July 29, 2013

Man, goodness gracious I feel like singing  all the time!!  I love working my tail off and showing the Lord that I love Him. I love you mom and thanks so much for your love.  It has been raining a ton here and its been awesome, I love it when it floods it just makes life more exciting, haha. 

This week was a great learning week as far as the natural man. In the talk about being chaste by Elder Bednar it is one of the greatest talks about the plan of salvation and why we came to earth ever! I love it so much and I find many treasures of Knowledge as I read it again and again. I love the part where it explains if we never felt human passions, or hunger we could not learn self control. If we never got a head ache from waiting we could not learn patience. We really needed a body, I can't imagine all the knowledge we would have missed out on without a body. We really needed to come here and prepare and learn to control it all. 

All of the attributes of our spirit are amplified through a mortal body, relationships, ability to choose, and tons and tons more. It is just so cool. Every single day I am trying to memorize more scripture about overcoming the Natural man, for example right now I am memorizing Doctrine and Covenants 121:34-46. And every single night I ask myself "did I put off the natural man today and how can I do better tomorrow?" If the purpose of life is to gain a mortal body and to put off the natural man and obtain Godlike qualities in order to prepare ourselves to dwell with God again; then I feel it is definitely worth asking myself everyday that question and following up and using my agency to stay close to the Lord and put it off a little more at a time through the atonement every day.  If we do not learn and grow everyday then that is such a waste of a day that God has given us in order to learn and grow and prepare to live with Him again.

As far as the work its going pretty darn amazing, I feel absolute peace and joy when I ponder whether or not I am giving my all to the Lord. I am learning so much about how to get people to want to know or to find people who are ready and willing to accept the message. In the movie Alice and Wonderland, Alice comes to a fork in the road or something like that and she asks the cat which road she should take. The cat asks, "where do you want to go?" Alice responded with, "I don't know." Then the cat said, "Then it doesn't matter which path you take." That scene from the movie is definitely summarized and not at all word for word but that's the basic jist of it. So, as far as people we teach,  they won't care what we have to say until they have somewhere they want us to take them, or that they think we could help them get to. So I took the list from Preach My Gospel the Book of Mormon section called "questions of the soul" and wrote them down on a piece of paper and took it to people who were not progressing. I allowed them to read the list and pick the question that stood out to them most and was a question of their soul. Instantly they gain much more interest and willingness after finding their question and this has helped absolutely everyone I brought it to.

I am going to use it to find more investigators.  For example, I would walk up to someone and ask for a favor, the natural human response would be to ask what they could do to help (especially filipino) and then I would ask them to read the list and see if a question stood out to them as something they have often asked themselves. Then when they chose their question I would explain that we have the answer and would love to teach them. Thus we are fulfilling their own desire to know and not just our desire to teach. We will see how it goes, we haven't had to find much lately because our schedules are full but if we do this week I will let you know how it goes. It totally helps people open up and ask the questions that they have just been too shy or afraid to ask and help them start their journey to find truth. 

Love, Elder Blackham

July 22, 2013

Thank you for the Happy Birthday things and all of the love and support you give.  It's cool how the Philippines celebrates birthdays; it is the exact opposite of the United States. In the U.S. you receive gifts and are treated kindly but in the Philippines you are supposed to give everyone else gifts and a good time and be nice to them. To be honest I prefer the Philippines way because it is a celebration of what makes life great; and that is the people around you and your family and such. I will be taking my zone out to eat later today because it's only 8 people in my zone, and I want to celebrate the Philippines way!  But, I am not going to lie the other way is pretty awesome. I think in all the best is the Phil-am way haha. The mix of both. Any ways as far as this week things continue to be great and growth and learning blossoms all around. Thank you so much for the music I have been longing for that for so so so long. Oh my goodness thank you. 

