Hermana Bloxham - Week for the record books!

Hola familia y amigos!

Wow. I don't even know how to start this letter for this week. I have
never seen so many miracles in my entire life. Last week started out
awesome with 12 lessons. But I thought that it was just going to die
out by the end of the week. It totally didn't. We worked super hard
until the last minute and we actually got 32 lessons! We had a goal of
23 again, but we got 32!!! It was so insane. We literally have been so
overwhelmed by the blessings and all of the opportunities to teach so
many people. We actually reached every one of our lesson goals for the
week and exceeded most of them. We feel like The Lord has put so many
people into our path and so many are so ready! We seriously talk about
how there are just too many people for us to teach. Our back up plans
are people we really need to see during the week, and sometimes we
just can't get to them that day and have to move them to the next. I
seriously don't even know how to describe the gratitude and humility
that I feel right now. It has been amazing. We have taught 14 lessons
this week already. We taught 6 Monday and 8 yesterday. Tonight we hope
to have 2!

We had to move Lianabels baptismal date to the 14th of June because she
wasn't able to make it to church this week. But she was able to choose
it and feels comfortable with her decision much more than she was for
the 31st. We are really excited for her! Also, we extended a baptismal
date to Wendy Anderson for the 31st of May. She hasn't accepted it but
is praying to see if that is the day The Lord wants her to be
baptized. She is completely ready and loves the church and everything
we believe in. She just has to make the decision and take the step
into the dark, to feel the difference in her life. Please pray for
both of them!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers! I can feel your love every
day! I love you all! I know his is The Lord's work, and I am so
blessed to be his servant!

Love,

Hermana Jessica Bloxham

We walked across the bridge into the Bronx today!

Elder Bloxham - The Promised Land!!!

This week has been absolutely fabulous!! I got my new companion, Elder Hanks!!! I am so blessed, yet again, to have a beyond awesome companion! Okay so the funny thing about this is, again, when I was in Winchester, we would go to Muncie and play basketball all the time on Pday right? Okay, so Elder Anderton and I would always play with this other missionary... I wonder who that was? ELDER HANKS!!!! The three of us were always on the same team, and we are all three exactly alike!! What are the odds!?!? This, like the last one, will be the fastest transfer ever!

We want to make this the greatest transfer not only for us but for the whole zone. We have been working so hard to get everybody pumped. I am way competitive and so is Elder Hanks, so we love competitions. We have gotten our zone to like them as well so now they are throwing them out against other districts! It's so funny!! The Highland Heights Ward meets at the same building as the Lakeside Park Ward, and the HH District challenged the LKP District to a finding challenge. The winner of the challenge was able to claim the building! Haha, the Highland Heights District won, so now it is the Highland Heights building, and not the Lakeside Park building, we thought that was pretty funny! It's awesome to see the motivation in the zone and how hard all the missionaries are working!

The greatest motivator that I have found is love. If you know that somebody loves you and is asking you to do something, you willingly do it and do it your best! But once somebody tells you to do something without love, it's annoying. haha!! I have learned this because of the sweet sisters in our Zone! They are always the best!!! No matter if they had a terrible week, they had the best week ever! But now I have learned to give compliments not just because I have to, but because I love all the missionaries so much I compliment them! It makes being a zone leader so much fun and so rewarding!!!

I'd like to thank y'all for the support and I love you!!

-Elder Bloxham

Nate and Elder Anderton on Transfer Day

I'm so lucky to have a sweet sister in Florence who sends me pictures!
I'm so thankful she takes such good care of the missionaries!

Elder Bloxham's new companion, Elder Hanks (the one next to him)

Elder Bloxham at Zone Conference

Hermana Bloxham - Hey!!

Hey everybody!

This has literally been one of the best weeks of my entire mission! We
found 6 new investigators last week! It was awesome! We have been
working super hard to meet our goals we have set and to push our
limits. Last week we set a goal to have 23 lessons. Our standard of
excellence is 21 but we felt like we could do more. So we had tons of
miracles last week and even with one day with only one lesson we were
able to make it to Sunday night with 22 lessons! We needed to get that
last one! So we prayed and tried to figure out who we should visit
with our last hour of the day. We decided to teach Maria Espinosa. She
is a member in our ward, but doesn't live in our area, but we felt
like we should teach her.

