! It`s weird, they`re going to be 18 aren`t they? Weird, I was 18 too when I was their age.(hmmm....I didn`t mean that to be so funny, but I guess I`ll leave it that way)
Alright, well, about Atlatlahuca. Nobody here actually knows the town... it`s near a bigger town that`s called Tenango. When we explain that, they seem to understand better. We live about 20 minutes away by taxi from the church in Atla... ouch on the budget. This Sunday we did not have the success that we expected to have. Everybody, EVERYBODY fell through. We did confirm the two people that got baptized last week though, which is good. However, I feel like the people we have in teaching really don`t want to progress, that they are only telling us what we want to hear so we don`t leave them. We`re going to look if now that the majority of the holidays are over (just Dia de los Reyes Magos, but it`s not as big, seeing as the kids are going back to school tomorrow.) maybe they`ll progress. If not, I think I might have to be the bad guy like I was in the Molinito. I might have to say, "Sorry, we love being with you, but we got to look for the chosen" obviously not in that way, but usually that`s what they come away with. The spirit needs to be the biggest instrument in the work. You have to find by the spirit, or you won`t find the chosen investigators. You have to teach by the spirit, or they won`t progress. And you have to leave by the spirit so that the investigators aren`t offended.
When it`s done right, the old investigators end up starting to do the things we ask them to do when we leave them. They golden up for the next missionaries to come in, who then ask "Why did they stop visiting these investigators? They`re cool!" Really, I keep going back to the words of Elder Johnson in the mission conference he gave. Obviously we have to be persistent with the investigators. Obviously we can`t teach with mediocrity and simply shake our feet so to speak, saying that we don`t have the blame that they aren`t progressing. We have to do everything in our power to help them progress. However, he said, and he`s very right, that we as missionaries usually can tell in the third visit at the latest if the people are going to progress or not. We have to be patient, we have to be loving, but the Lord has said that we are here not to prepare all the people until they become chosen. We are to harvest what is already "white." As missionaries, it is out of our hands. We have the scythe ready for the harvest, so why are we working in the green parts of the field? Let`s give it a little water, a little encouragement, but let`s move to the white in the field, and then maybe that other part will be white when we come back. It doesn`t make sense to be sitting there day by day waiting for a green plant to ripen with wheat, while tons of wheat are being wasted because we don`t lift the gaze.
It`s true that it is one of the hardest parts of the mission. I don`t know why it has always been my part that I play in almost all the areas where I have been. I guess I still haven`t learned enough. In Molinito, my zone leader told me something, that we shouldn`t think that leaving them was the same as abandoning them. He said that if we have spiritual ears to hear, we would hear them saying "Love me enough to leave me."
Don`t go on thinking I`m depressed. It does get you down when you think that this week we may be dropping a lot of investigators, but I feel that we will get more new investigators than we will drop. We WILL complete with the excellence goals. The one thing I have failed in in my mission is not having faith in being able to complete every single one of these goals. But this week from January 2 to January 8, 2012 we WILL. That would be the best birthday present: 140 contacts, 30 lessons, 10 new investigators, 6 in church, 4 with baptismal dates, and 1 baptismal service. We will do it! Pray for us so that we can do it. A lot depends on the agency of others, but we have not even come close to doing our part.
I love you all. Keep praying for me. Elder Gonzalez is really good, and a hard worker. This last week, we have been working on working more efficiently. This week I feel we will have more success!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Weekly Letter: December 20-26, 2011
para mi familia:
It was great to talk to you guys yesterday. Just one thing of business that I think would be good to resolve. Right now, pouch mail doesn´t come in too much. So it may be a good idea to send Seth´s letters by email...I´ll just print them out and read them later. I think that it would not be the best idea that I keep on receiving letters from him even when we´re both home. I don´t know how DearElder will handle the letters. I just think that in mid January would be good to stop sending me dearelders to avoid the whole situation. (not that a lot of people write me apart from you guys....)
I really feel like the Lord is preparing all of his children, Mexican or otherwise, to accept the gospel. I love every one of you guys....thanks for taking the time to talk to me....and, Mom, just so you know for when other missionaries are in the field: the part where you start crying makes it sooo hard for us to hang up. I love you so much! Elder Granados seemed to notice me more pensive the other day, and he said "Come on, lighten up! You´ll see them in two months!" Little did he know that his saying that really only put lemon juice on a open wound.
Well, you already know my changes. Elder Granados left early in the morning to go to Argentina...and I got to Atlatlahuaca about three hours ago. My companion is Elder González from Tuxpan, Veracruz....so yet again I get a "jaracho" as a companion. Elder Javier, Elder Quiroga and Elder González all are from Veracruz. He is pretty cool from what I´ve seen. We actually live in a town called San Bimas which is about 20 minutes away from the Chapel in Atlatlahuaca...and our area consists of some 12 different pueblos....so this will be interesting. I have no idea what any of them are called except San Bimas, Atlatlahuaca, and Tenango...other than that, I don´t know what my area consists of. In the Area book there are maps, but they are simply of the different pueblos and none of them show their relation to one another...so I hope I won´t get lost.
I had first heard of Atlatlahuaca from a companion I had almost a year ago in Independencia. His name is Elder Perez, and I was his last companion in the mission. He talked about Atla a lot, I think it was one of his first areas, so I think that explains it. I´ll be honest, Plateros wasn´t my easiest area, but it still has a special place in my heart because it was my first area. So I´ve heard quite a bit about this place, both good and bad. I guess this change I will be able to distinguish what is true and what is not. I have a relatively new missionary as a companion, and I haven´t heard much about him, which is good because when someone starts the transfer after hearing loads of rumors about the guy, it´s really had to start the change well. I´ve found that with several of my companions, a lot of people said a bunch of things about them, but I ended up getting along with them pretty well. I think that´s why I like to train so much, you don´t get down on your companion for some small prejudices that could keep you from working your best together.
I really can honestly say that I wish I had more time. It hurt so bad when my companion would say that he wished to be in my shoes, and I often told him that I wished to be in his shoes, but I don´t think he believed me....then again, when I started the mission I didn´t believe the missionaries that told me they wished they had more time in the mission. I was like: "You want to go back to not knowing the language, not knowing how to teach, not knowing how to contact? You want to stay another 2 years away from family and friends? You must be crazy! You´re just saying that to not look trunky!"
Well, I regretted those thoughts when Elder Granados verbalized them to me last change. I can honestly say that I have been happier in these two years than in my life. It´s not that I don´t miss my family or anything that I used to do before...it´s not that I don´t want to have learned Spanish. It´s just that I love what I´m doing. I have a well defined purpose here...and I do all I can to fulfill it. Whenever I catch myself thinking into the future, it´s distressing, it´s so full of uncertainty. Am I able to get a job? Am I able to get my foot operated on? Am I able to keep contact with the friends I made here without wasting my time? Will there be any of my friends still single when I get back? What am I going to study when I get back? I am here in Atlatlahuca and I´m pretty full of uncertainty. I don´t even know where the chapel is! But it´s completely different. I come here, I know what I have to do and more or less how to get along with it. I love this place.
Don´t think I´m trunky... I´m not. This time is too precious to become trunky...but I am pretty solemn before the idea that 6 short weeks are between me and home.(and a pretty long plane ride) I love you all.
I love you all. Keep praying for me!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
It was great to talk to you guys yesterday. Just one thing of business that I think would be good to resolve. Right now, pouch mail doesn´t come in too much. So it may be a good idea to send Seth´s letters by email...I´ll just print them out and read them later. I think that it would not be the best idea that I keep on receiving letters from him even when we´re both home. I don´t know how DearElder will handle the letters. I just think that in mid January would be good to stop sending me dearelders to avoid the whole situation. (not that a lot of people write me apart from you guys....)
I really feel like the Lord is preparing all of his children, Mexican or otherwise, to accept the gospel. I love every one of you guys....thanks for taking the time to talk to me....and, Mom, just so you know for when other missionaries are in the field: the part where you start crying makes it sooo hard for us to hang up. I love you so much! Elder Granados seemed to notice me more pensive the other day, and he said "Come on, lighten up! You´ll see them in two months!" Little did he know that his saying that really only put lemon juice on a open wound.
Well, you already know my changes. Elder Granados left early in the morning to go to Argentina...and I got to Atlatlahuaca about three hours ago. My companion is Elder González from Tuxpan, Veracruz....so yet again I get a "jaracho" as a companion. Elder Javier, Elder Quiroga and Elder González all are from Veracruz. He is pretty cool from what I´ve seen. We actually live in a town called San Bimas which is about 20 minutes away from the Chapel in Atlatlahuaca...and our area consists of some 12 different pueblos....so this will be interesting. I have no idea what any of them are called except San Bimas, Atlatlahuaca, and Tenango...other than that, I don´t know what my area consists of. In the Area book there are maps, but they are simply of the different pueblos and none of them show their relation to one another...so I hope I won´t get lost.
I had first heard of Atlatlahuaca from a companion I had almost a year ago in Independencia. His name is Elder Perez, and I was his last companion in the mission. He talked about Atla a lot, I think it was one of his first areas, so I think that explains it. I´ll be honest, Plateros wasn´t my easiest area, but it still has a special place in my heart because it was my first area. So I´ve heard quite a bit about this place, both good and bad. I guess this change I will be able to distinguish what is true and what is not. I have a relatively new missionary as a companion, and I haven´t heard much about him, which is good because when someone starts the transfer after hearing loads of rumors about the guy, it´s really had to start the change well. I´ve found that with several of my companions, a lot of people said a bunch of things about them, but I ended up getting along with them pretty well. I think that´s why I like to train so much, you don´t get down on your companion for some small prejudices that could keep you from working your best together.
I really can honestly say that I wish I had more time. It hurt so bad when my companion would say that he wished to be in my shoes, and I often told him that I wished to be in his shoes, but I don´t think he believed me....then again, when I started the mission I didn´t believe the missionaries that told me they wished they had more time in the mission. I was like: "You want to go back to not knowing the language, not knowing how to teach, not knowing how to contact? You want to stay another 2 years away from family and friends? You must be crazy! You´re just saying that to not look trunky!"
Well, I regretted those thoughts when Elder Granados verbalized them to me last change. I can honestly say that I have been happier in these two years than in my life. It´s not that I don´t miss my family or anything that I used to do before...it´s not that I don´t want to have learned Spanish. It´s just that I love what I´m doing. I have a well defined purpose here...and I do all I can to fulfill it. Whenever I catch myself thinking into the future, it´s distressing, it´s so full of uncertainty. Am I able to get a job? Am I able to get my foot operated on? Am I able to keep contact with the friends I made here without wasting my time? Will there be any of my friends still single when I get back? What am I going to study when I get back? I am here in Atlatlahuca and I´m pretty full of uncertainty. I don´t even know where the chapel is! But it´s completely different. I come here, I know what I have to do and more or less how to get along with it. I love this place.
Don´t think I´m trunky... I´m not. This time is too precious to become trunky...but I am pretty solemn before the idea that 6 short weeks are between me and home.(and a pretty long plane ride) I love you all.
I love you all. Keep praying for me!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Weekly Letter: December 13-19, 2011
para mi familia:
Thank you all for the letters that you gave me. As far as I know next Monday will be a normal preparation day. Here, the big deal is really the 24th going into the 25th. Kind of like New years in the U.S. They wait until midnight to welcome the Christ child. It seems that the Catholic Church is totally against the idea that the 25th isn´t actually the day the Jesus was born as the many scholars (and modern-day prophets) say. But I feel that it is a nice tradition.
Sunday, we are just having one sacrament meeting at 9:00, we are hoping to have a white Christmas....but in the baptismal regard. So my companion is going to have his parents call him at 11:00, so I guess you could call me at 12:30, to make sure we don´t get tangled up in phone lines. I hope that his parents know how to call DF!!! I guess we´ll call you if something happens and I need you to call me later.
Sounds like a lot of people are getting married!!! Haha, I think I´m not going to be able to though! That is pretty weird, but it´s pretty interesting hearing about it. I have had very few writers in the mission...just Seth....or rather whoever it is that sends me his letters, Jason Brown my roommate from BYU(that was my hometeaching companion...the one from England), but they´re both missionaries so I haven't been really expecting hearing about them getting married anytime soon. So far, just the marriages that you mentioned last week, and of Betilee, who got married quite a while ago. But other than that, I haven´t really been in touch with anybody, but I guess in a few months that will change.
