March 31, 2014

Things are going really well. The Lord is teaching me a lot of things and I am so happy that even though I mess up and struggle; He is so patient with me in my imperfections and hears all of our prayers so personally and individually:) 

This week I was in Sumulong, and Tudang Sora, and Tayuman and it was amazing and I learned a lot and I just wanted to have really bad grammar randomly and so I wanted to make a huge run on sentence. and so haha I bet I don't even need to try hard to get my grammar to be really bad haha. 

Well this week was good, just discovered more weaknesses and things that I need to work on but that comes naturally when you are losing yourself in something.; you seem to see yourself more from a different perspective. So I am excited to work on that because God really does help us. It's another chance to get closer to God. It is so great that the gospel makes up for all of our losses and pains and is what makes everything fair. 

There are people I met on exchanges, members that are very happy and behind their smiling faces you learn that their world and family is falling apart and they are going through trials. I feel it is so important we try to understand others. It has been one of the greatest blessings ever to learn about people and to be interested in them when you talk to them.  As a representative of Jesus Christ, you are blessed with compassion for others and their situations and when that feeling enters nothing can stop you from sharing the gospel with them and the spirit guides you to know exactly what to say, and it all starts with just wanting to know about someone you talk to. That is probably what gives the greatest success on the mission, is that love. There is no greater feeling than ending your day and being so exhausted, and looking back at your day and it was filled with serving others. There is no greater feeling, its like an addicting high, that can't be described, that catches fire in your heart and makes you want to do it 100,000 times over no matter how tired you were at the end of the day, no matter who rejected you or how it went, because you know you spent all the time you had in that entire day to serve others, that is true happiness. I just love that feeling.

My life would be very meaningless if it is not shared with others. I think what am I going to do tomorrow and I then think, I am going to serve the Lord and meet lots of new people and try to make them truly happy, I am going to keep His commandments and then I just get so excited for the next day:) This is so fun:) I know I didn't share any stories but I felt I should just share how I feel:)

Love, 

Elder Blackham

March 24, 2014

My week was another great one!   I went from mountain to city to farms and huts haha. It was sweet. I was in Cogeo, Pasig, Malaya, and Tanay this week, All of it was awesome and I wish I could share everything. One thing that happened in Cogeo, someone wanted to debate with us and test out knowledge and bible bash.  These are some of my favorite because I never lose, ha ha ha. I do not debate with them I just simply testify of Christ and that we are true followers of Him. I told them that Christ doesn't like to debate because it is contentious. I testified that all we simply do is what Christ did and that is also what we teach, and that if we don't do what He did,  we can't expect to get back to heaven like He did. It's always so amazing to me that whenever you bring things back to Jesus Christ, they always get so quiet and there becomes no more debate. Then after that they accepted to be taught. That is what I mean by I always win, because I don't really do anything, I just talk about Christ and let the Spirit do the rest:) 

The spirit really does it all to be honest, the best teacher is the one who figures out the language of the spirit. What principles and what things consistently bring that feeling and to listen with your ears and heart and see with your ears and your heart so that you will know what to say. If your only desire is to truly help those you are teaching and love them then you will always know what to say:) I love the gospel so much and I know it's true. I know everyone wants to know it's true. 

I had an experience this week and I actually have this experience a lot when we share with someone who looks like he/she doesn't want to know anything about the gospel at all.  That is when I hand them that list of questions I carry around and then they ask how they can get rid of sin, or what happens after they die and want us to come back and answer it. It happens all the time, I have never had anyone read that list and not pick a question they wanted to know. So it's like proven, everyone wants to know:) 

Love,

Elder Blackham

March 17, 2014

Sorry I wasn't wearing green today. They don't celebrate St. Patricks day here. But after you said that I put some green on and started pinching everyone in the office, haha.

This week was transfer week so it was really busy and we were only able to go on exchanges with one set of Elders and that was in Antipolo 2nd ward. It was way cool as always going out and preaching the truth and repentance amongst God's children:)

This time we found this grandma and grandson that was in his twenties and they allowed us to share with them. We found out that His Father has recently died and the grandma was afraid to die, so it was the perfect set up to teach the Plan of Salvation to them. I love doing that so much, giving peace and hope for those who really desire something to hope in:) It's the greatest feeling, and they both accepted it happily and wanted us to come back as soon as we could so that was sweet.

Then we had stake conference which was really cool too. My mission president is so awesome and is trying to speak in all the stake conferences and getting all the members fired up to do missionary work. Then we went out and worked again and the appointment fell through so we went finding again and we found one family who yelled out to us and so happened to be that the Father was a member but not the others so we were able to teach them and its so cool how the Lord just provides so many people to teach. The field really is white already to harvest and this really is the time that the Lord is hastening His work in preparation for His coming. 

