Elder Bloxham - Great Week!!

Wow, what a wonderful week again! I love serving in Florence!! Everybody is so nice and we have so many good things happening right now it's amazing! Elder Anderton and I always have such good talks while we drive from appointment to appointment and most of the time it's about the testimony we have seen grow from one another over the course of our missions. I can't even begin to fathom the change I have seen in me! Repentance is a real thing! Not only do you repent of bad things, but you can repent, or change, your little habits or even your attitude. My perspective has changed on so many things as well, and this is a story about that. Elder Anderton and I saw some suckkas playing basketball and we walk up in our white T's and asked if we could play them! So they let us play, jokingly at first, and then after the 2 of us were beating them they were like "ohh man you two are just hustlin us!" haha! We were playing 3 on 3 and while we were playing, this chick gets out of her car and starts yelling at the guy on our team! Haha, she was getting so mad, swearing at him and she kept saying over and over, "Give me my Key Tony". Come to find out, this guy had a chat room site or something, and his girlfriend found out and got mad and wanted her key to the house?... But they went on for a good 10 minutes back and forth swearing, getting nothing accomplished, and it was right in front of us! haha it was hilarious! Then he was like alright lets go talk somewhere else... That left me and Elder Anderton there to play 2 on 3. yeah, we beat them to 16, it was pretty awesome! Then we taught them afterwards and they want to come to church! It was pretty awesome!

 

But the thing I learned most from playing basketball with those guys is how yelling doesn't solve anything. The loud tone of your voice just makes the other person mad, and all you want to do is yell back and be right. Instead, lower your voice and understand the person, then everything will work out. Once they started talking like normal people, they finally understood each other and got the problem figured out. In this life, everybody always needs to be right, no matter what, even if they are wrong. But if we understand each other and where each person comes from, everything will be way better and there wont be a spirit of contention!

 

I love this work, and I pray that every body will see the vision that our Prophet does as to hastening the work, members and missionaries together!! Have a wonderful week!!

 

Love, Elder Bloxham 

Hermana Bloxham - Faith is our way to access the Power of God!

Heyyy!

It has been an awesome week!! We have been insanely tired but we have
been blessed beyond belief this week for our work! Last week, all of
manhattan did an APF which is just like when missionaries get together
and focus on one area to help them find new people to teach and stuff
like that. This week for Easter, we all did chalk drawings. We had the
theme of "because of Him" a super awesome video the church made for
Easter. It's still on lds.org! If you haven't seen it, watch it! It
talks about all of the things that were made possible for us because
of Christ and his atonement. So we were outside drawing with chalk and
we invited other people to write the things that they were grateful
for because of Christ. It was super fun and we got to meet a lot of
cool people! So many people are so strong in their belief in Christ.
They love him so much and I think it's just amazing! Especially the
Hispanic people. Most of them have been raised Catholic and had an
amazing upbringing in a Christ centered home. A lot of people who grow
up in America don't have that same love for him. I just think it's so
great!
Anyways! I'll send pictures of it for sure!


On Monday, we had an amazing training from our Mission President. He
has been talking about taking our mission to the next level and he
believes that to do that, we need to plan more effectively and make
more reaching goals. I'm going to share some of the things he said. He
talked about Faith, and how we need to have the faith that anything is
possible through Christ. We can't let our human imperfect knowledge
put a limit on what God can do.
"Make no small plans, for they have no magic to stir men's souls".   -
President Spencer W Kimball.
Faith is a principle of power:
-1 cor 2:5--> Isaiah 55:8 the power of god can only be accessed
through our faith.
-The faith we have in us does not come from man, but of God.
-Alma 18:34-35 see the evidences of our faith. God can only work
through our faith.
Faith in Jesus Christ empowers courage:
-Moroni 7:33 god gives us the power to do everything if we let him,
through our faith.-1 Nephi 3:7.
I just love how he talked about how having faith in Christ isn't just
a passive belief but an action and if we really want to see our goals
happen, we need to make plans and make them happen, not just wait for
miracles.
Remember the September goal from last September? He invited all of us
to become consecrated. And in turn that we would all have a baptism in
September. That month we had 57 baptisms. Which was awesome! But on
Monday morning President Morgan again set a goal for us as a mission
that From Easter Sunday to the end of May we would have 100 baptisms
as a mission. It's been super crazy! We are so excited and ready to
take on this challenge! But we need your help! Please pray for us! Do
all that you can to help us see this goal come to pass. I will make
sure to keep you updated on our progressing investigators and how they
are doing so you can pray for them as well! I know that this will
never be able to happen if we don't receive divine help through your
prayers and ours!

