Busy!

Anyways, this week has been great. Super busy. Coming up we have Zone Conference and Stake Correlation meeting, both of which are pretty intense. Things are really going well, though I have been enduring well and my love for missionary work grows deeper each day. I have really been able to feel the love of God more and more each day. It has been a really awesome experience to really see and know how the Gospel works and how I can apply it in my life.

Anyways I miss you and love you all! have a wonderful week.

Love

Elder Blandon

I Am a Child of God

Hey Mom, and Family!

Thank you so much for the package!! It made my day. I really felt the love from the letters and gifts. This week was great and I got the package at the end of the day on Sunday so it was a really nice finish to the week. Well, my companion and I are really being blessed in the area. We are finding lots of people to teach! Last transfer it seemed like we would never find people, but we just kept working faithfully and the Lord has been blessing us.

This week I had a really awesome miracle! I think I told you about the Reynolds family - well this last week we set an appointment to go and teach their family, it was Saturday in the morning. We had set up so that another family from the ward would come to the lesson with us. This same family was also going to give the Reynolds a ride to church. It was all set up. The arrangements were all made. We were going to visit someone just before our lesson with the Reynolds when the phone rings. I take the phone out of my pocket... it's sister Reynolds! My heart sank.. the only thing that kept going through my mind was "please don't cancel, Please don't cancel.." I picked up the phone and she was just informing me about something to do with church. Then I asked her if we are still good for her appointment in 15min. She said " oh yeah you can come over" A HUGE SIGH of relief.. anyways it was about time to head to their house. We get there and my companion and I anxiously waited for the member to pull up.. anytime now.. anytime.. Ok well the member is about 10min late so we give them a call.. no answer. Then we get a text message saying that Sister Gulbraith (member) went to the emergency room for apendicitis!!! WHAT!!?? awww maaan. So we knocked on the door and told Sister Reynolds we would be back in half hour and she said ok. So we are now frantically looking for a member that can come to our lesson (we couldn't go inside without a 3rd male because Sister Reynolds is a single mother) SOO we found someone to come out with us.Wwe picked him up and headed over.She invited us in and the kids all gathered for the lesson. We started by singing "I am a child of God' and started the lesson. We were teaching the Plan of Salvation! it was a great lesson. but the best part was at the end when we got to pray. We got to kneel up with all 6 kids (the cutest little African American kids you ever saw!!) and I had the opportunity to teach them how to PRAY!! It was awesome! I reallyLove this Gospel so much. there is nothing like seeing a family come together and pray with one another. It was awesome..

I love you all. HappyValentines Day.Happy Birthday Wendee!! Have a wonderful week

Love

Elder Blandon

Choose Eternal Life

Things are going well on the mission. I am really learning to love the area that I'm serving in. The members are wonderful and I am really getting to know the members well. We have only been in the Marsh Creek ward for a few weeks now but the ward has really given us a warm welcome. These last few weeks have been pretty difficult as to find new people to teach but we were really blessed yesterday and we found a new person to teach. His name is Abraham. He is planning on attending FHE with the singles ward tonight. Serving in the singles ward is a unique assignment because we find people to teach mostly through members. In my last area we had a few college campuses that we could contact but here in this area there isn't really anything like that. BUT things are going really well.

The missionaries in the Zone have been working really hard! as a Zone we have been able to really achieve some great goals!

My reading of the Book of Mormon has been getting better and better each day. I am doing a really awesome challenge and as I have really been diving into my reading, my testimony of the Book of Mormon has strengthened so much!! It makes such a big difference as I really study the things that the book is teaching us! It has been really awesome.. I was reading in a talk the other day and I found a really awesome quote..

"Am I seeking divine direction through daily scripture study, pondering, and prayer, or have I chosen to be so busy or apathetic that I don’t take time to study the words of Christ, ponder them, and converse with my Heavenly Father?

-Am I choosing to follow the counsel of living prophets of God, or am I following the worldly ways and the opposing opinions of others?

-Am I seeking the guidance of the Holy Ghost daily in what I choose to think about, feel, and do?

-Am I consistently reaching out to assist, serve, or help rescue others?

Your eternal destiny will not be the result of chance but of choice. It is never too late to begin to choose eternal life!

anyways I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Love

Hiking and Whatnot

Things have been going really well. Today we had a Zone activity - we went hiking near some old mine shafts.. it was really fun. This last week we have been focusing alot on finding new people to teach. We have been doing alot of tracting and its been really great. We are teaching some recent converts in the area that are really awesome, so that has been fun.

I started over reading the Book of Mormon at the beginning of the month and it has been really wonderful to see my testimony grow of the power of the Book of Mormon! Each day I have been keeping a journal of the things that I have been reading and the scriptures have really come alive for me. Its funny, ever since I have been a young child I have attempted to read the Book of Mormon, I must have read 1 Nephi chapters 1-10 a thousand times! But this last time I started the Book of Mormon it was different. The familiar words of those first few chapters have brought so much more meaning to my life as I have pondered and tried to understand the messages they contain. I really Love the Book of Mormon so much.

I have a new companion.. ( I have had a new companion almost every transfer! ) His name is Elder Killpack. He is pretty great.

Anyways this week was really great for our Zone. We had a goal of finding new investigators this last week and the missionaries did a great job of focusing on our goals and we were able to achieve and surpass our goals!!

