Elder Bloxham - 2.23.2015

What an amazing week!!!!!! We have been working with the Madison family forever, and they are progressing so well, accept the dad, he's struggling a little bit with Anti... But yesterday at church, Sister Benson went up to them and said, are you guys planning on getting baptized!? And Patrice said yes we want to, but because Patrice can't right now, she wants the kids to be baptized! We get a call from Patrice an hour after church and she said, "is it okay if we bring family to the baptism this weekend?" Holy freak!!!!!! The kids are getting baptized this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the greatest blessing in my life! The family that we have been putting all of our time, love, and effort into, the kids are getting baptized the last weekend of my mission. I can't wait! 

Another amazing thing that is happening this weekend is Mark Mumford, the returning member in our ward, is blessing the sacrament and he asked me to bless it with him. :) What an amazing way to end a mission!!

There are so many blessings and miracles that happen when we ask the Lord to help us. It's amazing to know that he is there waiting for us to ask, all we need to do is... well, ask! We found 3 new investigators Sunday night because we asked the Lord to bring people into our path. We start moving, and people come into our path! Amazing :)

Heavenly Father lives, and Jesus is the Christ. The Atonement is really and truly for everybody. The Book of Mormon, not only is true, but can get us through every single trial that comes our way. And if we aren't going through a trial, it will make us happy! I can say, (because i have read so many books in my lifetime) that the Book of Mormon is my favorite book of all time. Even better than the only book i've ever read, Where the Red Fern Grows :) hahah!! 

Love y'all, see you in 9 days :)

Love, Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 2.16.2015 - Exchanges Week

We went on so many Blitz exchanges this week, it was awesome! We started the week off in Wilmington and helped those Elders out, and then on Wednesday we went to Milford, and helped those Elders out, it was sweet! Then on Thursday, we had stake President reports, and that whole day was shot because we weekly planned and then drove up for the meeting. It was crazy, there goes 3 days of non work in our area! So we had to go crazy in our area for only 3 days! We barely reached our 20 lesson minimum... it was awesome! Things just worked out perfectly.

But the exchanges were so awesome! I was able to have some amazing talks with the Elders i was with. I have realized and have embraced the fact that i have become a girl on my mission. I care about feelings!!! I sit down with these Elders and i help them get things figured out. But with the Little Miami Elders, I was able to talk to Elder Wall for a long time. We got to bed at 9:45, and were like alright lets get to bed so we can wake up early and have an awesome workout! But conversation took us till about 2:00 in the morning... But it really was amazing! This missionary had been struggling throughout his mission, but when we talked, we were able to figure everything out. We started talking about the Atonement, read scriptures together, and just talked about life. He has such a deep understanding about the Atonement, This Elder is awesome!

The Atonement really is for everyone, individually! I am trying to take every single opportunity to bare my testimony as my time concludes faster and faster. I have this burning testimony inside of me and i want to tell everybody that i know that Christ really does live! He really has restored His church for us! I am so thankful, i truly am!

The Church is true everyone, and Jesus Christ really and truly does live, because i have walked with him, every single day! :)

Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 2.9.2015

As a mission we are preparing for March, and we have a goal of getting 100 Baptisms!!! We are calling it March Madness! So the 4 weeks in February we are doing challenges. The first week was finding, and as a mission we found 1052 New investigators! Isn't that crazy!!! Our Spanish zone found 192 New Investigators!!! No Manches! :) But this week was such a miracle week for finding in the mission #TheMagicIsBack

I have had a continual study of the Doctrine of Christ and how repentance plays a huge role in our life! Man, that Book of Mormon is full, and consists of the Doctrine of Christ. It's amazing! You could crack that bad boy open to any page and it will teach you faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. I love the Book of Mormon, it has truly shaped me! :):)

The Madison family are still moving. We are pushing February 28th still, but we need the prayers from all! It will be a miracle when they get into the water. :)

I love y'all, have a great week!

-Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 2.2.2015

We have entered into the Month of February!! This is my last month, so crazy!! February is going to fly by, there are so many things going on. We have a Zone Conference this week, and a Zone Meeting, then we have a ton of exchanges set up, man this last month is going to fly!!!