Anyway, instead of dwelling on that unpleasant subject, I will tell you about my week. I can´t remember if I told you guys last week, but this week we decided to leave EVERYBODY. We had had a lot of troubles with a lot of investigators. We decided to let things cool off for a while and see if later they´ll want to progress. Meanwhile, we decide to begin the search for the chosen! We met it with some great success...but mixed success as of this Sunday. We found this family that wants to get baptized and wants to move on with their lives. We want to marry them to get them baptized, but only the mom went to church :(.... We also have another good family, the daughter had been through a very bad accident, and the dad wants to kick everybody out of the house as soon as she heals up....but the mom smokes, and didn´t go to church like she committed to do...I think for shame of not being able to meet the goals we set.
We also found out that one of the families we thought of leaving doesn't want us to give up on them. They showed up to the ward Christmas activity, had a great time, but then Sunday.....nothing. My companion and I are obviously wondering what we´re doing wrong...what we have to do to be able to get more success going on. However, in these Christmas dates, Christ is usually the last thing on their mind.
However, this week we found out that just putting in our best, we can find several families that are ready for the gospel. So I guess that in that way, we will be put this to the test in these next few weeks between Christmas and New Years. It´s been hard to get people to commit to go to Church on those two days because they have several plans as a family to do things. However, we are not discouraged... we know that there are people waiting for us to knock on their door, to stop them in the street, or sit next to them in the bus. We just have to be ready to recognize those moments and take advantage of them.
Time is short...I will have to thank every single one of you for what you have done for me, for the support that you´ve given me. It´s greatly appreciated. Please keep praying for us! We need some help to have white Christmas and New Years.
Love you all, take care and Merry Christmas... We´ll be talking at 12:30pm (that´s my time)!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Thank you all for the letters that you gave me. As far as I know next Monday will be a normal preparation day. Here, the big deal is really the 24th going into the 25th. Kind of like New years in the U.S. They wait until midnight to welcome the Christ child. It seems that the Catholic Church is totally against the idea that the 25th isn´t actually the day the Jesus was born as the many scholars (and modern-day prophets) say. But I feel that it is a nice tradition.
Sunday, we are just having one sacrament meeting at 9:00, we are hoping to have a white Christmas....but in the baptismal regard. So my companion is going to have his parents call him at 11:00, so I guess you could call me at 12:30, to make sure we don´t get tangled up in phone lines. I hope that his parents know how to call DF!!! I guess we´ll call you if something happens and I need you to call me later.
Sounds like a lot of people are getting married!!! Haha, I think I´m not going to be able to though! That is pretty weird, but it´s pretty interesting hearing about it. I have had very few writers in the mission...just Seth....or rather whoever it is that sends me his letters, Jason Brown my roommate from BYU(that was my hometeaching companion...the one from England), but they´re both missionaries so I haven't been really expecting hearing about them getting married anytime soon. So far, just the marriages that you mentioned last week, and of Betilee, who got married quite a while ago. But other than that, I haven´t really been in touch with anybody, but I guess in a few months that will change.
Anyway, instead of dwelling on that unpleasant subject, I will tell you about my week. I can´t remember if I told you guys last week, but this week we decided to leave EVERYBODY. We had had a lot of troubles with a lot of investigators. We decided to let things cool off for a while and see if later they´ll want to progress. Meanwhile, we decide to begin the search for the chosen! We met it with some great success...but mixed success as of this Sunday. We found this family that wants to get baptized and wants to move on with their lives. We want to marry them to get them baptized, but only the mom went to church :(.... We also have another good family, the daughter had been through a very bad accident, and the dad wants to kick everybody out of the house as soon as she heals up....but the mom smokes, and didn´t go to church like she committed to do...I think for shame of not being able to meet the goals we set.
We also found out that one of the families we thought of leaving doesn't want us to give up on them. They showed up to the ward Christmas activity, had a great time, but then Sunday.....nothing. My companion and I are obviously wondering what we´re doing wrong...what we have to do to be able to get more success going on. However, in these Christmas dates, Christ is usually the last thing on their mind.
However, this week we found out that just putting in our best, we can find several families that are ready for the gospel. So I guess that in that way, we will be put this to the test in these next few weeks between Christmas and New Years. It´s been hard to get people to commit to go to Church on those two days because they have several plans as a family to do things. However, we are not discouraged... we know that there are people waiting for us to knock on their door, to stop them in the street, or sit next to them in the bus. We just have to be ready to recognize those moments and take advantage of them.
Time is short...I will have to thank every single one of you for what you have done for me, for the support that you´ve given me. It´s greatly appreciated. Please keep praying for us! We need some help to have white Christmas and New Years.
Love you all, take care and Merry Christmas... We´ll be talking at 12:30pm (that´s my time)!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Weekly Letter: December 6-12, 2011
para mi familia:
Alright so first of all...I don´t know if you heard about the earthquake in Mexico.....it was SWEET!!! It was 6.8 on the ricter´s scale, but the epicenter was in Zumpango, Guerrrero, which is somewhat far away...so here it was about a minute in which things were shaking. I was actually talking on the phone at the time and suddenly I felt like I got dizzy. We were in the street though, so we couldn´t see anything happening, but the zone leaders were telling me that it was earthquaking....and I was like What!? I then looked around and saw this parked car shaking like crazy, and I was like "Wow! I´m in an earthquake!" but it only lasted a minute here.
Then for Christmas.... We will also only have a sacramental service on the 25th at 9:00 (only it would be an hour in difference, but I forget if it´s an hour earlier or later than you guys....you guys figure it out.)
Well, now to business. This week was way fun...in that we are going to leave a lot of investigators that we have. They just seem to not progress, and so we are going to be exercising the faith in what Elder Johnson said and simply leave them so that we can get to the chosen investigators. Some of them are really cool and have accepted baptism...but they just don´t want to progress...and we are just wasting time with them because while we keep going to their house they are content. It is going to be hard to leave many of them behind, but looking at the success that we´ve had in finding cool investigators, I feel that the Lord has been trying prepare us for this. He knows that I have a hard time leaving investigators, especially if there isn´t anybody to replace them with, so this is a good thing. We had 6 investigators in church this week, and they all loved it. 3 had already gone, and just have to get the marriage worked out so that one couple and the wife of another couple can be baptized. The other three are also needing some rings so they can be baptized.... speaking of which, I wonder if we will still be able to get people married in these next weeks...I hope the Lawyer that helps us out doesn´t bail on us these weeks...because we want a WHITE Christmas....as in baptizing, snow does not exist here. (actually, I explained what icicles were to a member and she understood what I was talking about because she saw them in photos or movies, but neither she, her husband, her mom, nor anybody else knows what they´re called!)
We are really focusing on getting the ward animated about some of the people we are teaching. We are working with a few references that they gave us, and they look like they could be a lot of work to get them progress in comparison to some of the investigators that we´ve been finding, but I think it will be worth the effort if we can show the ward that their efforts to give references will be valued by the missionaries...and so we will have MORE references.
So our focus these weeks will be to get a lot of inactives or new members and investigators to the ward Christmas party, and hopefully work to get some of the more excited members to help us out in visiting them. We´ve been kind of waiting for something to happen in the ward, but I realize that while we are waiting for these things to happen nothing will happen.
Well I got to go now. Talk to you next week about Christmas.
Love you all
cariños,
Elder Blackham
Alright so first of all...I don´t know if you heard about the earthquake in Mexico.....it was SWEET!!! It was 6.8 on the ricter´s scale, but the epicenter was in Zumpango, Guerrrero, which is somewhat far away...so here it was about a minute in which things were shaking. I was actually talking on the phone at the time and suddenly I felt like I got dizzy. We were in the street though, so we couldn´t see anything happening, but the zone leaders were telling me that it was earthquaking....and I was like What!? I then looked around and saw this parked car shaking like crazy, and I was like "Wow! I´m in an earthquake!" but it only lasted a minute here.
Then for Christmas.... We will also only have a sacramental service on the 25th at 9:00 (only it would be an hour in difference, but I forget if it´s an hour earlier or later than you guys....you guys figure it out.)
Well, now to business. This week was way fun...in that we are going to leave a lot of investigators that we have. They just seem to not progress, and so we are going to be exercising the faith in what Elder Johnson said and simply leave them so that we can get to the chosen investigators. Some of them are really cool and have accepted baptism...but they just don´t want to progress...and we are just wasting time with them because while we keep going to their house they are content. It is going to be hard to leave many of them behind, but looking at the success that we´ve had in finding cool investigators, I feel that the Lord has been trying prepare us for this. He knows that I have a hard time leaving investigators, especially if there isn´t anybody to replace them with, so this is a good thing. We had 6 investigators in church this week, and they all loved it. 3 had already gone, and just have to get the marriage worked out so that one couple and the wife of another couple can be baptized. The other three are also needing some rings so they can be baptized.... speaking of which, I wonder if we will still be able to get people married in these next weeks...I hope the Lawyer that helps us out doesn´t bail on us these weeks...because we want a WHITE Christmas....as in baptizing, snow does not exist here. (actually, I explained what icicles were to a member and she understood what I was talking about because she saw them in photos or movies, but neither she, her husband, her mom, nor anybody else knows what they´re called!)
We are really focusing on getting the ward animated about some of the people we are teaching. We are working with a few references that they gave us, and they look like they could be a lot of work to get them progress in comparison to some of the investigators that we´ve been finding, but I think it will be worth the effort if we can show the ward that their efforts to give references will be valued by the missionaries...and so we will have MORE references.
So our focus these weeks will be to get a lot of inactives or new members and investigators to the ward Christmas party, and hopefully work to get some of the more excited members to help us out in visiting them. We´ve been kind of waiting for something to happen in the ward, but I realize that while we are waiting for these things to happen nothing will happen.
Well I got to go now. Talk to you next week about Christmas.
Love you all
cariños,
Elder Blackham
Weekly Letter: November 29-December 5, 2011
para mi familia:
I guess I´ve been a rebel before now. My president has always told us to count the days we have left in our mission from the very start, with hopes that we will work every day out to its extreme. I´ve always been too lazy to count them. It is only now that I have just completely 22 months in the mission that I realize that counting the days would not be a taxing effort....but it is not something that I want to do all the same. Next week maybe I´ll repent and tell you the day-count...but I feel uncomfortable doing so now.
This week has been one of my hardest in the mission, but with it comes a lot of promise for this and the coming weeks. It seems like God is always having me make adjustments in the way I work, and I always seem to go too far and have to make the adjustments over again. I feel like I´m working harder than I ever had, but we´re not having the fruits that we desire. This is maybe the last week that my companion is here in Mexico (he signed his Argentine visa last week.). I really feel that I have been an inadequate trainer. He talked to the president about some issues that he felt he hadn´t resolved.The president assured him of his worthiness and sent us on our way. Then, he starts to feel bad because he doesn´t feel the spirit, and hurls all the teaching on me. He´s a great missionary with several of the feelings that many missionaries have when they first start out, but he refuses to be consoled.
I don´t know. It was a really rough week....a really humbling week. I realized this week that I don´t have all the answers. (I bet you all are thinking, "well duh!") I realized that I like to have control over the situations. I realized that I don´t want this missionary to take a year and half like I did fighting to do what the Lord wants instead of what I want to do, when submitting to the Lord´s will really is the much easier way. (I´m still struggling with the personal sanctification, but it really does help.)
We had a great meeting with Elder Johnson this week. It was very humbling hearing what he had to say to us. I felt that I had more or less an idea of how to work in the mission. But I realized after the reunion with him that I had been working wrong. We are here to find the people that are already ready for the gospel....we are not to be working constantly with people that are nice enough to open the doors and listen to us, but really aren´t willing to make the changes in their lives. He fundamentalized the form in which we should contact the people. We are not here to sell the gospel, anyone in any church can do that. We are here to testify.