The work in our area continues to progress and I am excited to see what the future holds. Lots of people that were not progressing are now making progress and it is really amazing to see the blessings of the gospel in the lives of others. I am learning so much more about how to be a better teacher and to allow people to seek learning by faith. I am learning so much more about the power of the atonement. We know that it is infinite and that so is its power, but we have no idea what that entails. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon that helps give me a better understanding of what that means. It really is changing my life here and I had an undeniable witness and experience of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon as I read the chapter when Christ comes to the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. The spirit was so strong and I felt like I was there and great peace entered my heart with a feeling that was saying to my heart.. yes this really did happen. It was a quiet, peaceful,  but powerful feeling. The stories of the Lamanites who actually delighted in bloodshed, then through the atonement, were willing to die before they would shed the blood of their brothers. It helps give you strength and understanding, by saying to ourselves.. if the atonement could help these people in this way and turn away from their sins and they were a terrible people, then maybe it can work for me... and then the seed is planted and as we exercise our faith it will grow and we will come to know that it does work for us and that we can change and come unto Christ:)  I know that the Old and New testaments are true too. The whole gospel is so amazing, its not just a part its the whole thing:)  I love to teach repentance so much. This week we taught repentance to a woman and it was just incredible. She was so happy to know how to repent and experience the healing of repentance. If I ever feel a gap between me and God or I am ever sad, or anything at all I find the best solution is repentance. I know that seems weird but it is what heals and makes every thing better it allows us to access the atonement and humble ourselves before God and see the world through a whole new view. We come to know how important we are, and that true joy and freedom and peace and that we fulfill our purpose here on earth by repenting and changing and becoming what God wants us to become. Anyways this Sister that we were teaching was so so so excited to repent and to feel the blessings of the atonement in her life. It is so cool when an investigator says things like ... SO if I do this.. then I will get this. In her case she said "so if I repent sincerely and this way then I will feel peace and joy and be given strength to overcome the trials in my life?" and then we could promise her yes:) It was so great. So yeah,  this week has been amazing:)

Love Elder Blackham,

July 15, 2013

I am doing so great and I am so happy and I am learning so much. I have been having so many amazing, sacred, special experiences in which I learned lessons that I know I could never learn any other way than by being here serving the Lord with my all. I am glad I wrote it down in my journal. I am mostly learning about accepting the Lord's will and being accepted by Him and how His ways are definitely not our ways. I learned that we as people have expectations for everything, Expectations for ourselves and for what's going to happen to us or what we will be doing at this or that point of our lives.  If things do not turn out as you expected, we need to submit and try to find out what the Lord's will is and why, instead of thinking that we failed or didn't do what we needed. Because we definitely do not see things the way He does, we don't understand the big picture that God has for us. Our failures may not even be failures in the big picture.  

I really like the article by Elder Uchtdorf about light and how darkness exists but we need to stay in the light. But sometimes things we see as a mess up or mistake we view as dark when it was a great learning experience and a way we have learned to rise up and do the Lords will. Even if you gave it your all the Lord has different plans for us, and we need to be willing to see it and say to ourselves "Ohhh so this is what the Lord wants for me, or Ohhh  this was His plan for me" instead of tearing ourselves down. The reason  for the Atonement is so that we would be allowed to make mistakes and instead of demanding immediate perfection, the atonement pays for the immediate demand for perfection to justice and sets steps(the gospel of Jesus Christ)   along with mercy and agency to allow us to choose and develop and mess up and learn and repent as we learn and eventually gain perfection and eternal life. Wow how simple and amazing that is. 

That does not give us an excuse for not trying with our all because some people use the atonement as a way of saying they don't need to try so hard or give it all their effort because they are supposed to mess up, but that is not how it works that is abusing the sacred gift of our time here on earth and not a true gratitude for what the Lord has done.  As long as we give it our all, the atonement will take full effect on our lives according to what we give and we will have no regrets but a symphony of joy and learning and understanding.  It is so amazing being able to bring the atonement into the lives of others. I know that God has power to forgive and to save, and as we trust in Him we will receive those blessings and joys that we so long for.

As far as the work we are having tons of success and we can hardly reach everyone in one day. Hopefully we can get going on splits this week and every week in order to reach everyone we need to teach in one week. It is going to take serious revelation to discern who is serious and who we should drop and make sure we keep the people who really want to change their life. We are helping one family and it's going amazing. The mom is an alcoholic and we are helping her quit and pray and she just loves the gospel so much.  She and her husband were about to split up before we started teaching them.  But, because we taught her at that day on that moment her husband and her did not split up and she humbled herself and stopped drinking.  So far it has been a week and she usually doesn't go 2 days  without drinking and so its so amazing.  We just loving teaching people who want to know, who ask questions and are seeking to learn and to change:) Her eyes are so filled with light now.  Before she looked so sad and now she is constantly smiling and there is no way to describe how that feels as a missionary; to actually help the Lord to become a part of their lives. All I want to do is give something to the Lord, that is my pursuit and goal is to somehow every day be a benefit to the Lord for having breathed and lived another day. I feel so indebted to Him for His sacrifice that He willingly and lovingly gave for me and for everyone. I truly do stand all amazed as I ponder it.

(This is a reply to a question from Mom about if they were getting ipads or laptops to help with their teaching)

As far as the new technology I cant imagine that ever getting to the Philippines and I talked to the area president over the Philippines, Elder Teh (who turns out to be the uncle of one of my friends from EFY).   He lives in my ward and he said they are going to do the technology upgrades one mission at a time, and I might be home before that happens to us. I can't of myself imagine how that would fly walking into a house with an i-pad, where they can't afford chairs to sit on.  So for our mission it might be different, there will be a for sure advancement of technology but the amount of it and who gets to hold it and use it, I think will depend.