We had an awesome lesson with the Madison family! They are moving right along, and Andre and the kids accepted the date of February 28th!! That is the last Saturday of my mission, i really hope they will make that date! Please pray for them, we need a miracle :)

We had an amazing Stake Conference this last weekend! Elder Nash from the 70 came for this Conference and he was awesome! Also there with him was of course our Stake President, President Bradley, my mission president President Porter, and the Temple President, President Chrisman. There was this moment when the Stake President, Mission President, Temple President all stood up at the same time over the pulpit, and said to everybody that their Keys are align perfectly. That they all work together with moving people towards the next ordinance. But when they all stood up, you could feel the spirit so strong! It was just absolute power, and you knew that the Lord was working through these powerful men. When i looked at the Temple President, he looked different than I've ever seen a person. He literally looked as though he was glowing from the inside out! It was beautiful. When i saw him, it really made me check myself, because only a genuinely righteous person can hold the spirit the way he did. It was absolutely marvelous! But the main focus of the meeting was "How the Doctrine of Christ can help the Ward Councils move people to the next ordinance." It was awesome!!! I have learned so much from these wonderful leaders, and it boggles my mind every single time i realize how much I am learning. It's wonderful :)

I love Y'all so very much, and i can't wait to see you :)

Love, Elder Bloxham

Pictures from Leadership Council

 

Elder Bloxham - 1.26.2015

Transfer week! I stayed in Montgomery, and I have received my last companion ever! His name is Elder Holmstead, and he is from Pleasant Grove, UT! He is my 14th companion (counting the MTC) and he is awesome!!! I can't really compare him to Elder Seegmiller, Seeg was a one of a kind that he and i got along perfectly. It was like me serving with Dylan, we just had the time of our life for 3 months! But he got transferred to Western Hills, and is training a new missionary, so that is awesome! But if i were to compare Elder Holmstead to somebody, it would have to be a mix between Josh Parkinson, and Simon. But with different interests.. He was a tech guy for the plays at school, and that is pretty much all he did! haha but he is an awesome guy, and is sooo willing to work and learn with everything going on! What we do have in common is we both want to baptize the freakin Madison family!!!!!! ughh, they are crazy! They are so hot and cold, more like on fire vs frost bitten! But it's okay, prayers will be answered :)

We were going on so many exchanges this week that we had no time to find any new investigators, so we took sunday to find the 4 that we needed! So we go to these ghetto apartments and we found 2 hispanic ladies!! it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! I spoke spanish to them and they even wanted us to come back! haha, one lady spoke english, and she translated for the other! it was awesome! Then later that day we found this other kid who is 19, and he is from Honduras. But he was such a homie! he spoke english really well, but his first language was spanish! So we are excited for these hispanics, it'll be awesome! S/O to K in spanish land NC, Dee in Saltillo, and Hunter in the DR!!! I'm spanish boys!!! hahaha :)

But things are aweome here in Montgomery, and I've got 5 more weeks to go!! :) Love you RyGuy!

-Elder Bloxham 

Elder Bloxham - 1.19.2015

Transfer calls are in, and I will be serving in Montgomery until i die!! 6 more weeks in this area, and it will be the greatest time ever! Elder Seegmiller is leaving, and will be training a new missionary!! I couldn't believe it! Elder Seegmiller is going to be such an amazing trainer! Elder Davis is also getting transferred, and we don't know where we are going until tomorrow! Things are going to be awesome!

The Madison family have been the hardest people in the entire world to teach! We have put in so much time, and effort into this family, and it has been amazing! We had the most amazing experience with them!! Elder Seegmiller and I were on the phone with Andre, and he was being the biggest baby ever! He was just getting jealous of Patrice and was being a baby. He told us that he didn't want to slow Patrice down and that he was just going to leave. ughh, baby boy... But we said, okay Andre we will be over in 30 minutes and we will figure it out! Andre is a truck driver and when we got there he said alright boys lets go on a ride in the truck and we will talk on the road. (We had to pick up his normal vehicle) when we got to the truck yard, his other car had a dead battery. So we hook it up, and it wouldn't start, so he let it charge, and while we were waiting we talked to him. An hour went by as we got to talk to him, and during the talk he kept getting out here and there to see if the car would start and it wouldn't start ever the whole time. When we got everything finally figured out, he jumped out and the car started right up! Miracle! But then we get back to their house and we sit down with Andre and Patrice, and it was the most spiritual lesson i have ever been in, in my whole mission. It was the first time I heard them both tell them that they loved each other..... So moms and dads out there, tell your wife/husband that you love them. often. But they are getting married this next month, for reals this time. And they are amazing! I hope every body reading this gets something from this because it was an amazing experience :)

I love y'all, and miracles really do happen!!

Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 1.12.2015

This last week we had an amazing zone meeting and some awesome Interviews with President Porter. When we do zone meeting we do break offs, and so Elder Seegmiller goes with one group, the Sister Training Leaders go with another, and I go with the third group, and i was lucky enough to train on Listening to the promptings of the spirit, and allowing Grace to lift us through our work. It was a pretty amazing experience because i was able to reflect on all the times that I listened to the spirit then allowed grace to take action. And i can't wait to share those experiences at home! :)

I have come to a conclusion that the most important thing in this life is to understand how the spirit speaks to you, and allowing that knowledge to help you access the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Without the Spirit you cannot receive a remission of sins. Without the spirit, you won't be able to be lifted when you are guilty, or lonely. The Holy Ghost does all things, and helps us through all things.

Okay, for all the family that is reading this letter, I have 7 weeks left of my mission. I remember some family that talked to Josh after he got back from his mission and hadn't written him and wish they would have, so i give you a for warning, that i have this amount of time, and i would love a letter from you :) we can always repent :) hahaha!!!

I love y'all!! 

Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 1.5.2015

Happy New Year!! My goodness, I can't even believe we've cruised through 2 years!! I was out here in 2013 and now we're reppin' that '15 swag!!! That's crazy! But i'm excited for this New Year, there are a lot of things that will be accomplished :)

We had an awesome new years party at the Mumfords! We had some awesome food and we played some ping pong, and we even got to see part of the Oregon game! Sssshhhh, don't tell ;) Anyways, it was so sweet to be with them! We made some new years cards as well that we'll be sending out :) They are so awesome!

Thats pretty much it that has been going on, but this next week will be a lot more eventful :) Stay Tuned!!

Love, Elder Bloxham

The Madison family's home that we put all the Christmas lights on! Not too bad if you ax me!! :)

Andre, Andre Jr. And me!!

Elder Bloxham - 12.29.2014

Awesome Awesome week!!!! We were able to see Chris get baptized, and then confirmed on Sunday. Very good baptismal service, and blacktisms are the best :)

Then on Sunday, there was a returned missionaries homecoming and it was so awesome! He swerved his mission in Washington DC speaking Mandarin Chinese! But he did an amazing job, and it made me really think back to what i have learned on my mission! The people that I've taught and gotten close to, the families I've met, and the people that have changed my life. I can't wait to be able to tell the stories of this wonderful 2 years of a mission. Absolutely incredible. 

It was so sweet to talk to the family on Christmas!! :) I'm glad to see that everything is in 1 piece, and that there is snow on the ground! ahhh, i can't wait to jump in the hot tub :):) haha!!!

But things are great in Montgomery as always, and we are always reppin' that Lincoln Height swag wit all our homies down in the hood. Dude man we finna get that goin bruh, you know jump up and down switch wit you bro! Y'all i mean? swut i'm sayin bro, we finna hit that up bruh!! you know!!

I love Y'all, and i can't wait to show you my black skin when i get home! :)

-Elder Bloxham

With the Benson family on Christmas Eve

Chris's Baptism

The Madison family

Elder Bloxham - 12.22.2014

Christmas is coming right up!!!! Holy cow! It seems like yesterday was Christmas last year! I was in Dayton Ohio, and now I am in Montgomery. But I can't even begin to tell you the growth I have seen through this past year.

Sad news, the Madison family isn't getting baptized this month, they are having some issues. Not from the Doctrinal standpoint, but they want their wedding to be just perfect, and they want to make sure they actually want to marry each other. But things will go well, I ain't got no worries :) Patrice is in the second book of Nephi, and she is doing awesome, Andre is doing well as well, so 'sall good!

CHRIS GREEN IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!! Chris is the grace for this month. We were working so hard to get the Madison family to be baptized this month, but they fell off. And the grace was poured out when we found Chris, to be baptized this month. He is doing so awesome, i can't wait till you get to see the pictures of him next monday :)

Things are going great, and I love my mission!!

Love Y'all, 

Elder Bloxham

This is the picture I was supposed to use for our Christmas Card but I didn't end up sending one....

Nate with his two companions at a members home

Giving a spiritual thought

Nate with the member who sent these great pictures!
I'm so thankful for kind people in the mission field!!

