Elder Bloxham - Questions of the Soul

Nate didn't write an actual letter this week but I wanted to post this in case you want to do some studying:) Nate was called as a Zone Leader and was transferred!

This is what we emailed to President Porter this week, and i wanted to share with you :)

"Good morning President Porter, I have the questions of the Soul prepared, and i hope we were supposed to email them through this email because that is what i've been told!

-How do I know if I've been forgiven of my sins?
        -Alma 36: 12-21 I have been brought to this scripture thinking about how other people have been able to feel the joy of repentance. Alma has felt both sides. He had felt the rack of tremendous heartache, but through Jesus Christ he has been able to feel the redeeming joy of forgiveness. We will always make mistakes, but we must come to repentance. We will have a true change of heart and we will feel the spirit so very strong again.
        -Mosiah 26:29-30
                   -We will have the burden on our heads forever unless we repent and change our ways. Jesus wants us to repent and he wants to forgive us. All we need to do is ask.
                   -The hardest thing to do is to forgive yourself. Jesus Christ is merciful, and wants us to be happy, that is why we can repent. You need to realize that Christ has forgiven us once we change our heart, all we need to do is know that he loves us. So much.

-Why do bad things happen to good people?
           -2 Nephi 2:11
                   -There will be opposition in all things. No matter how righteous we are, no matter what we do, we must learn, because this life is the time where we prepare to meet God. (Alma 34:32) We must be obedient to the laws that have been given, and we must do our best every day.
                    -Although we do not like trials, we must go through them because that is where we grow. We cannot just skate by because each day means something. God loves us, and that is why he allows us to break down and then grow to our utmost potential.

-How do I know if God loves me?
           -We must know the true nature of God. We have a knowledge of the Apostasy, and one of the key points of Doctrine that had been lost was the true nature of God. He is our loving Heavenly Father. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ to set an example and a path that we must follow. They both love us dearly. The Holy Ghost, the third member of the Godhead, is how we can know that they love us. They don't leave us comfortless and we know this because of the Holy Ghost. He teaches us truth, and keeps us away from danger.
             -3 Nephi 27: 13-14
                       -Jesus Christ came to us and taught his fathers Doctrine. the gospel was taught by Christ so we could all draw nearer to him. Jesus was lifted on the cross, simply, because he is the only way we make it to heaven. God loves us so much that he would allow that kind of suffering to happen, to draw all people unto him, and to give us the change to live with him again.
             Not only can we see the love from him, but we can also feel his love. In the Book of Enos we learn about the wonderful gift of prayer. We have the privilege to talk and communicate to Heavenly Father and he will never forsake us. He keeps a close watch on all of his children, individually. God is a personal God, and individually loves his children. We can receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost; what an amazing blessing. Moroni 8:16, love casteth out all fear. We must pray to him and our fears and trials will be swept away. God would not do all of this for us, unless he loves us. He does love us, so he has given us these gifts.

Thank you President Porter for all you do! I love you!

-Elder Bloxham"

Hermana Bloxham - JOSÉ IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!.......... TODAY!!!!!!!

Hey everybody!

Can you believe it? José is getting baptized today at 6:00 pm! All I
can say is thank you so much for all of your prayers and fasting on
his behalf! On Saturday, yes Saturday, we had a lesson with him and we
talked about having the faith to act on what we believe and that God
will make up the rest (Moroni 7:33). "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." Then we were talking about it and
our member was taking about some other vaina(Dominican for stuff) haha
and he was thinking really hard and was completely not listening to
anything we said. Like 10 minutes later he asks, I have something to
say, and he says, I'm going to get baptized. I don't care what my
family thinks, I know that only God can save me so I'm just going to
do it. And he chose today! So it's been a total of 4 days since he
decided to be baptized. Can you believe it? I am so excited!

Anyways! The rest of my week has been pretty uneventful haha.
Yesterday, I was doing my Facebook time, it's like jail time... Haha
just kidding, and a lady, who I guess was my friend..., wrote me on
Facebook and asked me about the church! She said she had talked to
missionaries in El Salvador but isn't right now but she had lot a of
questions for me! So we are going to try to start teaching her on
Facebook! It was a super awesome miracle!

So, I realized yesterday that I'm a wussy! One of our less actives
made chicken feet! And I didn't even try it! So dumb. It was super
creepy looking! And it was like all skin and bones... I'm not even
sure why they would want to eat it..... Nast. Anyways!

We have these investigators named Ana and her son Alejandro/Alex. They
are super legit! Ana says, if I were younger I would definitely like
to be Mormon! But now she says, it's never too late... So there is
some potential there! Alex is so awesome! He asks us tons of questions
and is way smart and willing to learn! They both came to church on
Sunday! They even stayed for all 3 hours! Alex learned a lot and I
think they both liked it! Relief society and priesthood are always
sketchy because people are crazy... But I think they liked it all the
same haha! I was super excited!!

