My new companion is great, and things are continuing to improve for
me, I've still got a lot to learn out here - especially in the
language but all things are possible!
I won't be able to send any pictures =\ I let a member borrow my SD
card to copy some of the pictures we took at an activity, and the card
contracted a virus and all the pictures are now gone. It's a huge
bummer, but oh well. I'm here to do missionary work and not to take
pictures! I'm sorry, I'll be sure to take more and send them when I
can!
The Lord is definitely there to help us, in our times of need. It's hard
when we see the little things, and I am beginning to understand what
it means to be overwhelmed as well. I've had to remember the simple
power in Nephi's declaration of courage, when he said "I will go and
do the things which the Lord hath commanded me". Elder Uchtdorf counseled to us all a couple conferences ago,that when life gets overwhelming and begins to pick up pace, that "we
would do well to slow down a little and remember the important things
in life".
The highlight of my week was Thursday, we worked with the SA group in
our ward and spent the whole day visiting less active families. Wow,
what a cool experience. It's neat to see less active people remember
what the church is like. As we shared with one sister the importance
of scripture study in building a relationship with Heavenly Father,
she began to cry, and realize how far away she was from Heavenly
Father and that her family needed that back in their life. The
gospel is our source of hope, and no matter how far away we go, there
is always a way back. Our Savior is standing there waiting for us to
open the door. The way home isn't easy, but we've got heaven on our
side. Sunday was also an awesome day because the young daughter of
one of the less active families that we visited came to church, and
she brought a friend!! Oh man, that was so cool. One of our
investigators, Alyssa Joson who is only 11 years old came on her own
accord without anyone to pick her up, and she brought her little
brother. I was so excited to see them at church. I'm so humbled for
the opportunity that I have to be out here and see the faith of these
people. Missionary work is a privilege!
Love,
Elder Blackham
Monday, August 27, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
August 19, 2012
Things are going great out here, Elder Lozano and I had a great week!
We've started working a lot more with Less actives. The he highlight
of my week was Sunday, where we had the opportunity to teach a
less-active Nanay about the temple. I will never forget how her eyes
lit up with hope as she learned about what the temple was and what can
happen inside for her and for her family. I was surprised that she
didn't know what it was before, but that's just a testimony of the
importance of the work that we are doing. We've got the truth and
these people need it! We've also been blessed with success in finding
new investigors through part-member families. For example, Rowel.
He's been taught the lessons before, and his companion is active in
the church they just haven't been married because of birth certificate
complications. Thankfully Elder Lozano has had experience with his
problem and knows that they can work throught it. Rowel came to
sacrament meeting on Sunday, which was the first time for him in a
while. I love the capacity that this gospel has to bless, uplift and
seal families for eternity. We've also been blessed to have one of
the Tatays (father) that we've been working with return to activity!
As a companionship we are working with the families and creating
temple goal dates for them, that is probably my favorite part of the
work that we're doing out here. Everything about this gospel is a
testimony that Heavenly Father loves us, and that He loves our
families!
All in all this was a great week, I'm always learning more about
myself and this gospel. I'm always surprised at how much our Heavenly
Father really loves us all. He's given us everything.
I'm doing well and healthy! Our area really hasn't been affected as
bad as other areas of the Philippines. The area that I'm serving in
is relatively high in elevation, thank goodness! Oh, The socks are
like magic! My feet will sometimes get wet, but they really make such
a difference! I'm so glad you got those for me mom :) You're so
thoughtful and I've been so blessed with a mom like you. I think about
that all the time mom, thank you for being my mom.
love,
Elder Blackham
We've started working a lot more with Less actives. The he highlight
of my week was Sunday, where we had the opportunity to teach a
less-active Nanay about the temple. I will never forget how her eyes
lit up with hope as she learned about what the temple was and what can
happen inside for her and for her family. I was surprised that she
didn't know what it was before, but that's just a testimony of the
importance of the work that we are doing. We've got the truth and
these people need it! We've also been blessed with success in finding
new investigors through part-member families. For example, Rowel.
He's been taught the lessons before, and his companion is active in
the church they just haven't been married because of birth certificate
complications. Thankfully Elder Lozano has had experience with his
problem and knows that they can work throught it. Rowel came to
sacrament meeting on Sunday, which was the first time for him in a
while. I love the capacity that this gospel has to bless, uplift and
seal families for eternity. We've also been blessed to have one of
the Tatays (father) that we've been working with return to activity!
As a companionship we are working with the families and creating
temple goal dates for them, that is probably my favorite part of the
work that we're doing out here. Everything about this gospel is a
testimony that Heavenly Father loves us, and that He loves our
families!