So we text her and went over to teach her. It was a really good lesson
about service in the church and how we should all work to serve one
another, because we need each other to stay strong in the church. So
we invited her to find one way to serve someone this week. The next
day, a friend of hers called her to help him get home from the
hospital. She didn't want to and didn't know how she was going to be
able to do it, but she remembered the lesson we taught the night
before and she helped him the next morning. Right after that we had a
lesson planned with Maria as the member present. So we were on our way
to the lesson and a guy stopped us on the street and wanted to learn
more! He wanted a Book of Mormon and wanted to come to church! Then we
went to the less active lesson we had planned and Maria helped us a
ton with that lesson. As we were leaving, she said, now where are we
going? I'm going to stay with you until 7:30 or the family home
evening we were going to teach. We were super excited, but didn't
really have too much planned for the rest of the day. So we looked up
another less active who wasn't home, so Sister Baker suggested that we
call Wendy, another member! So we called her to see if we could come
over, but she was on her way out. So she ended up coming with us to a
lesson. So we had two members so we decided to split in the same house
and teach two lessons at the same time haha. After that we were able
to teach the first class of the temple preparation classes to Maria
Espinosa so she can go to the temple, and we taught it with Wendy and
then we taught family home evening and had so much fun! So we had 5
member present lessons in one day!! It was amazing! It was one of the
greatest blessing days I've ever had in my life!
Another huge miracle happened this week when every one of our
appointments cancelled. We had no idea where to go or what to do, so
we said a prayer and we felt like we should go see a less active named
Isabel. So we started on our way here and we were stopped by a
different less active in his barbershop who had just text us like 5
minutes before asking of we could come over there. So we taught him a
lesson and he told us about a guy he wants us to talk to as well! Then
we went over to Isabel's house and taught her! It was a super good
lesson as well. Then on the way back to the church we ran into another
less active we had been looking for and we taught him as well! So our
day of jukes, turned into a super successful day of finding and
teaching! It was amazing!
Yesterday was a super hard day. We felt like we were walking a lot and
didn't get too much done. We taught a few people and stuff, but we
didn't feel like we did too much. When we got home and were counting
up our numbers, we realized that we had taught 6 lessons! We have a
goal this week for 23 and in just two days we already have 12!! It's
so crazy! The Lord is truly blessing us so much for our efforts in His
work.
With this baptismal goal for May, we have found a new ability and
drive to work harder and to work smarter. During September it was
amazing and we worked amazingly hard but we only expected to do it for
the month of September. But now we are truly building a new way of
doing missionary work here in the New York North Mission. It has been
so amazing to be a part of this new wave of missionary work and I
can't wait to see the fruits of everything we have been working for.
Along with all of those blessings, we got to talk to our families! It
was awesome and I am so thankful and grateful for my family and
everything you have done for me! I know that The Lord has prepared a
way for each of us to be as happy as possible, and that is through our
families. I love you all so much!
We also taught Lianabel last night and she is still on track for her
baptism on May 31st! She just has to come to church before then! Haha.
So please pray for her that she will be able to come and see what it's
like!
I love you all so much and I love this Gospel. I know that Christ
lives and that he has truly given us a perfect plan. With rules and
regulations but also with blessings. In D&C 130: 20- 21 it says:
20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the
foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to
that law upon which it is predicated.
I know this is true because I have seen the blessings! I know you can
too as you follow His commandments!

Love,

🚋 Hermana Jessica Bloxham 🏀

Jess bought a "mumu" and thinks it's the greatest thing!! Snapback and mumu.... interesting combo:)

This week at the temple!

Elder Bloxham - Transfer week!!

