Hermana Bloxham - I never know what to title these... haha

Family and Friends!

Well, this week was crazy exciting and crazy hard for me! It started out good! We got a new investigator named Adelita and we taught Oriana and her daughter Ariam! Adelita is a 76 year old lady from Ecuador! She is convinced that we are going to go back to Ecuador together! Hey, I'm not complaining haha. But she's awesome! Oriana and Ariam are doing awesome too! They are basically like family here for us! I love them!

Then...... drum roll please...... we got our ipads! haha. Its been a blessing for sure but its also taking up a lot of our time! We have to put all of the information about the investigators, less-actives, and members and all of our lessons with them and about them, into an "area book app". It takes FOREVER! But we have juggled our time around and figured out how to make the most of our time doing that. 

We also had stake conference this weekend! It was awesome! We got to have a whole 7 1/2 hours of meetings this weekend! Long but awesome! We learned a lot! I actually learned more from the Sunday Spanish session than the Sunday English session, crazy right? haha. My mind is more used to listening to Spanish I think! We got to have a fireside with a member of the 70. The guy who talked in General Conference about the "exclamation point" haha. He was awesome! I almost cried a few times! He talked about hastening the work! Claro! (of course ;)) It was AMAZING! You can just tell that he is really a servant of the Lord.

So with all of those random things, we only got 7 lessons last week! That's nuts! We are averaging about 19-20! So I felt very down about it, like I wasn't fulfilling my purpose as a missionary and we were just jumping back into the world with our Ipads and Facebook and everything and I just didn't want to use any of them again! haha. But then on Monday, we got out of the house and walked around, talked to lots of people, and taught 4 lessons! Everything from before came right back and I remembered what I was supposed to be doing and now I have so much more drive to work even harder to hasten the work of the Lord! Sometimes we need to experience the hard times to remember our purpose in life and to make it better! Because we cannot know the sweet without the bitter right? 

I know that we are all on the mission of the Lord and that we as members and missionaries we can truly change the world!

I love you all so much and I hope you have an amazing week leading up to Thanksgiving!

Love, Hermana Bloxham :)

 

Pictures from day of transfer

 After surgery

 

 

Elder Bloxham - Amazing Dayton :)

 I want to start off by saying a few things that I'm thankful for :) 1st thing, I'm thankful for my companion. Elder Packer is one amazing person. He is a weirdo, and will always be, but i seriously constantly have a great time with him. We are always laughing, always cracking jokes, and we just love being around each other! 2: I'm thankful for the support of all of you guys. Family, friends, and everybody else. I really enjoy getting letters of encouragement and positive feedback! I love it. 3: i'm thankful for my mission. I have learned so much and have gained such an amazing testimony of this wonderful gospel, that it has literally changed my life. I can honestly promise somebody, anybody, that this gospel WILL bless their life. They WILL be happier. And they WILL come closer to our Savior and a greater understanding of the Atonement. I can't believe i'm so happy all the time. I'm just happy, and i love it.

             We have been privileged enough to have found 9 wonderful new investigators, that have truly been prepared by the Lord. It's absolutely amazing!!

             I am so blessed to have to support of everyone around me. The Branch, the other Dayton Elders, and my Companion Elder Packer. It's amazing :)

             I wanted to share a thought that i've had :)

 

In the MTC, I had to come to know that the Book of Mormon is true, or else i would not be able to testify to anybody once i entered the field. I read it like crazy and prayed hard to receive that witness. It hadn't hit me until i read 3 Nephi chapter 11. When Christ reveals himself, and testifies of the love our Father in Heaven has for us, I was filled with the spirit. I can't tell you what it felt like. It's like trying to describe what the taste of salt to somebody who's never had it. they would just have to taste it to know. I knew it was true. Not a belief, not a thought. A perfect understanding. Joseph Smith. Jesus Christ. The Restoration of the Gospel. Everything is true. Because of the Book of Mormon. The witness of the Holy Ghost is a feeling that you cannot deny. You will know it, and God will know it. You will not be able to deny it.

