Elder Bloxham - 2.23.2015

What an amazing week!!!!!! We have been working with the Madison family forever, and they are progressing so well, accept the dad, he's struggling a little bit with Anti... But yesterday at church, Sister Benson went up to them and said, are you guys planning on getting baptized!? And Patrice said yes we want to, but because Patrice can't right now, she wants the kids to be baptized! We get a call from Patrice an hour after church and she said, "is it okay if we bring family to the baptism this weekend?" Holy freak!!!!!! The kids are getting baptized this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the greatest blessing in my life! The family that we have been putting all of our time, love, and effort into, the kids are getting baptized the last weekend of my mission. I can't wait! 

Another amazing thing that is happening this weekend is Mark Mumford, the returning member in our ward, is blessing the sacrament and he asked me to bless it with him. :) What an amazing way to end a mission!!

There are so many blessings and miracles that happen when we ask the Lord to help us. It's amazing to know that he is there waiting for us to ask, all we need to do is... well, ask! We found 3 new investigators Sunday night because we asked the Lord to bring people into our path. We start moving, and people come into our path! Amazing :)

Heavenly Father lives, and Jesus is the Christ. The Atonement is really and truly for everybody. The Book of Mormon, not only is true, but can get us through every single trial that comes our way. And if we aren't going through a trial, it will make us happy! I can say, (because i have read so many books in my lifetime) that the Book of Mormon is my favorite book of all time. Even better than the only book i've ever read, Where the Red Fern Grows :) hahah!! 

Love y'all, see you in 9 days :)

Love, Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 2.16.2015 - Exchanges Week

We went on so many Blitz exchanges this week, it was awesome! We started the week off in Wilmington and helped those Elders out, and then on Wednesday we went to Milford, and helped those Elders out, it was sweet! Then on Thursday, we had stake President reports, and that whole day was shot because we weekly planned and then drove up for the meeting. It was crazy, there goes 3 days of non work in our area! So we had to go crazy in our area for only 3 days! We barely reached our 20 lesson minimum... it was awesome! Things just worked out perfectly.

But the exchanges were so awesome! I was able to have some amazing talks with the Elders i was with. I have realized and have embraced the fact that i have become a girl on my mission. I care about feelings!!! I sit down with these Elders and i help them get things figured out. But with the Little Miami Elders, I was able to talk to Elder Wall for a long time. We got to bed at 9:45, and were like alright lets get to bed so we can wake up early and have an awesome workout! But conversation took us till about 2:00 in the morning... But it really was amazing! This missionary had been struggling throughout his mission, but when we talked, we were able to figure everything out. We started talking about the Atonement, read scriptures together, and just talked about life. He has such a deep understanding about the Atonement, This Elder is awesome!

The Atonement really is for everyone, individually! I am trying to take every single opportunity to bare my testimony as my time concludes faster and faster. I have this burning testimony inside of me and i want to tell everybody that i know that Christ really does live! He really has restored His church for us! I am so thankful, i truly am!

The Church is true everyone, and Jesus Christ really and truly does live, because i have walked with him, every single day! :)

Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 2.9.2015

As a mission we are preparing for March, and we have a goal of getting 100 Baptisms!!! We are calling it March Madness! So the 4 weeks in February we are doing challenges. The first week was finding, and as a mission we found 1052 New investigators! Isn't that crazy!!! Our Spanish zone found 192 New Investigators!!! No Manches! :) But this week was such a miracle week for finding in the mission #TheMagicIsBack

I have had a continual study of the Doctrine of Christ and how repentance plays a huge role in our life! Man, that Book of Mormon is full, and consists of the Doctrine of Christ. It's amazing! You could crack that bad boy open to any page and it will teach you faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. I love the Book of Mormon, it has truly shaped me! :):)

The Madison family are still moving. We are pushing February 28th still, but we need the prayers from all! It will be a miracle when they get into the water. :)

I love y'all, have a great week!

-Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 2.2.2015

We have entered into the Month of February!! This is my last month, so crazy!! February is going to fly by, there are so many things going on. We have a Zone Conference this week, and a Zone Meeting, then we have a ton of exchanges set up, man this last month is going to fly!!!

We had an awesome lesson with the Madison family! They are moving right along, and Andre and the kids accepted the date of February 28th!! That is the last Saturday of my mission, i really hope they will make that date! Please pray for them, we need a miracle :)

We had an amazing Stake Conference this last weekend! Elder Nash from the 70 came for this Conference and he was awesome! Also there with him was of course our Stake President, President Bradley, my mission president President Porter, and the Temple President, President Chrisman. There was this moment when the Stake President, Mission President, Temple President all stood up at the same time over the pulpit, and said to everybody that their Keys are align perfectly. That they all work together with moving people towards the next ordinance. But when they all stood up, you could feel the spirit so strong! It was just absolute power, and you knew that the Lord was working through these powerful men. When i looked at the Temple President, he looked different than I've ever seen a person. He literally looked as though he was glowing from the inside out! It was beautiful. When i saw him, it really made me check myself, because only a genuinely righteous person can hold the spirit the way he did. It was absolutely marvelous! But the main focus of the meeting was "How the Doctrine of Christ can help the Ward Councils move people to the next ordinance." It was awesome!!! I have learned so much from these wonderful leaders, and it boggles my mind every single time i realize how much I am learning. It's wonderful :)