All in all this was a great week, I'm always learning more about
myself and this gospel. I'm always surprised at how much our Heavenly
Father really loves us all. He's given us everything.
I'm doing well and healthy! Our area really hasn't been affected as
bad as other areas of the Philippines. The area that I'm serving in
is relatively high in elevation, thank goodness! Oh, The socks are
like magic! My feet will sometimes get wet, but they really make such
a difference! I'm so glad you got those for me mom :) You're so
thoughtful and I've been so blessed with a mom like you. I think about
that all the time mom, thank you for being my mom.
love,
Elder Blackham
Monday, August 13, 2012
August 13, 2012
This week was full of new things for me. My companion got transferred on
Thursday, so I have a new companion now and am leading the area. That
just means that I'm responsible for all the appointments now until my
new comp gets used to the area. It's new, but I'm excited for this next
transfer and all the good that Elder Lozano and I can do! He's a way
sweet Elder from Bacolod, Philippines (which is south). He's a hard
worker and helps me a ton in learning the language. It's hard because
sometimes he'll only speak Tagalog to me, but it forces me to learn
which is good. He is also good at speaking English. There were a lot of
other new and exciting things that happened in the work this week as
well. We meet new people all of the time. We were able to go back to
the family from last week and teach once; we had an appointment with
them but when we returned he was kind of drunk because there was a
birthday celebration. It was kind of funny, we haven't taught them the
Word of Wisdom yet, so that's okay for now. It was neat though; because
his family said he was drunk, we were just going to continue on without
talking to him, but i had i strong impression to go back to see him. We
didn't even really talk to him that much, but were able to talk to a
nanay that was selling ulam around where he was that we would've missed
if we didn't go back. We invited her to church and she came!! She met a
friend there and liked church a lot.
We were invited to the birthday party of a young girl (one of our investigators) who just turned 8. We brought her the Book of Mormon as a present! haha, that really is the best thing that I could think of to give; the fullness of the gospel.
The ward here is starting to accept us a lot more, and we've been able to work with more of the members in finding new people who want to hear the gospel. On Sunday after church, we worked with the single adults and went to a new area that I'd never been to before. There we found Many less active members of the church, and part member families. I am excited for the work that we will be able to do out there!
All in all, a good week, I'm healthy and well!
haha - the rain's okay, it's just the wet feet all day that's the only thing but it's nice and cool when it rains! The word out here is "Baguio" for storm ;) I'm great and healthy mom! Seriously, don't worry. I had an ingrown toenail come back, but one of the members here was able to dig it out and clean it for me. My foot feels great now!
There aren't really that many monkeys in my area just a lot of dogs and cats and chickens lol. I live in an area referred to as "the bukid". Bukid means farm, so it's pretty rural but no monkeys! I'm okay with that though, they say that the monkeys here are vicious. I'm actually quite a ways a way from Angeles, the setting is a little bit different but probably pretty similar.
love,
Elder Blackham
We were invited to the birthday party of a young girl (one of our investigators) who just turned 8. We brought her the Book of Mormon as a present! haha, that really is the best thing that I could think of to give; the fullness of the gospel.
The ward here is starting to accept us a lot more, and we've been able to work with more of the members in finding new people who want to hear the gospel. On Sunday after church, we worked with the single adults and went to a new area that I'd never been to before. There we found Many less active members of the church, and part member families. I am excited for the work that we will be able to do out there!
All in all, a good week, I'm healthy and well!
haha - the rain's okay, it's just the wet feet all day that's the only thing but it's nice and cool when it rains! The word out here is "Baguio" for storm ;) I'm great and healthy mom! Seriously, don't worry. I had an ingrown toenail come back, but one of the members here was able to dig it out and clean it for me. My foot feels great now!
There aren't really that many monkeys in my area just a lot of dogs and cats and chickens lol. I live in an area referred to as "the bukid". Bukid means farm, so it's pretty rural but no monkeys! I'm okay with that though, they say that the monkeys here are vicious. I'm actually quite a ways a way from Angeles, the setting is a little bit different but probably pretty similar.
love,
Elder Blackham
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
August 6, 2012
(This is Elder
Blackham's reply to mom's questions about the island wide typhoon that
the news reported hit the Phillipines on Wed., August 1st)
I didn't even know that there was a typhoon this week, it has been raining a bit more constantly than normal and we've had to cross a couple rivers that used to just be canals out here, but there have been no tragic effects that I know of here in this area. Sometimes there are fluxes in power, but nothing really out of the ordinary. It's raining way hard right now by the way, but it's always raining now :). Mosquitoes are pretty constant here. I usually have a least a couple of mosquito bites, and I've been pretty healthy lately. This morning I woke up kind of sick, but I'm sure that it'll pass quickly :). Only every once in a while will I get a headache, and usually just some ibuprofen and water'll do the trick. I'm good and healthy though :).