Love, 

Elder Blackham

Random Picture

This picture was sent without any details with it so it gets it's own post :)

Elder Blackham and his companion with a family.

July 8, 2013

Mahal na mahal kita. I am so happy right now. 

Yesterday 8 of our investigators gained a real desire to know if this is true. That sounds strange but many people here will listen to anyone who claims to teach of Christ and let them in their home but it's more of a cultural thing. The hard part is to get them do something, anything about finding out what is truth. Most people here get taught so many different things that they become numb to religion or just no matter what they hear just stick to what they are born in as a tradition. But when we share about Joseph Smith, every single person that actually wants to know relates to His story and they begin to  ask why are there so many churches, why this, why that, which is absolutely perfect because we have the answer but they must gain that testimony for themselves first. 

It doesn't matter what we say,  for they must know that God supports what we say first for it to mean something. We also explain about the atonement and how Christ atoned for us and we at least owe him the simple desire to know how to use his atonement and be freed from sin. So then they started to ask questions and ask for us to come back every day and they said they will do whatever it takes to know.   That is probably the greatest thing a missionary can hear, because if someone really wants to know they will really get an answer. Its just as simple and as amazing as that. 

There is a term in tagalog that is Kung gusto, maraming paraan, kung ayaw maraming dahilan. which translates- if you want to there will be many ways to get what you want, if you don't want to you will find many reasons not to. That's the exact translation but a better translation is, "He who has the desire will find a way and He who has not will find an excuse" That is absolutely true haha. We could tell that the people we were teaching at first didn't have the greatest desire to know.  But now, because the spirit and the countenance of the people we taught changed; they started asking question after question and asking us to come back every single day and they said that they will do whatever it takes to get an answer. 

One of the most exciting experiences  was when a sister, after us explaining why its so important to know if its true (we explain that by explaining about  the atonement and talking about Joseph Smith's story) explained that she felt the same way and also that her desire is to know what we just explained to her is true. As she began to understand when we expounded about the redeeming power of the atonement she said that if this is true, then this is how she could become clean and be free of the burdens she carries and that she can partake of every blessing God has prepared for His children.  She then started to cry and said that that is her greatest desire. The spirit was so strong and there is no greater joy than being an instrument in bringing the understanding and knowledge of the Atonement about in the lives of others. 

I testify that it is true and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and he took the pains and punishment of all our sins upon Himself so that if we repent we would not have to suffer as He did:) That's how valuable we are, we are worth atoning for, I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Love, Elder Blackham

July 1, 2013

So we just had transfer announcements and I will be follow up training my trainee which I was hoping because I love that kid so much, and we are having such a blast and lots of success so we will probably see some baptisms this transfer. I am so excited to keep things going and show to the Lord that I will serve Him with my all:) 

I want to share about a sister and her family that we found. I saw her standing outside her house with her kids and so I asked if we could introduce ourselves to her and at first she seemed hesitant and didn't seem to want to listen and said she is busy (which is the most often heard excuse ever). I then asked her about her family and how important they were to her and she got really emotional and was really worried about how to help them come close to God as a family.  When Elder Gako and I testified of the promised blessings of the gospel to families she decided she wanted us to come back and teach. So we did and she is progressing so well, the things like family prayer and F.H,E. and current revelations from prophets are so amazing to her and it is so amazing to see how it is blessing her life:) Wow I love waking up in the morning to have experiences like this every day. This is just so amazing!!:) 

This past week I have just been learning about Repentance and the power of the Atonement to forgive and to heal. One of my favorite sayings in preach my gospel is "to be clean from sin is to be spiritually healed."  I love this saying so much. No matter what we are feeling I find I feel a lot better when I just take whatever I got and try to change and become more in line with His will. Aligning our life with the Lord's will is a central purpose to our lives and allows us to take hold upon His mercy and love and strength to become a constant part of our life:) 

I am also learning a lot about being consistent and how amazing it is to be constant in righteousness. Bad people can do good things but they cannot be consistent and have integrity in the good things they do, so all of our good attributes our only as strong as our integrity to them:) 

As far as the answers to your questions, I have not met my new mission president, I also have seen a ton new sisters just now they are coming into the mission in large numbers. None of the boundaries are changing yet either.

Share the gospel, don't be afraid just smile and do it:)

Love, ELder BLackham

June 24, 2013

That is so so so amazing about the missionary work I sure hope they have something like that here. I can't express to you how much more success there is when we get a referral than when we just go out and find, haha. The statistics say that 1 in 8 referrals are baptized here in the Philippines and 1 in like 3 or 4 thousand that you talk to on the street are baptized so haha. Don't quote me I don't know that exact statistics.  I think it is actually a lot more that 4 thousand. So things go so so so so much better when someone hears the gospel through a friend. Luckily we get lots of referrals so we are very blessed. 

