Padres! (Parents)
So, I don't really remember what I wrote to you in my first letter so I hope this is all new information! I was just reading through my journal to know what to write! I don't know if I told you this yet but on our first day we had a welcoming meeting with all of us new missionaries and it was so cool to hear us all singing "Called to Serve." At the end of the meeting, we sang "To Bring the World His Truth" and instead of "we will be the Lord's missionaries" we sang, "we are now the Lord's missionaries to bring the world His truth!" It really just hit me that we really are here for Him and not for ourselves. We are here to bring the truth of this amazing Gospel to the world! It's cool to walk around campus and hear everyone speaking in their languages. This really is an amazing work and we will all be going all around the world to take that message! Amazing!
So in our first lesson last Friday we were teaching and I was doing Horrible, such a bad Spanish day! At the end of our lesson I wanted to ask him if we could come teach him again tomorrow? But instead I asked him if he could teach us more yesterday! I said "Quiere ensenar mas ayer? instead of Quiere aprender mas manana? would you like to teach more yesterday vs. would you like to learn more tomorrow? I was so embarrassed!!
So on Sunday for our Relief Society meeting we had Sister Carole Stephens talk to us! It was a really amazing talk about having the Lord and Holy Ghost help you through any situation.
How are you guys doing? I hope you're good! Tell about what's going on at home!? Can you guys figure out the twins address in Ephraim for me?
I love you guys so much and miss you tons!!
Love,
Hermana Bloxham
Hola Hermana!!
It is so good here!! I love my district so much! We have 7 elders and 4 sisters. Before I came I heard that you Love your MTC District so much. It's so true!! We have probably 11 of our 15 hours in the same little room every day with our district! You would think that you would get sick of them but I really have so much fun with them. But we also have so many great spiritual experiences with them every day too! I love my companion and the other companionship who are in our district are pretty cool too! One of them, Hermana Whitney, is from New York! The South mission, but soo close! She's my favorite sister I've met here! You know they talk about how you meet your companion sometimes and you feel like you've know them forever? I didn't have that with my companion but I did with Hermana Whitney! She's just like me, but Black and a little more "attitude". Haha, but she's so great! I'm so happy that we get a full 6 weeks here with our district! They are so great! Plus I need 6 weeks, probably more to get more comfortable with Spanish and teaching in Spanish! It's been soooo challenging but I think, in the long run it will definitely be worth it!
I love you,
Hermana Bloxham
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Letters from Elder Bloxham
So right now is P-day and we are doing laundry so I have some extra time to write you.
I'm glad that you are doing good and that you could have a forgetful and awesome time on your trip! It honestly feels like a vacation here at the MTC! Me and my roommates laugh so hard all the time! Literally we have a hard time sitting through class because we have the greatest time! We get along great!
The other Elder in our district is awesome! His name is Elder Jacobson and seriously he is the funniest human ever! We are always laughing with him! But about my companion. His name is Elder Reeves, he is from Orem, UT and he is into like tumbling on trampolines and stuff. We get along great! He is also 18 and went to UVU for a semester. He is great but I'm just waiting to meet my Indiana comp! Pray for me that he will be awesome!
Dad, I have been praying for you every night and I know and have a testimony that God is watching your every step and is "holding your hand" along the way while I am gone. He WILL send you the Holy Ghost to comfort you in everything you need! Dad, if you ever have anything that you are worried about or are thinking about, DO NOT be afraid to go to your knees and pray! Prayer is the best thing that we have been given because we have an instant feeling of the Holy Ghost! I love you so much and I know you will do great! Don't worry about me, this place and this "spiritual bubble" that I love on is the greatest feeling!
Anyways, I saw Jessi right when she picked up her bags and I ran over to her and gave her a huge hug and I started crying! Oh my gosh, it was the greatest feeling to see her!
I have gained such a strong testimony just in the 8 days I've been here! It's amazing how great the Holy Ghost is! I love you so much, Dad, and me saying that doesn't even live up to how I feel!
Oh, I haven't been playing basketball, I have been playing this sick volleyball game! I'll teach you when I get back! But again, I love my mission! It honestly is the BEST TWO YEARS!
I love you,
Elder Bloxham
March 3, 2013
I am sitting in the missionary conference and I am about to fall asleep so I decided to write you a little letter.