We had such an experience with Esmeralda last night. Getting there, we were talking, and I felt that we weren´t getting anywhere, that we were just going in circles around the question of baptism. We decided to talk about obedience, and then we talked about the first commandment. It was good up until the point we started talking about baptism. She started shutting herself to the conversation, and suddenly I realized that I was testifying and my companion gave some testimony, but then would immediately give me back the word. It was not like him. I felt like suddenly I was alone. Finally she started to open up to us, and she described that her mother and several family members haven´t really been saying things, but have implied their disdain for the decision to go to our church. I don´t know how much I believe her about her mom, because she seems much more open than Esmeralda (and she had a vision that had many temple connections!), but finally she was starting to open to us. We extended the invitation that she pray and ask what the Lord wanted, and then to make the decision based on that. She did not want to say the closing prayer, but we told her that it would help her more than our prayer in her behalf. Finally she consented, and she was crying at the end of the prayer. We left her house reminding her to always remember what she was feeling and to make the decision quickly. She is going to be praying all this week...and I hope to be able to help her.
After the appointment my companion got a little annoyed because he said that I was trying to pressure her, and that I got her to cry. It made me think about a lot of the things I was saying...but I know that I was just focused on testifying. I don´t remember how many times I told her "I know that Jesus wants you to get baptized, but don´t believe me, ask him yourself." and then "I know that you felt the spirit in the church, but pray to him for the courage to act on what you felt like you had to do in the baptismal service." I literally cannot remember me trying to push her to baptism...it was all question based. She was doing most of the talking. My companion had mentioned some bad habits that I had in interrupting people, but this time I was specifically focused on listening and not talking. I tried to explain it to him, but I couldn´t find the right words. I couldn´t explain what was happening without feeling like I was being presumptuous our full of myself. The truth is that I was not pressuring her, the words I was saying would have had absolutely no influence on anyone else or in any different moment. I think his problem isn´t that he doesn´t feel the spirit, but that he doesn´t recognize it. (which is something that we have to learn throughout the mission and our life) I love him so much, and I desperately want him to know what he has to do...but I feel inadequate in teaching him.
Well, I´ve vented quite a bit. I love you all. Don´t think that my companion is not a good missionary. I had the same feelings at the beginning of my mission, and I´m sure I am not the only one...I feel that he is simply one of the few that admits it openly. Please pray for me and for him. Pray for his family, and pray for our investigators, because many are at the point where they can say either yes or no. They know it´s true, and for that I so desperately hope they say yes....because if they say no, it´s going to be a lot harder to say yes in the future.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham.
I guess I´ve been a rebel before now. My president has always told us to count the days we have left in our mission from the very start, with hopes that we will work every day out to its extreme. I´ve always been too lazy to count them. It is only now that I have just completely 22 months in the mission that I realize that counting the days would not be a taxing effort....but it is not something that I want to do all the same. Next week maybe I´ll repent and tell you the day-count...but I feel uncomfortable doing so now.
This week has been one of my hardest in the mission, but with it comes a lot of promise for this and the coming weeks. It seems like God is always having me make adjustments in the way I work, and I always seem to go too far and have to make the adjustments over again. I feel like I´m working harder than I ever had, but we´re not having the fruits that we desire. This is maybe the last week that my companion is here in Mexico (he signed his Argentine visa last week.). I really feel that I have been an inadequate trainer. He talked to the president about some issues that he felt he hadn´t resolved.The president assured him of his worthiness and sent us on our way. Then, he starts to feel bad because he doesn´t feel the spirit, and hurls all the teaching on me. He´s a great missionary with several of the feelings that many missionaries have when they first start out, but he refuses to be consoled.
I don´t know. It was a really rough week....a really humbling week. I realized this week that I don´t have all the answers. (I bet you all are thinking, "well duh!") I realized that I like to have control over the situations. I realized that I don´t want this missionary to take a year and half like I did fighting to do what the Lord wants instead of what I want to do, when submitting to the Lord´s will really is the much easier way. (I´m still struggling with the personal sanctification, but it really does help.)
We had a great meeting with Elder Johnson this week. It was very humbling hearing what he had to say to us. I felt that I had more or less an idea of how to work in the mission. But I realized after the reunion with him that I had been working wrong. We are here to find the people that are already ready for the gospel....we are not to be working constantly with people that are nice enough to open the doors and listen to us, but really aren´t willing to make the changes in their lives. He fundamentalized the form in which we should contact the people. We are not here to sell the gospel, anyone in any church can do that. We are here to testify.
We had such an experience with Esmeralda last night. Getting there, we were talking, and I felt that we weren´t getting anywhere, that we were just going in circles around the question of baptism. We decided to talk about obedience, and then we talked about the first commandment. It was good up until the point we started talking about baptism. She started shutting herself to the conversation, and suddenly I realized that I was testifying and my companion gave some testimony, but then would immediately give me back the word. It was not like him. I felt like suddenly I was alone. Finally she started to open up to us, and she described that her mother and several family members haven´t really been saying things, but have implied their disdain for the decision to go to our church. I don´t know how much I believe her about her mom, because she seems much more open than Esmeralda (and she had a vision that had many temple connections!), but finally she was starting to open to us. We extended the invitation that she pray and ask what the Lord wanted, and then to make the decision based on that. She did not want to say the closing prayer, but we told her that it would help her more than our prayer in her behalf. Finally she consented, and she was crying at the end of the prayer. We left her house reminding her to always remember what she was feeling and to make the decision quickly. She is going to be praying all this week...and I hope to be able to help her.
After the appointment my companion got a little annoyed because he said that I was trying to pressure her, and that I got her to cry. It made me think about a lot of the things I was saying...but I know that I was just focused on testifying. I don´t remember how many times I told her "I know that Jesus wants you to get baptized, but don´t believe me, ask him yourself." and then "I know that you felt the spirit in the church, but pray to him for the courage to act on what you felt like you had to do in the baptismal service." I literally cannot remember me trying to push her to baptism...it was all question based. She was doing most of the talking. My companion had mentioned some bad habits that I had in interrupting people, but this time I was specifically focused on listening and not talking. I tried to explain it to him, but I couldn´t find the right words. I couldn´t explain what was happening without feeling like I was being presumptuous our full of myself. The truth is that I was not pressuring her, the words I was saying would have had absolutely no influence on anyone else or in any different moment. I think his problem isn´t that he doesn´t feel the spirit, but that he doesn´t recognize it. (which is something that we have to learn throughout the mission and our life) I love him so much, and I desperately want him to know what he has to do...but I feel inadequate in teaching him.
Well, I´ve vented quite a bit. I love you all. Don´t think that my companion is not a good missionary. I had the same feelings at the beginning of my mission, and I´m sure I am not the only one...I feel that he is simply one of the few that admits it openly. Please pray for me and for him. Pray for his family, and pray for our investigators, because many are at the point where they can say either yes or no. They know it´s true, and for that I so desperately hope they say yes....because if they say no, it´s going to be a lot harder to say yes in the future.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham.
Weekly Letter: November 22-28, 2011
para mi familia:
Well, another week has just gone by and I have no idea how that has happened. Elder Granados is beginning to adjust well to the mission environment. Sometimes he still seems worried about his family at home, but really gets excited whenever we have success in our area.
Yesterday he was able to perform his first baptism in the field...it was very special for him. We were going to have two baptisms, one was going to get baptized in the second hour of church because she had to leave, and the other one was going to watch the first baptism and then get baptized at 2:00...however, the second one didn´t show up, because she had to go to the doctor at the last second. We still don´t know what´s up, but we´re praying that everything is well with Maria Isabel. When we called Maria Isabel, it became evident that she was not going to get baptized this week My companion started insisting that I baptize Lourdes. We had arranged for that to happen because Lourdes was going to get baptized earlier, and then Maria Isabel afterwards, and so that my companion didn´t stay wet so long between the two baptisms, we agreed that I would baptize Maria Isabel, and he would baptize Lourdes.
I patiently told him that it didn´t matter to me who baptized the person, just that they get baptized. I explained that I wanted him to baptize Lourdes so that he could get a feel for his purpose before going to Argentina on his REAL mission. Also, I reminded him that Lourdes already knew that he was going to baptize her, so he finally agreed to do so. When he left the font, I could see on his face that he was pleased and happy for the decision that Lourdes made, and I think it really made a difference in the way he sees the mission.
Earlier in the week we had talked to this family, the Mata Gutierrez family, which is a really cool family with 3 members that can be baptized. They´re married legally (which is always a plus in Mexico), and they really seemed receptive to the message. However, when we began to speak on the subject of baptism, Aracely, the mom began to put up barriers. Literally, I didn´t understand how she could understand and feel so good about what we were saying and not want to do anything about it. However, we kept working with her so that she could pray to ask the Lord if she should get baptized...she was about to accept the challenge, but then the her mother entered in the house and began to say a whole bunch. She said "You can talk about whatever you want, but baptism NEVER." Technically this shouldn´t have been such a problem because Aracely is 28 years old, living with her husband and kids away from the family of her mom, but obviously, it was not very good timing. She began going backwards even more, not even wanting to commit to go to church when she had loved it that week before. So my companion I guess got spooked and said "Well, if you want we won´t insist about baptism anymore." Those aren´t exactly the words he said, but that´s how he intended it. Ever since then, the family hasn´t been able to progress very much.
I talked to my companion about why he said what he said, and he said that he felt that they were being pressured too much. We talked about it a little, trying to see when he felt that they were being pressured...or rather when we were pressuring them.(because he hadn´t felt that had been pressuring them) We had a good talk afterwards where we both saw something that we could do to improve it. For the meantime, it´s really hard because we´ve become really good friends with that family, but we´ve decided to let them alone for a while. However, after the baptism of Lourdes, my companion seemed completely changed when we talked about baptism with anyone. I think he really felt in the font how much the Lord wants these people to get baptized.
I´ve learned so much from Elder Granados. More than anything, I´ve learned that I don´t have all the answers.(which has been something really difficult to accept throughout my mission). I hope to be able to learn more from him every coming day of this week.
Thanks for the support and prayers in our behalf and in behalf of Elder Granados´s family. Please keep them in your prayers. And keep me in your prayers too, because it seems that the Lord has some changes and some lessons in store for me in the future!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Well, another week has just gone by and I have no idea how that has happened. Elder Granados is beginning to adjust well to the mission environment. Sometimes he still seems worried about his family at home, but really gets excited whenever we have success in our area.
Yesterday he was able to perform his first baptism in the field...it was very special for him. We were going to have two baptisms, one was going to get baptized in the second hour of church because she had to leave, and the other one was going to watch the first baptism and then get baptized at 2:00...however, the second one didn´t show up, because she had to go to the doctor at the last second. We still don´t know what´s up, but we´re praying that everything is well with Maria Isabel. When we called Maria Isabel, it became evident that she was not going to get baptized this week My companion started insisting that I baptize Lourdes. We had arranged for that to happen because Lourdes was going to get baptized earlier, and then Maria Isabel afterwards, and so that my companion didn´t stay wet so long between the two baptisms, we agreed that I would baptize Maria Isabel, and he would baptize Lourdes.
I patiently told him that it didn´t matter to me who baptized the person, just that they get baptized. I explained that I wanted him to baptize Lourdes so that he could get a feel for his purpose before going to Argentina on his REAL mission. Also, I reminded him that Lourdes already knew that he was going to baptize her, so he finally agreed to do so. When he left the font, I could see on his face that he was pleased and happy for the decision that Lourdes made, and I think it really made a difference in the way he sees the mission.
Earlier in the week we had talked to this family, the Mata Gutierrez family, which is a really cool family with 3 members that can be baptized. They´re married legally (which is always a plus in Mexico), and they really seemed receptive to the message. However, when we began to speak on the subject of baptism, Aracely, the mom began to put up barriers. Literally, I didn´t understand how she could understand and feel so good about what we were saying and not want to do anything about it. However, we kept working with her so that she could pray to ask the Lord if she should get baptized...she was about to accept the challenge, but then the her mother entered in the house and began to say a whole bunch. She said "You can talk about whatever you want, but baptism NEVER." Technically this shouldn´t have been such a problem because Aracely is 28 years old, living with her husband and kids away from the family of her mom, but obviously, it was not very good timing. She began going backwards even more, not even wanting to commit to go to church when she had loved it that week before. So my companion I guess got spooked and said "Well, if you want we won´t insist about baptism anymore." Those aren´t exactly the words he said, but that´s how he intended it. Ever since then, the family hasn´t been able to progress very much.