It's definitely the rainy season and it rains about every single day but I absolutely love the weather. I keep hitting my head on peoples' roofs haha. My trainee Elder Gako is still as amazing as ever and he learns so quickly and I am  so impressed with him.

 As far as the work its going really well and the people we are teaching are making lots of progress which is the most exciting thing ever as far as being a missionary. The biggest hope in the whole world is that after all that you do and say that the spirit will get to them and they will act, and use their agency and come closer to the savior, one step at a time. Our whole goal is to get them to act, and to pray and to just try it. We do all we absolutely can to get them to just try it with sincere wanting to know, or to come closer to the savior. We don't convert people, the spirit does and we invite them to act and allow the spirit to teach them on their own and gain their own testimony by using their own freedom to choose. It must be them, they must be the ones to ask and to gain their own testimony, we just teach them the what the why and the how:) A funny thing that happened this week is a whole litter of kittens came out of a bush and started following me and my companion for at least a half mile, it was really sweet.

I learned how to cook so many things here and I cook all the time for my companions and roommate missionaries. My mission president is going home next week so that is pretty crazy but I am excited to learn so much from two amazing mission presidents and I feel so lucky to have them both for almost a whole year each. I am just loving life!! This gospel really is what we all say it is. I know it:) I am so blessed to be a part of it:) In the name of Jesus Christ Amen:)

Love, Elder Blackham

June 17, 2013

Things are going great here:) 

Always there are so many miracles and I am so grateful to be here and a part of this work. One of our investigators that has really been progressing and is the one who sometimes testifies that she knows what we are teaching is true has just realized that we are inviting her to change her entire life:) It was a pretty cool, she is very very smart, because most investigators don't recognize this until they are about to be baptized. It was really cool and the spirit is so strong, and you could tell in her eyes that she realized how important this was and how life-changing this is and the effort it will require. I am so excited to teach her more and see her progress. 

We finally got the conference talks and i just love them so much. My favorite ones right now or the ones I am studying right now are about being accepted by the Lord and the other one is called the words we speak. Conference talks are always exactly what I need when I need it and open a new door of understanding and spiritual guidance as I feast upon their words:) I love this so much:) 

The best and most gratifying thing as a teacher is when someone understands. But really only the Holy Ghost can impart that true knowledge to the heart but its so great to be a part of it:) teaching and learning is so much a way of life and not just a missionary thing, I will do it with my children and I just love learning and teaching and finding and, well just pretty much everything about life!!! haha  Especially the wonderful powerful things pertaining to salvation. You can live better tomorrow that you did today, the hurt and pains of today can be swept away as you live the gospel today:) Why wait?! I have no idea, haha.

Love,

Elder Blackham

June 9, 2013

(The first paragraph is a reply to Mom's question about how Elder Blackham gets water.  We heard the water there will make you very sick and drinking to much of it can give you worms.UGH) 

The water here is bad but we filter the water with the filters that the mission provides so we are all good and set:) And if I get a worm it is just that much easier to lose fat haha. 

This week was amazing. Really gave it my all and I learned a ton. Life is so much better when you look at the big picture and have an eternal perspective. We taught the plan of Salvation a couple times this week and I just love it so much. It is so amazing to see the faces of the investigators as their faces light up and shine when they learned where they came from, why they are here and where they are going. It seemed to fill all of their longings to know and I felt so blessed to be able to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord in bringing this priceless knowledge into their lives. 

I love also the part at the end of the lesson when I testify to them that we would not have this knowledge if it was not for the restoration of the Gospel. I get to testify about Joseph Smith and that because of living prophets we can know and understand the truths of the gospel and the plan of salvation, because otherwise it would just be a mess of opinions, but this is the truth and the Book of Mormon solidifies the correct doctrines of the Bible so that it removes all doubt about the truths found therein. Its just so amazing this message:) 

One of our investigators that I didn't know if they understood everything, testified to us that she believes that this is true and that she feels in her heart it is right, and that it answers the questions she has always been longing to know:) She was glowing and it was just incredible to be there and to feel the spirit and to have the opportunity to bring this into her life:) There were many times this week that this happened, another time we were teaching the restoration to a family and the mom randomly asked where do we come from? I almost exploded with joy and we proceeded to then teach the restoration and she just loved it and the cool thing about it is that you can't gain a testimony about the plan of salvation without gaining a testimony of the restoration:) 