Then after that it was late and we should be heading home, but then I felt a prompting that someone up the street wanted to know the gospel. After searching around and paying attention to my feelings, we found a nice house with the door open and I felt that that was the one. So we called to the person inside(in the Phillipines they don't knock or use doorbells, visitors just yell in to the house they are at to let the family know someone is at the door) to come out and talk. The man yelled back that he was busy. I pretended I didn't here his answer, ha ha ha,  and asked his name and introduced ourselves. He said he is not interested and then I bore my testimony and taught a little bit about what we teach and asked him if he ever wondered why we are here and what our purpose is. After I bore my testimony he said he really wanted to know about that and then said  he really was busy at that moment and made an appointment for us to come back on Tuesday at 7 pm. He said thank you and gladly took the plan of salvation pamphlet and said he would read it. Woot woot:) Miracles:) .

Persistence is so important because it shows the importance of whatever it is you are trying to help them understand. Whenever anyone says they are busy I always bear testimony that this is worth their time and that this is the most important thing they can be doing right now. It shows also that we had faith that that was the person that wanted to hear the gospel. I truly believe and know with all my heart that there is not a single person who doesn't want to know this gospel. Because they already accepted the Plan in the pre-mortal life. They already accepted it and I am sure they were planning on getting it again before they came to earth. I know that they want it even when they don't know that they want it. In being persistent you can almost always be able to reveal or find the hidden desire within their souls through testimony and questions and promised blessings. I would have  to say 80 or 90 percent of people say they are busy and reject at first but after bearing testimony and asking follow up questions; over 50 percent of that 90 percent that reject it seems to open up and let us in or else they set appointments and eventually share. Its so cool:) Because you get to show how much you love the gospel and know it will help them when doing so. I had a blast over there in Antipolo 2nd.  

In my studies I was reading Jacob 5 and it hit me so hard that this is that time in verses 70-72 that now is that time and we are laboring with our might in the vineyard and this just really really is the time when the Lord is hastening his work and we really need to give our all to get the blessings in verse75:) I know this is true and I love this work;) 

Love, Elder Blackham  

March 10, 2014

Ang aking Minamahal na Ina,

Things here are going spectacular. I am so grateful for being here really its like indescribably amazing:) Worked in Marikina 2,3,4,5 and Quezon City 5, and Binangonan (these are all wards and areas with missionaries). It was so much fun!!

Miracles always happen whenever you are on exchanges like, always. One experience was we were teaching someone and then someone walks up to the house and says, "I have so many problems" then I said, "That's great, would you like to join us and find out how to overcome those problem and be happy?" Then they joined and she asked if Christ understood her and we shared Alma 7:11-12 and said that He understands her perfectly and it was amazing:) 

Then we were going to go teach a recent convert when we saw a group of teenagers and told them to join the lesson and promised them it would be amazing and they would love it; and they joined us!  It was so so  cool. I have never seen a group of teenagers so attentive and sincerely asking questions like that before. There was about 10 of them and they all looked like wayward souls, if you know what I mean, and it was so great to promise them and teach them about how they are loved so much and that God provides a way to be happy in life and the real kind of happiness that comes from nothing else than doing His will. We taught that disobedience to God brings us away from Him, and they really wanted to know their purpose in life and it was just really strong spirit. I felt this great love for them so much and it was such a cool personal experience for me, I so badly wanted all of them to discover this. 

We also ran into a family that I used to teach in Angono and they moved but they still want to be taught and it wasn't coincidence we passed by them and they recognized me. So cool!

In Quezon City 5 we taught a sister who just lost her baby and wanted to know about the Plan of Salvation, and I just want to testify to everyone that this is true and that miracles do happen, and that these things are not accident or coincidence!  I have seen it and felt it and I still can't and won't ever be able to describe the simplicity and the beauty of this the restored church of Jesus Christ in these Latter days. Its so simple. Christ came to earth and taught us that we must have faith in him, and that we must repent of our sins. Then He himself was baptized by immersion by someone holding authority; then He received the Holy Ghost and then He endured to the end. Then after everything He returned to our Father in Heaven. SO if we do what He did then simply by default we will make it back too. Because it's already been done and He already made it, the path is surely proven to work haha. But we can't expect to go to heaven by doing things other  than what He did or taught or by any other way. Because Christ showed us the way and it is simple and is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Any ways this is amazing:) 

Love Elder Blackham

March 3, 2014

I am glad you enjoy the mission pictures that I sent. I am sure you are thinking, like finally!! But yes you did finally get them and I'm taking more that are so awesome:) 

As far as dinners, usually my companion and I buy packaged food or food on the go. Or eat at calendarias, (those are like little homemade fast food restaurants where you just pick an ulam and they give it to you on the spot) Ulam- anything that you put on rice, usually like  bicole express or chicken adobo, I like gulay too to stay healthy. So you can look those up on google to find out what we eat here:) 

I am so grateful for being a servant of the Lord. Oh how grateful I am for being here in the Philippines Quezon City Mission serving the Lord. There just really is nothing better than this. This week we went Quezon City4, Sampaloc, Tanay, and Bagong Batay.  Sampaloc and Tanay are so far away haha. It's like going from our house in Surprise all the way in Flagstaff, but oh it is so beautiful out there. They are the raw country or province of the Philippines. I took some .cool pictures. 