I am not getting transferred!!!! I will be staying to Northern Kentucky Y'all!! Now this is when i get to find out where all the other missionaries are going. I start with finding out who is leaving, who is going to be the new Zone Leaders, and then i get to narrow it closer to who's mine!! :)

I loved that i got to call the Family on Mother's Day!!! Gosh it was so amazing to see those smiling faces. It is crazy that Syd is getting ready for BYU-I, that is out of control. Graduation is coming soon, and then the next thing you know Jessi will be home, (Don't get trunky :) ) and then it will be Christmas and we'll be calling. I say this all the time, but there is no such thing as time. It flies!!!! Yesterday i got into Northern Kentucky, and now we are done with the first transfer. Wow!!! But it's amazing because i get to learn from new people, so that will be awesome. Elder Anderton is leaving... :(  We got along way to well to stay longer than one transfer, i guess that is how it goes. Once you get along with your companion you leave them, but when you are fighting you always stay with them for a long time.... haha hope everyone is getting along with their companions!!

We have a lot of people getting closer to baptism, and it is making things get even harder. Mallik (sounds like muh- leek) is getting close, and now he knows that the Book of Mormon is true, but the devil is working overtime with him. But he is on the right path so that will be amazing! We are teaching a family of 6 and that has been a rollercoaster as well! I can't even remember all their names because they are all black names. I know that the oldest is Tyreke, and the next boy is Tayshawn. I remember them because Tyreke Evans and Tayshawn Prince! Haha so that is pretty cool! But things are looking up and i'm excited for this next transfer!

I love you guys so much and thank you so much for all the support you give to me each and every day!

-Elder Bloxham

 

To all the wonderful mothers out there, Happy Mothers Day!! Alma 56: 47-48

47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers,saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

Hermana Bloxham - Saludos a todos!

Hey everybody!

It has been a great week! Filled with miracles and more miracles! As
you know we have our goal as a mission of having 100 baptisms this
month of May. In Mission Leadership Council, President Morgan
expressed the need to have a baptism goal for the month for each
companionship and each zone. As a companionship we set a goal for 7!
Pretty crazy right! But we have names to back up those numbers and we
are working really hard to achieve them. Our zone, for 7
companionships, we have the goal of 27 baptisms together as a zone. We
are all super excited and working really hard to reach that goal.

As we have been working for that this week we have seen so many
miracles! President Morgan also invited us to have perfect mornings.
He talked about making studies a priority. There have been so many
times that I have sacrificed studies to teach lessons, especially on
Sundays. He wants us to make sure we put studies in no matter what
happens in the morning. This was extremely hard to adjust to, I am
actually still adjusting. I have just put teaching lessons ahead of
making sure I am fully prepared for the lessons we are going to teach.
So, this week we have been working really hard on the "perfect
mornings" and we have been blessed beyond belief!

This week we found 6 new investigators! Two of them have a super
awesome story in the way we found them! During the weekend of Easter
we were doing the manhattan chalk drawing for Because of Him. We
talked to two ladies there who were from Ecuador. They seemed sooooo
nice and awesome and they said they would come to church! They seemed
really excited about it, but most of the time, they don't show up. So
they didn't make it for Easter Sunday, or the next, but this Sunday
they did! Their names are Luisa and Rachel! Luisa used to attend a
baptist church but left because she didn't agree with some of their
beliefs and practices, and since then has been looking for a church to
join! We taught them after church and talked about what we do as
missionaries and a little bit about the Book of Mormon! We are going
to go visit them tonight and try to set them up with a baptismal date!
It's super exciting!
We also looked up a former investigator woman named Maria de la Cruz.
She is super nice and will let us in to talk to her. She has an
amazing belief in Christ and loves hearing the word of God. Her mother
is also visiting from the Dominican Republic for a couple months so we
have also been teaching her! They are the cutest little ladies you
would ever meet! They are so nice and soft spoken and so loving! We
have a meeting with them tonight at our bishops house, which we are
super excited about!
Another miracle that happened last week, was that one of the elder
companionships had a woman they were teaching, but couldn't get her to
open up to them and express her feelings to get down to what was
really holding her back from baptism. So they thought that maybe
sisters would be a better fit, so they gave her to us to teach! It has
been awesome!! Her name is Wendy Anderson. She is soooo legit and sooo
prepared to be baptized! The only thing is that she works all the
time. Nothing new right? Haha. But she has been reading, and told us
of an experience when she prayed about whether this path and this
church are the right path to follow, she said that she felt an
overwhelming sense of peace in that moment and also in the rest of her
life as well, as in work and with her family and that she is in the
right path! She has had dates to be baptized before, but we really
feel that it is her time now! So please pray for her and for us to be
able to teach her those things that she needs to be able to take this
step!