We were also teaching another family about reading the scriptures and trying to teach them how to study and gain knowledge and answers on their own. As we were teaching about the vision of Nephi and the first thing he did was desire to know. We taught how important desire is, and then in our first lesson with him the 18 year old boy Romel said, "I really want to know how to know and thank you for teaching me about this."  It was just amazing, there is nothing better than being a missionary:)  

It's just a blast to let go and lose yourself in the work:) This week was just so amazing, in one of our days we taught 8 lessons in one day, and I know it's a blessing that the Lord has given us for our obedience:) I am so grateful for the strength He gives and as I strive to serve Him He shows me my weaknesses. But it's just another mountain to climb:) This week in my scripture study I was reading in Alma 36 about repentance and how it all came to pass because first remembered in verse 17. I learned a lot about remembering Jesus Christ and in order to establish our life on Him we need to first remember and think about Him more and more in our lives. I also leaned that it is easier than we think it is in Alma 37:44-46:) Wow isnt the Gospel amazing!!

June 3, 2013

Things are going so awesome here. I love my trainee so much!! He is so awesome and has such a great desire to serve the Lord with His all. Something that happened this week that was unexpected was that on Sunday I named and blessed a new born baby. There is a less active family that we have been teaching that has gone to church for the last couple of weeks, and they asked me to bless their baby. I thought that they were joking but when I showed up to church and they called me up to bless the baby, I soon realized that they were not joking at all. The baby's name is Avherie Jhamie Jonson Bancoro and she is just a couple weeks old and the cutest little thing in the world. I was pretty nervous because naming and blessing a child is a pretty big deal.  I am so grateful I was able to do that. I wish the Father was able to because that would have been so much better, but I do feel blessed to be able to have done that.  I really wanted to bless that new child with absolutely all that Heavenly Father wanted to give. I will never forget the love I felt from Heavenly Father for her. 

We have had a pretty awesome week and worked our tails off every single day!! I am working my trainee and myself to the bone!! The Lord is abundantly blessing us and I am so grateful for Him:) 

One of the things I learned this week was the power of honesty and humility in your efforts to serve the Lord. I love to serve the Lord and when you are totally honest with your weaknesses it allows you to face them with the help of the Lord. When you are 100% honest with yourself and the Lord about your weaknesses; it's as if the barriers between you and Him fall away and His power, help and love flows freely into your heart and strengthens you in all that you do:) Things will always, always, always work out better when doing what the Lord wants than doing anything else. So many times we are nervous and I love how President Monson puts so much emphasis on having courage because its our courage that allows us to follow what the Lord wants no matter what and show our love for Him, show Him the crowning characteristic of Love to Him which is always loyalty. Loyalty because no matter what happens we obey and we strive to do His will:) So yea things are going amazing and I am having a blast!!

Love, Elder Blackham

May 26, 2013

Things are going great!!! I love having an anak and training:) Its so much fun and we are getting so much work done. I swear I am learning more than my trainee but that's how its supposed to be:) He is a 5 foot 1 inch Filipino named Elder Gako haha he is 21 years old too. He is so so so so cool I love that elder. He is so humble and tries his best and does not cease to impress me. One of the stories that happened this week was that we heard some news about a lady in our area who had lost her son, and her son was in his 20s and died unexpectedly. Well we got the news from a sister in the ward and then later that night we went to the wake. A tradition in the Philippines is that they never ever leave a dead body alone. So they usually keep the body in a casket with glass window on top to view the deceased person and then people are there 24/7 to watch and to mourn for the lost life. So we went and found the mother who was of course crying and mourning for the loss of her son, and it is really hard for her because she had also lost her husband and another son previous to this one. But as we were there it was absolutely quiet except for sniffling from crying and such. I didn't know what to say at first because its such a big deal to administer to those who mourn and I was really nervous I would say something wrong. Then I kinda put myself in Her shoes and wondered what I would want to know... then the spirit prompted me to speak. I opened my mouth and was able to promise her that the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge of His plan for us can fill every gap everything that is missing in our life. The Tagalog I used uses a deeper meaning for missing something, but the spirit was so strong. I testified that she can know without a doubt they will be together again through the ordinances of the restored gospel and that God loves us and will never abandon us. It was absolutely amazing to see her smile. After sharing some of the blessings of the gospel with her we left with a prayer and asked when we could return to teach her more and now we will be going back this week to share more:) We take for granted so much the wonderful truths of the gospel. Any ways there were just so many things that happened this week that were amazing but this one I felt I should share:) 

