This week i went on exchanges with one of the Zone Leaders to Ball State University. I spent Friday and Saturday with Elder Burt and i bet you'd never guess what we talked about the whole time..? Fishing!!! He grew up in Idaho and is as obsessed with fishing as much as i am! We talked about fly fishing and what to use with what, yada yada yada... haha!! But the best part of being on exchanges with him is feeling of his spirit and watching and learning by his example of how to be a "solid" missionary. The goal that I've been working on this past week is 'how i can let the people that i talk to on the street, feel the spirit within 30 seconds of me talking to them'. Being at Ball State, let me figure that out. There were so many people to talk to, and i figured out how to invite the spirit into every conversation. One of the people we stopped and talked to was a girl, and we were teaching her for about 1 or 2 minutes when this other guy walked up and said "Oh don't worry about me, i'm just listening in" So we were teaching 2 people at once! Then the guy that walked up started asking a million questions about everything, and started 'justifying' his statements and answers to the things we were saying. The conversation started to get kinda heated at first, and we kept trying to calm it down by saying things that would re-invite the spirit. He kept justifying and saying his church is better, so i said to him "We aren't here to take you from your church and say that it is wrong. The reason we are here speaking to you right now is because we are representatives of Jesus Christ. We want you to feel the spirit as we do, and bring you closer to him." At that moment he looked away and got quiet and then said " i'm sorry i was being mean earlier, but i respect what you two are doing and inviting me to come a little closer to Christ." At that moment, the spirit was so strong and he humbled himself instantly at the overwhelming feeling he had of the spirit.
Simple words work the best. All i said was, " We are representatives of Jesus Christ, and we are just trying to bring you closer to him" and it invited the spirit instantly! As i walk up and down the street, seeing hardly anybody here in Winchester, i remember why i am here. I am here to bring people closer to our savior Jesus Christ. I'm not here to persuade, i'm not here to say that our church is right and yours is wrong. We are just trying to invite them to open up and soften their hearts and invite the spirit into their lives. Once they feel the spirit there is no doubting that they will know that this is the true church, and that Jesus Christ is our Savior!
Watching conference this weekend was the greatest blessing for me! I was able to take notes, receive inspiration, feel of the spirit, and receive revelation of how to better the work in Indiana. Every single talk i felt was directed right to me! I can't remember off the top of my head who said this, but they quoted Joseph's first vision. "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun! Which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light fell upon me, i saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name saying, pointing to the other, "This is my Beloved Son, hear him" " I have been trying to learn that so I know it by heart because when you are talking to investigators about Joseph Smith, and you say that. It is an instant capture of their attention and at that time, the spirit testifies to them so they know what they have heard is true! When i was watching conference and he said that, i felt like i was an investigator. I was captured. I felt the spirit. I knew that what he had said, was true! Being out here i'm not only bringing other people closer to Christ. I am bringing myself closer to him!! I am my own missionary! As i teach people, i teach myself! I am now converted to the Gospel!
I challenge you guys to become converted. Read the scriptures, pray often, and while your at church, realize the reason you are taking the sacrament. Think of Jesus Christ and what he has done for us!! I know that the more and more i become converted, the better i can convert and testify to the 'Hoosiers' here in Indiana!! I know that as you pray with a sincere heart, having faith in Christ, with real intent to get converted, you will!! ( Moroni 10:3-5 ) It's amazing what you can conquer once you set your mind to it. Once you give your heart and mind to God, and have complete faith that he will guide you in everything, that you will see the miracles happen. I always ask myself, "Why can't way crazy miracles happen to me like it did to Lehi, or Nephi. Ether 12:12 says "If there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore he showed not himself until after their faith" (and then also through vs 19) Faith without works is dead. As long as we have faith and act on it, we will be able to do anything in the hands of God!!
I love you so very much, and just know that my testimony will grow as well as yours as you get converted to the gospel yourself!
Love,
Elder Bloxham
This is a little pond by our house.
This is the TINY fire station in Winchester. It reminded me of Tyler!
Railroad tracks in Farmland. These tracks go on forever in both directions!
A cool sunset when we were walking across the tracks.
Elder Elquist while we were doing our planning.
This is our HUGE gym that we do pull-ups and push-ups in!
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