Hermana Bloxham - Halfway there.....

Holy Cow!

 

I can't believe I'm already halfway done with my time in the MTC! It's been crazy fast but also way long.... haha I dono?

 

Anyways! So this week we have been teaching two investigators and I'm going to tell you guys a little bit about them! Both of them are people that our teachers met on their missions so they are portraying them for us! The first one is Juan. He is an evangelical man and his dad is a pastor for that church. So he has a ton of "gospel knowledge". It's kind of a blessing but kind of hard at the same time. Ricarda is our teacher playing her brother so he has a family full of members except for his dad. He's very stubborn and hard to get through to. We taught him in our last lesson how prayer can really change your life and help you through anything in your life. He says he has had so many bad experiences were God hasn't helped him and that he doesn't believe that He will help him with anything. We tried to share experiences from out lives about how prayer has helped us but he is very very closed off and doesn't want to hear about how God can help him. It's very frustrating but honestly such a good experience for me. We shared a story with Ricarda from the Mormon message "The will of God"  (You guys should watch it!!) It was such an amazing story and I think it taught her something important, I hope... :/

 

Last night we did TRC which is little lessons for members. We taught about how it's so important to make each prayer meaningful and how to make sure that you have a meaningful prayer every time. We had the opportunity to teach a guy FROM Chile. He is visiting here so that he can watch General Conference and go back home and share the amazing insights with his family. It was such a humbling experience for me to see how important General Conference really is and how I take it for granted that I can just watch it every few months. It's really amazing how one person can change your whole day!

 

I hope you guys are all doing amazing! I challenge you to pray with a sincere heart, real intent, and having faith in Christ.(Moroni 10:4) Take the time after your prayers to have a moment to just sit in silence and reflect on what you asked for and give the Holy Ghost time to really speak to you! I know you guys can do it! I love you so much!!

 

Love,

Hermana Bloxham =D

Spanish is going pretty good. It's truly amazing to feel the Espiritu Santo(Holy Ghost) work through me and seriously teach me Spanish every single second. During my class time with my teacher yesterday I was wondering why it is so much easier here to learn Spanish and learn the words that I need to and actually be able to remember them when I need to use them. She said something that really stuck out to me that its because there is a purpose to everything that we do here. EVERYTHING. if its with your companion or just personal study, everything is for a purpose and that is to help others come unto Christ. Sometimes I feel like the weight of so many people's eternal salvation on my shoulders and I know that it is sooo important to be the best I can be to help them come into his "Fold"!

Hermana's Bloxham and Whitney

Hermana's Claspell. Whitney, Bloxham and Bowerman

District

Hermana's Whitneys, and Bloxham. They are sisters both in the same Zone and learning Spanish.
One is going to Ogden and the other is going to Chicago.

Elder Bloxham - Indiana

 Ahh i can't believe that it's already the second time sending an email! This week has been so fast. wow!! We just got hit with a snow storm!! It is like 4 or 5 inches out there, and we didn't even pack me winter stuff because we thought it was going to be warm! Haha!! But I've been fine, it really hasn't been THAT cold that I'd need anything else!

                We fasted on Wednesday because we hadn't had any success with talking to any less actives, and non members, or anyone!! So we fasted.. We fasted all day and nothing.. We went back home and decided to pray again, with real intent, having faith in Christ (Moroni 10:3-5) to know that he would help us find somebody that day. So we went back out and drove around not knowing of where to go, we just wanted to be guided by the spirit. We got to this town called Ridgeville because that's just where we ended up. about 15 miles out of the way. We were like great, the only person we know in Ridgeville is a Do Not Contact because he's hostile to visitors. So we pulled over and were next to a house so were like we're just going to knock on it to see. Maybe we came here to talk to this person in the house. So we walked up and the lady that answered was like, Ohh my i just woke up and I'm not at all interested.. We were like ohh gosh you gotta be kiddin!! So on we went driving through poe dunk area, and still had no direction of where to go. this was at about 4:30 and we had a dinner appointment in Lynn which we were kinda close to and we had the dinner apt. at 6. so we were like ok we'll just go tract this area.. But then, i grabbed our branch roster and saw Paul Brandenburg. He lives in Modoc, where is too far for us to just drive any day, but we were about 5 miles from his house. So were got all excited and we're like this is the person who we need to see! So we cruised over to his house. said a little pray of help when we pulled up, then went and knocked on his door. We knocked once and about 10 seconds had passed, so we knocked again... haha!! Then he came to the door! we didn't say 2 words to him and he said just come on in!! We looked at each other and had a mind wave conversation that said "No Way, the Fast Worked!" So we went in, taught a lesson and committed him to come back to church! we didn't see him last Sunday because it was bad weather, but we will see if he ends up coming! it was amazing how that worked for us! haha, we got back in the car and said ahh we need to celebrate with something! so we prayed saying thanks, then we broke our fast! haha we ran to the closest gas station and bought jerky and cracked it open and bumped em' and said cheers! haha it was our first lesson taught and it was amazing!!!!