I am so thankful to all of you and I know that this is The Lords work.
We can all be a part of it if we act in faith and invite all those
around us to meet with the missionaries! It is a call from a prophet
of The Lord to do His work in His way.

I love you all so much!

Love,

Hermana Jessica Bloxham

Some of it is Spanish, some English haha
Because of him:

The missionaries in my Zone

Me with Wendy and Maria- some of my favorite members!

One elder climbed up a fire escape on a nearby building to
take this picture haha

Finally spring!

Me and Wankier

Me and Max- made me miss Boston! :(

Sweet graffiti!

I actually live in NY! Sometimes I forget haha cool train!

Elder Bloxham - Miracles in Florence Y'all!

We had such an amazing week this last week! Tashia is now baptized, her dad blessed the sacrament, and now we find and prepare for May. It has been amazing to meet with these wonderful families in Kentucky! They are so nice and are always willing to try new things.

Elder Anderton and I have been running every morning at 5:45! We go about 2.5 miles and then we play basketball from 6:15 till 7! It is the greatest time!! Who would have thought that i'd be up this early and be okay with it!?!? haha not me! But gosh we can get so much more done when we get up this early! We study for 2 hours, and we exercise for a little over an hour! So amazing!!

I have realized while on this crazy mission that stress really drives me. I hate stress, but I love it at the same time. When I don't have any stress I feel like i'm not being productive! But I use the stress to drive me, not to tear me down, and that has been awesome to see that change!

I love this work, and I love helping other missionaries see the vision of this work! Now I just want all of the members of the church to see the vision of this work! "Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lords vineyard, to bring souls unto him". We must heed the call of our beloved Prophet. :)

For it being Easter, I really have been studying the Resurrection a lot. I mean, I love the Easter bunny don't get me wrong, but I think the Resurrection is a little more important :) 

           I invite everyone to read Mosiah chapter 16, focusing on vs 6-9. "And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have been no redemption. And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection. But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death. It is amazing to know that we can be redeemed and have our guilt and pains swept away!

I love you all so much!!

Elder Bloxham

Bengals stadium!!!

Downtown Cincinnati

awesome brats that we had!!

Cassie's baptism!

Tashia's baptism

Elder Anderton and me

Hermana Bloxham - Preach My Gospel!

Hey guys! 

We had a great week this week! We got a super awesome new investigator named Lianabel! She's 15, almost 16, and she is super legit. She says she really wants to learn and read the scriptures and she has a lot of really good questions! We are really excited about finding her! She is the niece of a potential investigator from English class! They live together so when we went to see Justina, the aunt, we talked to Lianabel and now we are teaching her!

We also went on a split this week with the Chinatown sisters! I went down to Chinatown on Friday night and went with Sister Mackay! I served with her in Westchester so it was super fun! They usually have all of their lessons at the church because a lot of the people live in lots of different areas and it's hard to visit them at their houses, so they usually come to the church to have lessons with the missionaries, but we actually left and went to someone's house! It was fun! I got to see a little more of Chinatown and walk around a little haha. It was super fun though!

On Sunday we had an online Facebook event, where we invite people to have lessons with us through the Facebook event things, it's super cool. But we had the event and we taught our members about Preach My Gospel and how it can help them and they can know how they can help us, and while we were doing the event we also were talking to a less-active online about watching General Conference and how it can help him and an investigator all at the same time! So we got 3 lessons in the space of 1 hour! Isn't that crazy!? It was pretty sweet! Haha.

This week we have really been focusing on helping the members learn how to use and study Preach My Gospel. It's something that is super important to us as missionaries and our work and study, but now as well, with the invitation from Elder Ballard, it has become that important for the members as well! Lots of people don't know about it or what it is, so we have been doing a lot of explaining what it is and how they can use it in their lives to strengthen their testimony.

