July 29, 2012

This week was good. It was kind of hard emotionally, and a little bit stressful, but I've learned a lot. .I don't have really any crazy stories this week... or maybe crazy experiences are just so common that they don't seem to phase me anymore.  Haha but I did have a cool realization on Friday. It was kind of a hard day, because we were on exchanges and I had previously planned to visit some of the people we had contacted the week before. However, it was an area that I was extremely unfamiliar with, and accidentally took a wrong turn on the way out to the area.  When I realized it, I was way discouraged with myself, but felt that there was a reason that we had gone that way.  We saw a way off  a man walking towards us, and knew that we had to talk to him. So we met him, and it turned out to be one of our investigators, he was busy working but told us about two houses that were a little further out. We found them and taught them and that turned out to be one of the best lessons I have taught yet.  If I had given in to my discouragement, I would have turned back and been unable to find those investigators. This is the Lord's work, it won't always be easy, but we can be happy about what we're doing and find joy in the journey.

 

(This is in response to a comment I made about how it must have felt good to have investigators actually attend church with them)

Yeah! It was a great experience! :) And no, the member didn't even know that the grandma was interested! But the grandma returned this week, and brought her companion (not married yet.... there's a lot of that here in the Philippines =\).  They both seemed to enjoy church together. It's been neat working them and watching them come closer to the Savior. They have a lot to do before they can be baptized (including getting married!) but I know that they will be able to do it all with the Lord on our side :) We were blessed with 5 investigators total on Sunday! It was way tight!

I get to see the president and his wife about every other transfer (6 weeks). I love president! He is an awesome man and a great example to me out here. Haha,  him and Sister Martino are so cute together. It's really fun to be with them, and feel of their love for all of us missionaries. He's way strong spirituallly and I know I can learn a lot from him.

 

We've been really focusing on the Plan of Salvation with the people that we've been teaching lately. Every soul is great in the sight of God. He knows and has numbered His sheep, and I know that we've got to learn to trust Him.  As we trust, believe, and obey, we are sure to be spiritually safe. The Tagalog word for Salvation is "Kaligtasan" which literally means "safety" in English. That was an interesting realization to me, that Heavenly Father's plan for us is really to be safe.  When I think of Being "Safe", I think of being held, even hugged! As we follow the example of Jesus Christ, I know he is just waiting to keep us safe; just like he was with those martyred for His name's sake in the Book of Mormon.

I know the Lord loves us, is aware of us, and guides us even when we don't realize it.

 

Love,

Elder Blackham

July 23, 2012

(This is a response to Elder Blackham's mom saying she is worried he is not eating enough because he looked very thin in his last pictures home.)
Haha, I don't know about that - I think I have lost weight, but yeah, I usually eat. Sometimes we don't have enough time to eat dinner, but that's okay! haha, it's way cheaper for me to just buy things here than for you to send it! Don't worry about me, I'm doing great. The food is good - my stomach is always on a roller coaster ride haha. I think that it's just because of how much rice and salt I'm eating, but that's what we can afford!  It's great mom, I'm really doing awesome! I ate fish the other day... the whole thing! I even ate the head lol. It was wierd, but just tasted kind of like salty chicken.

Elder DelaCruz speaks English. It's sometimes broken English; but it's cool in our mission because they are really trying to push and teach all of the Filipino Elders and Sisters how to speak English. We've been helping each other learn new languages. Some of the members can speak a very broken English. But, it helps - usually it's what they call "taglish" here that I am able to communicate with most people. It's kind of weird, because they conduct, sing, and do the sacrament in English. I wonder how much of it everyone really understands, but it is good :). Elder Dela Cruz and I are the only Elders in our city, there is one other companionship in our district and they live about a 25 minute jeep ride east of us. In order to get to San Jose (which is what zone we're in), it's about an hour jeep ride away. There are like 5 companionships of elders, and 2 pairs of sisters in our zone.

I'm so grateful for the prayers, you have no idea. I need them and use them everyday!

I also had some fun things happen this week; on Saturday we were walking by a group of workers who were obviously drunk. There was one guy who didn't have a shirt on, but had a pink-and white striped towel tied around his neck like a cape and was running around with his fist in the air, yelling, "I'm superman!" haha, they just did it to me because I'm American. It's awesome, people just like to yell whatever English they know at me, I guess it makes them feel smart. But as we walked back past this guy, he began jumping and saying, "I'm flyyyying!" haha, so hilarious.

I"m doing good. Usually for my personal study, I"ll spend 30 min in the Book of Mormon, and 30 minutes in Preach My Gospel. I'm still in the beginning of 1 Nephi - there just is a ton to learn! Like, in chapter 16 - I realized that they kind of had a lot of trials in the chapter, and I realized that it was only when they stopped to take a rest that bad things seemed to happen. We just have to be diligent, and always strive to be close to the Savior. It's been neat to realize how much Nephi's claim of Heavenly Father providing the way for us to accomplish the commandments is fulfilled. I love the Book of Mormon, that book is so true and gives me the strength I need everyday.