                   We encountered a crazy dog!! We were driving some back country trying to find the road to get us back home, and we get to this house, which is the only house within sight. and this dog comes barking at us in our car.. so we stop and slowly creep past, but the dog just keeps running in front and wont let us go! the lady was yelling at us saying just go!! so we went but the dog just kept going in front of us!! we almost hit it like 10 different times! haha, Then the dad came over to grab the dog, but it just kept running away from him so we'd go, but the dog would just come right back to us! eventually the dog was far enough away so we took off!!! the we look in the rear view and the dog is chasing us at full speed!! the dog catches up to us and i look out the window and i swear this dog was flying... it would take two steps then would like glide on the ground! I'm not kidding, we were going 35 and this dog was running right next to us! so we speed up to about 50 and the dog finally fell away... but it was crazy!!! this dog was Haulin'!!!! it was so funny afterwards for us, we couldn't stop laughing! haha 

                  There have been so many miracles this week and I'm sure they will just keep flooding in! You all have been in my prayers every night, and i hope you are receiving blessings for my prayers! 

                   There is a talk by Elder Holland that talks about why the conversion isn't easier. and he says "Why isn't the only problem out in the mission field getting pneumonia from being soaking wet in the font baptizing everyone!?" He then says "The reason it's not easy is because Salvation is not a cheap experience! It was not easy for Christ in the garden, so why would it be easy to bring people unto the truth?" I think about this every day, and it keeps my head up and brings me closer to Christ! I listen to talks about every day from the apostles and President, and it brings so much inspiration to my work every day! it's amazing how the Holy Ghost keeps you on the path by the feeling you get when you are obedient. I love this gospel, and i love Jesus Christ and I'm so thankful for the atonement, and the knowledge i have that he died for us so we don't have to go through that pain! Knowing that i can be with my family forever is what makes me not miss home and i know that I'm here to bring the blessings to the family of my own, and soon the families i teach. "Whats 2 years between bros?" Says, Ben. But quit honestly, 2 years vs. Eternity is nothing! 

                    I love you all so much and i hope everything is going great at home! 

                                             Elder Bloxham

       

 I love just riding in the car listening to conference talks! oohhhh my gosh i cant wait till conference!! I am going to die when I finally get to hear them speak! I don't know why, i'm such a weirdo now out here!! I love listening to conference talks, motab, and I cant wait till general conference!!! haha it's awesome though! I am such a goon..... i swear i annoy my comp. but i don't even care! as we walk the streets i totally mess with him and act like such a weirdoo!!!!! haha he loves me though ;) we play a game where we kick little rocks between our legs and i get the biggest laugh out of it!! one time when we were walking he stubbed his toe on a crack and i was busting a gut laughing so hard!!! i was laughing as hard as we were in the car coming back from slots-a-ham!! haha it's great! i laugh so much here.. but then every time i'm in the car, i sleep... he hates it but i seriously cant stay awake! i tell him that i sleep so i get energized for when we talk to the next person but he hates it haha! you know how you said that you dont know how my companion will be able to stand me? haha i am that same way that i am home, as i am with him.. i dont know if it drives him nuts, but i do it anyways cuz i have so much fun! hahaha 

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Hermana Bloxham Week 2

Hey!!!!

How are you guys doing this week? I hope you are doing great!! I hope you've gotten my letters!! I miss you guys a ton and want to see you already! Some days are harder than others obviously but most are great!

So we just finished teaching our investigator Rolando last week and for our last couple of lessons we really focused on him and what he needs us to teach him. So, instead of preparing a word-for-word lesson, we only prepared subjects or talking points that we wanted to focus on. It has just gotten better during our lessons since we started teaching Rolando as a person instead of just a lesson that we prepared. It was really hard during our planning time to have FAITH that we would be able to communicate through our limited Spanish, what the Holy Ghost wanted us to teach him. Each lesson is such an amazing learning experience. I know that as I completely humble myself and rely on the Lord entirely, that He will provide me the gifts/helps that I need to be able to truly convert someone.

This week I have been really focusing on Humility. Humility of the Heart, Mind and Spirit. I have had to go to my Father in Heaven for help more in these last two weeks than I have ever done in my life. Being humble is the gateway into receiving revelation from God and the Holy Ghost. I know that through Faith and Humility we can truly be converted and find Peace and have the opportunity to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.