Well, besides all of that, we have just been working our butts off to
bring these goals to pass. It has been amazing to see the power of God
work through us as we exercise a little faith in him. For through the
faith of man, can all the power of God be brought to pass. I know that
we can all participate in the power and love of God as we exercise
faith in him. He loves us perfectly and wants to bless us, so let him,
by our actions. Follow His commandments and he will bless you!
D&C 130:20-21 says
20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the
foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated--
21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to
that law upon which it is predicated.
In other words, each blessing has a law or commandment associated with
it. When we follow that law, we will receive that blessing, every
time.

I know that this is the Lords work. He has sanctified it, and he will
help us in it as we work with him.

I love you all so much and I hope you can all feel of the Love of The Lord!

Love,

Hermana Jessica Bloxham

We all got to go down to Times Square and help volunteer at the revlon walk!

Elder Bloxham - 14 months!!!

Family!! It's so good to talk to you today and i'm super excited to do so because I've been having some amazing studies lately and i wanted to let y'all know about them! Also, there has been some hardships, as well as wonderful times. Kinda crazy how that works :)

I have come to realize that knowing the true purpose of this life gives me a new outlook on everything. Knowing that this is a time for us to learn and grow and prepare to meet God really makes you want to work hard and learn as much as you can while we live this short life. I love the trials because that is where i grow the most. This last week we found a new investigator named Christina. She is beyond solid, and is searching for truth. We had powerful teaching appointments with her, she felt the spirit very strong, and we showed her the Chapel the Saturday before church. She loved it, and again, had an amazing experience. We showed her the Baptismal Font and invited her to be baptized and she accepted. Wonderful right!?!? That's what we thought too! She gives us a call Sunday morning and was telling us how she is moving way too fast and some of the things we believe are against her studies with the Jehovah's Witness's. We are like duh, of course they are going to be different, if we are the true church of Jesus Christ, we will not be like any other church! But she didn't want to come to church, and she doesn't want to join. But gaining a knowledge of trials and the Lords timing, we know for a fact that the Lord is preparing her perfectly for her time. She is amazing, and will make an amazing member some day!

I have been studying a lot about sins, transgressions, and forgiveness. In Mosiah, it is full of how we can know more about these things. Alma and the Sons of Mosiah were wicked. The most vilest of sinners, and yet, they were forgiven. The change of heart and the complete faith in the Lord was able to form them into the powerful servants that they were. The Eternal perspective that God has is impeccable! He knew that they would have to convert thousands. He knew they would go through the trial and be put into prison. And he also knew of the growth that will come of it all. Changing our temporal mindset to an Eternal mindset will give us the chance to repent and become more like our Savior. That's who we want to become right? I know I do!  As we strive to keep our Covenants, praying every morning and studying our scriptures as a family, we will become greater instruments in the hands of the Lord, as well, we will find greater peace in this life, and Eternal Salvation in the life to come. I promise that if you study and pray as a family everyday, things will go better, there will be greater peace in the family, and we will gain an Eternal perspective on life!

I love and appreciate Y'all so very much!!

Elder Bloxham  

Hermana Bloxham - What a week!

Hey everybody!

This email is going to be pretty short because we have transfers
today. But I am staying in the area and getting sister baker, my
roommate from Yonkers! Sister Wankier is going to New Rochelle, which
is in my old westchester zone too! She is training a new sister! It's
her first time training so she is super stoked!

We have found a lot of new potential investigators, so thank you for
your prayers in our behalf! We have been doing more finding activities
and everything to try to find the person we will be able to baptize in
May! We are really hoping for Lianabel! She is progressing very well
and is so awesome! Please keep praying for us and for her that she will
be able to come to church!

Well, I love you all so much and I hope you can all feel the spirit of
this work in your own lives! He loves you and I love you!

Love always,

Hermana Jessica Bloxham

Huge red velvet cheesecake from juniors from my birthday!

Chimichurri and tacos!

Kind of blurry, but we call it the eternal staircase! It's crazy!

I don't even know where that is but it's cool haha.

Walking to the church

The church

The train stop for where the church is

Funny Video!!

At the bottom of the eternal staircase