Elder Bloxham - 12.15.2014

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go!!!! Eddie?... Eddie? Eddie, if i woke up this morning with my face sown to the carpet, i wouldn't be more surprised than i am now! hahah!! Christmas Vacation though.... Miss it for sure!

Things are going great in Montgomery! The Madison family is doing great, progressing right along, and they are due for a marriage and baptism on the 27th. Please pray for them! The trio is awesome, Elder Davis is alright, he's not the best thing in the whole world, but we are getting him out of his shell, i mean, Seegmiller and I are the exact same, so you can only imagine.... Poor Elder Davis :) Also, Chris Green is doing great, he is on date for the 27th as well! :) Montgomery is awesome!

As I have said in prior letters, the Doctrine of Christ is the center of my life! It's how i live, how i love, and how i function every single day. His Grace is sufficient, to bear us up, and the enable us! I don't think many people understand that concept. Grace is the Enabling power, in which Satan can not bind us. Powerful. I encourage and invite all who read this to, like it says on "He is the Gift" To Discover the Gift, to Embrace the Gift, and then Share the Gift. The Gift being Jesus Christ. Not just him, not that he is born, but that he Enables us in all things that we do! I am seriously on this kick of people knowing and understanding the Doctrine of Christ because it will change you. It is all over the Book of Mormon, so please, Embrace his Grace.

This is a little excerpt of "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. If I have already shared it, i'm sorry, but actually not because this should be known over and over. :) 

Christ’s Grace Is Sufficient to Transform Us

Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher. How many know what I am talking about? Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice.

If the child sees Mom’s requirement of practice as being too overbearing (“Gosh, Mom, why do I need to practice? None of the other kids have to practice! I’m just going to be a professional baseball player anyway!”), perhaps it is because he doesn’t yet see with mom’s eyes. He doesn’t see how much better his life could be if he would choose to live on a higher plane.

In the same way, because Jesus has paid justice, He can now turn to us and say, “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19), “Keep my commandments” (John 14:15). If we see His requirements as being way too much to ask (“Gosh! None of the other Christians have to pay tithing! None of the other Christians have to go on missions, serve in callings, and do temple work!”), maybe it is because we do not yet see through Christ’s eyes. We have not yet comprehended what He is trying to make of us.

I love y'all so so so much, take luck, and peace out :)

-Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 12.8.2014

The Madison family is still amazing!! I finally have pictures of them to send :) Now you get to see how HUGE Andre is! Haha but they are progressing well, so keep praying for them, your prayers are being answered!

We are also teaching a part member family, and the guys name is Chris! He's pretty shy, but he is awesome! His mom is a recent convert and she is scared to share the gospel, so Chris hasn't heard of the Book of Mormon, so we are helping him read it :)

Things are going great, we have received some awesome member referrals, the Madison family is amazing and progressing, and i'm happy because i get to stay here for another 6 weeks with elder Seegmiller!! And we are receiving another Elder, we are going to be in a trio!!!! This is going to be the best!!! :):):)

I love y'all!!!!!

-Elder Bloxham

PS - He didn't really send any pictures:(

Elder Bloxham - 12.1.2014

It is December!! Isn't that crazy! But things are going great in Montgomery!! We are still working with the Madison family! They are scheduled to be married and baptized on the 13th of this month! Please keep them in your prayers, they will need it!

Thanksgiving was amazing! One of the best i've had for a while!! The Bensons are so awesome! Sam Benson, their son, is going to BYU and is amazing at guitar and singing. He should be making a recording here soon, so maybe you'll see him out and about! Then we went to dinner with Andre and Patrice! Dinner was awesome, and i now have had "greens" and they are sooooo, not good. haha!! too dang salty, but it was fun to eat them all :) Then Elder Seegmiller played the violin for them, and they loved it!! :):) We also played in an amazing Turkey Bowl!!!! I was lucky enough to get some cleats from a member and i could cut back and forth instead of slipping all over the place!! But it was so amazing!!! ahh, i love football! I was soo dang sore after it, oh gosh i couldn't even walk! I think every single muscle was sore! I think it's a combination between my workouts in the mornings and then football was the icing on the cake! P.s, i ran a mile in 6.5 minutes!! it was pretty awesome! i'm getting there :)

All things considering, I'm living so well! I absolutely love this mission, holy cow!!! I'm constantly learning new things, and different ways to be better! It's so great! Elder Seegmiller and I get along perfectly, and it worries me because these last two transfers I might get someone not as awesome as my last 3 companions! We'll have to find out though, i think Montgomery will be my last area :)

I love y'all so so so much, and take luck!