I think that another reason I've been having a hard time recognizing the Spirit and when it is helping me is because we are surrounded by it 24/7. So it's difficult to know if the thoughts I'm thinking/feeling are mine or the words of the Holy Ghost. At Oakcrest I would leave my little Bubble and then remember what if felt like there once I was gone, and then I got to go back to it and feel it all over again. But here were in a monster bubble so I can't differentiate between just normal day spirit and revelation type of feeling the spirit.

Last night we had the opportunity to do TRC-Teaching Resource Center, it's where we as a companionship go and teach a small little lesson in Spanish to some member volunteers in the MTC. I was so nervous to go in and teach them because I didn't know what to expect but it was such a fun and amazing experience. It was a lot more fun to be able to teach someone whose Eternal Salvation isn't on the line you know? We taught the importance of praying regularly with a sincere heart looking for answers to any questions you have. We shared the story of the broken bow in Nephi 16:18-29. The members had great spiritual experiences while reading this story and reflecting on how we can use this in our lives. I know that as you "pour out your souls" unto Christ and even when you are not on your knees you keep a prayer in your heart continually, you will be blessed immensely.(Alma 34:26-27)

I love you guys so much and hope you are having an amazing time out there in the world! 

Love, Hermana Bloxham

Hermana's Bloxham and Whitney

Jessi's District

Jess and her companion

Elder Johnson and Hermana Bloxham

Hoards of missionaries going to the temple!

Hermana Bloxham and Sister Davidson

Elder Bloxham is in INDIANA!!

Dear Family,

  This is my first week in Indiana!! It is so weird driving through all this farm land and looking across the area and seeing no mountains! Ahh it's crazy! it's almost depressing... But no i love it here! My first area is Winchester, Indiana! It has a population of about 2,000 people and there are about 57 different church's. There is probably a different church on every single corner here, so we aren't allowed to tract the area! Funny huh? There is only 1 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints here and it's an old tax building that they converted to a church a few years ago. Some of the members were saying, "oh yeah we used to tell people that we go to the old IOU building where we payed our taxes!" haha but it's great here! All of the members are so amazing and have such strong testimonies! The funny thing about the church is they have about 71 members, but about 30 actives... last sunday they have 27 people show up including me and my companion! Haha! I blessed the sacrament and he passed it with the other priest. Then we both gave a 10 minute talk that the Branch President told us saturday night to get ready for! The funny thing about our church is it's not even big enough to be a ward, it's a branch here. so we dont have a bishop, it's a Branch President! His name is President Solomon, he is a great man!!

               My Companions name is Elder Elquist, and he is from Spanish Fork, Utah! He is about 6'4 and is awesome! We go running every morning and it's awesome because we just run from one side of the town to the next and we have our 2 miles! haha it's a way small community! But he is the district leader, and there are only 4 of us in the district. it's me and Elder Elquist and then 2 other elders in the Dunkirk branch about 20 minutes from us.

              This lady in the branch took us to walmart today and said you can get whatever you want and i dont want you to be shy! so we walked down every food isle and she wanted to buy us everything we saw! we walked out of there with her spending 100 bucks... i kinda felt bad but she was willing and excited that there are finally missionaries in Winchester! This is the first time there has been missionaries here in 7 years, and you can tell by how excited the members are to have us!

              Something amazing happened to me on the flight from Denver to Indy! When i was on the plane, i sat next to this girl that was reading a magazine. When i first saw her i thought she was about 16 years old so i didn't really want to talk to her... But then she started talking to me after about 10 minutes of the flight, and she asked me if we were a basketball team traveling somewhere. haha she had seen all of the missionaries getting on the plane in theirs suits and ties and she wondered what it was all about. so i told her that we weren't a basketball team but we were missionaries! she asked me what that was.... and i said "You've never heard of missionaries before!?" and she said no, i have no idea! so i told her that we go out for 2 years, representing Jesus Christ, and then she was so interested i taught her the restoration, read with her the Book of Mormon, gave her a Mormon.org card, and taught her about every single discussion in the 2 hours of flight we had. I taught her about the word of wisdom and about how she cant drink coffee, and she agreed to try and stop drinking it! I told her to go find missionaries when she gets home and to get her hand on the Book of Mormon and she said she wanted to way bad!! it was the greatest experience! she said she wanted to learn more, and i wanted to teach her more but we had to go! ahh!! she also committed to praying to know if this is the true church and she said that she would do it! i got her email so i can talk to her about it, but we'll see how it ends up!!

                I have been in the field for a week and there has already been amazing blessings for me and especially for you guys! I love this gospel so much and i love the blessings we get as we are obedient and have faith! I love you so much and i wish you could be a fly on the wall here with me, but i can just tell you that it's been AMAZING!!!

                                                                                  Love,

                                                                                           Elder Bloxham