But that's not the important part. the important part is that we really found some amazing people to teach out there. We were talking to everyone. It's so so so so important to understand your investigator, that should be your first goal as you begin teaching. We had to teach that  a lot this last week. We taught lessons to less actives and I have found the best success with less actives is simply loving them, like the prodigal son and His Father. Just put aside the fact that they are less active, I tell them "I don't care how long it has been since you have been to church. Sure maybe you should have been coming to church, but that's in the past, you can always start being active right now, and the Lord would love you just as much for it and you will be blessed more than you can imagine, I love you and the Lord loves you and you can do it, I promise:)." I talk about concerns and help them resolve it . You just got to be willing to do whatever it takes to help them know they are important and you are willing to work with them and that they are worth working with, and with their weaknesses and help them overcome them instead of just teaching why we need to go to church.  I find that the same works with correcting missionaries. Instead of treating them like they are broken or disobedient, I just say very similar, "I don't care what you have done in the past, you can obey today and I promise you will feel the difference in your life. It's as simple as that but, with the spirit, whatever you say will be effective. Sometimes we need to do this to ourselves when we are discouraged or whatever, to say, oh well it doesn't matter what went wrong yesterday or however far back and choose to be good this day. And day by day you will be better:) There are just so many good experiences and learning that happened this week and I wish I had time to share them all with you. 

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 

March 18, 2013

Dear Mom,

Just reading the letter was a roller coaster in and of itself. That's pretty crazy that all that happened just last week but if that's the will of God then so be it, come what may and love it:) IT is just so much better to love God;s will. 

Any ways this week was pretty awesome and fun:)!! Life is pretty much the greatest as usual. Lately I have been learning more about trials and about the Lords absolute love for all of us. Also about how the gospel is true:)!!! We talked to a Muslim this week and he totally explained a lot about their religion and it was super cool that it made my testimony of the gospel grow. The reason why it was so cool is that it was so unexpected that my faith would grow in the gospel as a result of hearing someone else share their beliefs. I learned truths about the gospel when hearing this man speak about it. Really everything testifies that this is the true gospel, even other religions as we are open and listen to them.  

I also learned about how important questions are that we ask to ourselves. Like, what can I do more? or What can I do to feel the spirit more fully in my life? What are some things I can do right now to serve the Lord? It helps us open our mind and the spirit touch our hearts and impress us on things that we can do better in our lives. How can we come closer to the savior today? It helps big questions like how can I become more like the savior, that requires life long goals be broken down into little daily questions that will help us achieve our big goals in life:) I know that as we ask little questions like this every day we will be impressed every day about little ways we can do better and grow:) The gospel is not complicated, there is not a billion things all the time its simple doctrine acted upon and then witnesses given to us by the spirit that cause us to learn, to grow and to become. It all starts with 1. learning doctrine by the Holy Ghost. 2. Acting on those principles 3. Then the spirit testifies its true and our understanding and testimony deepens and expands into conversion:) 

By the way I don;t even have a scar from the stitches on my brow.  I actually kinda wanted a little one, for the memory and it looked kinda cool. But I am still happy haha. Its kinda of incredible because my eye was swollen shut the first 2 days and stitches and now nothing. The injury was a an inch long which doesn't sound big; but to be above your eye it looks big haha. 

What's cool too is I learned one of my favorite ways to OYM (Open Your Mouth)  to people is by walking next to them at the same pace until it's so awkward someone has to break the ice. It sounds weird but it works really well, just walking with people, then they say hi or ask a question and then we start talking, next thing leads to another and we have an appointment to teach. It's pretty cool. Or sitting next to someone. All that good stuff:)

So nothing super new this week.  We just had lunch with two of the area presidency because they live in my area so might as well utilize their skills. Its just super fun trying all these ideas for finding because I have a peculiar area. I am kinda a guinea pig for the mission as far as trying all the finding ideas I can come up with, and ideas are a fun thing. This way I can say I tried absolutely my all in this area including all my ideas haha. I am learning more how to serve with my mind and not just my strength and might:) 