Love, Elder Blackham

May 6, 2013

This week was pretty awesome, my companion was sick so we were not able to work that much but I am so grateful for what we were able to do, and I felt such a great joy and manifestation as I administer to others. I simply cannot stop smiling sometimes and I am taken back by the joy of surrounding your whole life on how you can bless others and help them in their lives. I love fasting as a missionary and praying because the blessings are so immediate and it's almost as if the windows of heaven are right there in your own apartment. Most of your prayers are for others and to fulfill God's work, to fulfill what He wants as a steward of the area where you serve, and if you pray for yourself its for strength and gifts to help others:) There is no greater joy, I know it:) 

One thing that I learned in my study this week was about how I can better keep my covenants:) I was studying about purity and being cleansed through Christ and followed footnotes which lead to the priesthood and covenants and as we keep our covenants we are more cleansed by the Holy Ghost and our prayers are more likely to be fulfilled because of our righteousness.  But, always the best blessing ever is the blessing of being cleansed and pure before the Lord. So I was like thinking to myself what are all my covenants with the Lord, I was surprised that I had to think to remember them and then I looked them up to make sure and I wrote all of it in my notebook. Then I asked the question how am I doing and what can I do better to keep my covenants to the Lord? I wrote down what I could do better as I pondered and honestly evaluated myself and my strivings to serve the Lord. Then I made a goal that every time I take the sacrament and every Sunday I will account to the Lord and rewrite the covenants again so I can keep track of how I am keeping my promises to Heavenly Father. As I did this I felt  as I took the sacrament with the strivings and thoughts to fulfill my covenants and need of help to better fulfill them, that I was in the temple. A great feeling of peace and strength came over me comparable to being in the temple and I could not ever stop smiling the whole day:) I promise that as we take the effort to remember our covenants we will be more pure and more clean before the Lord. We will feel to sing the song of redeeming love, over and over again in out lives. Our prayers will be more answered because we are more prepared and clean to receive the blessings and we will always learn what more we can do for the Lord:) 

April 29, 2013

Things are going great this week. I was able to cut my own buko (not sure but I think this is a coconut) and drink out of it and it was fun. Yes we had a baptism and it was wonderful a less active member became active and baptized his wife and it was really beautiful. The priesthood ordinances are so wonderful and they are such a great blessing. they bring about salvation and just to think that God grants that power unto men is incredible:) I am so grateful I get to bless others and preach this gospel. I love to teach so much:) I always learn so much and I feel I often get more out of teaching than the people that we teach. I wish they got more.

 I am really fasting and praying for this area and I know that prayer changes things. I love to fast and receive new insight and understanding for my calling and for what God specifically wants me to do. This work is so connected with Heaven. I walk into a home for the first and have no idea what to say but as I listen I always know what to teach the spirit helps me know and whispers to me the deep desires of those we are teaching. For example I will say... Sister.. I know you are looking for blank in your life and that would mean so much to you, and i am so happy and excited to tell you that through the Gospel and using the atonement that you will obtain those blessings that God so dearly wishes to give unto you and that you desire:) Is that not the most amazing thing anyone could get to do at just 19 years old to people they just barely meet? Haha I think that it is just simply wonderful. 

At the same time it blows my mind that the Lord entrust this most amazing work with such simple and young weak things of the world such as I. I am so grateful He has felt to preserve me and allow me to work with Him in this most sacred calling. Some of the things I am doing in my study is highlighting the parts that talk about opposites and every time it mentions the redeeming power of Christ. It fills my  soul with joy and confidence that the Lord does and has and always will save and redeem. It so often states the bondage of people in the Book of Mormon, that they were surrounded by dark and so often because of faith and repentance they are are in the light of the Lord and the chains are loosed over and over and over again the Lord loves and saves:) I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

April 21, 2013

This week was absolutely amazing!:) The Sacrament is exactly what I needed and the atonement is what everyone needs its a one size fits all:) I felt the very grace of Christ enter into my heart this sacrament because the Lord knows I have been giving it my absolute all!!  I felt absolutely and totally clean and renewed and I am so excited to take it again next week:) 

So this week as we were out teaching the gospel we obtained a new investigator and it was so cool. I have taught people how to pray before but this time was amazing not because it was any different but because I allowed it to enter into my heart just how amazing this work is:) We taught that God is our loving heavenly Father and that he loves to hear us and speak with us and we taught about how the Gospel blesses families:) We invited her to pray and ask if it was true and then we told her to not be shy in asking questions because we want her to come to know all she wants and can, and that we are here to help:) Then she looked at us and kind of quietly, as if she was a little embarrassed but as if she has wanted to know for the longest time; she asked how do I pray? As we taught her to pray her whole countenance lit up and we invited her to pray right then.  Normally people shy away but she accepted and then began to pray and as she prayed the baby in her arms stopped crying and the room got quiet.  There was a thick peace and comfort about the room and tears could not be restrained, it really sounded and felt as she was pouring her heart out to the Lord, like she had wanted to talk to Him and now she finally can like a dam filled up with emotions and longings and then finally breaking and flowing freely and without restrained. As we left the lesson I said to myself, "I taught someone how to pray!" Then I said it again a little louder and then louder and then it finally hit me all that just happened. We had taught one of God's children how to pray.  Now if this is not one of the most amazing things in the entire universe,  I mean someone that before did not know how to commune with their Father in Heaven can now do so freely and joyously. I was absolutely ecstatic and I know this work is true:) I love it so much!! 