Today is fast Sunday and, like always, I am really thirsty. The hungry part really doesn't haunt me as much. I just ran into Elder Hansen again and we are planning on eating dinner together tomorrow night! We are going to take a picture together and it is going to be great!
Right now I am sitting next to Elder Buckley and he is dosing off, getting the head fall going HAHA!! He was trying to watch me write earlier but couldn't stay awake! I love all the elders in my district so much! I really was blessed to have each elder in this district for a reason and they've gotten me through a lot already! I had an interview with the first councilor of our branch and he asked me if I had read through the whole Book of Mormon before I head out to Indiana.... I have 9 days. That means I GET to read 35 pages a day for the next 9 days. I am really looking forward to finishing this book. I have been studying all the books so much, but he wants me to commit fully and read the whole book.
The ASL (American Sign Language) missionaries went up to the podium and bore their testimonies. The first person was an elder and he bore his testimony in sign language with a translator. You didn't know what he was saying until the translator translated it but before we were told what he said, you could feel the spirit! It was amazing! The same thing happened when the sister missionary came up! She pointed it out too! She said "There is a very strong spirit with us right now." And after she sat down, the mission president came up and asked the congregation "Who all can feel the spirit right now?" Every person put up their hand!
It was an amazing experience!
I love you! Write me back, I want to hear from you!
Love,
Elder Bloxham
I'm glad that you are doing good and that you could have a forgetful and awesome time on your trip! It honestly feels like a vacation here at the MTC! Me and my roommates laugh so hard all the time! Literally we have a hard time sitting through class because we have the greatest time! We get along great!
The other Elder in our district is awesome! His name is Elder Jacobson and seriously he is the funniest human ever! We are always laughing with him! But about my companion. His name is Elder Reeves, he is from Orem, UT and he is into like tumbling on trampolines and stuff. We get along great! He is also 18 and went to UVU for a semester. He is great but I'm just waiting to meet my Indiana comp! Pray for me that he will be awesome!
Dad, I have been praying for you every night and I know and have a testimony that God is watching your every step and is "holding your hand" along the way while I am gone. He WILL send you the Holy Ghost to comfort you in everything you need! Dad, if you ever have anything that you are worried about or are thinking about, DO NOT be afraid to go to your knees and pray! Prayer is the best thing that we have been given because we have an instant feeling of the Holy Ghost! I love you so much and I know you will do great! Don't worry about me, this place and this "spiritual bubble" that I love on is the greatest feeling!
Anyways, I saw Jessi right when she picked up her bags and I ran over to her and gave her a huge hug and I started crying! Oh my gosh, it was the greatest feeling to see her!
I have gained such a strong testimony just in the 8 days I've been here! It's amazing how great the Holy Ghost is! I love you so much, Dad, and me saying that doesn't even live up to how I feel!
Oh, I haven't been playing basketball, I have been playing this sick volleyball game! I'll teach you when I get back! But again, I love my mission! It honestly is the BEST TWO YEARS!
I love you,
Elder Bloxham
March 3, 2013
I am sitting in the missionary conference and I am about to fall asleep so I decided to write you a little letter.
Today is fast Sunday and, like always, I am really thirsty. The hungry part really doesn't haunt me as much. I just ran into Elder Hansen again and we are planning on eating dinner together tomorrow night! We are going to take a picture together and it is going to be great!
Right now I am sitting next to Elder Buckley and he is dosing off, getting the head fall going HAHA!! He was trying to watch me write earlier but couldn't stay awake! I love all the elders in my district so much! I really was blessed to have each elder in this district for a reason and they've gotten me through a lot already! I had an interview with the first councilor of our branch and he asked me if I had read through the whole Book of Mormon before I head out to Indiana.... I have 9 days. That means I GET to read 35 pages a day for the next 9 days. I am really looking forward to finishing this book. I have been studying all the books so much, but he wants me to commit fully and read the whole book.
The ASL (American Sign Language) missionaries went up to the podium and bore their testimonies. The first person was an elder and he bore his testimony in sign language with a translator. You didn't know what he was saying until the translator translated it but before we were told what he said, you could feel the spirit! It was amazing! The same thing happened when the sister missionary came up! She pointed it out too! She said "There is a very strong spirit with us right now." And after she sat down, the mission president came up and asked the congregation "Who all can feel the spirit right now?" Every person put up their hand!
It was an amazing experience!
I love you! Write me back, I want to hear from you!