So I just wanted to invite all of you to start studying Preach My Gospel if you haven't already! It has so many good things in it! I know that it will help you to strengthen your testimony and know how to help the missionaries in your area. It has been written through revelation to the prophets and apostles today and I know that it can teach us so many things! You will find a peace and happiness that you can't find anywhere else but through the work of salvation.

I love you all so much!

Hermana Jessica Bloxham

Sister Mackay and sister Chan in Chinatown

Bright and early in Chinatown!

My Bed

Bathroom

Living Room

Study area

Kitchen

The tiny hallway

Me and my companion, Sister Wankier

Elder Bloxham - Baptism!!!

This week, our dear Cassie was baptized!! We had such a wonderful experience with her baptism and confirmation! She was telling us that when she was being confirmed she felt the Holy Ghost going through her like chills of comfort! It's amazing to know that the Holy Ghost has such an amazing influence in our lives!!

 

It has been so much fun serving in Florence Y'all!! We are killing it with the work, and we are seeing the fruits from it! Our Zone is kicking butt and so is the whole mission. We are being led by an amazing man, President Porter, that constantly helps us and gives us amazing life. I love him so much, as well as Sister Porter!

 

What is so amazing about missionary work is we are constantly being led by the spirit. We are the physical beings that do the talking, but the spirit is what does the converting. By the Book of Mormon people see that Christ's church and Gospel is again here to stay and to bless families in so many ways. As I read from the Book of Mormon each day I see a change. I also see the change in our investigators as they read the Book of Mormon and the role it plays in their conversion. A daily scripture study in the morning will brighten your day, and will allow the spirit to comfort you. It's so great!!

 

I love you all so much!!

 

Elder Bloxham

We got 20 bucks each from a member for dinner for Elder Carranza's birthday (back right) so we went to red lobster! yes, I ate tilapia!! and yes, it was amazing!! haha

Hermana Bloxham - General Conference!

Hey everybody!

Well, just like Nate, I had Leadership Council and got to listen to
General Conference this week! It has been am amazing week of learning
and growing in the spirit. Which means it was a very tiring week! Who
knew the spirit was so draining? Haha. It's awesome though!

In leadership council they introduced the monthly focus of our
district meetings which is going to be the Book of Mormon! My favorite
thing to study about! This book is amazing! There is so much power
within the pages of the Book of Mormon. Whenever we are studying about
it during district meeting, it helps all of us to be able to focus on
it with our investigators and less actives as well! I have a goal to
finish the Book of Mormon in Spanish before I come home! I'm pretty
sure I'll get it done! I'm in Helaman 5 right now! It's been a great
experience for me! I have learned a lot as I have been studying it in
Spanish! It's amazing how you can feel the spirit so strongly just by
reading a book! I know that there is a spirit found in the Book of
Mormon that cannot be found anywhere else. No matter how many times we
read it, it will give us new knowledge and we will be happier and
filled with the spirit and love of God. I challenge all of you to make
a habit of reading from the Book of Mormon daily! I know it will take
away the stresses of life and you will be able to put up a wall
between you and the adversary!

We had a huge miracle this week! We had a couple appointments cancel,
and we decided to go look up a less active and former investigator
that lived on the same street. As we were walking down the street, a
guy from inside a barber shop waved at us and asked us to come in!
Now, usually this is sketchy. It's usually full of black guys or
Dominican guys who just want to hit on you... But for some reason I
felt comfortable stopping and going in! Come to find out that the guy
who stopped us is a less active we have been looking for and our
bishop was asking us to find! His name is Carlos Silver. He is super
awesome! He has such strong desires to come back to church and to read
the Book of Mormon. He told us that he remembers liking the Book of
Mormon but just got busy with college and didn't keep going to church.
We are so excited that we got to find him! We had a our first lesson
with him yesterday and he wants his whole family to start coming back
to church and his dad to get baptized! So we have a new potential
investigator as well! Super sweet!

Wow, conference was amazing! I felt like every single talk was so
inspired and meant for me! I got to go to the last session of
conference in Spanish! It was really good! It's nothing like listening
in your native language, but I thought, hey, this is a once in a
lifetime opportunity, so why not do it!? I learned a lot, I think it
helped me to pay attention to the spirit and the promptings I was
receiving more than the words the prophets were speaking. It was
really cool. I wanted to share a couple of my notes I took during
conference from some of my favorite talks.