I also beat a big New Zealander at a chicken eating contest at KFC this week so that was pretty awesome, I am really proud of myself, haha. 

I am doing absolutely amazing!! I am having a blast and I love teaching the Gospel so so so so so so much. It changes lives everyday and it's God's work and glory and I am part of it, every day:)!! For the rest of my life:) The Lord is blessing us with much success at the moment:) I also have had special witnesses from the Holy Ghost that this is truly the work of the Lord and His Kingdom here on the Earth. Every day Heavenly Father is putting more and more drops of oil in my lamp and the Flame is growing brighter and is becoming the Lords flame and not my own:) Infinitely bright:) 

Love, Elder Blackham

ps. I just got your Easter package haha I guess it really just took a long time to get here

May 20, 2013

May 20, 2013 

        I hope and pray you understand that not only is the mission different than what I expected, its a thousand times better!! and I wouldn't ever even hope for anything else. I hope you know that when I have hard times, I am never sad, ever. The mission is so much fun, a complete blast and adventure!  I love to serve the Lord and do all I can.  My ability to smile and have joy increases every day as I obey and become more like Heavenly Father, even though it is so very much little by little and will take longer than this life permits, I have never been happier, ever. I cannot express a portion of my feelings and my joy and experiences in English or Tagalog but that doesn't matter so much because Christ knows what I am feeling and understands me and loves me perfectly:)

This week was totally amazing. There is no greater joy than stepping outside the apartment to go and serve and administer and bless our fellow brothers and sisters and love like none other. I love so much the Book of Mormon and I gained an extra special witness of its truthfulness as I read and read and read because my companion is still sick.  But we must not be idle and waste the time of the Lord so read I did, haha. Wow its was so so so amazing:) I felt I was really there and was totally lost inside the Book of Mormon and wow that is such a good place to get lost. I came to know my Savior more and how He knows all of us so individually and His power to redeem and forgive and oh how often he spares those who repent. The Lamanite nation had been murdering and plundering and killing since the beginning but even though all that, when they repented the plan of redemption did take effect in their lives. It says they were the most wicked of sinners and then in the same chapter, Alma 26, it says that there has not been a people that loved God and their fellow brethren than these. Wow how great the power of the atonement is, we underestimate it so much especially in our own lives to forgive ourselves and others and repent with our all; to bury our weapons of rebellion deep in the earth. Some times we are as Laman and Lemuel or even Lehi when Nephi broke his bow; we get really discouraged when we sin and complain about our weaknesses and frailties, but Nephi didn't worry or murmur, he just made a new bow and did the best he could to make things better, even it that meant painful but needed repentance. Some people might say they cannot bury them, it's too late, or they cant forgive themselves or for whatever reason its hard.  But it doesn't matter how hard it is, what matters is that it's possible, that the atonement is that powerful and we can change, and are never doomed to be a certain way, or permanently stained, the Lord can do it all, one size fits all:)

Oh and I would like to tell you that I am training and tomorrow I will get my trainee:)  I am excited because I know I will learn so much from him and I love going back to the basics because it is the basics that are the foundation of further growth:) I love this so much!!! In the name of Jesus Christ amen:) 

-Elder Blackham 

April 8, 2013 (pictures)

April 8, 1013

So as far as this week goes I am getting transfered for the very first time. That is pretty crazy for me cause idk its just new to me haha but i am so happy, it really is impossible to not be happy if your serving the Lord with all you got, your worries, fears, and even weaknesses turn into strengths. I do not know where I am transferring but I will get to tell you next week. We did not have general conference yet because we are 14 hours ahead on time so we will have it this weekened and I am so excited to listen to God speak to be personally through His ordained and called servants:) One thing that I have noticed this week is the power of integrity faith, by simply doing what you know and feel is right you will rise up to the next level of what the lord wants you to be and He will be able to trust you and give you the ability and capability to do those things even if you have never done it before or wether it requires a miracle. Miracles and the normal result of faith in the correct principles:) 

