Hermana Bloxham - The last transfer!

Hey everybody!

I can't believe it's the beginning of my last transfer in my mission!
The time has gone by so fast and I can't even put into words how much
I have learned in this short amount of time! I will never be able to
repay what I have received from being here! It's the greatest blessing
of my life!

Well, we have had tons of cool stuff happen this week! We found two
new investigators who are super legit! Their names are Maxiel(18) and
Yomax(19). Their mom's name is Yolanda. Crazy names right? Dominicans
like to make up crazy names sometimes haha. But we actually found them
through looking up a former investigator, which means, someone who has
investigated this church in the past and we have a record of what they
have been taught so we can look them up in the future. They hadn't
been taught since 2008! Which is a pretty long time! But they
remembered the story of Joseph smith and his vision and about the Book
of Mormon! They even still had their book of mormon's  on a shelf in
their house! Which never happens! We were just getting to know them
and Maxiel wants to major in sports management in college! So of
course we talked about sports and school and stuff for a while haha.
But now she is going to come to the basketball pickup games we play on
Thursdays and to volleyball with the ward on Saturday! I'm super
stoked! It gives me a good reason to be able to play some basketball
haha. They are super awesome! They are actually our fourth family we
are teaching! It's super crazy! I've never taught a family, and now we
are teaching 4! It's such a blessing!

This week we also had 6 investigators at church! Lucy, Lorraine,
Serafín(family), Luisa and Rachel(Family) and Ana Chan! It's the most
I've ever had at once! It was crazy! Sister baker and I were split up
most of the day and we were trying to all sit together in relief
society but there weren't enough seats together haha. It was funny.
They are all so awesome! Serafín has been talking about baptism
himself and how he wants to be on the right path and wants to learn
how to be a member of our church and not bring his other things from
his last church into ours, but just adopt what we do. Which is
definitely not what usually happens. We have a huge amount of members
who still pray like they did in their evangelical church, Catholic
Church and Christian churches. The whole culture of our church is
different because they all bring what they knew before in, which is
not a bad thing always, it helps us to learn a lot about different
ways of learning and feeling the spirit. I really like it! But I love
that Serafín wants to adopt the "Mormon culture". He really is so
awesome!

Well, I can't believe that I will only write 5 more of these emails!
The time is going to pass so fast and I am nervous and excited for
that time. There is a poem I have that says, do I want the life ahead
or the one I left behind? It's always a step into the fog, but I know
that the things I have learned here will change my life forever back
home. I will have a completely different life there than before so I
am excited to start over! I love you all so much and I am extremely
blessed to have you all in my life! I love you!

Hermana Jessica Bloxham

5 am city trip!

Mango with chile, like and salt. Delicious!

Central Park

We copied a Taylor swift pic!

Taylor Swift

Rucker Park

Sister Cole was Jessi's first companion/trainer. She went home today!

Elder Zazueta

This is Lianabel- the girl we have been teaching for a while. She's next to sister baker.

Elder Bloxham - The miracle family!

I just wanted to tell the story of the Sherrod family because they are the greatest people in the ENTIRE world!!! They have brought so much joy to my life, and I can't wait to share with y'all some of the experiences we have been through with them.

I don't remember if I have shared the story of how we found them, but if I have, I'm sorry because I am going to say it again, and maybe get into a little more detail :)

 

Elder Hanks and I set out to find a family one day, and with faith in our hearts, we talked to as many people as would come into our path. As we ride our bikes down the street, in the distance we see a cute little black family. Ora pushing the stroller, Shaun at her left hand, and Jamesha at her right. Xavion running around the stroller, being 5 years old, he is full of energy. Inside the stroller is cute little Jannessa (sounds like janeesa). I locked them in my sights, and skidding to a stop, we pass our Mormon.org card. Ora is the shyest person I have ever met, and is very, very quiet. We express to her that her family can be blessed because of this Gospel, shared with her some passages from the Book of Mormon, then proceeded to say a prayer with the family, still confused at that point what all of their names were, but we say the prayer anyway! :) We snag the planners out of the good o'l pocket and write down her information. At that time, we did not know of the impact they would be having on our lives, or the humility we would gain from them. But the Lord knows, and that is why he has put them into our path.