-Elder Bloxham

Turkey Bowl

Elder Bloxham - 11.25.2014

I am so happy and Thankful for everything I have! I truly am blessed! There has been no better time than this, that I have felt so close to my Savior, and i'm deeply thankful for his Atonement. It's interesting because when I think about Thanksgiving, the thing that tags right along with it is Christmas because we are thankful for the same thing. First of all I am sooo ready for Christmas, it's going to be an amazing time! Especially because people then realize they aren't living right, and they are like crap i really need to be closer to Christ, and their hearts get softened and their necks a little looser! It's awesome because we get to be in the cold, and the Lord feels sorry for us, so he blesses us more because of it! ;) But i really am thankful for my life, and more my Lord and my Savior. His Atonement means so much to me, and allows my same selfish, lazy, and imperfect self, become patient, active, and perfect. Through the tools that he gives us, we can be made whole, and i'm so thankful for that!

We have some amazing plans for Thanksgiving!! We have a Turkey Bowl in the morning, then we have dinner with our favorite family, the Bensons, and then later in the evening we get to go to a Blackgiving with Andre and Patrice!! We are going with them so eat soooo much food! Andre says, "this food will be so good, it'll make you mad at your mama!" hahaha i guess we'll find out! Mom, i'm sure your food is wayyyyyy better!!! No doubt! :) This family really is the coolest!! They are so amazing and i love to be able to see them as often as we do! Gosh, they are the funnest! They're always trying to hook us up with their sisters and friends because they love us so much! hahah :) But things are  going great here in the Geezy, and I love my Savior!!

Love Y'all, Elder Bloxham

P.S. y'all can send me letters, i don't mind :)

Elder Bloxham - 11.17.2014 Forgiveness

A quick update with what is going on in Mongeezy!!! Andre and Patrice are doing amazing! They came to church this last Sunday, and they absolutely loved it! They now want to get married, so Elder Seegmiller and I might get to marry them! That would be so awesome!!!! haha!! But they are progressing really well!! I love working with them! They will be baptized at the beginning of December!

This last Saturday we played basketball with our investigators, and it was so so so awesome! Big Andre is like this 6'5 390 lbs. guy, and he brought Patrice's brother and he was the leading scorer of Cincinnati when he was in High School (So they say, although, he really is an amazing athlete) and it was so much fun!!! And I had the chance to play basketball, that was great :)

With an experience this week, I feel like I should share this! :) 

I think one of the hardest things to do is to forgive. Forgiveness is hard... When somebody has done something against you in the past, several times, you have the hardest time trusting them, as well as forgiving them. I say this because we had an experience when we saw people we love fight, and i realized why Heavenly Father let us see it. When we were listening to the war of words, what kept coming to mind was the parable of the Adulterous woman. When she was taken and thrown down at the feet of Jesus, he knew all that she had done. He knew what she did the day before, the week before, and 10 years before that. He could have went off and said, well.... you really have kept going against my commandments, you don't listen, you this, you that. But he didn't do that. He looked at her and said, "Go, and sin no more." We need to forgive and forget the things that have happened in the past. We need to see the change within the person now. If we kept our mind in the past, then we would have no need of the Atonement, because the Lord sees us progressing, not digressing. So, I invite all to open your eyes, look at the world around you and if you have not forgiven somebody, please pray to the Lord for help to forgive them. As we see in the eyes of the Lord, we will grow ourselves, as well as allow others to grow! :)

 1 Nephi 7:21 And it came to pass that I did frankly forgive them all that they had done, and I did exhort them that they would pray unto the Lord their God for forgiveness. And it came to pass that they did so. And after they had done praying unto the Lord we did again travel on our journey towards the tent of our father.

I hope this is able to help someone, because for some reason i felt as though I should share it.

I love Y'all!!! Stay tuned for next week!!

-Elder Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - 11.10.2014

I just have an amazing miracle i'd like to share :) Stay tuned!!

There is this family that we are working with, and they are so amazing! It's a family of 5 and they live in a place called Lockland, Ohio. Now everybody in our area does not know how to keep commitments, and they have never had to in their whole life, but we expect them to keep them every single time we invite them. It kinda reminds me of Coach Carter, the basketball movie. All of those kids have no idea how to stay at class, get good grades, or even be committed to something. But the coach set a high expectation and didn't settle for anything less, because he knew that they all needed to get a college education. See we have the same thing in mind! We know that baptism can change their life, and we have such a high expectation set with them, that we do not want them to settle for anything less. 