I talked to my companion about why he said what he said, and he said that he felt that they were being pressured too much. We talked about it a little, trying to see when he felt that they were being pressured...or rather when we were pressuring them.(because he hadn´t felt that had been pressuring them) We had a good talk afterwards where we both saw something that we could do to improve it. For the meantime, it´s really hard because we´ve become really good friends with that family, but we´ve decided to let them alone for a while. However, after the baptism of Lourdes, my companion seemed completely changed when we talked about baptism with anyone. I think he really felt in the font how much the Lord wants these people to get baptized.
I´ve learned so much from Elder Granados. More than anything, I´ve learned that I don´t have all the answers.(which has been something really difficult to accept throughout my mission). I hope to be able to learn more from him every coming day of this week.
Thanks for the support and prayers in our behalf and in behalf of Elder Granados´s family. Please keep them in your prayers. And keep me in your prayers too, because it seems that the Lord has some changes and some lessons in store for me in the future!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Monday, November 28, 2011
Weekly Letter: November 15-21, 2011
Alright, if this letter is missing a few c´s I hope you can decipher the hidden message. The c key is one where you have to hit it several times for it to work.
I got my package. I did get it intact...I think. I got several Butterfingers (which I´ve almost eaten all of...one with a Halloween message that I got on November 15...sigh.) A teryaki beef jerky. Several slim jims....and HUGE box of Cheezit(which I am already half way through with.) I also got my shoes/army boots.(which is cool because half of the military camp is in my area), and two pairs of socks. (The two intact pairs of socks came as a relief to the now four "saintly" pairs I have...but I guess I can´t send any pictures anymore.)
My son is named Elder Granados. He is from Chihuaha, Chihuaha. And he´s feeling a little bit of home sickness. His father passed away about 2 or three years ago... and when he came on his mission he left his mother and thirteen year-old sister alone...and from what he´s telling me, Chihuaha is not the safest place right now. He´s talked about how they used to follow him home to know where he lived...and how some people would threaten him, telling him that they knew where his sister went to school. So he´s more worried about his family than homesick actually.
This week, we committed someone to get baptized yesterday. Her name is Lourdes Sanchez, and she really is golden. She accepted the date and everything, the only thing is that she wasn´t able to get to church for some reason. Her phone has been off the hook for quite a while, so there was very little that we could do. She was going to get to church late, but also had to leave early to go to Puebla. But I think that she took longer than she thought in the morning, and because of that it was impossible to get to church. Since her phone is still not paid, she couldn't tell us, and we couldn't get a hold of her. She should be coming home today in the afternoon...so we´ll see if we can find her.
Also, we were able to find a new family in an area of the ward that we haven´t worked very much. His name is Manuel Santiago and Luz Rios. They looked at us in such a way that I was like...."we have to contact them." They told us that they had seen us several times and wanted to talk to us but later they were never able to talk to us because we were always too far away from them. So we went Friday and we talked to them about baptism and they both accepted. The only thing is that they weren´t able to go to church this week because he got really sick and they had to go to the hospital to get him checked up. He´s had several strokes (I don´t know if that´s exactly the translation, but its "infarto cerebral" in Spanish.), so they wanted to make sure everything was okay.
Also, we´ve been having problems with Esmeralda again, but I think we´re just going to focus more on her mom and see if she follows. She seems to get to the point that she knows this is true, but doesn´t want to commit because of her "Virgin de Guadalupe." Every time she mentions it, we tell her that her issue isn´t about that, rather whether or not God has called a prophet. Yesterday, she told us to come for her at 9 so she could go to the earlier services. But when we got there, she told us that she was very sorry that she was not going to accompany us because her mom was sick...she said that she might be able to go to our services at 11:00 and to pass by for her. We went and nobody was home. We called her and she said that she went with her God-father and would not return until late.
We passed by late, and she finally told us that she loved the going to church, but that she would no longer be going. I think she expected me to get angry at her or something, but when I didn´t say anything, she started asking me to say something. I wasn´t speaking for two reasons: one, my companion needed practice, and two: I´m so bull-headed that I would have gotten into another discussion. But yeah, I don´t know if it made an impression on her, because I think it did bother her that I´m usually the talkative one and the one that´s laughing and everything, but that in that experience I was just silent. I did learn that my companion is much more capable of teaching than I had initially considered. So I guess this week I will be trying to adjust more so he can learn. I feel like he gained confidence in the time he talked to her, so I guess, even if it didn´t help her, that maybe it helped us as a companionship.
Well, time is short I have to go now. Thanks for everything that you´ve done for me. Thank you for your prayers and support. Keep praying for us so that we´ll have more success.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
I got my package. I did get it intact...I think. I got several Butterfingers (which I´ve almost eaten all of...one with a Halloween message that I got on November 15...sigh.) A teryaki beef jerky. Several slim jims....and HUGE box of Cheezit(which I am already half way through with.) I also got my shoes/army boots.(which is cool because half of the military camp is in my area), and two pairs of socks. (The two intact pairs of socks came as a relief to the now four "saintly" pairs I have...but I guess I can´t send any pictures anymore.)
My son is named Elder Granados. He is from Chihuaha, Chihuaha. And he´s feeling a little bit of home sickness. His father passed away about 2 or three years ago... and when he came on his mission he left his mother and thirteen year-old sister alone...and from what he´s telling me, Chihuaha is not the safest place right now. He´s talked about how they used to follow him home to know where he lived...and how some people would threaten him, telling him that they knew where his sister went to school. So he´s more worried about his family than homesick actually.
This week, we committed someone to get baptized yesterday. Her name is Lourdes Sanchez, and she really is golden. She accepted the date and everything, the only thing is that she wasn´t able to get to church for some reason. Her phone has been off the hook for quite a while, so there was very little that we could do. She was going to get to church late, but also had to leave early to go to Puebla. But I think that she took longer than she thought in the morning, and because of that it was impossible to get to church. Since her phone is still not paid, she couldn't tell us, and we couldn't get a hold of her. She should be coming home today in the afternoon...so we´ll see if we can find her.
Also, we were able to find a new family in an area of the ward that we haven´t worked very much. His name is Manuel Santiago and Luz Rios. They looked at us in such a way that I was like...."we have to contact them." They told us that they had seen us several times and wanted to talk to us but later they were never able to talk to us because we were always too far away from them. So we went Friday and we talked to them about baptism and they both accepted. The only thing is that they weren´t able to go to church this week because he got really sick and they had to go to the hospital to get him checked up. He´s had several strokes (I don´t know if that´s exactly the translation, but its "infarto cerebral" in Spanish.), so they wanted to make sure everything was okay.
Also, we´ve been having problems with Esmeralda again, but I think we´re just going to focus more on her mom and see if she follows. She seems to get to the point that she knows this is true, but doesn´t want to commit because of her "Virgin de Guadalupe." Every time she mentions it, we tell her that her issue isn´t about that, rather whether or not God has called a prophet. Yesterday, she told us to come for her at 9 so she could go to the earlier services. But when we got there, she told us that she was very sorry that she was not going to accompany us because her mom was sick...she said that she might be able to go to our services at 11:00 and to pass by for her. We went and nobody was home. We called her and she said that she went with her God-father and would not return until late.
We passed by late, and she finally told us that she loved the going to church, but that she would no longer be going. I think she expected me to get angry at her or something, but when I didn´t say anything, she started asking me to say something. I wasn´t speaking for two reasons: one, my companion needed practice, and two: I´m so bull-headed that I would have gotten into another discussion. But yeah, I don´t know if it made an impression on her, because I think it did bother her that I´m usually the talkative one and the one that´s laughing and everything, but that in that experience I was just silent. I did learn that my companion is much more capable of teaching than I had initially considered. So I guess this week I will be trying to adjust more so he can learn. I feel like he gained confidence in the time he talked to her, so I guess, even if it didn´t help her, that maybe it helped us as a companionship.
Well, time is short I have to go now. Thanks for everything that you´ve done for me. Thank you for your prayers and support. Keep praying for us so that we´ll have more success.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Weekly Letter: November 8-14, 2011
Yes, it did come, I´m going to pick it up at the offices tomorrow. I´m pretty excited to see what came. It´s been a long last few weeks. It´s rained a little bit and my shoes are doing their best to hold up, but it´s just not quite enough, you know with holes all in the soles. I´m also excited for the other things that could be coming in the mail. This will be my last package in the mission I bet...(because the Christmas season is always really really slow in the mail.), so I´m pretty excited for it, just as if it were Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas. I will be spending Christmas in the Molinito....and probably until the end of my mission. Elder Riches and I got our changes yesterday, and he´s going to El Oro, Estado de Mexico. It´s part of the Toluca Zone and stake, but if you look on a map, it´s in the middle of nowhere. He was a little bummed because we wanted to spend Christmas together, but I think it will be a good change for him. He loves the outdoors and being here in the city he feels a little claustrophobic. I mean, he´s from Grantsville and now he finds himself in one of the biggest cities in the world. I didn´t think myself to be a real camping kind of guy, but here in the city, I´m about ready for a week of camping just to get away from it all. Oh well, I guess it will have to wait until later...there will be plenty of time for camping and all that.
I have not got a clue of who is going to be coming here with me. I just know that I´m training these last two changes. President called me Saturday in the afternoon, and when he does that the Saturday before changes, it means something is going to happen the next change. He called me and told me that I was going to have a shift of responsibility from being a district leader to a trainer. He explained that he wanted me to focus on training this new missionary, and for such he was going give me that responsibility. I don´t know if he wanted to avoid whatever outburst that I imagine he could have gotten from other missionaries, but I just told him that I would be more than willing to do so. Really, I´d much rather have another son than to be a district leader or a zone leader. So yeah, I will get to meet my kid tomorrow at the offices(so I´ll be balancing my package and the luggage of my new companion in the metro...funnnn!)
But yeah, we had some success this week, but not near to what we should have had. Our baptismal date fell through. We saw her Monday, and then we couldn´t find her until Friday. Then we weren´t able to make plans with her about when she was going to get baptized on Sunday because she was going out of town for Saturday. But she never got back....so that fell through pretty hard. But that´s okay because the rest of her family looks pretty interested too. We have an appointment with them on Wednesday, and hopefully we´ll find Carmen too.
So yeah, I´m excited for this week. Plus, we had a bunch of people go to church. One is Esmeralda who had fallen through hard last week because she didn´t want to leave behind certain traditions of her fathers. However, when we found her this week she apologized several times and said she wanted to go to church on Sunday. She went, and her mom also went, but when she found out that Riches was leaving she almost cried. However, she felt very good in church and several people talked to her about their own experiences before baptism, so that she came out of church completely different. Her mom also liked church and attended another baptism(she´s the one that has had dreams about the temple.) Last night when we visited them we were about to share a message about why the Lord calls us to other places. Esmeralda and her brother were there, but the Mom was outside. We asked if she could call her mom in and she muttered something about how her mom didn´t want to change religion. So we didn´t dig too deep in there, but it seems like she´s thinking about baptism right now. So when we visit her on Wednesday we will be inviting her to be baptized this week.
We also have another family that we are planning to invite to baptism on Tuesday, and another family we are visiting on Wednesday that went to church and that we are going to invite to baptism. In all there could be 8 baptisms between those three families, but we have to have some miracles for that to happen, but that would sure be a great way to welcome a new missionary here.
I love the mission. I hate to think what my life would have been without it. I really feel like who I am, I became in the mission. When we train missionaries, we are put in a 12 week study cycle so that we can more easily show them the ropes. Sometimes the two missionaries are changed from the area after the first transfer, but probably this means that I will be here until the end of my mission. I don´t want to think about it, but I feel like my time is up to my neck. I hate the feeling, especially when I see people from my generation and they remind me how much time we have left. When members ask me how long I have in the mission I have been answering "I´ve got a year and a half in Mexico" which is true. I have...unless my calculations are incorrect 19 and half months here in Mexico. They always say "there isn´t much time left," but at least they don´t try to trunk me out like they did to Childers and Perez. However, my generation is pretty big, I don´t think I´ve ever been in a zone without at least two people from my generation in my zone. It´s an unpleasant reminder of all that I have yet to do, and how little time I have to do it.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. I love you all. Please pray for me. Having a kid when you´re finishing up is likely to revive the dead elder or kill the new-born. I hope it will be a Rogers-Calhoun experience for me. I know these are probably going to be my hardest changes in my mission...but bring it on! Please help me first, and then bring it on!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Speaking of Christmas. I will be spending Christmas in the Molinito....and probably until the end of my mission. Elder Riches and I got our changes yesterday, and he´s going to El Oro, Estado de Mexico. It´s part of the Toluca Zone and stake, but if you look on a map, it´s in the middle of nowhere. He was a little bummed because we wanted to spend Christmas together, but I think it will be a good change for him. He loves the outdoors and being here in the city he feels a little claustrophobic. I mean, he´s from Grantsville and now he finds himself in one of the biggest cities in the world. I didn´t think myself to be a real camping kind of guy, but here in the city, I´m about ready for a week of camping just to get away from it all. Oh well, I guess it will have to wait until later...there will be plenty of time for camping and all that.