 

At this point we didn't realize the situation that they were in, where they lived, or the depression they endured. Ora is a single mom and has 4 kids. And, They live at a Hotel. The first visit we had, we realized that she did not give us the room number, and we thought that we had lost this family forever. Until, 2 weeks later, we find them again.

 

It's interesting how the Lord works. With those whom he has prepared, he will always find a way for us to come in contact again. We got her room number, and stopped by the next day.

 

The first discussion we had with them, they accepted baptism. Through commitments and through the power and conviction of the Book of Mormon accompanied by the spirit, they now are converted to this true and everlasting Gospel. This Saturday, Ora led her family into the waters of baptism. I have never seen the true cleansing of baptism in the way it was with Ora. She comes up out of the water, with a huge smile, and tears streaming down her face. With forgiveness in her heart, and a repentant soul, she is now cleansed from her past. She went down into the water an unconfident, insecure woman, and came out of the water a new, confident, spiritual, daughter of God. She has now laid down that old person, and literally has been born again as a spiritual giant, and a leader to her family.

 

They are the most amazing family. They are so humble, have so much respect, and never have asked for assistance. They are such a united family, and are constantly helping each other. All they wanted in life, was to be forgiven of the past.

 

This really is the true church of Jesus Christ. His Gospel has been restored to the earth with all the Authority and Keys of the Priesthood power of God. We now can be sealed to our family forever! We can make sacred covenants with our Father in Heaven! And because of Him, we can be forgiven of our past. Guilt will be made peace, and fear can be made faith. Because of Him and His Gospel, we will live again with our Father in Heaven.

 

I love you all so very much!!!!

 

-Elder Bloxham

This is the Sherrod Family at the baptism!! and then Kevin on the left, a recent convert of 3 weeks :)

Hermana Bloxham - Moving moving moving

Hey everybody!

Well, this week has been pretty uneventful! One of the elders
apartments had to move so we helped them clean..... It was disgusting
to say the least. This is a picture of the stove before and after. It
took forever. We took probably 4 hours a day for 3-4 days trying to
help clean and move their stuff to the other apartment. It was super
fun though! Missionary work is awesome, but it's also super fun to do
service and hang out with the other missionaries haha. Especially the
elders, they're so awesome! We also took a trip down to Buffalo Wild
Wings down in Times Square, the only one in the city, with elder
Zazueta, elder Durham, elder Kroff and elder Berryman. Elder Zazueta
and Berryman are going home this cycle and I'm going next so it was
like a last trip to BWW together. It was super fun. We also got to sit
on the red stairs in Times Square and we took some pictures. It was
super fun! I'll send pictures of all of this stuff haha.

The spiritual experience I want to share for is week was super
awesome! We went over to give a blessing to Lucy and Rudy. Elder
Zazueta and Elder Durham came to give the blessing. We shared a
scripture on faith and how we need to have the faith in Christ
necessary to be healed. As we said that, Rudy said, I have the faith.
I know I can be healed. Elder Durham gave him an amazing blessing
and as he switched places with Lucy, I could see the peace on his
face. Then elder Zazueta gave a beautiful blessing to Lucy and she
stood up after, crying. We asked her, how they felt and what they
thought, and Lucy said that she could feel the spirit fill her whole
body as she was receiving the blessing and Rudy said, "this week I'm
going to My church, I will be at My church." He was talking about our
church, but that he has finally made the decision that he feels like
it is His church. They are both so sensitive to the spirit and it has
been a huge blessing for me to see the spirit working in them.

Well, we have transfers next week, so I'll be letting you know if I'll
be staying or where I'm going next week! I'm almost positive that I'm
going to be staying here in Inwood, which I would love! The time is
passing so quickly and I am just so excited to finish off my mission
working harder than ever! I love you all so much and I am so thankful
for all of your support over these past 17 months! I love you!