If you can remember when i shared the story of the "Win The Dad" Situation when we pulled weeds for Andre, that was the beginning of the heart softening. A couple days ago on Saturday, we brought this family into a members home and had dinner with them! They had the time of their life, and the kids kept saying, "wow, this house is so big! it's so big!" They have never been in a decent home before, so it was a pretty cool experience for them to see a normal sized house, and also to feel the spirit that was there! But they committed to come to church the following day, and they were set on it! We stopped by in the morning and the mom, Petrice, said "Yes, all the kids took their baths and are getting their stuff ready." They were on their way!!! So we head to church and we were saving seats, all ready for them, then we get a text saying they weren't coming because she had gotten sick.... She had "worried herself sick"!!! Then we left after we took the Sacrament and drove over to get them going. Elder Seegmiller and I go in and just start getting all the kids clothes on! haha, ironing shirts, pulling the pants onto to 2 year old, and getting the dad ready! It was funny because when we got there, they all were like alright lets get ready! haha so it was a scramble!! But lo and behold, we got them all ready and downstairs and 'bout to go. But before we left we gave Petrice a blessing, and it really calmed her down, so that was amazing!

They came to church, absolutely loved it, and to put the cherry on top, we had an awesome Linger Longer after church with some dang good food! :)

When Nephi says, " 23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."     He really means it! haha!! We did all that we could do, and then Grace was poured out upon that family! Truly a miracle!!

"Miracles are everywhere to be found, when Priesthood duties are magnified! When faith replaces doubt, when selfless service eliminates selfish striving" - President Thomas S. Monson

Love y'all!! -Elder Bloxham

A couple more pictures from Kentucky

The second night i was in Montgomery, we had to retrieve our love sac back from missionaries that stole it from our apartment! haha so we fit that bugger in the back of G storms car and the only spot for Seegmiller was to smush up in the back and i had to shove him in with the door! it was supppper funny! 

We saw a pretty sweet castle when i was on exchanges! And then of course i want to fish this river! i've heard they've got some alligator gar in it! That'd be pretty awesome!

Elder Bloxham - 11.3.14

It's November!!!! I can't even believe it, but now i have embarked on a new journey in Montgomery, Ohio! I'm back to the second best state (behind Kentucky) and I'm super pumped because this was Elder Hanks' last area he served in before Kentucky! I'm in a huge ward now! there is like 260 people there, it was massive! But we get fed every night, and the ward is pretty awesome so i'm excited! I'm companions with Elder Seegmiller, and he is from Kaysville, UT. He's awesome, this transfer is going to be awesome!

We are going to be doing some rebuilding here for sure though! The zone needs some shaping up, as well as our own area! We don't really have anybody solid yet, but we are finding like crazy! I definitely know that the Lord is preparing people for us to meet. :)

That is pretty much all that is going on right now, next week's email will be much better so stay tuned! :)

Love Y'all!!

Elder Bloxham

The address to my new apartment is 9213 Deercross Pkwy, Apt 1A, Blue Ash, Ohio 45236 Send me Letters, i love  them :)

Elder Seegmiller and Elder Bloxham at a members house in Montgomery

Elder Bloxham - 10.27.14

Today is the day in which we received our transfer Doctrine!!! Elder Hanks will be staying, and after 7 1/2 months, I will be departing the Promised Land.... This is terrible!! I love it here, it has been the best time of my life!! I love the Northern Kentucky Ward, and I love the missionaries in the zone! But I guess it is what it is!!! Now I will embark on my journey somewhere else!

We had amazing things happen this whole month!! As a mission, we have a goal of getting 6 baptisms each month for each zone, and this month we had 10!!! It was so amazing! Every single one was such an amazing experience! Yesterday there were 4 people baptized! A family from Dayton Kentucky, and then an amazing young lady named Angelina! It was such an amazing baptismal service!

We had an awesome Halloween Party as well! Our Ward Mission Leader, Ryan Smith and his wife, dressed up as the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts! Their costumes were so amazing!!! But it was a sweet party!

Not much else is going on, but I love this mission! This really is the Best Two Years!

Love,

      Elder Bloxham

The Buck family has taken such good care of the missionaries!