I have not got a clue of who is going to be coming here with me. I just know that I´m training these last two changes. President called me Saturday in the afternoon, and when he does that the Saturday before changes, it means something is going to happen the next change. He called me and told me that I was going to have a shift of responsibility from being a district leader to a trainer. He explained that he wanted me to focus on training this new missionary, and for such he was going give me that responsibility. I don´t know if he wanted to avoid whatever outburst that I imagine he could have gotten from other missionaries, but I just told him that I would be more than willing to do so. Really, I´d much rather have another son than to be a district leader or a zone leader. So yeah, I will get to meet my kid tomorrow at the offices(so I´ll be balancing my package and the luggage of my new companion in the metro...funnnn!)
But yeah, we had some success this week, but not near to what we should have had. Our baptismal date fell through. We saw her Monday, and then we couldn´t find her until Friday. Then we weren´t able to make plans with her about when she was going to get baptized on Sunday because she was going out of town for Saturday. But she never got back....so that fell through pretty hard. But that´s okay because the rest of her family looks pretty interested too. We have an appointment with them on Wednesday, and hopefully we´ll find Carmen too.
So yeah, I´m excited for this week. Plus, we had a bunch of people go to church. One is Esmeralda who had fallen through hard last week because she didn´t want to leave behind certain traditions of her fathers. However, when we found her this week she apologized several times and said she wanted to go to church on Sunday. She went, and her mom also went, but when she found out that Riches was leaving she almost cried. However, she felt very good in church and several people talked to her about their own experiences before baptism, so that she came out of church completely different. Her mom also liked church and attended another baptism(she´s the one that has had dreams about the temple.) Last night when we visited them we were about to share a message about why the Lord calls us to other places. Esmeralda and her brother were there, but the Mom was outside. We asked if she could call her mom in and she muttered something about how her mom didn´t want to change religion. So we didn´t dig too deep in there, but it seems like she´s thinking about baptism right now. So when we visit her on Wednesday we will be inviting her to be baptized this week.
We also have another family that we are planning to invite to baptism on Tuesday, and another family we are visiting on Wednesday that went to church and that we are going to invite to baptism. In all there could be 8 baptisms between those three families, but we have to have some miracles for that to happen, but that would sure be a great way to welcome a new missionary here.
I love the mission. I hate to think what my life would have been without it. I really feel like who I am, I became in the mission. When we train missionaries, we are put in a 12 week study cycle so that we can more easily show them the ropes. Sometimes the two missionaries are changed from the area after the first transfer, but probably this means that I will be here until the end of my mission. I don´t want to think about it, but I feel like my time is up to my neck. I hate the feeling, especially when I see people from my generation and they remind me how much time we have left. When members ask me how long I have in the mission I have been answering "I´ve got a year and a half in Mexico" which is true. I have...unless my calculations are incorrect 19 and half months here in Mexico. They always say "there isn´t much time left," but at least they don´t try to trunk me out like they did to Childers and Perez. However, my generation is pretty big, I don´t think I´ve ever been in a zone without at least two people from my generation in my zone. It´s an unpleasant reminder of all that I have yet to do, and how little time I have to do it.
Thank you all for your prayers and support. I love you all. Please pray for me. Having a kid when you´re finishing up is likely to revive the dead elder or kill the new-born. I hope it will be a Rogers-Calhoun experience for me. I know these are probably going to be my hardest changes in my mission...but bring it on! Please help me first, and then bring it on!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Weekly Letter: November 1-7, 2011
This week was the trial by fire period. We had really good days, and horrible days. Horrible days like with Margarita and with Esmeralda. I will mention each experience separately.
Margarita´s adult daughter, Nancy, got baptized in August. She hadn´t wanted to get baptized until about four weeks ago, when she wanted to get baptized as a surprise for her daughter Nancy. However, she was not able to get baptized that day because she had to go with her brother to resolve some papers for her trip the next week to the Mediterranean. So we had to cancel her surprise baptism until a month later when she would be getting home.
Well, she got home this week, and we went to visit her, and she smelled like smoke. We asked her what she thought about baptism and she told us this: "I´m sorry, I will no longer be baptized." We tried to see where she was having resistance...we tried seeing if it was the smoking habit or something else. But she said that it wasn´t a problem, that she hadn´t smoked at all the whole month on the Mediterranean and had felt fine. We got to the point where we would explain to her that God wanted her to get baptized, but she kept firm and said the following: "I know God wants me to get baptized, and I know that he wants me to be baptized this week, but I will not do it....but I´ll apologize to him later." At that point, it was pretty late and I could see that we were not making progress, so frustrated and distracted we went home.
Then Esmeralda. She was the investigator that had been waiting for us last week to go to church, but never called us so we didn´t go. This week she felt really bad, so she committed to go to the dance activity that Friday, and then go to church on Sunday. She went to the dance on Friday, but then didn´t want to go to church on Sunday, and completely did a dead stop in her progression. We´re stilling trying to figure out what happened, because she said that she had a great time at the dance. She said that she wanted to attend her Catholic church on Sunday. We invited her to go to both meetings, and she was going to do so, but then out of nowhere she asked about images and the virgin of Guadalupe. I told her straight at that moment, that that question was not relevant in that moment. I told her to go to the chapel, she would have some questions and we could answer them more directly (it was Saturday night and we had an important appointment at 8:00 on the other side of the area). That was the worst thing I could have said, because she just stopped and said, that she would no longer go to Church. I guess we may be leaving her after all. On Sunday morning when we stopped by, she reaffirmed that she was not going to go to church, but that we could stop by in the week. Frankly I´m doubting that it would be of much use.
But in the darkest of moments, that´s when miracles occur. We contacted a lady in the street on Wednesday named Carmen, and she stopped everything to talk to us. She wanted us to go to her house that same day so we did our best to get there at 6:00. We got there very late and she had already gone. Her mom answered and told us that she had mentioned specifically that we were going to come by. If we came late, she was to set an appointment for the next day and tell her when the appointment was to be.
There are several times that I have invited someone to baptism in the first appointment, but very few times that we put a date the same appointment. Due to the rules set by the president, we need only two times in the church before baptizing an investigator. So when she accepted baptism we then proceeded to the date for the next Sunday. She accepted it very well...and then we explained that we wanted her to get to know the church before getting baptized, so we invited her to church.
Then on Sunday, we passed by, but she wasn´t there. We were really worried despite the fact that her family said that she left for the church on her own. We got to the church with another family we had invited, and nobody was there...just members. I think my companion and I were both praying that she would show up...and right before the prayer, she shows up with her two young daughters and her ex husband(which actually was never her husband because they never got married legally, but now they are separated.) We were a little concerned they may have been living together, even though she had said that she lived alone with her daughters. The husband said that he had attended church in Tenayo(the stake next to Tlalnepantla), and wanted to start attending again. We verified that they were indeed separated...and living in different places. He does live in our boundaries, but it´s far away enough that it doesn´t cause too much concern. We definitely have to explain the Law of Chastity this week.
So yeah, we´re actually going to head over there pretty soon to reaffirm the baptismal date for this week and set an appointment for an interview. Plus we have several possible people to get baptized this week that have gone to church these last two weeks and have accepted baptism, just not a date...yet. So please pray for us! We´re getting things moving here in the Molinito finally, and we got to keep it moving!
Carińos,
Elder Blackham
Margarita´s adult daughter, Nancy, got baptized in August. She hadn´t wanted to get baptized until about four weeks ago, when she wanted to get baptized as a surprise for her daughter Nancy. However, she was not able to get baptized that day because she had to go with her brother to resolve some papers for her trip the next week to the Mediterranean. So we had to cancel her surprise baptism until a month later when she would be getting home.
Well, she got home this week, and we went to visit her, and she smelled like smoke. We asked her what she thought about baptism and she told us this: "I´m sorry, I will no longer be baptized." We tried to see where she was having resistance...we tried seeing if it was the smoking habit or something else. But she said that it wasn´t a problem, that she hadn´t smoked at all the whole month on the Mediterranean and had felt fine. We got to the point where we would explain to her that God wanted her to get baptized, but she kept firm and said the following: "I know God wants me to get baptized, and I know that he wants me to be baptized this week, but I will not do it....but I´ll apologize to him later." At that point, it was pretty late and I could see that we were not making progress, so frustrated and distracted we went home.
Then Esmeralda. She was the investigator that had been waiting for us last week to go to church, but never called us so we didn´t go. This week she felt really bad, so she committed to go to the dance activity that Friday, and then go to church on Sunday. She went to the dance on Friday, but then didn´t want to go to church on Sunday, and completely did a dead stop in her progression. We´re stilling trying to figure out what happened, because she said that she had a great time at the dance. She said that she wanted to attend her Catholic church on Sunday. We invited her to go to both meetings, and she was going to do so, but then out of nowhere she asked about images and the virgin of Guadalupe. I told her straight at that moment, that that question was not relevant in that moment. I told her to go to the chapel, she would have some questions and we could answer them more directly (it was Saturday night and we had an important appointment at 8:00 on the other side of the area). That was the worst thing I could have said, because she just stopped and said, that she would no longer go to Church. I guess we may be leaving her after all. On Sunday morning when we stopped by, she reaffirmed that she was not going to go to church, but that we could stop by in the week. Frankly I´m doubting that it would be of much use.
But in the darkest of moments, that´s when miracles occur. We contacted a lady in the street on Wednesday named Carmen, and she stopped everything to talk to us. She wanted us to go to her house that same day so we did our best to get there at 6:00. We got there very late and she had already gone. Her mom answered and told us that she had mentioned specifically that we were going to come by. If we came late, she was to set an appointment for the next day and tell her when the appointment was to be.
There are several times that I have invited someone to baptism in the first appointment, but very few times that we put a date the same appointment. Due to the rules set by the president, we need only two times in the church before baptizing an investigator. So when she accepted baptism we then proceeded to the date for the next Sunday. She accepted it very well...and then we explained that we wanted her to get to know the church before getting baptized, so we invited her to church.
Then on Sunday, we passed by, but she wasn´t there. We were really worried despite the fact that her family said that she left for the church on her own. We got to the church with another family we had invited, and nobody was there...just members. I think my companion and I were both praying that she would show up...and right before the prayer, she shows up with her two young daughters and her ex husband(which actually was never her husband because they never got married legally, but now they are separated.) We were a little concerned they may have been living together, even though she had said that she lived alone with her daughters. The husband said that he had attended church in Tenayo(the stake next to Tlalnepantla), and wanted to start attending again. We verified that they were indeed separated...and living in different places. He does live in our boundaries, but it´s far away enough that it doesn´t cause too much concern. We definitely have to explain the Law of Chastity this week.
So yeah, we´re actually going to head over there pretty soon to reaffirm the baptismal date for this week and set an appointment for an interview. Plus we have several possible people to get baptized this week that have gone to church these last two weeks and have accepted baptism, just not a date...yet. So please pray for us! We´re getting things moving here in the Molinito finally, and we got to keep it moving!
Carińos,
Elder Blackham
Friday, November 4, 2011
Weekly Letter: October 25-31, 2011
para mi familia:
So yeah, sorry about that. I bet you guys freaked out yesterday because I didn´t write. What happened is that the zone leaders had a council meeting with the pres yesterday, so they changed yesterday to be an all work day. Then today, Tuesday, we had our district meeting, and then the rest of the day we have to be able to do the p-day stuff. So that is why I am writing you guys right now. So we went to the Centro of Mexico. It was way cool. We got to see the cathedral of Mexico which is amazing. It´s huge. I had already seen it another time when I was in Tacubaya when it was still in my zone. But this time I really had a bigger appreciation for the architecture and size of it.