🚋 Hermana Jessica Bloxham 🏀

Elder Bloxham - Come thou fountain, every blessing..... :)

Hola mi familia y amigos!! Cuantos anos tienes? haha that's all I know! Anyways, Elder Carranza, a Spanish missionary from Guatamala sings come thou fount of every blessing, and he thinks it says come thou fountain! It's super funny :)

         

This week was a week of miracles!!!! But I've only got time for one :) Ora and her family are on date for baptism this Saturday, and there is a lot of things going on with her rent and the manager of her place and they said that she has to move out this Friday... Which is a day before her baptism.. We were freaking out and we had no idea what to do. Elder Hanks, being the amazing missionary he is, said, "Well, at this point we cant do anything. Once we have done all we can do, Jesus Christ will do the rest." Wise and inspiring words from Elder Hanks!

 

We needed a miracle to happen, so we fasted on Sunday. And the Lord Provided!!!!!!! We went to Ora's house after church so we could get the whole scoop on what was going to happen and where they were going to move an such, and Ora said that she is able to stay a few more weeks!!! That lifted a humungous burden off of my back!! She is getting baptized this Saturday, and I am so so so happy!! Also, her son Shaun didn't want to get baptized the whole time we were teaching them, and yesterday he said that he wants to!!! So Ora, Jamesha, and Shaun will be getting baptized this Saturday! This is going to be the best weekend of my entire life! Wow!!!

 

Well that is what is going on in the Promised land of Northern Kentucky Y'all!!!! I love you so much!

 

Love, Elder Bloxham

Leadership Council

hah check out me and Elder Hanks rockin out promised land swag!! hahaha

Another leadership council

The Northern Kentucky homies!!!!

Hermana Bloxham - Les Misrables

Hey guys!

Well, I'm on my way to the play today so I don't have a ton of time to
write this week! Last week the Yankee game was a ton of fun! We also
were able to give a training at Mission Leadership Council on planning
and how we can plan effectively to better the work we can do. After
the training, President Morgan asked Sister Baker and I if we would
give a training at Zone conference next transfer together on planning
as well. We as a mission, have really been focusing on planning more
effectively to be able to use our time more effectively for
everything. Being organized really helps us to be able to do
everything we can to further the work of salvation here. It's pretty
awesome!

We have had so many miracles this week! While I was on a split with
sister Lee up here in Inwood, we looked up a less active member named
Digna. She is Dominican and super cute and nice. She let us right in
and I started talking about how she got to know the church and
everything about her baptism and all of that good stuff. Then I felt
like we should talk about the Book of Mormon. So I asked her what she
remembered and she remembered a little bit about how it was written in
the Americas and translated by Joseph Smith. Then I told her a little
bit about my story of how I gained my testimony of the BoM. I felt the
spirit very strongly as I bore my sincere testimony. I invited her to
read and to come to church. She said she would try coming to church,
but wouldn't promise anything. As we were about to leave, I wanted to
express to her how much I could feel the spirit in her home. I told
her that it was very rare to be able to feel the spirit in the home of
someone who is not active in the church. I told her that I felt that
it was because she still had her testimony and still believed in the
church of Jesus Christ. As I said those words, she broke down crying.
She said that she does still have her testimony and has never doubted
that this is the only true church on the earth. She said, I will be at
church on Sunday. I will be there. It's amazing how the spirit can
help us to teach what they need to know to increase their testimony. I
have a huge testimony of the Holy Spirit and how much it can help us
in times of need.

I know that as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in our daily
lives, we will be able to be angels in the lives of those around us. I
would like to invite all of you to pray about someone you can help
accept the gospel and to give them to the missionaries in your area.
They are praying for your help and so are those looking for the
gospel.

I love you all so much and I know The Lord loves you all perfectly!

Love,

🚋 Hermana Jessica Bloxham 🏀

A few pics of les miz

Pics of the week!

Pics of an Ecuadorean drink called come y bebe :) eat and drink haha