I must share that I love testifying of the atonement of Jesus CHrist:) A less active shared that he feels that his most is not good enough, but I loved to testify that our best is always good enough for the Lord, that the power of the atonement is infinite. then i ask what does infinite mean, it means without boundaries or compulsory means that absolutely nothing can stop it, no matter what, it means nothing is impossible, its not just infinite in time but also depth and height and space, we are never too low for the atonement to lift us up,  it is perfect and therefore we cannot say it does not work for me, because that is God's whole work and glory is for us to become like Him to be clean and overcome and endure to the end:) The atonement makes life perfectly fair, we have all the power of the atonement to overcome:)

Love, Elder Blackham

April 1, 2012 (pictures)

April 1, 2013

The city is so empty during Holy week. The traffic is usually bumper to bumper 24/7 but during Holy Week its an absolute ghost town. We were all quite shocked at how empty it could get. Not a single person car or anything in sight haha. It was crazy only a few homeless people there were even hundreds of less homeless people on the streets haha. 

But its pretty crazy what happens in the other places of my areas. On Thursday and Friday people walked around whipping themselves on the back and there are drops of blood everywhere on peoples houses and cars and streets. We made sure we were not in that part of the area at the time they do that, and in the other barangay they crucified a couple people. They really try to reenact the atonement here, so we were in the city to not be around that. 

It was a pretty amazing week this week and we got to teach a lot. We  worked our tales off to teach people even though it was so empty. One thing I learned this week is the power of a testimony and being sincere and transparent. When talking to people just letting them know why your there and what your plans are for them. Its so important that you be as transparent as possible so people can make a clear decision in their lives. Let them know the blessings and what its going to take and so and so forth. Many people when you show up at their door will shew you away but if you teach them right there some simple truths of the gospel and how it can change their life and what our plan is for them they open up. The spirit touches their heart and they say... well when can you come back. and then we set an appointment or teach more while we are there. 

I also focused my studies this week on the atonement and it was pretty amazing:) It is amazing the divine help from the atonement that we can receive, even just simply waking up in the morning can become a joy if we remember that Christ atoned for us and gives us the strength to live another day. We need not settle for living a normal every day mundane life, if we constantly keep our mindset on what the atonement makes us and our faith in Him, all those little things we do every day become a joy and a great light in our lives. As we recognize the little decisions that we have to make every day and then trusting the atonement and grace that we can be better than we are, and always choosing the better of all those little decisions we will become like the Savior and become so happy and everything in life will become a joy and a wonderful experience. We never need to be sad or bitter or mean, the Savior atoned for us and made it possible for us to choose the better always. There will be sad moments where we do mourn but our mourning will be accompanied by comfort, as we continually choose the right. 

Love, Elder Blackham

March 25, 2013

This week was awesome, a lot of growth and learning that I am so grateful to the Lord for the trials that are hand crafted for me to make me stronger:) I love testifying to people of the truth and this week I learned to be more bold and more zealous in my preaching and sharing of the gospel with others:) I also learned the powerful affect of testifying and I am  learning a lot more how to present the message of the gospel in a way that people can make a clear decision. In preach my gospel chapter 1 under a successful missionary it says that your responsibility is to teach clearly so that people can make the right choice.   

I also learned more how to trust in the spirit and to follow promptings with out delay. I am recognizing more the language of the spirit and how He speaks to me:) I always am making sure that I have a way to record prompting and when I end my prayers I wait and listen with a pen and paper in hand. Paying attention with extra effort and obeying all the commandments with more desire and striving has caused me to recognize that the spirit speaks to all of us so much more that we realize. When it says "constant companion" it doesn't mean sometimes. it means all the time and so long as we are keeping all the commandments we need not fear or worry that He is there. I found myself quite surprised at how talkative the Holy Ghost is, I testify He really does care about us and know all of our thoughts desires and weaknesses and is always sending messages to help us when we listen and allow him to be there by our righteousness:) I testify that as we obey with our all, continually repent and have faith in Christ, and it must be in Christ, we will have no worries and you will be able to be confident and be the person you want to be.You will have the Holy Ghost as your constant companion and you will wonder if life could ever be so amazing:)  With the spirit you need not wonder if your doing whats right or if your cool or if your in the right place or if your clean, with the spirit you know that you are and that this is whats right and that you are loved and, wow its just such an amazing gift, an unspeakable gift. If we always strive for this gift we will not go wrong because you can only have it if your doing whats right:) 

This week we found new less active members and many miracles and people bumping into us in the street and then giving us refferals. I know that is a natural result of praying and fasting and obeying to have miracles happen to us. 

I also drank milk!!!!!!!! Real milk!  They only have powdered milk here but there was a family that had real 2% milk and I almost cried,not really but seriously it was amazing.  The Lord gives tender mercies all the time:) 

It turns out I will have a scar on my eye but it does look really cool and I will be grateful for it and always remember my mission every time I see it.  

Love, Elder Blackham