They did allow us to take pictures with the flashes turned off, so I did get some pictures of it. You will probably see what I mean by that it is awesome architecturally, but spiritually, one feels...turned off, for lack of a better term. It seems empty when you go into it, even when they´re doing a Mass...actually I felt more of that feeling when the mass started as we left. Call it what you will, that I am unaccustomed to the way they worship, that I´m not used to the images. I have been here longer than a year and a half. Every street corner has Virgin de Guadalupe. I am so used to entering into a house with walls adorned with Saints. I am pretty familiar with the way they worship and everything...and I go to get an appreciation of the architecture of a people that built that place out of their faith in Christ....but I still did not feel comfortable. I do not base my testimony on this, but the only two Christian churches that claim to have the authority of God to do His will here on Earth are our church and the Catholic Church, and judging by the way I felt in that church...it just strengthens my testimony even more of the truthfulness of this church.
But yeah, it was a great experience being there to see a little bit of that. Now, as for these last two weeks, several things have happened that really get my hopes up for this week. These last four weeks we have had NO ONE in Church...that´s right, no one. And I have to admit, I was getting discouraged on my sanctification because it didn´t seem to make a difference. We kept finding people, they looked very good....they said they would go to church, and we go for them, and....nope! They´re either not there, or they´re leaving at that moment, or they tell us straight that they don´t want to hear anything else from us....it´s like ARRGHH! It was more frustrating than anything. In Tlalli, we didn´t have to work too hard to get people to church, they showed up on being invited...but here, the Molinito (what is known in the whole mission as the promised land, where the only risk in the mission is pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font) here we were working harder than I have ever worked to get people in church, and NOBODY WAS GOING TO CHURCH!!!!
I guess I got a hard lesson on humility. I have learned not to compare my success with others, but to use it as a motivation to get things moving where I am at. If it weren´t for all the rumors and legends of all-star Molinito with two sets of missionaries in every ward because one pair isn´t enough to baptize and visit everyone that wants to be baptized... If it weren´t for that and I had gotten here and everything had fallen through time and time again...maybe I would have just given up. But I didn´t. I found that I could be more diligent than I thought. I found that I could be more obedient than I thought, I learned that I could have my "eye single to the glory of God" more than I had did before. And I am so grateful for it.
I love Elder Riches, I wish he would have had a better mission than he has had. I am one of 7 companions he has had on the mission so far, and I am 1 of only 3, that haven´t been sent home early for disobedience. One is Elder Loya that was here before I was, the other one was no other than our Elder Long from the Draper Eastridge Stake. Elder Riches mentioned that he has only baptized one person every change...but I hope that we change that this week. We have one so far, and 3 possibles for this week...we are going to work harder than ever so that we can get them baptized.
I love how much I have learned from Elder Riches. He really is the one that made the work go forward. He taught me of love and humility. I was to the point where if an investigator gave us another appointment and fell through, or if they were going to church and didn´t show up, I was to the point where I said. "Well that didn´t work, let´s look for somebody else." He was the one that said "Wait, let us prune one more time and dung it one more time and maybe we´ll have fruit." I had a hard lesson on Sunday night, when we visited one such family that completely fell through on us the Sunday before to go to church. We went back to what I thought would be the last "seed planting" before putting them in the Area book. However, we get there and they said "Why didn´t you come for us? We were waiting for you guys!" I felt so bad. They had told us that they would call us to let us know if we were to pass by for them or not....but they didn´t call.
However, the mom was able to accompany us for the baptism that the other elders had that night, and we´re hoping that that will make a difference in her progress as an investigator.
Well, I got to go. Love you so much for all you´ve done and everything. One last thing can you track down what happened to the package you sent me, a lot of packages in those dates have already arrived, and mine hasn´t. What was the date that you sent it? Do you have the package number or something for the secretaries to track it down?
Love you lots!
Elder Blackham
So yeah, sorry about that. I bet you guys freaked out yesterday because I didn´t write. What happened is that the zone leaders had a council meeting with the pres yesterday, so they changed yesterday to be an all work day. Then today, Tuesday, we had our district meeting, and then the rest of the day we have to be able to do the p-day stuff. So that is why I am writing you guys right now. So we went to the Centro of Mexico. It was way cool. We got to see the cathedral of Mexico which is amazing. It´s huge. I had already seen it another time when I was in Tacubaya when it was still in my zone. But this time I really had a bigger appreciation for the architecture and size of it.
They did allow us to take pictures with the flashes turned off, so I did get some pictures of it. You will probably see what I mean by that it is awesome architecturally, but spiritually, one feels...turned off, for lack of a better term. It seems empty when you go into it, even when they´re doing a Mass...actually I felt more of that feeling when the mass started as we left. Call it what you will, that I am unaccustomed to the way they worship, that I´m not used to the images. I have been here longer than a year and a half. Every street corner has Virgin de Guadalupe. I am so used to entering into a house with walls adorned with Saints. I am pretty familiar with the way they worship and everything...and I go to get an appreciation of the architecture of a people that built that place out of their faith in Christ....but I still did not feel comfortable. I do not base my testimony on this, but the only two Christian churches that claim to have the authority of God to do His will here on Earth are our church and the Catholic Church, and judging by the way I felt in that church...it just strengthens my testimony even more of the truthfulness of this church.
But yeah, it was a great experience being there to see a little bit of that. Now, as for these last two weeks, several things have happened that really get my hopes up for this week. These last four weeks we have had NO ONE in Church...that´s right, no one. And I have to admit, I was getting discouraged on my sanctification because it didn´t seem to make a difference. We kept finding people, they looked very good....they said they would go to church, and we go for them, and....nope! They´re either not there, or they´re leaving at that moment, or they tell us straight that they don´t want to hear anything else from us....it´s like ARRGHH! It was more frustrating than anything. In Tlalli, we didn´t have to work too hard to get people to church, they showed up on being invited...but here, the Molinito (what is known in the whole mission as the promised land, where the only risk in the mission is pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font) here we were working harder than I have ever worked to get people in church, and NOBODY WAS GOING TO CHURCH!!!!
I guess I got a hard lesson on humility. I have learned not to compare my success with others, but to use it as a motivation to get things moving where I am at. If it weren´t for all the rumors and legends of all-star Molinito with two sets of missionaries in every ward because one pair isn´t enough to baptize and visit everyone that wants to be baptized... If it weren´t for that and I had gotten here and everything had fallen through time and time again...maybe I would have just given up. But I didn´t. I found that I could be more diligent than I thought. I found that I could be more obedient than I thought, I learned that I could have my "eye single to the glory of God" more than I had did before. And I am so grateful for it.
I love Elder Riches, I wish he would have had a better mission than he has had. I am one of 7 companions he has had on the mission so far, and I am 1 of only 3, that haven´t been sent home early for disobedience. One is Elder Loya that was here before I was, the other one was no other than our Elder Long from the Draper Eastridge Stake. Elder Riches mentioned that he has only baptized one person every change...but I hope that we change that this week. We have one so far, and 3 possibles for this week...we are going to work harder than ever so that we can get them baptized.
I love how much I have learned from Elder Riches. He really is the one that made the work go forward. He taught me of love and humility. I was to the point where if an investigator gave us another appointment and fell through, or if they were going to church and didn´t show up, I was to the point where I said. "Well that didn´t work, let´s look for somebody else." He was the one that said "Wait, let us prune one more time and dung it one more time and maybe we´ll have fruit." I had a hard lesson on Sunday night, when we visited one such family that completely fell through on us the Sunday before to go to church. We went back to what I thought would be the last "seed planting" before putting them in the Area book. However, we get there and they said "Why didn´t you come for us? We were waiting for you guys!" I felt so bad. They had told us that they would call us to let us know if we were to pass by for them or not....but they didn´t call.
However, the mom was able to accompany us for the baptism that the other elders had that night, and we´re hoping that that will make a difference in her progress as an investigator.
Well, I got to go. Love you so much for all you´ve done and everything. One last thing can you track down what happened to the package you sent me, a lot of packages in those dates have already arrived, and mine hasn´t. What was the date that you sent it? Do you have the package number or something for the secretaries to track it down?
Love you lots!
Elder Blackham
Weekly Letter: October 18-24, 2011
para mi familia:
Well, we went to the Zocalo today. We got special permission to do so, but we got back later than we thought, and were not able to write before because we had to wash with a sister that later leaves. I got special permission to write you to tell you guys I´m fine, in a little bit of hurry, but all is well. I´ll print your letter you sent me, and then next week I´ll write about these two weeks.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Well, we went to the Zocalo today. We got special permission to do so, but we got back later than we thought, and were not able to write before because we had to wash with a sister that later leaves. I got special permission to write you to tell you guys I´m fine, in a little bit of hurry, but all is well. I´ll print your letter you sent me, and then next week I´ll write about these two weeks.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Weekly Letter: October 11-17, 2011
para solo mi familia:
So, as requested by my mission president. I am sending you a calendar that he sent to us at the beginning of the change. In these two changes we are going to be reading the Book of Mormon as a Mission. And he wants you to have the opportunity to do so as well. President Villarreal is really into this unity as a mission thing. That´s why he´s doing all this stuff, and that´s why he´s trying to include you guys too. The DVD he sent, the Book of Mormon reading schedule (notice it is LibEro de Mormón and no Libro de Mormón. I still haven´t found the Libero de Mormón in my missionary resource Library, so I´ll read the Libro de Mormón instead.) I´m truly blessed to be serving under such a visionary man called of God. He has the goal for this month of 400 baptisms. Literally he has scooped the mission from the dumps and apostasy to being the best baptizing mission in Mexico, and usually the world.
The mission in December last year had a whole 98 baptisms in the whole month. And ever since, things have been changing. May we had 5 sundays in the month, and for the first time in mission history we broke the 300 mark with 319. In less than 6 months he´s turned everything around. Another two months later we hit the same 319 mark in July which also was a month with 5 Sundays. Then came last month, september, a regular four week month. We reached 303 baptisms...baptizing 98 on the last week of the month! It is a stark contrast from what we have ever seen before in the mission. So when he speaks of October and baptizing 400...I look at the calendar, and I´m like...."another 5 sunday month" and I say "Let´s do it!"
The President has said that he acclaims our success to the new-found focus on obedience, diligence, and desire. My companion and I are trying really hard to achieve the last two attributes. To do so, we have decided to do a santification challenge. You may have heard of it because it seems to be quite popular in the mission. It includes fasting and while in the attitude of fasting, writing a list of activities or distractions that impede you from being 100% focused in the work. We decided to do so, because we literally have the promised land under our hoz(what´s the English word for that? Scythe?), and we´re not reaping what we should be doing. In Mexico it is quite a challenge because of several distraccions that we see everyday.
One, the busses and combies(little vans that are public transport) always have music playing, and many times you get to here cool songs from artists that you knew before the mission. You later have incomplete families in the church, or inactive families who give you food and they leave the television running with a pirated version of a movie that just came out in Theaters. You have several distractions that will kill the spirit and you in your missionary desires, if you don´t do anything about. Then you have a missionary companion from the same state as you, and of course, it is so easy to get distracted when you´re talking because you relate to much. (If anyone has said that you get along too well with someone, has not gone foreign on a mission where most of your companions come from a completely different culture, and very rarely you find yourself with a companion that is basically what your best friend would have been before the mission.)
So let´s just say that the Santification challenge is really hard....but I´m doing it with the hope the my desires will change. The missionary that first did the "fast" of forty days of such distractions said that at first he had such an ache for those distractions, and there were so many temptations that he could not even bare it. However, every night, applying the repentance process he would ask for more strength to go on. He then later says that about the last week of his "fast" he had found that he no longer had the desire to say those things. So that is my hope, that even though it kills me having plug my ears in the bus and sing a hymn, when really I´d rather listen to it, because I love the song and/or group that sings the son, eventually I´ll get to the point that I will no longer even want to listen to that stuff. I will be even happier than I am now because I will enjoy this fast, and I won´t feel guilty about it afterwards.