         Now, i am trapped!! I told God that if he was able to manifest it unto me, i would act on it. He's done his part, now i get to do mine. Talking to people everyday, and testifying to them. Just telling people what i know and how i know it. That is how i can show my love for him.

        This is why they call it the best 2 years :) Because you are always happy, and the Lord is always helping you. Such an amazing blessing!!! :)

 

I love you all so much and thanks again for all the support!!

 

-Elder Bloxham

 

-My prayers go out the people in the Philippines, especially the Johnson Family and the Andus family

Hermana Bloxham - Another Transfer Down!

Hello everybody!

Well, this week has been crazy! Brenda, our investigator that we had a baptismal date with, told us that she doesn't want to talk about religion anymore and she doesn't want to talk to us... That was on Friday, and then on Sunday she came to church with her cousins! So we were really confused about what she really wants, and I can tell you that I still have no idea, but I really hope that she still takes steps to come back up to where she was in her testimony. We are trying to figure out how we can still be examples to her but take a step off a little bit and show her that we love her, and we don't Just want to baptize her! She is like my adopted little sister! I love her so much! 

So, it's been hard to see her digress in her testimony so quickly, but this week I have realized that no matter what, if I am being 100% obedient, working my hardest, and learning and teaching, I am always happy. Yes we have hard times every day, with investigators, less-actives and members but there is always a positive event that enables us to remember why we are really here as missionaries. I am a representative of Jesus Christ and with that responsibility, there can be no time for being sad, because we are on the best errand ever! If we just keep an eternal perspective and see the good from every situation, we can be truly happy! 

The other week, Sister Livingston and I were praying that we could have time to teach Brenda's aunt, who is a less-active/active member alone to try to help her testimony grow and not just Brenda's. (And this is something that I just realized yesterday!) With that prayer, Brenda decided to move out of her aunts house into her mom's house again so now we have all the time we want to teach Fila alone! It's a crazy way for the Lord to answer our prayer but I can now see that it was truly an answer to our prayers! Life is all about accepting the Lord's timing and letting Him truly take over and run our lives for us! If I can learn to do that on my mission, it will be a success and I will truly be able to do it so much better in life after the mission!

I know that the Lord answers prayers and that if we let Him, He will guide us in every step of our lives. I love this gospel and that is why I'm here as a missionary, to share this love with everyone who will hear, that I know that we have a Savior and Redeemer and we can be healed through His love!

I love you all so much and I ask one more time for some help in finding some people to teach on Facebook or Skype! We are getting our IPad's on Friday! So please help us out!!

Love, Hermana Bloxham :) 

Elder Bloxham - Miracles :)

This week was so awesome!!!!! The first of it was pretty dang uneventful, but from Thursday on, we caught fire! We were able to find 6 new investigators, and teach 15 lessons. We didn't teach or find a single investigator until Thursday, so all of the "amazing" was from Thursday on! We have been praying so hard for new people to teach, and the Lord was able to provide.

     I was lucky enough to go to the Zone Leader Council this week. It was an amazing meeting!! I learned so much, and what was awesome is President Porter pulled me aside afterwords and told me his expectations of me. He expects so much out of me, which kinda makes me nervous, but it's amazing to know that he thinks that. We might see some craziness happen next transfer.... :/ haha

    Elder Packer is hilarious. There is never a dull moment with this goon. Seriously, one of the weirdest slash funniest slash weird slash..... hahah (mom :) ) But seriously, such a goon. He's learning quiet a bit, and hasn't fallen off his bike yet, so that is improvement!! I wish i could send videos home of him, but they wont send, i'll have to just send the memory card home and you can see him in action! :) it's great!!