Elder Holland:
"As we are mocked, we only join the groups of prophets and leaders
who we look up to. If they could do it, why can't we? How bad do I
want it?"
"Being a disciple of Christ means being like him in all ways. The
good and the bad will come with it, but we will have more happiness
than we can imagine if we become his disciples."
"Be strong. Love the gospel. Defend your beliefs with courtesy and
with compassion, but defend them."
Linda S Reeves:
"Take responsibly for your own spiritual well being."
"Be strong in your beliefs and don't be afraid to stand up for what
you believe in."
Neil L Anderson:
With trust in God, our faith can become stronger through our trials.
We are capable of being strong even against the strongest winds of satan.
As we build our foundation on the Rock of Christ, the temptations
will have no power over us. (Helaman 5:12)
The Book of Mormon can be a shield against the temptations of the adversary
President Uchtdorf:
We should have an Overall spirit or attitude of gratitude.
We see gratitude as a way of life. That stands independent of our
current situation. We should try to be thankful In our circumstances
more than things we are grateful for.
The choice is ours. We can look at the things we lack, or we can be
like Nephi, and say, I did look unto my God and I did praise him all
the day long.
Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power, then Stand
still and watch the arm of God do His work.
Be grateful in times of distress does not mean we are pleased with
our circumstances, but that we look beyond our problems with faith in
God.
President Monson:
Love is the very essence of the Gospel.
Kindness, patience, selflessness make evident the love in our hearts.
Recognize someone's need and respond.

I know that these men and woman are prophets and servants of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that they have been called of God to
teach us how we can return to love with him again. I love Him with all
of my heart and know, just as President Monson said, "Charity is the
life love of Christ, and whosoever shall be found possessed of it in
the last day, it shall be well with him.". I know that as we love Him,
we will love our neighbor. The pure love of Christ cannot be taken
away by Satan. It is too powerful. So, with the prophet, I invite all
of you to love one another. Think of others more than yourself and you
will see your life change for the better. I love you all so much and I
know that only through this a Gospel can we have true joy in this
life.

I love you!

Hermana Jessica Bloxham 

Elder Bloxham - General Conference!!

This week was absolutely amazing!!!!! Conference, leadership conference, and all these amazing revelatory experiences!!

 

This week has been the busiest time of my life. We are constantly going, not being able to take lunch, and most days not even dinner. We are out and getting work done! We have a baptism this weekend, her name is Cassie! Please keep her in your prayers, she is struggling to quit coffee, but is going 3 days strong.

 

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for! Where did I get transferred!?!?!? All I can say is it's the promised land of Northern Kentucky, Florence, Y'all!! The most amazing part is i'm with Elder Anderton. Now think back a little while when I was in Winchester and I was talking about how we'd ball up those black dudes at the park in Muncie? So the missionary that was always on my team was this wonderful man, Named Elder Anderton. Yes, we are companions!!!!!!!! We get along perfectly, working hard, and laugh like crazy!!! He's from Hurricane, Utah, also the promised land of Southern Utah, and played basketball and baseball in high school. What a blessing.

 

Mama, this is for you!! Elder Anderton and I got up this morning and had an itch to go for a long run. So we called one of the youth and said hey, want to meet us at taco bell? and he said yeah i'll meet you half way. So we take off towards taco bell. Taco bell is 3.4 miles from our house. We get there, eat that awesome taco bell breakfast, then headed back. 6.8 miles this morning!!!! Can you believe it!? Then we played basketball from 10 this morning till 12... i'm so freakin dead right now!! ahh, but gosh, it was so much fun :)

 

Conference was amazing!! I realized this conference that they talked a lot about covenants. President Porter has also been talking a lot about Covenants!! If we know our Covenants, and what they actually meant, we would not break them. There are too many promises that we've made that we would not want to break them. Now, Satan knows how hard it is, and that is why we mess up. But nobody does something bad, if they understand their Covenants. I extend a commitment to everyone to know and understand your Covenants. They are real, and will bless you if you follow them. Do not break your Covenants.

 

The address to this wonderful place is 8713 Preakness Dr. Florence, KY 41042. Write me letters!! I would love to see mail from everyone :)

 

I love you!! Godspeed

 

-Elder Bloxham

Hermana Bloxham - General Women's Conference

Hey!