Love,
Elder Bloxham
Monday, March 11, 2013
Jessica's first letter
Thursday March 4, 2013
Don't worry, I'm here safe! I have been having so much fun here with my companera and my roommates! I have 3 roommates. My companion, Hermana Claspell and Hermana Whitney. Hermana Whitney is from New York! But she lived in the NY South mission. Pretty Cool!
So listen to this! I walk out of the room where they gave me my tag and stuff and I'm dragging my luggage to my room and I hear my name and I look up to see Nate running towards me! We started to hug, got in trouble for it, then got that all cleared up that we are siblings, and embraced and cried... Haha it was great!!
And then at breakfast this morning I'm looking all around for him and he is right in front of us in line! What are the odds really!!
Anyways! It has been going great here! I feel like I'm pretty advanced in the language so far. My roommates and I decided to have an all Spanish speaking day today. Yeah, that's not working out! We're trying a little bit I guess....
Yesterday we learned that our focus as missionaries is "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end." It's pretty cool. They challenged us to have that memorized by Sunday so we've been practicing that and as a district we decided to also try to memorize it in Spanish by Wednesday! That's going to be a little harder!
But, I have already been able to help some of the people in my class with Spanish! We've had lots of meetings and time to study which has been both good and kinda boring but I'll get used to it! This all still seems surreal though so it's kinda weird thinking that this is really my mission! Weird, but great!
I've also seen Belle from Oakcrest here a couple times as well!
I love you guys so much!!
Hermana Bloxham
Don't worry, I'm here safe! I have been having so much fun here with my companera and my roommates! I have 3 roommates. My companion, Hermana Claspell and Hermana Whitney. Hermana Whitney is from New York! But she lived in the NY South mission. Pretty Cool!
So listen to this! I walk out of the room where they gave me my tag and stuff and I'm dragging my luggage to my room and I hear my name and I look up to see Nate running towards me! We started to hug, got in trouble for it, then got that all cleared up that we are siblings, and embraced and cried... Haha it was great!!
And then at breakfast this morning I'm looking all around for him and he is right in front of us in line! What are the odds really!!
Anyways! It has been going great here! I feel like I'm pretty advanced in the language so far. My roommates and I decided to have an all Spanish speaking day today. Yeah, that's not working out! We're trying a little bit I guess....
Yesterday we learned that our focus as missionaries is "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end." It's pretty cool. They challenged us to have that memorized by Sunday so we've been practicing that and as a district we decided to also try to memorize it in Spanish by Wednesday! That's going to be a little harder!
But, I have already been able to help some of the people in my class with Spanish! We've had lots of meetings and time to study which has been both good and kinda boring but I'll get used to it! This all still seems surreal though so it's kinda weird thinking that this is really my mission! Weird, but great!
I've also seen Belle from Oakcrest here a couple times as well!
I love you guys so much!!
Hermana Bloxham
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Nate's first letter
2/27/13:
I love it here so much! It's the first day and I'm already in love with my companion and two roommates. My companion is Elder Reeves! He is a little shy until you get him talking about the Gospel then you can't get him to stop! He is amazing. I can already feel my leadership role! Elder Reeves looks to me for all the decisions and I know that I am feeling the right decisions to make for the two of us.
I love having a companion! We do everything together and I love that our thoughts matter as one unit!
We have had class all day. We first went into our home room and met our wonderful teachers, Sister Peetes (sp) and Brother Green! Brother Green served in t he Cleveland, Ohio mission and knew Josh! Ahh, such a small world! But they are great and I love them already.
We did a way cool role play with a lot of people. We had about 40 people, Elders & Sisters, that gathered around an acting investigator. It was so humbling because I realized that it will be harder than I think, but then again, it reassured my ability that I know I will be able to get through to the people of Indiana.
This was an amazing day for me, and dad don't get excited because I am here for the long haul! I love you so much and I know this will make our family stronger and more spiritual!
I love you so much!!
Love, Elder Bloxham
2/28/13:
Another day at the great Ole MTC! Jessi, you will love it! There are so many great Sisters and Elders here! I ran into Elder Hansen (Ry guy) the first day and he was excited but not as much as I was! Ahh, I love it!! We have our first role play lesson tomorrow! Me and Elder Reeves are going to try and teach about the restoration and see what happens from there.