Repentance and the atonement make our purpose here on earth possible! I'm so grateful that we are so loved by our Heavenly Father. That is one of the simple truths that we tell people every day, when explaining the gospel. "The gospel is God's plan for us to have peace in this life and joy in the life to come; the Atonement of Jesus Christ is central to that plan, and as we have faith, are baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and Endure to the end, we are promised eternal life".  That's what Jesus taught when He was here on the earth, and it's what all of His Prophets and Apostles have taught since.  At the center of it all, is Jesus Christ. His love, His life, and His example make all things possible. I'm so grateful for His love for us,  for our family :).

This week was pretty awesome! It's so neat to be here. We didn't have as many lessons as we planned, but in the lessons we did have, we were blessed with the spirit. We had two investigators come to church on Sunday! That was waaay sweet. They both seemed to enjoy it, and it turns out that the nanay we were teaching is the grandma of one of the members! That was cool, and the other, a young man named Wilburt, has family in the ward as well. It was a huge blessing to be there and see them progress in a way that they only could through going to church. I love this gospel! The church is so true!


I love you a whole bunch mom! please give all the fam my love, and tell them to keep the faith!

Love you Mom,

Love,

Elder Blackham

July 15, 2012 pictures

 These pictures were taken on a hike that he went on to a waterfall :)

July 15, 2012

(We found out from a friend of Dale's that the dialect in the area where Eric is serving is very complicated.  The friend was Filipino and told us that even she had a hard time understanding it.  I told Eric to help him feel better about the difficulty of the language)
I didn't know really about the dialog difference but it's coming a long. Even here, I've heard many different people speak many different ways.

(I told Eric we are leaving to take the girls to Especially For Youth Conference also known as EFY)

EFY is going to be tight! I can't tell you how grateful I am, some of the things that I learned at EFY have helped me out here, especially the testimony that I was able to gain during those weeks with our family!

That is so true about the temple! Gosh, sometimes I just want to shake people and make them understand the happiness that they are missing out on. As we keep our covenants, it's hard, but there is a peace that enters our life when we know we are doing what the Lord wants us to do. We will all be able to endure this life, but why would we want to endure it without the companionship of the Savior in our life, through the Holy Ghost? I'm learning the importance of it all, the things that we know are of eternal significance, because they are the only way to eternal happiness. As members of the church, we know what we should do to have the spirit in our life. :) What a blessing that is, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law". I'm so grateful that we are entitled to that blessing because we have been baptized by someone having the proper authority, and the covenants we make in the temple make us evermore worthy to enjoy the fruits of the spirit.

This week the work was great! As a companionship we had the most lessons this week than we've had any week before! We taught 38 lessons, and we hope to keep improving in all that we do! I'm trying to think - there's usually something humorous every day lol I just can't think of it because it's all just becoming a natural part of the every day life. OH - saturday night was pretty hilarious because one of the less actives that we visited... just a background about him, is name is Darwyn, he had polio when he was young and because of that his legs never really fully developed so he just scoots around everywhere. As we went to visit him, it was dark outside and he was hiding in wait for us right outside his door... as Elder DelaCruz walked up to the door, the investigator reached out and grabbed his leg. Elder Dela Cruz was pretty accordingly scared to death, and I just laughed haha. That was one of the funniest things I've seen out here.  It was sweet, Darwyn wasn't able to come to church, but his father who is less active was there through the lesson as well and came to church on Sunday!

We were also blessed to have a meeting with a partmember family, and man the spirit was so strong! We just did a short lesson about what the gospel of Jesus Christ is. I don't know why, but through that lesson, I felt an intense, and strong impression of how much Heavenly Father loves that specific family. They invited us to come back. It was one of the crowning events of my mission so far. I just get excited when I think about going back and bringing them the fulness of the gospel! The spirit was so strong, and I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for that family, and it reminded me of how much He as a plan for our family.  Our family isn't perfect mom, but we have the gospel :) He knows us, He loves our family, and is proud of you for being so strong! I love you Mom, and am grateful that you taught me what I should do, and that I'm here right now!

The work is always progressing, and this week was proof of that.

Love,

Elder Blackham

July 8, 2012

Hi, this is Elder Blackham's mom.  Sometimes Elder Blackham is responding to a question that I have asked him and his writing may be confusing if you don't know the original comment or statement.  So, in an effort to make this site more understandable, anything in Bold/Italics is me explaining the comment or question to which Elder Blackham is responding.  Sometimes I will also add a clarification for abbreviations he makes that might not be understood.  We hope this blog will help you keep updated on the happenings in his mission and life. 

(This is Eric's response to the news that our Bishop is moving to South Carolina and won't be here when he gets home from his mission)
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!! that really is sad news =\... does he have a job oppening or something? that stinks! Do you think that you could retrieve his address for me? I really need to write him a letter! I've got two from him, they just came last week. By the time I get them out he will have moved though, so maybe it's good that I haven't sent them yet.Bishop was a tender mercy, as was Brother Hassel. I think that because of your faith, the Lord gave us  strong priesthood leaders like Bishop and Brother Hassel, and Poppie.  Wow, we've really been blessed by Bishop McClaws' presence in our ward!  I really love that man.