It's been a super good week! José got baptized on Wednesday and
confirmed on Sunday! It was such an amazing experience! Crazy story!
So José didn't tell his mom that he was going to get baptized, because
he thought she wouldn't let him. So we saw José and helped him get his
baptismal suit thing and go start getting ready and then we went up
and were making copies of the program. During that time, Jose's mom
shows up! We come down, thinking all is well, and all of the members
are like all stressed out! They all come up to us and say, that's
Jose's mom, you need to go say hi to her! She was super mad! Come to
find out that José lied to her about where he was going that night and
she knew he was lying, so she followed him to the church! When she
gets there, he's all dressed in white ready to be baptized and she
gets super mad. So then, José is mad that she followed him and she's
mad too, so it's all a mad fest haha. Lots of the members went up to
the mom and kind of talked her down and she stayed for the baptism.

It was such a beautiful service! After he came up out of the water he
gave Elder Smith a huge hug and I got tears in my eyes and I knew that
he was so happy and that nothing that had happened before mattered at
all. His mom felt the spirit and was so proud of him for taking that
step!  So it all turned out perfectly! It was actually a huge blessing
that she could come and see him be baptized. It was really cool to
feel and see the difference after the baptism.

The next day we had a lesson with him and after the lesson he said, "I just want to tell you guys how thankful I am to you. I have so much
happiness inside me that I can't even understand or explain. I know
that this is the step that my savior wanted me to take and that I have
made a covenant to Him. I know that I wouldn't be here without you two
and my savior. I know that this church is true and that my dreams have
come true, so thank you". And then he left and Sister Wankier and I
were just sitting there in awe. He is so amazing and he has such a
strong testimony. He has already gone out with the missionaries like
every day more than once haha. He loves it! He told us at he would love
to be one of us someday! Ahhh he is just so awesome!

On Sunday he came to church with his shirt and tie, and some black
pants!(they were black jeans, but it works! Hahah). We were so happy
when we saw him! And when he got confirmed and received the Holy
Ghost, you could just see the light shining from his eyes. It has been
a super cool experience to see it!

Anyways! Besides the baptism, we also had the first General Women's
Meeting on Saturday! It was super super cool! I just wanted to share
with you some of my notes and favorite parts from the talks!

Rosemary M. Wixom-
  As we renew our covenants, we always have the goal of the temple.
  Temple ordinances are those necessary for our access into the
  Celestial Kingdom. The feelings of unworthiness go away as we walk
    into the walls of the temple.
Bonnie L. Oscarson-
  Love each other more, and love each other better.
Linda K. Burton-
  all the easy things, have been done. Now it's high adventure and
    hard work- Neil L Maxwell
  I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, The son of God. Show it in word and deed.
    keep covenants. Keep promises to each other and to god. We can keep
    our family stronger by keeping our commandments. That is being a
    disciple.
  offer helping hands to all possible. Listen and act on promptings received.
    find those who have lost their way.
  be ready answer, here am I, choose me.
Henry B Eyring-
  our trials and tests have been picked perfectly for us. This path is
    filled with these trials, but also with covenants to help guide us
    through. God has given us opportunities to make promises with him and
    he will give you the spirit to guide us through our trials and
    hardships.

I really loved the talk that Sister Burton gave on being disciples of
Christ. Being a disciple is not going to be easy, but it will be worth
it. As we follow he teachings of our lord and savior Jesus Christ, we
will be led on the right path. As we make covenants with Him, we will
be able to have stronger families, friendships and testimonies.
Sometimes we feel inadequate to be called Disciples of Christ, but
look at his Apostles he called to serve with him in his life. They
were fisherman, teachers... Nothing super high class. They were humble
and they were willing to give their all to The Lord. I want to
challenge all of you to become disciples of Christ. I know that it
will be hard. But I also know that you will see more blessings and
miracles than you can even imagine. I love this gospel and I love this
work.

I love you all so much!

Hermana Jessica Bloxham

Super long creepy tunnel on the way home!

This picture makes me laugh so hard! This is José and his mom
before the baptism when they were super mad haha. It portrays the
moment perfectly!

We were trying to make him laugh  and smile haha:)