Oh and by the way...I got my first calling today! Me and Elder Reeves were called as Zone Leaders!!! This will be announced on fast and testimony meeting! We are so excited to receive this calling! It all starts here! We'll see if I can keep learning and be prepared to go to Indiana!
I really want to just go to Indiana right now, but the MTC will have to do! I love and miss you guys so much!
Love, Elder Bloxham
3/1/13:
This is just going to be a short one, but me and Elder Reeves had a WONDERFUL experience today! I'll get to it.....
So, Sister Christianson was here and she was doing a great job the first day and night. But something happened and she had an anxiety attack while she was trying to sleep and she wouldn't want to stay and try to figure it out. But she went home and her sister comp's (Sister Knight & Sister Barrett) were trying to calm her down but they couldn't....The sister's (Knight & Barrett) were feeling horrible about themselves and they asked me and Elder Reeves to give them a blessing of comfort and council. It was amazing to get offered to do that, that they have the trust in us to do that.
Elder Reeves blessed Sister Barrett and I blessed Sister Knight. There was so much of a calm spirit with us and we felt the Holy Ghost so much! I was nervous, but the second I put my hands on her head I felt calm and I could feel the Holy Ghost guide what I needed to say! That was an amazing blessing and everything I said touched Sister Knight soo deeply!
I have found a love for all of my district and I know they feel the same. I love the sister missionaries. They have such a beautiful spirit with them and they reflect it onto us!
I love you and yes, I still miss you!
Love, Elder Bloxham
ps - not very short haha!
I love it here so much! It's the first day and I'm already in love with my companion and two roommates. My companion is Elder Reeves! He is a little shy until you get him talking about the Gospel then you can't get him to stop! He is amazing. I can already feel my leadership role! Elder Reeves looks to me for all the decisions and I know that I am feeling the right decisions to make for the two of us.
I love having a companion! We do everything together and I love that our thoughts matter as one unit!
We have had class all day. We first went into our home room and met our wonderful teachers, Sister Peetes (sp) and Brother Green! Brother Green served in t he Cleveland, Ohio mission and knew Josh! Ahh, such a small world! But they are great and I love them already.
We did a way cool role play with a lot of people. We had about 40 people, Elders & Sisters, that gathered around an acting investigator. It was so humbling because I realized that it will be harder than I think, but then again, it reassured my ability that I know I will be able to get through to the people of Indiana.
This was an amazing day for me, and dad don't get excited because I am here for the long haul! I love you so much and I know this will make our family stronger and more spiritual!
I love you so much!!
Love, Elder Bloxham
2/28/13:
Another day at the great Ole MTC! Jessi, you will love it! There are so many great Sisters and Elders here! I ran into Elder Hansen (Ry guy) the first day and he was excited but not as much as I was! Ahh, I love it!! We have our first role play lesson tomorrow! Me and Elder Reeves are going to try and teach about the restoration and see what happens from there.
Oh and by the way...I got my first calling today! Me and Elder Reeves were called as Zone Leaders!!! This will be announced on fast and testimony meeting! We are so excited to receive this calling! It all starts here! We'll see if I can keep learning and be prepared to go to Indiana!
I really want to just go to Indiana right now, but the MTC will have to do! I love and miss you guys so much!
Love, Elder Bloxham
3/1/13:
This is just going to be a short one, but me and Elder Reeves had a WONDERFUL experience today! I'll get to it.....
So, Sister Christianson was here and she was doing a great job the first day and night. But something happened and she had an anxiety attack while she was trying to sleep and she wouldn't want to stay and try to figure it out. But she went home and her sister comp's (Sister Knight & Sister Barrett) were trying to calm her down but they couldn't....The sister's (Knight & Barrett) were feeling horrible about themselves and they asked me and Elder Reeves to give them a blessing of comfort and council. It was amazing to get offered to do that, that they have the trust in us to do that.
Elder Reeves blessed Sister Barrett and I blessed Sister Knight. There was so much of a calm spirit with us and we felt the Holy Ghost so much! I was nervous, but the second I put my hands on her head I felt calm and I could feel the Holy Ghost guide what I needed to say! That was an amazing blessing and everything I said touched Sister Knight soo deeply!
I have found a love for all of my district and I know they feel the same. I love the sister missionaries. They have such a beautiful spirit with them and they reflect it onto us!
I love you and yes, I still miss you!
Love, Elder Bloxham
ps - not very short haha!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)