Elder Lemmon, Bloxham, and Hanks with the Buck family

The ward Halloween party

Elder Bloxham - 10.20.14

Isn't this crazy!! We are reaching the end of October already! I hope everyone has their Halloween Costume picked out!! :)

Things are going great in the Promised Land! But I do want to ask everyone who is married, Why is marriage so important to you and how it has helped you in your life. We have a couple that doesn't want to get married, I think experiences and events from your life will really help them, so please send me an email letting me know how it has blessed your life! :)

We have been going on a finding spree these past couple of weeks! I mean we are always on the grind, I mean find, but we really have been diggin these past couple weeks! We don't have a lot progressing, so we keep on lookin!! :) How we find most of the time is when we have our plans, we see the person who we wanted to see, but then we stay in the area and walk around talking to everyone we see, that has been helping us find a lot of new people. I love it, Elder Hanks and I have the funnest time! We're always cracking jokes, and we go to the investigators level. That is the funnest part!! Sometimes they are crazy, so we get crazy and do funny handshakes with them, or talk the way they do! haha it's the greatest!

The best thing that happened this week was we went to a Ghanaian's house, Brother Abuagye, and he fed us Fufu! If you don't know what that is, go look it up on google, and read about how they eat it! For those missionaries in Ghana, they probably love it now, but must have stomachs of steal!! That Fufu sits heavy on your stomach, and is so hard to eat!!! They say not to chew it, but to just cut a little piece off of it, and just swallow it straight down! It was hard, but definitely and experience to never forget! We also got Ghanaian ties, which are awesome!!! :)

Things are great here, I love y'all at home! Take care and Godspeed!!

Elder Bloxham  

Elder Hanks, Julie, and Elder Bloxham Driving to Rabbit Hash

Found these beanies! this is inside rabbit hash general store!

My homie Roddy G, or Elder Rodriguez, and his comp Elder Marchello! (roddy is in the middle)

The Northern Kentucky district at the Temple!!!!!

Olive Garden, Elder Rodriguez and our Awesome Waiter!!

Elder Bloxham - Hey Y'all!!

I want to say at the beginning that the hardest thing for me is to see the negatives, and when I think of the negatives it doesn't feel good! But I wanted to tell you about this week and the crazy turns it took!

To start it off, as a mission, we have a goal of 720 Convert Baptisms, and because of the prior months, all of the zones in the mission need to get 6 baptisms per month, and we've been doing great thus far, last month we had 4, and this month we were super excited with what was panning out, we were going to have 12 as a zone. Because that is so awesome, Satan likes to take action! There has been craziness in the zone! Missionaries being persecuted, our friends falling off date, rides to church being mixed up! I mean it's been utter Chaos! With Elder Hanks and I, we got rocked in one day! If you remember of my past letters, I talked about Elder Billy and Rick, the Native American guy that knows that the Book of Mormon is true. A few days ago, he texts us and says that he and his recent convert brother John, don't want us to come back anymore. They said it was nothing that we did wrong, they just want to be left alone... That was a wrencher! We love them so much, and for them to tell us that, it broke my heart! They will be found in the future, I know it! They are too amazing to be dusted under the rug.

Now, despite the craziness, it is all made okay by the Grace and miracles of the Lord! When Elder Hanks and I were going to our appointments on Saturday, everybody kept calling us and canceling! It was like 4 straight! haha we were like holy, this is typical! Lets keep these kind of things coming! hahah, but low and behold, the righteous and faithful Elder Hanks, being the inspired man he is, invokes the powers of Heaven by saying a prayer! As we looked at the Less Actives list, we chose the closest one to us, and went for it! This was at about 7:30, dark and chilly, we knock on this unknown less active. Answering the door was a High School girl, and we ask if this was the Sheilds home. They said no they moved a year and a half ago! Now conversation moves to sports, to school, to the gospel, funny how that always happens...... :) Also, her mom came talking to us at this point as well. But they were both very open! We are seeing them tomorrow and it's going to be a progression of conversion, blessed be the name of the miraculous Lord! Sometimes I hate that because I'm like okay, lets have all these bad things happen, just so you can build our faith! I see what you did there Heavenly Father, I see... :)

Heavenly Father answers prayers, Jesus is the Christ, and together, they are hastening their work!!

Love,

        Elder Bloxham

this is a picture of the Elders in the district! haha, but the kid on the other end is Elder Hanks! You can tell we're companions because we're the best looking ones ;) hah jokes!