Also, something else funny happened! So we were over at a members
house with some elders in our ward. We were there to have a little
lesson and give the wife a blessing. So we got done with the lesson
and the elders were getting ready to give her a blessing of health. So
one elder gets his oil out and puts it on her head and starts to go to
anoint her, but then the husband takes over and starts giving her a
blessing..... Without the anointing part first.... And then anoints
the oil at the end.... So the elders thought maybe it was just a long
anointing, but then the husband looks at the other elder and asks him
to anoint the oil..so he anoints the oil and they all got up and it
was over. So it was completely backwards, none of us knew what to do
or say, and we were all dying laughing! We had no idea what to do!
Well, to end the story we just hope that God knows what they were
trying to do and that he helps her to have health during her surgery
haha. Who knows?! It's all about faith right? Haha.

This week I have learned a lot about people and trials that we go
through. I feel like on my mission I have learned a lot about how hard
life really is. There are so many people who feel so alone here in
life. Especially in the gospel. There are so many people who are the
only members in their family and they live with their family who are
not members and who don't support them at all. Sometimes I get nervous
that I'm just pulling José into that same problem and it's going to be
super hard for him. But I know that this gospel is what truly makes
people happy. I know that even if we feel alone, the savior suffered
that feeling for us. We are not alone. We have the love of our friends
and family in the church. Our ward family can truly be like our
family. Just like here on the mission, I am here in New York alone.
With no family or friends that I knew before, but everywhere I go, the
church is the same and the members and investigators of my ward become
my family. I know that we can all find hope and happiness here in the
gospel of Jesus Christ. I love him so much and I hope you can all feel
of his love for you every day!

I love you all so much!


Love,


Hermana Jessica Bloxham

These are all pictures of a members house!

Same house, Michael Jordan shrine:)

Zone Lunch right before transfers

Us with Wendy, a member, at the relief society anniversary party

Elder Bloxham - March 24th

Hey!!! I've got some news from the Eastern Front!!! We've been dropped by so many investigators. Go Figure!!! Oh well, that just means more finding for us!

It's amazing the highs and lows of a mission! One week you have incredible numbers and then have baptisms two weeks in a row, and then the work dies right from under your nose! It's amazing though. This is when we will learn how to work with the members even more! That is what we will be doing this next week. We only have one more week of this transfer, which is crazy! This has cruised by! But we will kill it this next week!

I had some awesome inspiration that I'd like to share with all of you! Elder Boelter and I were teaching our Gospel Principles class and it was on the Life of Christ. What hit me so hard was when we talked about when Christ was a boy and teaching in the temple (Luke 2:43). His mom and dad were worried sick! I mean think about this. You are told to take care of the Only Begotten Son of God and you've lost him. FOR 3 DAYS!!!! I would be dying! But when Mary comes to the temple and Jesus comes up to her, do you remember what he says?... He says, "How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father'sbusiness?" As Mary, I would be like, well duh... But when he said that i could only think, I am about my Fathers Business and only His business for these 2 years. Why not stay focused? Why think of anything else!? Dedicating these 2 years and not looking back. Just like what Joseph Smith said, "Somebody who puts their shoulder to the plow and looks back, is not fit for the Kingdom of God". :) I love this mission and it has changed my life! Pretty amazing!!

I love you all so very much and Godspeed!!

-Elder Bloxham

Hermana Bloxham

Hey guys!

Sorry, it's going to be a short email this week! We had transfers today! And I didn't have much time to email! Sorry! Everything is going great here! I'm staying in Inwood with Sister Wankier for at least one more cycle! Besides that, everything is going great! I love you guys and I promise I'll send a full email next week with everything you want to know haha.

I love you!

Hermana Jessica Bloxham

Elder Bloxham - Heyy!!!!!!!

What an amazing week!! Sam was baptized this Saturday, and his Mom, Sister Julie, gave the most beautiful talk on the Holy Ghost. I realized that with this baptism, not only was Sam baptized, but Sister Julie Sowards is also becoming active. She was talking about how the Spirit that she feels at church cannot be felt while she is at home. No matter how hard she tries! She will always miss how comforting the Holy Ghost is while at church. Now that she's found it, she will never again leave it.

Elder Boelter and I have some funny o'l times! I love being his companion and this transfer is not long enough!! We have 2 weeks left in this transfer.... :( But we will make the most of it!!

I loved the analogy Sister Sowards gave about the Holy Ghost and I would like to share that will you all :)

 I know i receive revelation, or have been inspired by the Holy Ghost when it, i like to say, rings true. When i feel it differently, when it rings true to my heart, i know it's from the Holy Ghost. And that is what happened when Sister Sowards used this analogy. Little side note haha :) okay!