(This is Eric's response to my questions about the pictures he sent of his apartment)
That was the normal color of the sink.  It's just a "sink" cut out of concrete, but it works :) haha, I'm glad your happy it looks clean - it takes a lot of effort to keep things clean, but it makes it more possible for the spirit to be apart of what we do if everything is clean :) Yeah, that was a water buffalo picture! Here they are called Caribou... I see them all of the time! it's pretty awesome. I usually don't walk through that particular field, but there are others that we walk through; the caribou was chilling on the side of the road so I decided to take a picture! haha. The bed isn't the most comfortable in the world, but it works :) At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter where I sleep-as long as it's a place where I can lay down! I sleep fine at night, my dreams are usually wierd here haha, and I would much rather be up and working than sleeping. Every day is a new opportunity to become more than what you were the previous day, and I"m so grateful for that!   The family is my source of comfort and support when it gets hard. Thank you for everything you've taught me :)

My city covers a large area, but isn't hugely populated. I'm out in the boons haha, but there's plenty of people. It's like a mix between Kanab, Utah and Phoenix, if that makes any sense.... lol but tropical. Most of the people are poor, probably 80 percent of the population is poor and about 50 percent of the people have dirt floors. But the poor are really poor, and there will randomly be a couple massive houses. The people in this ward are great.  Everything is just different out here, like sense of humor and everything so it's a little awkward just becoming able to converse and communicate with people, but the ward here is amazing, The people are way welcoming and we have lots of members work with us. Usually they are the YSA (Young Single Adults in their 20s)  aged people, but they are strong in their faith. Everyone here is a convert, and they know what it's like so they help people, and they love bearing their testimony. It's a real example to me. Rarely do the members feed us... haha, even though we are only poor missionaries, we have more money than the people. In this area, we feed the members, especially the ones that work with us. It's hard to budget that way, but I'm here to serve all the people here in whatever way I can. My area is quite big. Sometimes it takes an hour to walk to appointments in the furthest away areas. Pday is usually used as zone gathering days, like a couple weeks ago we went to a park and just kind of chilled haha, every once in a while we'll use it as a cleaning the house day - they house was in way bad shape when i got here haha but we're cleaning it up good! We've been bowling once, and had another activity. It's hard to have a lot of activities because we are so far away from where the zone leaders live - it's about an hour jeepney ride. But when it happens, they are pretty fun :) We're planning on taking a hike to a waterfall in the next couple weeks!  Today we spent most of the morning cleaning up inside and out around our house haha. It's actually kind of nice, and quite a stress reliever!

This week was a big learning experience for me - we had exchanges on Thursday and I lead the area. It was kind of stressful haha because I've only been to the Barangay we taught at a couple of times and we got lost, but we ran into a lot of people were able to schedule return appointments for this next week. The Lord is in His work, the gospel will continue to be taught, because it's true.  It centered on the Atonement, and families, and will give us peace in this life. Heavenly Father created a plan for us, and intends on being there every step of the way.

Love,
Elder Blackham

July 2, 2012 Pictures

 

 

this is a water buffalo

I'm guessing this is the living room area. the sink is in the background.

 bedroom. his bed is on the left

 the sink

Elder Blackham and his companion

July 2, 2012

Haha, so the other day we were traversing through the wet fields of the Philippines to get to an appointment, it was dark outside and we had only our flashlight from the cell phone. we came a cross a caribou just chilling, and as we continued on, it started chasing after us - we just kind of took off running and didn't look back for a while until we felt we were a good distance away. Pretty scary, but haha we are alive!! That was probably the craziest thing, except the other night we saw a half naked man lying in the middle of the road. It was dark outside and i almost stepped on him. haha, i think he was passed out from alcoholic intake. THe members here always say to me "It's always funner in the philippines" haha, so true. Things are nuts here, but the work goes on!

Our baptism was on Saturday and oh what a neat experience that was! :) I will never forget how clean Luminard looked and felt as he came up out of the water. It is so humbling to be a part of that. I hope that we can all be that clean and confident in all that we do in our lives. The wonderful thing is that we can :) Because of our savior, we really can all be clean.

I want you to know that I've had a good birthday! It's been busy, and it's wierd because I don't really feel like celebrating. It's not about me out here, and that is a huge blessing. But i love and cherish the pictures that you sent :) I truly am blessed.

The gospel is simple, it is centered on the family, and the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know we are loved. Jesus Christ lives, and is our eternal Savior. He gave us everything, and only asks that we follow Him. He knows that following Him will bring us true happiness. We can do all things through Christ. He is our Savior, Redeemer, and Friend.

This church is true, don't ever be ashamed of the truth you know! Keep the faith close to your heart!

love,

Elder Blackham.

p.s. We do emails in internet cafes.

p.s.s. I love you :)