Elder Bloxham - Getting down to the Nitty Gritty!

Hey hey!!! I got an email from my wonderful mother saying she doesn't know much about what goes on here in the Promised Land, or what I do in general, so I will give a brief synopsize of these past few weeks!

Elder Hanks and I get to talk to a lot of people in Florence! There are a lot of lower class people that we talk to that don't have very much, but they are really funny and we can joke a lot with them! We find a lot of new investigators, but turning them into progressing is the real battle! I think of it as we are in the Kobe Bryant area. Like Kobe, we take a lot of "shots" or we find a lot of investigators. Now Kobe Bryant scores a lot of points, because he takes so many shots :) As long as we keep finding lots of investigators, we will be able to teach a lot of them that will progress, because we've talked to so many! :) haha

Currently we are teaching a pretty decent group of people. Emily and Zach are a cute 19 year old couple that are trying to strengthen their relationship, and they have been seeing lots of change with their lives as they've been reading and praying as a family. (they have a 1 yr. old boy) But they went to this concert church called 7 hills, and that church is just like a youth party hangout called "church". So they like that one, and they feel bad just leaving it and coming to ours, so they are going to switch back and forth every week, which is totally dumb, but they'll figure it out soon enough haha!

We are also teaching Jeremy! Jeremy is a 20 yr. old from Jamaica, and he is a Rastafarian, or however you spell it haha!! But he's been kicking the weed, and cigarettes and soon will be baptized!

Things are great though!! I love serving in Florence, in the great state of Kentucky!! It has been my favorite area for sure!!! I have definitely done the most growing in this area, but we've also had the most success, so that is awesome too!!

I hope that does the trick mama, the rest will be fun stories when I get home :)

I love y'all, Godspeed!

-Elder Bloxham 

Hermana Bloxham - We got a baptismal date!

Hey everybody!

Big news! We have a date set for Lucy, Lorraine and Serafín to be
baptized! September 6th! We are so excited! We taught them about the
gospel of Jesus Christ and about baptism. And we read in D&C about the
qualifications of baptism and they said that they have them all. So we
invited them to be baptized on September 6th! They all said yes! We
are a little bit worried about Serafín. He feels like he needs to know
a lot more before he can get baptized, but Lucy and Lorraine are super
excited! We're not worried about them at all! That's probably the best
thing that has happened this week and in a long time!
We have been planning our training for zone conference. We will be
giving three trainings a day for Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. So we
will be doing 9 in total. We're excited. I think it's going to be fun!
We will get to see the whole mission and we might get to stay in the
mission home on Thursday night! That would be way sweet!
I have been thinking lately about how much I have learned in my
mission. I feel like I am a completely different person spiritually.
It has been amazing to understand the true meaning of repentance and
of faith. I have grown so much in my testimony of the Book of Mormon.
I have grown to love everyone, even those who I just met or haven't
even met yet. I walk down the street and just smile because I can feel
a little portion of Christlike love for all of them. It's an amazing
feeling! I can say that I have felt more joy in my mission than
anywhere else, just as it says in D&C 18:15-16--
15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying
repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me,
how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have
brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your
joy if you should bring many souls unto me!
My joy is full and I know that The Lord is preparing His children to
hear this wonderful message! He is relying on us to save His children!

I love you so much!

Hermana Jessica Bloxham 

Jess was able to visit the Statue of Liberty as part of  her "city tour"
before she goes home:)

Elder Bloxham - Promised Land!!!

Things are going so great here in Northern Kentucky!!!! I'm excited to email today, I don't know why!! I'm just exceptionally excited today!!