Well, I wrote about all that fast, so I hope it makes sense. Anyway, so we started that on Saturday, and so far, we´re working really hard. We fall a lot, but we keep picking ourselves up. I realize that the Lord doesn´t ask for perfection because he expects us to achieve it, he asks it of us expecting us to be repentant; and it is then that he blesses us. I wish I had more of chance to explain about the miracle famiy we found the very Saturday that we starting this Santification Challenge. I also wish I could tell you about Jorge, and how he worked so hard to be able to get baptized yesterday...even putting his job at stake...and being in the military, that´s a pretty big deal. It was such a beautiful miracle...and I know it is only the start if we keep work at this. I´m looking at this week, we don´t have anyone in teaching to get baptized this week. But I´m strangely calm. I know that if I am obedient, diligent, and keep trying to mold my desires to His desires, we will find someone to baptize this week.
Please pray for us. We need the support.
Thank you all. Love you all.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
So, as requested by my mission president. I am sending you a calendar that he sent to us at the beginning of the change. In these two changes we are going to be reading the Book of Mormon as a Mission. And he wants you to have the opportunity to do so as well. President Villarreal is really into this unity as a mission thing. That´s why he´s doing all this stuff, and that´s why he´s trying to include you guys too. The DVD he sent, the Book of Mormon reading schedule (notice it is LibEro de Mormón and no Libro de Mormón. I still haven´t found the Libero de Mormón in my missionary resource Library, so I´ll read the Libro de Mormón instead.) I´m truly blessed to be serving under such a visionary man called of God. He has the goal for this month of 400 baptisms. Literally he has scooped the mission from the dumps and apostasy to being the best baptizing mission in Mexico, and usually the world.
The mission in December last year had a whole 98 baptisms in the whole month. And ever since, things have been changing. May we had 5 sundays in the month, and for the first time in mission history we broke the 300 mark with 319. In less than 6 months he´s turned everything around. Another two months later we hit the same 319 mark in July which also was a month with 5 Sundays. Then came last month, september, a regular four week month. We reached 303 baptisms...baptizing 98 on the last week of the month! It is a stark contrast from what we have ever seen before in the mission. So when he speaks of October and baptizing 400...I look at the calendar, and I´m like...."another 5 sunday month" and I say "Let´s do it!"
The President has said that he acclaims our success to the new-found focus on obedience, diligence, and desire. My companion and I are trying really hard to achieve the last two attributes. To do so, we have decided to do a santification challenge. You may have heard of it because it seems to be quite popular in the mission. It includes fasting and while in the attitude of fasting, writing a list of activities or distractions that impede you from being 100% focused in the work. We decided to do so, because we literally have the promised land under our hoz(what´s the English word for that? Scythe?), and we´re not reaping what we should be doing. In Mexico it is quite a challenge because of several distraccions that we see everyday.
One, the busses and combies(little vans that are public transport) always have music playing, and many times you get to here cool songs from artists that you knew before the mission. You later have incomplete families in the church, or inactive families who give you food and they leave the television running with a pirated version of a movie that just came out in Theaters. You have several distractions that will kill the spirit and you in your missionary desires, if you don´t do anything about. Then you have a missionary companion from the same state as you, and of course, it is so easy to get distracted when you´re talking because you relate to much. (If anyone has said that you get along too well with someone, has not gone foreign on a mission where most of your companions come from a completely different culture, and very rarely you find yourself with a companion that is basically what your best friend would have been before the mission.)
So let´s just say that the Santification challenge is really hard....but I´m doing it with the hope the my desires will change. The missionary that first did the "fast" of forty days of such distractions said that at first he had such an ache for those distractions, and there were so many temptations that he could not even bare it. However, every night, applying the repentance process he would ask for more strength to go on. He then later says that about the last week of his "fast" he had found that he no longer had the desire to say those things. So that is my hope, that even though it kills me having plug my ears in the bus and sing a hymn, when really I´d rather listen to it, because I love the song and/or group that sings the son, eventually I´ll get to the point that I will no longer even want to listen to that stuff. I will be even happier than I am now because I will enjoy this fast, and I won´t feel guilty about it afterwards.
Well, I wrote about all that fast, so I hope it makes sense. Anyway, so we started that on Saturday, and so far, we´re working really hard. We fall a lot, but we keep picking ourselves up. I realize that the Lord doesn´t ask for perfection because he expects us to achieve it, he asks it of us expecting us to be repentant; and it is then that he blesses us. I wish I had more of chance to explain about the miracle famiy we found the very Saturday that we starting this Santification Challenge. I also wish I could tell you about Jorge, and how he worked so hard to be able to get baptized yesterday...even putting his job at stake...and being in the military, that´s a pretty big deal. It was such a beautiful miracle...and I know it is only the start if we keep work at this. I´m looking at this week, we don´t have anyone in teaching to get baptized this week. But I´m strangely calm. I know that if I am obedient, diligent, and keep trying to mold my desires to His desires, we will find someone to baptize this week.
Please pray for us. We need the support.
Thank you all. Love you all.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Weekly Letter: October 4-10, 2011
This week, it was pretty awesome. Elder Riches and I really got along pretty well. Like seriously, we were laughing so hard sometimes in planning that we got finished planning pretty late. But we figured out how to work efficiently together, so that´s a good thing.
We were able to work with several people this week that were progressing when we got there. And I tried to get Riches motivated to be able to do more contacting as I had learned the week before in Tlalli. He said that he and Elder Loya had done very few contacts and for such hadn´t had much success in the area.
So yeah, we found several investigators this week, some look like they´re going to progress others, don´t look as promising. One such family was the Ortiz Family. When we first talked to them, they were outside working on their electricity. We asked if we could help them out with something, but they declined. We then asked if we could share a short message with them, and they accepted. We entered into their home and taught a lesson about the Atonement and how it can be applied to our lives through baptism.
We sensed early on that they were hesitant about everything, but they accepted it pretty well...and we put another appointment. When we went for the other appointment, something had changed. They no longer wanted to listen to us. They said they didn´t want to be rude, but that they literally had no time left. We asked for just ten minutes to share a message. We shared the restoration and the spirit was very strong, possibly stronger than at any other point in my mission. Only then did they accept that they would pray about whether or not they should be baptized.
We still have to verify that, but we´ll see how it goes this week. They are a great family, and I hope they can recieve the answer and have the courage to do what they are told. So yeah, we are working on several people over there.
I´m sorry for not being able to write very much. I was in a internet cafe and the power went out, so I have to cut things pretty short. Basically, this week, the baptism that we had for fell through because at the last minute she had to go out of town with a brother. And she´s going out of town the next week so she can´t be baptized until after that. However, we do have an investigator that is named Jorge that really wants to get married to be baptized. They are supposed to be getting married this week so that he can get baptized on Saturday, his wife is already a member and is even more excited that he finally wants to be baptized. I really only got to know them once because she went out of town to get her birth certificate and voters license in Puebla so they can get married this week.
Well, I wish I could write more. Yeah, so things are great in Molinito 1. I´ll answer the rest of the questions next week!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
We were able to work with several people this week that were progressing when we got there. And I tried to get Riches motivated to be able to do more contacting as I had learned the week before in Tlalli. He said that he and Elder Loya had done very few contacts and for such hadn´t had much success in the area.
So yeah, we found several investigators this week, some look like they´re going to progress others, don´t look as promising. One such family was the Ortiz Family. When we first talked to them, they were outside working on their electricity. We asked if we could help them out with something, but they declined. We then asked if we could share a short message with them, and they accepted. We entered into their home and taught a lesson about the Atonement and how it can be applied to our lives through baptism.
We sensed early on that they were hesitant about everything, but they accepted it pretty well...and we put another appointment. When we went for the other appointment, something had changed. They no longer wanted to listen to us. They said they didn´t want to be rude, but that they literally had no time left. We asked for just ten minutes to share a message. We shared the restoration and the spirit was very strong, possibly stronger than at any other point in my mission. Only then did they accept that they would pray about whether or not they should be baptized.
We still have to verify that, but we´ll see how it goes this week. They are a great family, and I hope they can recieve the answer and have the courage to do what they are told. So yeah, we are working on several people over there.
I´m sorry for not being able to write very much. I was in a internet cafe and the power went out, so I have to cut things pretty short. Basically, this week, the baptism that we had for fell through because at the last minute she had to go out of town with a brother. And she´s going out of town the next week so she can´t be baptized until after that. However, we do have an investigator that is named Jorge that really wants to get married to be baptized. They are supposed to be getting married this week so that he can get baptized on Saturday, his wife is already a member and is even more excited that he finally wants to be baptized. I really only got to know them once because she went out of town to get her birth certificate and voters license in Puebla so they can get married this week.
Well, I wish I could write more. Yeah, so things are great in Molinito 1. I´ll answer the rest of the questions next week!
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Weekly Letter: September 26-October 3, 2011
para mi familia:
I imagine that you were expecting this letter to come late. (I´m sorry, the keyboard doesn´t write the letter C very well, so excuse the typos) Yeah, there were changes, and I got changed to the Molinito....again! You may remember that I was here about 9 months ago, we had just barely divided the ward into two areas. Well, I´m back, but now in the other half of the ward. My new companion´s name is Elder Riches and he is from Grantsville, Utah (yeah, like where we would pass by to go to Lake Tahoe.) It´s kind of an interesting ordeal being two gringos from Utah in Mexico...I had never had that experience before, but now I have two companions in a row that are from Utah, so that´s pretty interesting.
Once again, for General Conference, the president asked us to work in our areas on Saturday, and invite the people to go two sessions on Sunday. I was pretty disappointed, but it seems like they will be sending the Zones disks with the Saturday sessions on them (including Priesthood Session). It was an awesome experience in this week. They had challenged us to do the 140 contacts that Elder Ballard had challenged us to do(or simply they reiterated that same promise.) We hadn´t been doing well with the contacts, but I came to have a testimony that if we do contact at least 10 per day per companion, that the baptisms would increase dramatically. Unfortunately, we fell short of the goal, only doing 118 of the 140 contacts, but we improved drastically the way we worked together, and we began to really notice how we began to notice from the get go who we should teach and whom we should let sprout the seed.
In this last change I have really made great progress in being able to express love for the people...even in the street before knowing them. It´s funny because I was going to say that I learned to express my love for the people. This is probably because I really felt it this week, however I realize that it wasn´t really my love, but His. We as human beings are not able to love everybody on sight. Luckily enough, being a mere Vessel of Charity really is a joyful experience. It is very weird, because you feel a desire for the best of the people, and feel like you have a confidence to talk to them as if you had a long time getting to know them....but it´s really the first time you´ve ever seen them before. It´s amazing the difference it makes in contacting, in teaching, and in doing interviews. The people are much more receptive when you show that you care. Even if they choose to reject the message, you remain feeling like you´ve done your part in planting the seed, and you move on to look for more souls to harvest.
I feel like we were able to plant and nurture several seed this week, which I hope the next week will be harvested. It´s weird speaking of them because they are so far away, and I don´t know how to trace their progress. The first investigator was Luz Chavez, who is a neighbor of ours that is really receptive to the message of the restoration. She was able to read the pamphlet, and understood 3 Nephi 11 to a perfection. My companion and Elder Loya will have to program a baptismal date with her, because her busy work schedule makes it difficult that she can get baptized this week. She was also able to attend the last session of General Conference, and afterwards she looked at us and said..."this was what I was looking for."
Another family, the Caixba Martinez Family was another great tender mercy we found this week. We knocked on their door while looking for a reference which ended up being a bad address. However, the Lord works in mysterious ways, and we were able to find this couple and their young child. Both of them had listened to various religions before, the Jehovah´s Witnesses, the Baptist, Presbyterians, and all of the bunch. They had seen companions of us over by the Metro Rosario, where there is a big Stake Center (it is now my Stake Center in this area), and they wanted to know why we had never been over there. It was really interesting then, that I, after four and half months in that area, and having never before explored that part of the area, decided to take advantage of the spare time to knock doors because nobody was in the street.
The wife, Carmen, opened the door, and immediately invited us to come in and talk to the both of them. We taught them both Lesson one and Lesson Three, but we were not able to commit them to get baptized because they are not legally married. However, they did go to General Conference Sunday morning. My companion Elder Price and I did interchanges with ward missionaries to pass for several investigators. Elder Price tells me that when he got there, the brother was already ready and told them to get in his taxi to go to church.
