Bloxham Missionary News: Hermana Bloxham - Pastelitos.... Worst day ever.

Well family, I'm sorry in advance for this sorry email I am about to
write haha. I've been sick since Saturday and Sister Baker has been
sick since Monday, so we have literally been inside puking our guts
out for 5 days! Yay! Also meaning we have watched: The testaments (4
times), legacy (3 times), Mountain of The Lord, The Joseph Smith
papers, animated version of the New Testament, Old Testament visual
resources, children's reader of the Old Testament (3 hours), teaching
resources, mr. Kruegers Christmas, Nora's Christmas gift, the other
wise man, and a selection of other Mormon messages, and I've been
studying some cool stuff from the Old Testament! That part has been
pretty cool actually haha. I've been studying from the Old Testament
institute manual! It's super interesting!

Anyways, Thursday night we went over to Maria de la Cruz and
Bienvenida's (investigators) house and we had a pretty good lesson on
the Plan of Salvation. Afterwards they usually bring us out some
delicious juice and some baby bell cheese and crackers! But this time,
they had this huge chunk of some Dominican cheese. It was THE grossest
thing I've ever had! I had to like down it super fast and then drink
the juice so I couldn't taste it. It was Nast. That was just the
beginning.

Then, Friday night we went to a less actives house, who we are
teaching with her kids, who are investigators! They are awesome! Their
names are Tammy, Ashley and Pablo. They got us some things called
pastelitos. They are like little rolled up things with meat and
something else inside. Kinda like egg rolls, but more Hispanic haha.
They were even grosser than that cheese! It was basically like the
icing on the cake. I felt like I was going to puke the rest of the
night. That night we also got to go visit the Harlem chapel to pick up
a baptismal suit for one of the elders baptisms, that we didn't get to
go to because we are sick, but we heard it was super amazing! Harlem
chapel is super cool! I'll send a picture of it! :)
Then, that night I was puking all night! It was the worst! Ah. Yeah.
That's where it all started and now here we are, still sick haha. It's
ok though, we are going to be better tomorrow!!

On a good note, on Friday we got to teach one of our investigators
named Ana Chan. She is super legit! I don't know if I've told you yet
but, She is a home attendant for one of the investigators of the
English sisters. She lives in Harlem, but works up here so we visit
her here and hopefully we will be able to get her to come to church
soon! We taught a super awesome lesson on the restoration and about
how the spirit can teach us truth no matter where we are. We were able
to use some of her experiences to explain how the spirit can work with
her and help her to understand that that was the Holy Ghost helping
her in those moments. It was super legit!!

Also! Something else super awesome! Maria Espinosa(a member) is fellow
shipping Luisa and Rachel and she is doing an amazing job! We have
lunch with her every Friday afternoon and this week we came and she
told us she had a surprise! Before we knew it, Rachel and Luisa were
coming through the door! She had invited them to lunch with all of us
missionaries! They are like best friends and it's Super awesome!!

We haven't had much time to visit with Lianabel this week, or with
Wendy Anderson. We've had a couple pretty crazy weeks with them! But,
we are going to get back on track with them this week for sure!

Something that I have learned this week is that God knows what to do,
and what time it needs to be done. I have always had a hard time
letting investigators take some time alone. Sometimes they need time
without the missionaries bugging them, but I like to talk to them
every day! But, since we've been sick, we haven't been able to see any
of them! It's been kind of a blessing for sure!

I also learned a little bit about obedience in my studies this week.
It says that we were sent here to earth "to see if they will do all
things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them." (Abraham
3:25) the whole purpose of our life is to solely be obedient to Gods
commandments. A lot of times we feel like they don't always make
sense, but it's not necessary for them to make sense to us. We are
just mortals with imperfect minds. We cannot understand the full
reason behind each commandment, but we can be perfectly obedient. That
is all Christ asks of us and it is something we need to try to do
every day. But, we are not perfect, so we need the Atonement to make
it possible. Christ has made everything possible for us because he
loves us. So,mi want to challenge all of you to chose today to be more
obedient to the commandments of God. Not just the big ones, but
especially the small ones of reading your scriptures daily, especially
the Book of Mormon, going to church every week no matter what, and
keeping God in the loop of your life through your prayers. I promise
those 3 things will make the biggest difference in your lives!
President Eyering once said, "There is a danger in the word 'someday',
when what it means is 'not this day'. The thought 'someday I will',
can be a thief of the opportunities of time the blessings of
eternity." Don't let tomorrow stay in tomorrow and not change your
today!

I love you all so much! The Lord loves you and I know this Gospel is
the way to find true and complete happiness!
Love,

Hermana Jessica Bloxham