Love, Elder Blackham

March 11, 2013

(Note from Elder Blackham's Mom:I have decided that "ha ha"  actually means...."Don't freak out mom because I know you will!" )

Dear Family,

I got stitches this week,ha ha! 7 of them on the upper left corner of my left eye, haha.  Now that's a funny story, I didn't get home from the hospital till like 2 in the morning, haha.  But don't worry, it actually looks cool and nothing is seriously wrong.  I have no problems opening my eye all the way and it's totally fine :)  What happened was that I was trying to show my Filipino roommate how to do a cross over in our apartment.  Our apartment is a little longer than arms length wide.  Haha and it turns out my comp was doing the same thing the other direction and we bumped heads really hard. He got a huge knot on his head and I got stitches cause I am taller and was hit right on that soft area right under your eyebrow. After letting my roommates try to rap it several times with zero success, which was also quite funny, I said lets just go to the hospital. It actually looked pretty cool. 

This week was just quite an adventure looking in sky scraper offices and trying to meet with councils and heads to present the message to people. We didn't really have any luck but we found out a ton of information:) So I am excited to tackle this week with all I got and just teach like a ton of people the gospel of repentance and salvation:) This is so much fun. We have to be super creative to find those leaders and such. We can't just randomly talk to them it has to be with a reason. like playing basketball, or sitting next to them at a table or asking them for directions. :) Its really fun!!:) I am really just learning to love people! It's just so much better to ask about people's life and their family and spend time with everyone than anything else I could be doing.  Every single time you talk to them the gospel naturally comes out when you ask about their family or ambition or anything:) It is so totally a way of life:)

 

Anyways my stomach is miraculously better:) and its awesome:) Its funny because I accidentally ate plastic this week too, haha. It has been an accident prone week, but don't worry I am very protected. by the Lord. 

Mostly this week I have been learning about the beautiful Plan of Salvation and about how real our potential is to become like Heavenly Father, through the Holy Ghost testifying of it to me. Also I am learning in more depths about the family unit in the eternities. That the family is the social unit of all eternities, that Heavenly Father is a Father and we are his children and we are just following that pattern. Then it continues to eternities and eternities bringing immortality and eternal life to all. OH what a beautiful plan. All this I learned by the spirit:)

 

Love, Elder Blackham

March 4, 2013

Dear Mom,

This week was pretty crazy, we found a lot of sub-division in my area with tons and tons of gigantic houses. We found some members in there that go to the foreigner ward. They gave us Mexican food which your body craves like none other here in the Philippines because everything here is so sweet and sugary. Yea we get food!!! Normally I eat canned food and rice haha so that will be a step up!! So anyway it turns out my area is a very special area because of all the subdivisions with gates and such. We will have to work off referalls and meet with subdivision councils and leaders high up in the Philippines and present presentations to them to allow us to find in these gated communities and do as much as we can. Because of the Area focus we will spend most of our time doing this. It is so exciting and fun, I feel like Ammon having the opportunity to teach king lamoni and his preists. 

So I have a new companion and his name is Elder Esteves he is a Philippino but he is from San Francisco, California. Haha He is so great! He is in his third to last transfer but its so awesome, we are best buds and yet again another comp that is an answer to my prayers, I am sure all of my comps will be that way, because the Lord will always put us in the place we can learn and grow the most:) 

This week I have been learning a lot more about the link between confidence and humility:) That sounds weird maybe to some people but humility is a deep more pure confidence that comes straight from the Lord and your testimony of Him, while other confidence could come from yourself. That is the not so great confidence because it thwarts the spirits ability to teach us and help us grow and be instruments in the hand of the Lord. I also have been learning to pay attention to the Spirit more and have had very personal witnesses of the spirit and have written down the ways I can recognize them and how it has felt so that I could recognize the spirit again and again. There has been so much revelation about the area this week and I think its mostly because I have been realizing more and more deeply my dependence on the Lord. A scripture that explains this very well is Moroni 8:26 "...and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost..." :) 

The Holy Ghost has become a closer friend because I have gotten to know him more and learned more what I needed to change to hear him and recognize Him more in my life:) There truly is no greater feeling and witness.  Its as if the arms of God have come down and held me and led me and guided me and strengthened me. I feel true joy is a gift from God that is given through the Holy Ghost as we exercise our agency in righteous ways that are in line with His will. Then as we become more like Him the spirit can be with us more thus we can be more happy all the time and until we are like Him and there is never a moment that the spirit leaves us:) Which is our purpose here in this life, to progress and grow and become like Him so that we can live in His presence again for eternity:) How simple and how beautiful!!:)

LOve YOus All So much!! and I appreciate the prayers of everyone:) 

Love,

 ELder BLackham:)