     

This week has been amazing! But to start it off I want to give y'all a quote:

"I do not equate my body with His in its refinement, in its capacity, in its beauty and radiance. His is eternal. Mine is mortal. But that only increases my reverence for Him. I worship Him “in spirit and in truth.” I look to Him as my strength. I pray to Him for wisdom beyond my own. I seek to love Him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. His wisdom is greater than the wisdom of all men. His power is greater than the power of nature, for He is the Creator Omnipotent. His love is greater than the love of any other, for His love encompasses all of His children, and it is His work and His glory to bring to pass the immortality‍ and eternal life of His sons and daughters of all generations." President Gordon B. Hinckley

I was reading this talk from President Gordon B. Hinckley which is titled "The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." This quote here is talking about God the Father. I just thought this was so amazing because when I think about the Prophet I always think they are so perfect. But that is not true. They still go through hard times and they still get tempted by Satan. But more importantly, he relies on the Lord for protection and strength! Also, when President Hinckley wrote this, it is him baring testimony. He is so humble, and gives everything unto the Lord!

I have been trying and striving to be more submissive in all that I do. As I read this talk, it helped me to gain some more strength and courage to do so! I want to look unto the Lord in every thought, and never doubt nor fear! Coming closer to the Lord and repenting daily, has allowed me to come closer to what I want to achieve. :) This really is the Lords work! Which is amazing because that means all I have to do is what he has said for us to do. Talk to everyone, extend baptism, and then rely on the spirit to show you where to go, what to do, and what to say. That is amazing! :)

For those of you at home who are trying to do missionary work, just know that everything happens on the Lords time, and if you are praying for opportunities, then the Lord will give them to you!

I love Y'all so much, and take care!!

-Elder Bloxham

Promised land shirts :)

Elder Hanks with Marcus our Recent Convert, he was singing thunder Rolles Garth!

We took an awesome picture after exchanges

Hermana Bloxham - Trip to queens and an awesome zone meeting!

Hey!

Wow, we have had an amazing week! It has been full of spiritual highs
for me and for a lot of us in the mission. On Friday we had Mission
Leadership Council as a combined meeting with the south mission and
their leaders. It was really cool! We went over to queens to meet with
them. We had some amazing trainings from both mission presidents
President Calderwood and President Morgan and their wives. It was
really cool to meet other missionaries and to learn from them. It's
crazy how we are all doing the work of The Lord here in New York but
we do it in many different ways, and we learned ways to do it that we
had never thought of before. We got a really cool idea for an APF or
area proselyting focus, where we all get together as a zone to tract,
contact, or do an activity to find new people. We have been doing some
really cool stuff, and yesterday we had one that was super awesome! I
will explain it a little bit later.
At mission leadership council we were taught about going back to the
basics. The south mission has been focusing on Preach My Gospel and
the Book of Mormon. When we all got our iPads I think we all kind of
drifted away from those two things and moved towards using conference
talks and videos and all of the amazing tools we have so accessible to
us. But I really loved how they are focusing on preach my gospel. I
definitely feel like I haven't spent enough time studying it during my
mission. It is an amazingly inspired book and we are so blessed to
have it. We also talked about humble obedience. There is a difference
in being obedient and wearing it on your chest like a badge and
strutting it around like you are so much better because you are
obedient, than if you are obedient because you have reverence for your
calling. I had never though of it that way before. It was really cool.
It had me really thinking about my obedience and what my desires are
or have been in my mission to be obedient. Why are we obedient to the
commandments?
Then, after MLC the zone leaders and sister baker and I had a little
planning session for what we wanted to focus on in zone meeting on
Monday. Elder Durham had a really cool idea to help us all get back on
track with being perfectly obedient. So on Monday we did an activity.
We had our zone meeting and then we had a council as a zone about how
we feel like we are doing with our obedience and with a few things
that President Morgan wants us to focus on as a mission. Then we had
everyone go into the chapel and we had a few scriptures written on the
board about our purpose as missionaries(D&C 58:2-7; D&C 6:22-24), what
Christ did for us(Alma 7:11-13; D&C 19:15-19), and what he asks of us
as his servants(D&C 1:31; John 14:15). So we all went in and read the
scriptures silently and all had time to recommit to being obedient. As
we walked back into the room there was a quote on the board that said,
"You are of a singular generation with exceptional potential. No
wonder satan wants to cripple that potential by tempting you to
violate the laws of God. He knows that he has no power over the
righteous individual, yet he is a master of making sin appealing to
the undecided." And under that quote said, "I choose to be perfectly
obedient", with the zone leaders names signed underneath. As we all
walked in one by one we all signed our names underneath and all chose
together as a zone to be perfectly obedient to all of the mission
rules and all of the commandments. It was a really amazingly spiritual
experience and we all were truly uplifted by the spirit in a way I
have never felt in a meeting ever before. It was amazing.