I love Y'all so very much, and i can't wait to see you :)

Love, Elder Bloxham

Pictures from Leadership Council

 

Elder Bloxham - 1.26.2015

Transfer week! I stayed in Montgomery, and I have received my last companion ever! His name is Elder Holmstead, and he is from Pleasant Grove, UT! He is my 14th companion (counting the MTC) and he is awesome!!! I can't really compare him to Elder Seegmiller, Seeg was a one of a kind that he and i got along perfectly. It was like me serving with Dylan, we just had the time of our life for 3 months! But he got transferred to Western Hills, and is training a new missionary, so that is awesome! But if i were to compare Elder Holmstead to somebody, it would have to be a mix between Josh Parkinson, and Simon. But with different interests.. He was a tech guy for the plays at school, and that is pretty much all he did! haha but he is an awesome guy, and is sooo willing to work and learn with everything going on! What we do have in common is we both want to baptize the freakin Madison family!!!!!! ughh, they are crazy! They are so hot and cold, more like on fire vs frost bitten! But it's okay, prayers will be answered :)

We were going on so many exchanges this week that we had no time to find any new investigators, so we took sunday to find the 4 that we needed! So we go to these ghetto apartments and we found 2 hispanic ladies!! it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! I spoke spanish to them and they even wanted us to come back! haha, one lady spoke english, and she translated for the other! it was awesome! Then later that day we found this other kid who is 19, and he is from Honduras. But he was such a homie! he spoke english really well, but his first language was spanish! So we are excited for these hispanics, it'll be awesome! S/O to K in spanish land NC, Dee in Saltillo, and Hunter in the DR!!! I'm spanish boys!!! hahaha :)

But things are aweome here in Montgomery, and I've got 5 more weeks to go!! :) Love you RyGuy!

-Elder Bloxham 

Elder Bloxham - 1.19.2015

Transfer calls are in, and I will be serving in Montgomery until i die!! 6 more weeks in this area, and it will be the greatest time ever! Elder Seegmiller is leaving, and will be training a new missionary!! I couldn't believe it! Elder Seegmiller is going to be such an amazing trainer! Elder Davis is also getting transferred, and we don't know where we are going until tomorrow! Things are going to be awesome!

The Madison family have been the hardest people in the entire world to teach! We have put in so much time, and effort into this family, and it has been amazing! We had the most amazing experience with them!! Elder Seegmiller and I were on the phone with Andre, and he was being the biggest baby ever! He was just getting jealous of Patrice and was being a baby. He told us that he didn't want to slow Patrice down and that he was just going to leave. ughh, baby boy... But we said, okay Andre we will be over in 30 minutes and we will figure it out! Andre is a truck driver and when we got there he said alright boys lets go on a ride in the truck and we will talk on the road. (We had to pick up his normal vehicle) when we got to the truck yard, his other car had a dead battery. So we hook it up, and it wouldn't start, so he let it charge, and while we were waiting we talked to him. An hour went by as we got to talk to him, and during the talk he kept getting out here and there to see if the car would start and it wouldn't start ever the whole time. When we got everything finally figured out, he jumped out and the car started right up! Miracle! But then we get back to their house and we sit down with Andre and Patrice, and it was the most spiritual lesson i have ever been in, in my whole mission. It was the first time I heard them both tell them that they loved each other..... So moms and dads out there, tell your wife/husband that you love them. often. But they are getting married this next month, for reals this time. And they are amazing! I hope every body reading this gets something from this because it was an amazing experience :)

I love y'all, and miracles really do happen!!

Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 1.12.2015

This last week we had an amazing zone meeting and some awesome Interviews with President Porter. When we do zone meeting we do break offs, and so Elder Seegmiller goes with one group, the Sister Training Leaders go with another, and I go with the third group, and i was lucky enough to train on Listening to the promptings of the spirit, and allowing Grace to lift us through our work. It was a pretty amazing experience because i was able to reflect on all the times that I listened to the spirit then allowed grace to take action. And i can't wait to share those experiences at home! :)

I have come to a conclusion that the most important thing in this life is to understand how the spirit speaks to you, and allowing that knowledge to help you access the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Without the Spirit you cannot receive a remission of sins. Without the spirit, you won't be able to be lifted when you are guilty, or lonely. The Holy Ghost does all things, and helps us through all things.

Okay, for all the family that is reading this letter, I have 7 weeks left of my mission. I remember some family that talked to Josh after he got back from his mission and hadn't written him and wish they would have, so i give you a for warning, that i have this amount of time, and i would love a letter from you :) we can always repent :) hahaha!!!

I love y'all!! 

Elder Bloxham