(Response to knowing who our new Bishopric is)
That is a good match for our ward leadership! All things are done in wisdom and order, and our leaders truly our called of God. That's one of the things that sets our religion apart from others.
I don't always know exactly why, but I know that the Lord has called me here for a reason. He wants me here, and here I am. I just pray for your safety in my absence and know that our family will be taken care of as I become a faithful and diligent missionary.
There are lots of new experiences every week, this week was kind of hard because we had exchanges on Tuesday, where I worked in the zone leader's area which was pretty sweet to see how other missionaries work in other areas. For Elder DelaCruz and I though, we found two new families to teach with a lot of potential. The first was on OYM from over a month ago! An OYM (open your mouth) is what we refer to as any opportunity that we have to "open our mouth" and share the gospel. It's how we keep track of the people we tract into. Anyway, We've been diligently trying to find him, and return to where he said his house was; but we've always been told that he's working. Finally we found him! It was a great experience. He is so interested in the church and wants to learn as much as he can about how to get closer to God. Lucky for us, we have just the message for that :). I'm looking forward to the next period that I'll have to get to know him and his family and see the light the gospel can bring! The other family was a part member family, a young couple with a new child. The mother is a less active member from San Isidro; she is the relative of another family we are teaching! We taught about how the gospel blesses families, and she seemed excited to relearn all that she had learned when she was younger. I know this gospel is for everyone, and especially for the family! I'm so stoked, and grateful to Heavenly Father for the opportunities He provides for us out here. This is really His work.
We don't have super strict rules about music, just as long as it invites the spirit.. My library consists of EFY, Motab, Reflections of Christ, Jenny Philips choir, and a cd that I burned from Aunt Jill (which is amazing). I would absolutely love a CD of some hymns though mom :) If you ever send a package, a burned cd of some of your fav. church music would be the best! I'm not asking for it specifically, but just in case that's probably the thing that i would ask for.
Love,
Elder Blackham
I didn't even know that there was a typhoon this week, it has been raining a bit more constantly than normal and we've had to cross a couple rivers that used to just be canals out here, but there have been no tragic effects that I know of here in this area. Sometimes there are fluxes in power, but nothing really out of the ordinary. It's raining way hard right now by the way, but it's always raining now :). Mosquitoes are pretty constant here. I usually have a least a couple of mosquito bites, and I've been pretty healthy lately. This morning I woke up kind of sick, but I'm sure that it'll pass quickly :). Only every once in a while will I get a headache, and usually just some ibuprofen and water'll do the trick. I'm good and healthy though :).
(Response to knowing who our new Bishopric is)
That is a good match for our ward leadership! All things are done in wisdom and order, and our leaders truly our called of God. That's one of the things that sets our religion apart from others.
I don't always know exactly why, but I know that the Lord has called me here for a reason. He wants me here, and here I am. I just pray for your safety in my absence and know that our family will be taken care of as I become a faithful and diligent missionary.
There are lots of new experiences every week, this week was kind of hard because we had exchanges on Tuesday, where I worked in the zone leader's area which was pretty sweet to see how other missionaries work in other areas. For Elder DelaCruz and I though, we found two new families to teach with a lot of potential. The first was on OYM from over a month ago! An OYM (open your mouth) is what we refer to as any opportunity that we have to "open our mouth" and share the gospel. It's how we keep track of the people we tract into. Anyway, We've been diligently trying to find him, and return to where he said his house was; but we've always been told that he's working. Finally we found him! It was a great experience. He is so interested in the church and wants to learn as much as he can about how to get closer to God. Lucky for us, we have just the message for that :). I'm looking forward to the next period that I'll have to get to know him and his family and see the light the gospel can bring! The other family was a part member family, a young couple with a new child. The mother is a less active member from San Isidro; she is the relative of another family we are teaching! We taught about how the gospel blesses families, and she seemed excited to relearn all that she had learned when she was younger. I know this gospel is for everyone, and especially for the family! I'm so stoked, and grateful to Heavenly Father for the opportunities He provides for us out here. This is really His work.
We don't have super strict rules about music, just as long as it invites the spirit.. My library consists of EFY, Motab, Reflections of Christ, Jenny Philips choir, and a cd that I burned from Aunt Jill (which is amazing). I would absolutely love a CD of some hymns though mom :) If you ever send a package, a burned cd of some of your fav. church music would be the best! I'm not asking for it specifically, but just in case that's probably the thing that i would ask for.
Love,
Elder Blackham
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