So anyway! Back to the awesome idea we had for an APF! We got the idea
from someone at MLC to do a scavenger hunt for service! So we kind of
changed the idea to a scavenger hunt for contacting. We had each
member of the zone pray for a specific person or two specific people
that we could all contact. For example, someone prayed and received a
picture of a man whose ears stuck out a little bit and looked a little
bit sad. So that was on the list, along with a lady with purple shoes,
a man with a white beard, and talking to someone you have seen before
but didn't talk to. So we had 24 potential people to contact and all
of us went out and tried to contact all of the people on the list in a
2 hour time limit. We went on splits with the English district because
there is so much Spanish here that they couldn't ever find all of the
people. Sister Hall, an English sister, and I were able to teach 7
lessons together and got some return information and potentials. It
was so sweet! It was really cool because we had all prayed for
specific people and we were really able to contact those specific
people! It was really cool and really fun! It changed my outlook on
contacting and finding!

A little update on the investigators:
Lucy, Lorraine, and Serafín are doing great! Lorraine has been sick
for a while so Lucy and Lorraine weren't able to come to church on
Sunday but Serafín was there! We had a really good fast and testimony
meeting and Serafín really liked it!
Rachel and Luisa are doing pretty well. They have kind of hit a
plateau in their progression. They are still awesome, they just need
to make the decision to get baptized so that they can progress again!
Ylaura is a new investigator we found! She is super legit! Her husband
is a member in the DR! We invited her to read the first chapter in the
BoM and when we went back she had read it and had been reading the the
true to the faith book! She is going to be soooo awesome! Well, she
already is but like she's going to progress super fast I know it! She
is so cute!

Besides that we are just workin hard and being obedient like never
before! I love you all so much and I am so thankful for all of your
support and prayers!

Love,

Hermana Jessica Bloxham

Some pictures of queens from MLC

FHE on Monday

Penn station! It felt like an airport! Pretty weird!

Baker and I with Maria Espinosa and Wendy Montilla- our best friends haha

Us with elder Kerr, the AP who went home today actually

Elder Bloxham - Transfer Doctrine!!!

The transfer calls are in, and Elder Hanks and I are staying another!!! whoooooh!!! This will be the longest I've been with a companion, 3 transfers baby!!! and what better way to spend these 3 with your favorite companion ever!!! haha I'm super stoked!!!

Things are going great, we found a cute little family this last week! Emily, Zach and their boy Zachary! They are so awesome and so humble, it is so amazing that the lord led us to them!! We have some high hopes for them, they are progressing already and we will be setting a baptismal date with them soon :)

I have come to know the Doctrine of Christ so much more over the course of my mission. I have gained the knowledge of how I can apply it to my life, and how the Grace of Jesus Christ is real! We see miracles all the time, and it's so amazing to recognize it! But the thing that I have learned the most from the Doctrine of Christ is Repentance! Alma talks to his son Helaman and says; (Alma 36)

12 But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up‍ to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins. 13 Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented‍ with the pains‍ of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled‍ against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.
The Lord doesn't take away our trials, he helps us through them! Now the most amazing part is the repentance and guilt that gets swept away;
19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
 20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
 21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I sayunto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.
This is why Jesus Christ died on the cross. This is why he suffered in the garden of Gethsemane. So he could relieve us of our pains and heartache and guilt. I have seen this happen in myself, as well as the people that we teach. It's amazing to know the eternal plan of our eternal Father, and that he wants us to be happy!! "To bring to pass the immortality and Eternal life of Man". The way he does this is for us to be happy and learn from our mistakes! :)
Remember that you can always repent, even when you keep messing up, the Lord will always want to forgive!! :)

I love y'all, take care!
-Elder Bloxham

The Zone (not the greatest quality of picture)

Breakfast for Dinner at the Cobb's

Hermana Bloxham - Too many blessings! ;)

Hey everybody!!

