April 6, 2014

What a wonderful week this last week. I saw many miracles and felt the Lord lift me when I literally felt that I could not stand. I felt his love and his strength and I know that we shared with people who are ready to know and live the gospel:) 

We went to Taresa, Quezon City 1, Baesa, and Bogong Bantay. Out in Taresa it is a province or small country town (that's what province means, it's out in the wilderness kind of). So it was pretty far and so beautiful and I had a blast with the Elders there.  I definitely am learning a lot from them. We had someone come up to us on a bike and we just started talking to him and next thing you know we were teaching his family like 20 minutes later. We had great lessons and we were able to truly invite others to come unto Christ and give that day our all. 

Then in Quezon City 1 we found some amazing new investigators and had a lot of fun. The elders are really improving as we are able to go on exchanges with all of them and checking up, it's so cool to see the growth and the change in the mission. 

Then I got so sick I thought I was going to die.  But, I prayed and begged to go out and work that day in Baesa. I drank tons of Buko juice (coconut water) and then when we started working.  I didn't feel it at all, and it was a miracle we got 12 new people/families to go back to with appointments, 5 lessons to new investigators and just had a miracle of a day. I learned a lot about meekness from the elder I went on exchanges with that day. Then as soon as we got home the sickness came back.  The next day we left for Bagong Bantay.  I was able to work but it was a struggle.  I am so glad I was able to head out. 

Then we went back to the office and now I am writing a book/packet about working with wards and getting referrals and helping to harness the powers of the members here. This is a  project that president has me doing and I feel a lot pressure because we will be using this book with all missionaries to build relationships with the wards and the stakes.  We are hoping it will help us get referrals and train leaders and it's just going to be great if it all works out. I want this book and information and everything to be perfect because we are hoping to make a huge change in the mission through this book/packet that I have been assigned to write. I am always on my knees asking for help as I am making this.

It's crazy to hear about i-pads and things in America and hastening the work. There is nothing like that in the Philippines yet.  The church is so new and it is very different than it is in America. The gospel is the same but the church isn't yet the same, but it's coming along.  So this could be a huge change and a strength to the work if it goes the way we envision it. So, yeah, I will be in the office this week working on that. 

My companion is going home, his name is Elder Balolong.  He is so cool, and such a genius!  We are great friends. He is more of a travel buddy, because we have just never worked together in an area. But we do teach work shops together, and training and stuff.  I am so grateful he is my companion. 

I get to see Eric tomorrow night at the temple; president gave me permission to go see him. I am excited for general conference, it hasn't come yet here because we are 15 hours ahead of you so we see it the next week or else everyone would have to stay up till midnight to watch it. 

I will also be going to the island of Mindoro for about 8 days to go on exchanges and do some training so next time I e-mail you I will be on an island. Well the Philippines is an island, so i guess I will just say I will be on a smaller island, haha. 

Anyways I have been studying about covenants a lot lately and they just amaze me with the strength and power we get from them. They have been a great strength to me:) The greatest strength I receive is when I stop and have my personal time with the savior and He helps me so much get a hold of everything and then keep going from there. I need Him literally every hour. 

Love, 

Elder BLackham

P.S.  All the missionaries are so nice to me. They even sleep on the floor so I can sleep on a mattress sometimes and cook and they are so very kind to me. (This is an answer to a question from Mom about what it is like to work with the other missionaries.)

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  

Pictures (cont.)

Here are some more pictures. I only know the story of one of the pictures and I'll post Elder Blackham's commentary on how he got the stitches.

This is from the March 11, 2013 letter if you want to go read the entire story. Elder Blackham was trying to show his Filipino companion how to do a cross over (a basketball maneuver) in their apartment, which is super small. They ended up bumping heads really hard. His companion got a knot on his head and Elder Blackham got stitches because of the spot that he got hit. 

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