     I can't even begin to describe how much love heavenly father has for us. "We love him, because he loved us first" 1 John 4:18-19. He loves us so much and is always watching out for us. If you are going through a trial, it is because god loves you enough to allow you to grow. Be greatful for the trials because that is when you grow the most.

 

Thank you all for the love and support!!

 

Also, I pray that the missionaries and the people of the Philippines will be okay!!.....

 

Love, Elder Bloxham

A cool thing we found so we took pictures by it

Some fall colors of Dayton :)

A freaky Tornado warning we got at 11:30 at night!! haha, nothing came of it but lotsa wind

More Creativity....

Julie McIntyre's Baptism

Elder Packer pumping up his bike, for the millionth time

My awesome Cannondale!!! Love this bike

Stay on the trail!!!!! 

 The straight and narrow path

The Dayton missionaries

 Me, Elder Bloxham, standing on a big log :)

Me doing a handstand on a tree that fell over

Elder Packer thuggin'

Hermana Bloxham - Hey Everyone!

Man, I'm so lucky to be a missionary in New York City right now! We are back in the city again this p day and guess who i run into? Sisters Cole and Stringam! What are the odds? Haha It's awesome!

Anyways, this week has been crazy! Brenda moved back in with her mom and so we haven't been able to see her as much as before! It's sad! But she is doing ok. She still has her baptism date for the 15th of November so I hope she will still be ready when that day comes!

Oriana is doing awesome! We have also started to teach her daughter Ariam! She is doing really well too! We even invited Oriana to talk to her husband about coming to church and taking the lessons from us. Oriana finally read in the BOM!!! Its so awesome!!! I am honestly so excited about it! She read the first 3 chapters and started on the 4th! She is really turning a corner in our lessons and she can really see that our message has already started to bless her life! I am so blessed and happy to be a missionary! 

I just want to echo Elder Bloxham's letter about Ether 12:4. This is one of the "power scriptures" that we love to share with our investigators and less-actives! Jesus Christ is really the anchor of our souls and we can truly find happiness if we let Him be in charge of our lives. I know that if we simply follow the teachings of Jesus Christ we will be led to blessings and things in our lives that we can't even imagine!

I love this Gospel with all of my heart and I know that it will bless EVERYONE'S life if they let it!

I love you all!

Love, Hermana Bloxham :)

Elder Bloxham - Hey Family!!!

 This week has flown by! My goodness!! I don't have much time but i wanted to share a thought that I had this morning in preparation for this email. It's found in Ether 12:4, now this is one of my favorite scriptures because it talks about how Christ is the anchor of our faith. And if we follow him we will be okay. There are a lot of lost people in this world. Even the ones who know who Christ is, and some even know the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but are still lost. Member missionary work is the only way we will be able to make this happen. The missionaries can go out all day and talk to people on the streets and hardly make a dent. But if every member were to just talk to their neighbor about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it can bless our life, then not only will the missionary work skyrocket, but the happiness across the world would be a sight to see. As i was saying, people are lost and sometimes just need a little reminder. The harder we work for these missionary opportunities, the more blessings other people will receive because of this Gospel.

       I have a little challenge for everybody who reads this letter :) Tell at least one person a week about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith, Repentance  Baptism, the Holy Ghost, and Enduring till the End. The Book of Mormon. If we help people apply these things in their lives, not only will we receive this joy, but they will as well. :) This goes for Less-Actives, Home Teaching visits, and just seeing somebody walking down the street. I have the Faith that everybody can do this! And, i also know that our Father in Heaven will help you though it!!

       Live for the Gospel, don't live for the church. The Gospel is perfect, but the people inside the church aren't. If we live the gospel to the best of our abilities, we will be happy and then we'll want to share that happiness with others!

 

I will be praying for you all, good luck and God Bless you!! :)

 

Love,

        Elder Bloxham

 

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with ^asurety ^bhope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which ^chope cometh of ^dfaith, maketh an ^eanchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in ^fgood works, being led to ^gglorify God" Ether 12:4