Anyways, I'm really grateful for all the Love and support from home!! I really love this Gospel alot. I know that this is Gods kingdom established on the earth today. I am grateful to be a servant of the Lord. it is not always easy but it is worth it.

Love,

Elder Blandon

Happy New Year

Dearest mother and family and friends
so this week was really good.. well interesting.. so my companion and I are both new to the area so they call that a "white washing" or "shot gunning" the area.. its been really cool because its a fresh start on the work. we get to visit all the members and get to know everybody and its all new faces. so that is what we have been doing in the area (marsh creek ward) this last week.

The other night one of the companionships got in a small car crash and they called us to come help - we got the call at about 9:30pm and headed over to the area. both the missionaries are Asian and don't speak great english especially when a police officer is asking them questions, so when we arrived it was a pretty big relief since I know all about talking with police :)..haha jk.. anyways I have really felt the responsibility of helping the missionaries of this zone, I am really learning the importance of loving and uplifting those around me. I have set some really great goals for this year of what attributes I would like to develop. I am grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the ability and opportunity it gives me to over come my weaknesses.

For new years we had a zone activity!!! we had a wonderful member (bro.mason) who offered his home to 30 missionaries! and let us come and watch movies at his house. our mission Pres. approved afew movies that we could watch for our activity. we got to watch Cars 2 and Kung fu Panda 2. it was alot of fun! since I did most of the planning and organized the activity it was hard for me to relax and enjoy my self.. but the missionaries had a great time and we all got home safe.

last week I FINISHED THE BOOK OF MORMON!! ...AGAIN!! haha it was awesome.. so now I am starting over.. for those of you who would like to join me in reading the Book of Mormon I will be reading two chapters a day. I really love the Book of Mormon. my testimony really has strengthened so much of the truthfulness of the principles that are taught in the Book of Mormon and I have really been able to better understand how to apply the teachings into my life. My love for the Savior and my love fot those around me grows so much as I read and pray.

Anyways life is great. I really love this work. I cant imagine being anywhere else but here doing what Im doing now.

Have a wonderful week!!

Love, Elder Blandon

ZL Responsibilities

So I've gotten to the point on my mission that I'm not sure what to write any more.. things are going really well tho.My companion is super cool. He is so good at singing!! He knows theory super dooper well, the names of scales and chords and all kinds of crazy stuff.. We were learning how to do 'barber shop singing' today. He was teaching us about something called 'overtones' and we were trying to make them while we were driving around today. It was super fun.

My new area is good.. but I really miss San Francisco, I really did love it there.. but I'm really happy to be in this area - I'm working hard to make a difference in the zone and do all i can to help the missionaries progress and improve.

What does it mean to be a zone leader??

Basically, as a zone leader we are pretty much like any other companionship. Our main purpose as zone leaders is training. We are called to train the missionaries through 24 hour exchanges. As part of our responsibilities, we model our area for the other missionaries to learn. So that means exact obedience, applying Preach My Gospel skills in all areas of missionary work and correcting missionaries if needed. Our main training happens in 24hour exchanges. It is really important to keep up to date on all the investigators with Baptismal dates in the zone. We also keep track of all the 'Progressing investigators' in the zone. We are very aware of each missionary and especially the new missionaries and their progression (teaching skills, obedience, etc..) During the week we account for each district. Example: Tues. Marsh Creek district - Wed. Antioch 1 district - Thurs. Pittsburg 2 district etc.. We call the district leaders and counsel with them and they give us a better idea of what is happening in the area and ways they can improve. We also analyze the 'key indicators' from the current week and weeks previous and with these tools we are really given a good idea of what is going on and how effective the companionships are working. Then at the end of the week we account and report to the Assistants to the President and give them a report of the entire zone.Throughout this entire process we have a whole ton of paper work.. So that's basically it.. I think the thing I like best about being a zone leader is being able to recieve revelation for the zone and getting to know and work with so many awesome missionaries

I know this work is the work of the Lord. I am really grateful for the oppertunities I am given to learn and grow.

I LOVE YOU!!

Love

Elder Blandon

Yay for Babies!

It's so great to hear that Christina had her baby!! I am so excited to have new cute little nieces when I get home!

So things are going well here. My new area is way out in the sticks - very American working man family kind of community. The work is a bit slower than in San Francisco but it's still the Lord's work. We are being very diligent in doing all we can to find more people to teach. My area is two small towns about the size of Payson and Salem. Maybe a little smaller.

I live in an apartment with roomates so that has been nice - I haven't had roomies in a while so it has been really nice to get to know some of the other missionaries well. We cleaned the house and found some Christmas stuff in an old box so our appartment is all christmas decorated.

If the family wants to get me a christmas present - my camera got stolen in San Francisco. if you sent me nothing else but a cheap camera I would be super happy with that. Just something to take pictures with. Anyways I love you all

I am grateful for the blessings of the gospel. God knows all of us and He cares. It's been so wonderful to see His hand in this work. The other day we were talking with some ward members to see if they knew anyone that we could teach. The member told us no. We asked again just using different words and the Spirit prompted the member to tell us about a sister that lived down the street. We went and visited her and she invited us back! We were able to have a wonderful lesson and she was really prepared to hear the gospel.

Anyways things are good. Just working hard. I know I am on the Lord's errand.

Love Elder BLandon