 I'm not really sure what to talk about this week.. We had a few
pretty slow weeks of lessons and everything, but had some fun pday
stuff and little trips. But we have been getting back to work this
week and last week. It feels good to do the lords work. Something I
have kind of been struggling with is just keeping up the work. There
are just so many things from home and getting  ready to go home that
pull my thoughts away from the missionary work here. Don't get me
wrong I love being a missionary, that's why it's so crazy! It's like
both sides offer something great and it's hard to stay all the way
with either one. I guess that's just part of the "dying process" or
the going home soon process haha. Anyways!
 Even with all of that, we have been blessed beyond comprehension. We
have been finding some amazing golden investigators and keeping them
and teaching them. A lot of times in missionary work you can find and
teach someone once or twice and they drop off and are not interested.
But lately we have been finding people that are truly interested and
truly ready to accept the gospel. It has been amazing to see the
difference. Lucy, Lorraine, and Serafín are doing awesome! They are
our most progressing family. They come to church every week on their
own, they came to a noche de hogar(FHE) on Monday and they have just
been doing so great! They all want to be baptized, we just need to set
up a date for them. We are really shooting for September 6th! We are
really excited!
 Well, we are on our way down to the city to see Washington Square,
which is in I am Legend, then the 911/ground zero, then the
Metropolitan Museum. I'm super stoked! We can go to the city every
pday this transfer because I'm going home! It's going to be sick! I
have all the places all planned out and I'm super stoked! We are going
to go mini golfing on the pier in a couple weeks! New York is so cool!
Haha.
Well, I just want to end with my testimony that I know that everything
we go through is for our growth. Even though it's been pretty hard for
me to stay focused these last few weeks, I know that I am going to be
stronger for it. The Lord knows us perfectly and won't give us
something we can't handle. I know that this is The Lords work and that
we can grow closer to Him by sharing it.

I love you all so much!

Hermana Jessica Bloxham 

Washington square- I Am Legend

Last zone meeting

Washington square again

Selfies for days- Washington square

Harry potter pensive- nah, it's a Viking punch bowl haha- Met

Selfie at FHE haha

Cool sunset

At ground zero

FHE with members and investigators

Elder Bloxham - Promised Land!

In the Promised Land, the Promised Zone of Northern Kentucky, we watched 8 people get baptized this weekend making a grand total of 11 this month!! We are soooo Happy!!!! Our zone is making huge strides and are catching the vision!! It has been amazing to see the missionaries in the zone change, and become leaders! Wow, I love it :)

 

I am so grateful for serving with Elder Hanks, in Northern Kentucky, under the direction of President Porter! I am so blessed!! This mission means the world to me and it has changed me in so many ways!! Even through the hard times, the Lord always finds a way to make me happy again by sending a miracle our way. By small and simple things, great things come to pass! It's the little things that build my faith, and it's just amazing!

 

I wanted to leave a quick scripture that meant a lot to me these past couple weeks! It is very simple, but it struck my heart with such power!! So please take the time to open your scriptures and read these verses; Alma 45:1-8  But not only should you read them, but act and apply them in your lives! I have and it's been amazing, and brought me so much guidance and peace!

 

I don't have much to write today, but I just wanted everyone to know that I love my mission so much and it's been the greatest time of my entire life!!

 

I love y'all so much, take'r easy!

 

Elder Bloxham