The last tender mercy we found was a mother and son who have a store in the Center of Tlalnepantla. Her name is Raquel, and he is Cristian. We had a great talk about the restoration, and they both committed to read the pamphlet, we were not able to explain much about or give away a Book of Mormon, but it was a really good lesson. We also invited them to go to Conference. On Sunday another ward missionary and I passed for them at about 10:00, she opened the door and said that she would meet us there, that there was no gas and hadn´t been able to shower nor get ready. She also explained that the son was not going to be able to attend with us.
So I got back to the church, meeting my companion and his temporary companion, and I was not completely sure how things were going to end up from my end. She seemed sincere enough, but a missionary well knows that that doesn´t mean anything really. I did pray that she would show up during the conference. Then at the end, I was approached by a well groomed lady. I recognized her to be Raquel, she thanked us for inviting her, and told us that she had been thoroughly impressed by the spirit of the conference. She then asked "Do you have the book of mormon that it mentions in the pamphlet, and that gentleman mentioned in his talk?" We were obliged to give her one, set an appointment for the next day to talk once again....she thanked us again graciously and asked how much she owed us, we assured her that it was simply a gift that we give to all that are interested in this message.
There is not much time. I know this is the true Church. I know that this work is the Lord´s work. There is no other explanation. Human hands cannot do what we are doing...we are nothing in comparison to the work the Lord will do if we do not impede him by our own actions and worldly desires. I wish I had been working this whole change, this whole mission like I´m doing right now. But I can´t afford to look back to regret... There is no time.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
I imagine that you were expecting this letter to come late. (I´m sorry, the keyboard doesn´t write the letter C very well, so excuse the typos) Yeah, there were changes, and I got changed to the Molinito....again! You may remember that I was here about 9 months ago, we had just barely divided the ward into two areas. Well, I´m back, but now in the other half of the ward. My new companion´s name is Elder Riches and he is from Grantsville, Utah (yeah, like where we would pass by to go to Lake Tahoe.) It´s kind of an interesting ordeal being two gringos from Utah in Mexico...I had never had that experience before, but now I have two companions in a row that are from Utah, so that´s pretty interesting.
Once again, for General Conference, the president asked us to work in our areas on Saturday, and invite the people to go two sessions on Sunday. I was pretty disappointed, but it seems like they will be sending the Zones disks with the Saturday sessions on them (including Priesthood Session). It was an awesome experience in this week. They had challenged us to do the 140 contacts that Elder Ballard had challenged us to do(or simply they reiterated that same promise.) We hadn´t been doing well with the contacts, but I came to have a testimony that if we do contact at least 10 per day per companion, that the baptisms would increase dramatically. Unfortunately, we fell short of the goal, only doing 118 of the 140 contacts, but we improved drastically the way we worked together, and we began to really notice how we began to notice from the get go who we should teach and whom we should let sprout the seed.
In this last change I have really made great progress in being able to express love for the people...even in the street before knowing them. It´s funny because I was going to say that I learned to express my love for the people. This is probably because I really felt it this week, however I realize that it wasn´t really my love, but His. We as human beings are not able to love everybody on sight. Luckily enough, being a mere Vessel of Charity really is a joyful experience. It is very weird, because you feel a desire for the best of the people, and feel like you have a confidence to talk to them as if you had a long time getting to know them....but it´s really the first time you´ve ever seen them before. It´s amazing the difference it makes in contacting, in teaching, and in doing interviews. The people are much more receptive when you show that you care. Even if they choose to reject the message, you remain feeling like you´ve done your part in planting the seed, and you move on to look for more souls to harvest.
I feel like we were able to plant and nurture several seed this week, which I hope the next week will be harvested. It´s weird speaking of them because they are so far away, and I don´t know how to trace their progress. The first investigator was Luz Chavez, who is a neighbor of ours that is really receptive to the message of the restoration. She was able to read the pamphlet, and understood 3 Nephi 11 to a perfection. My companion and Elder Loya will have to program a baptismal date with her, because her busy work schedule makes it difficult that she can get baptized this week. She was also able to attend the last session of General Conference, and afterwards she looked at us and said..."this was what I was looking for."
Another family, the Caixba Martinez Family was another great tender mercy we found this week. We knocked on their door while looking for a reference which ended up being a bad address. However, the Lord works in mysterious ways, and we were able to find this couple and their young child. Both of them had listened to various religions before, the Jehovah´s Witnesses, the Baptist, Presbyterians, and all of the bunch. They had seen companions of us over by the Metro Rosario, where there is a big Stake Center (it is now my Stake Center in this area), and they wanted to know why we had never been over there. It was really interesting then, that I, after four and half months in that area, and having never before explored that part of the area, decided to take advantage of the spare time to knock doors because nobody was in the street.
The wife, Carmen, opened the door, and immediately invited us to come in and talk to the both of them. We taught them both Lesson one and Lesson Three, but we were not able to commit them to get baptized because they are not legally married. However, they did go to General Conference Sunday morning. My companion Elder Price and I did interchanges with ward missionaries to pass for several investigators. Elder Price tells me that when he got there, the brother was already ready and told them to get in his taxi to go to church.
The last tender mercy we found was a mother and son who have a store in the Center of Tlalnepantla. Her name is Raquel, and he is Cristian. We had a great talk about the restoration, and they both committed to read the pamphlet, we were not able to explain much about or give away a Book of Mormon, but it was a really good lesson. We also invited them to go to Conference. On Sunday another ward missionary and I passed for them at about 10:00, she opened the door and said that she would meet us there, that there was no gas and hadn´t been able to shower nor get ready. She also explained that the son was not going to be able to attend with us.
So I got back to the church, meeting my companion and his temporary companion, and I was not completely sure how things were going to end up from my end. She seemed sincere enough, but a missionary well knows that that doesn´t mean anything really. I did pray that she would show up during the conference. Then at the end, I was approached by a well groomed lady. I recognized her to be Raquel, she thanked us for inviting her, and told us that she had been thoroughly impressed by the spirit of the conference. She then asked "Do you have the book of mormon that it mentions in the pamphlet, and that gentleman mentioned in his talk?" We were obliged to give her one, set an appointment for the next day to talk once again....she thanked us again graciously and asked how much she owed us, we assured her that it was simply a gift that we give to all that are interested in this message.
There is not much time. I know this is the true Church. I know that this work is the Lord´s work. There is no other explanation. Human hands cannot do what we are doing...we are nothing in comparison to the work the Lord will do if we do not impede him by our own actions and worldly desires. I wish I had been working this whole change, this whole mission like I´m doing right now. But I can´t afford to look back to regret... There is no time.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
Weekly Letter: September 19-25, 2011
For your information: I (Doris) looked up the medication Thomas was given in Mexico. Difenidol is a prescription not commercially available in the US or Canada, but is used for the treatment of vertigo.
The injection they gave me was Difenidol(I´m pretty sure that´s Spanish, but I don´t know). I will have to definitely be careful over here. They call Coke "La Reina"( the Queen) here. I have asked for water several times, and many times they don´t have any potable water, just coke....hmmm, not very convenient. I had already come to the idea that sugar or soda were not helping me a lot...so I stopped drinking so much. But then one day in the training meeting for District Leaders I drank some really sweet lemonade....and a lot of it (cuz I miss it a lot.) And then in the afternoon I drank a soda despite a feeling that I shouldn´t. That night I started feeling light-headed again. We got to the house, I crashed and the next day I woke up without a problem. So this week I know your prayers were answered.
Now our week didn´t work out as great as we wanted. Last week they challenged us to do 50 motivational interviews for those close to baptism in the zone. Basically, the District Leader goes with all the possible baptismal candidates, and conducts an interview, and motivates them to make the decision. You could call it the "final push" interview. Well, I had to do several "final push"es, and unfortunately, for the same reason we were not in our area very much. The Viveros area had several interviews, but the Zone leaders did some of them. The others we tried to do during exchanges, but sometimes they couldn´t. Then the sisters, well....it´s not like I can do exchanges with them. There was a district leader that once in the training meeting said that he received revelation, in that he could do exchanges with the sisters in his district. He´s become infamous for the same thing (the president had the look on his face that was like "I can´t believe you just said that.")
However, despite everything, we thought we were going to be able to have a baptism this week. We had obtained special permission that he could get baptized this week, because he doesn´t have enough times in church. So we put a baptismal date for yesterday after the church services. Everything was good up until Friday. He was really excited to be baptized this week, but then Saturday, the family called again to tell him to go to the hospital to watch over his grandmother. We had an appointment that afternoon, but we had to do some interviews with the sisters (and since we were over there and had no way to contact them....well, it didn´t work out). We got home late that night from the interviews, and then when we called all the appointments the next day to apologize, we about died when we found out that Edgar was not going to get home until later that night.
Oh well, we´ve talked to him, and we are not going to make the same mistake again this week. It was great to do so many interviews, and we were able to get 7 baptisms this week, however, we´ve got to see how we can do that and take care of our area at the same time. I think I´m going to need another transfer as a district leader, because I feel like I´m just barely getting the hang of how to work as a district leader.
So please pray for us. I love everyone of you. Changes are next week, and we´ve got to find a whole bunch of news or else if they clear out the area, they won´t have anybody there to teach. We´ve got to work hard to get a lot of fruits ready for the next week. Luckily, it is also the same week as General Conference, which is always great to get people animated to go. I mean, you just have to say "Hey, come see a prophet!" Well...maybe not, but still. I always love to watch General Conference, and I can´t believe that this will be the last time I will have the chance to watch it as a fulltime missionary....wow, I don´t like the way that looks writing it. It´s so...final.
Love you all. Keep praying for us.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
The injection they gave me was Difenidol(I´m pretty sure that´s Spanish, but I don´t know). I will have to definitely be careful over here. They call Coke "La Reina"( the Queen) here. I have asked for water several times, and many times they don´t have any potable water, just coke....hmmm, not very convenient. I had already come to the idea that sugar or soda were not helping me a lot...so I stopped drinking so much. But then one day in the training meeting for District Leaders I drank some really sweet lemonade....and a lot of it (cuz I miss it a lot.) And then in the afternoon I drank a soda despite a feeling that I shouldn´t. That night I started feeling light-headed again. We got to the house, I crashed and the next day I woke up without a problem. So this week I know your prayers were answered.
Now our week didn´t work out as great as we wanted. Last week they challenged us to do 50 motivational interviews for those close to baptism in the zone. Basically, the District Leader goes with all the possible baptismal candidates, and conducts an interview, and motivates them to make the decision. You could call it the "final push" interview. Well, I had to do several "final push"es, and unfortunately, for the same reason we were not in our area very much. The Viveros area had several interviews, but the Zone leaders did some of them. The others we tried to do during exchanges, but sometimes they couldn´t. Then the sisters, well....it´s not like I can do exchanges with them. There was a district leader that once in the training meeting said that he received revelation, in that he could do exchanges with the sisters in his district. He´s become infamous for the same thing (the president had the look on his face that was like "I can´t believe you just said that.")
However, despite everything, we thought we were going to be able to have a baptism this week. We had obtained special permission that he could get baptized this week, because he doesn´t have enough times in church. So we put a baptismal date for yesterday after the church services. Everything was good up until Friday. He was really excited to be baptized this week, but then Saturday, the family called again to tell him to go to the hospital to watch over his grandmother. We had an appointment that afternoon, but we had to do some interviews with the sisters (and since we were over there and had no way to contact them....well, it didn´t work out). We got home late that night from the interviews, and then when we called all the appointments the next day to apologize, we about died when we found out that Edgar was not going to get home until later that night.
Oh well, we´ve talked to him, and we are not going to make the same mistake again this week. It was great to do so many interviews, and we were able to get 7 baptisms this week, however, we´ve got to see how we can do that and take care of our area at the same time. I think I´m going to need another transfer as a district leader, because I feel like I´m just barely getting the hang of how to work as a district leader.
So please pray for us. I love everyone of you. Changes are next week, and we´ve got to find a whole bunch of news or else if they clear out the area, they won´t have anybody there to teach. We´ve got to work hard to get a lot of fruits ready for the next week. Luckily, it is also the same week as General Conference, which is always great to get people animated to go. I mean, you just have to say "Hey, come see a prophet!" Well...maybe not, but still. I always love to watch General Conference, and I can´t believe that this will be the last time I will have the chance to watch it as a fulltime missionary....wow, I don´t like the way that looks writing it. It´s so...final.
Love you all. Keep praying for us.
Cariños,
Elder Blackham
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