She compared the Gift of the Holy Ghost to a flashlight. We all go camping and we know we cannot get to the bathrooms in the middle of the night with Syd if we don't have that flashlight. I mean, the Moon is shining, you can see the hand in front of your face, but to get anywhere you need the flashlight. The moon is shining and we can kinda see, the Light of Christ, but it just doesn't show us the path, or the hole in the ground that without the flashlight, we would step in it and get our foot all wet (The Gift of the Holy Ghost). Every single person, because God loves us, has the Light of Christ. They are born with it. The spirit can bare witness, the spirit can bring comfort, but the difference is the constant companionship. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is that flashlight that will help us along the way. Now we cannot let the batteries die! We have to keep them full of energy. And how we do that is partake of the sacrament, read the scriptures, and pray to our Father in Heaven. It's an amazing Gift, and i'm so thankful for it!!

I love you all so very much!! :):)

-Elder Bloxham

Steven

Columbus Temple

Sam

Hermana Bloxham - Transfers next week!

Hola hola todos mis familiares y amigos!

Well, this has been a crazy week! We went to the Natural History
Museum last pday and we saw Sister Livingston there! What are the
odds! Haha. Everyone back in White Plains is still crazy but doing
great!

This week I've been super sick with strep... I started getting a sore
throat last Tuesday and then throughout the week I got worse and worse
and then I had to go on a split on Friday here in Inwood. We had 4
lessons but I felt like I was going to die! Poor sister Palmer that
had to be with me that day haha. Then on Saturday and Sunday I
basically slept all day long. I only made it through 2 hours of church
and I had to go home to sleep haha. Don't worry I got some medicine on
Monday and I'm feeling better!

Anyways! Update on José, he's still awesome! His family needs a lot of
work! They are just not supporting his decision and they argue all the
time about his getting baptized and taking this step, but he still
knows it's the true church and wants to be baptized, we are just
trying to get at least his mom on his side. So please, pray for him!
He needs a lot of prayers! We know that he is going to be baptized
this month! Prayers, prayers, prayers!

We got a new investigator this week! Her name is Suni! She's
Dominican, surprise! Haha. But no, she's super cool! Her two kids are
investigators for the English sisters and they don't speak a lick of
Spanish. Suni doesn't speak a lick of English so that's the obstacle
right now. We don't know how to work out church if neither of them can
speak or understand the other language... Ya kinda crazy haha.

Even though this has been a super crazy week, it has still been
awesome and I've seen so many miracles! José has so much faith and is
so sensitive to the spirit. I look up to him so much in that aspect!
Even though he is going through hard times, he still has faith and
knows that this church is what makes him happy. I know that this
church is true and that only in and through the atonement of Christ,
we can be truly be happy and find true peace in this life. I love this
work and I love the Savior! This work is not only for missionaries,
it's for all members throughout the world! Yes, you are called to this
work as well! I promise you that you will find a joy and happiness
that you can't even imagine that can only be found by serving others
and doing the Lords work! I love you all!

Love,


Hermana Jessica Bloxham

Mural in my area! It's on broadway and academy street and we take
the A train always, so it's like the perfect Inwood picture!

 Sister Liao and me matching! Not on purpose haha

Elder Bloxham - Stevan's Baptism!!

Stevan was Baptized saturday!!!!! It was so amazing!! It was such a powerful experience and Stevan has changed right from under our noses! At church he would hardly pay attention, and now he brings his Book of Mormon and wears his suit we got him at goodwill! It's awesome!!! He is an amazing man.

Next week, Sam is getting baptized. He is amazing too!! Oh my gosh i love him so much. When he is at church with us, he does exactly what we do. When i open the hymn book he grabs his own and opens it up. When i open my scriptures, he opens his! He is so excited for his Baptism and so are we! :)

We have been trying to get the Pham family on date as well. Mike works so much and it is hard to get a specific day to meet with him. But his two daughters have the desire to be baptized, it's just waiting on Mike to make the decision :)

I realized this week that everything happens for a reason! Like Sunday. We were trying to invite a ton of people to church and when we get to one of the investigators house, his mom comes out and said they are a Christian based family, and there is no way their son will be a Mormon. "He hasn't been saved yet, but we are trying" says his mom. Well hey, we aren't Christian so we can't help you come closer to Christ....? The Devil has so many hearts hardened by rumor and slander. If only we had the chance to explain. But like I said, it happens for a reason. Maybe I needed the chance to have my testimony strengthened, maybe we needed to be somewhere else to help another person. We will never know, but the Lord has a greater plan for us and our work. We just need to trust in him.

I love you all so very much and I'm thankful for you!!!

Elder Bloxham