How is everything going?? HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Me and Elder Canova are going to the Napoleone's house for Thanksgiving, Bro.Napoleone is the BEST. He's from Samoa. His family is big, they have like 7 kids and a ton of other people (cousins) living with them. All the youth in the ward really like hanging out over there cuz their house is so fun.. bro napoleone is such a happy nice person..
Anyways I'm really excited for this week. This last week has been SOO GOOD. We had a district meeting and we were learning how to teach better. During the lesson I was giving something just clicked. I had finally realized something about teaching and how I can teach better, it has alot to do with the way we ask questions, (it takes a while to figure out so i won't try to explain it) but it was really cool to see how i can better invite the spirit.. it's really interesting to see how people answer their own questions through the Spirit.
anyways so after this training i was like "SWEET I'M GONNA TRY THIS' we had a lesson later that day with a lady named Annie so i thought i would try my newly learned method.. it was kinda rocky.. haha but the spirit was there to make up for it. as the week went on i was able to ask better questions and really perfect asking better questions.
so we had contacted a guy named Elon later in the week, he told us to come back the next day, so we returned, when we started talking to him he stopped us mid-sentence and said "are you guys mormons?" and of course we said yes.. after that he said "I'll be right back" he kinda looked mad, and i was really scared but i knew i was there for one reason.. to testify of the gospel.. he came back and stepped out on the porch and closed the door and said "ok what were you saying?" he looked ready to counteract anything i was about to say but i just open my mouth and i started to testify of prophets.. the spirit was so strong, i was able to ask him questions that really got him thinking and we told him why we believe in Joseph Smith and why this was the restored gospel, my trainer was just standing there looking at me like "DAAANG" and after we left the doorstep i was like "DAAANG" haha.. i didn't really know what i said, but i knew i had prepared myself and the Lord had placed me there, i opened my mouth and I testified.
anyways it was really cool... my testimony is growing alot. my comp. is going home in three weeks.. :( we'll see what happens, i know i'm going to stay in hayward for another transfer AT LEAST.. i'll prob be here for 6 months tho.
I LOVE AND MISS EVERYONE A TON!! happy thanksgiving
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Teaching a Ton
HI MOM,
So the mission is going good.. we're still teaching alot, about 18 - 20 lessions a week, we have 4 progressing investigators, we were going to have some baptisms this week but we haven't been able to meet as frequently as we wanted to..
the first is Jai, she's a way cool black girl, like in her late 20's. she loves church, we've been able to hook her up with a couch and food from the church she had a baptismal date but we haven't been able to meet with her as much as we'd like but she comes to church most of the time so that's awesome
next is Taralyn and jasmine.. they are sisters 14 and 12 they've both been going to church for about 3 years. they want to be baptised but they need permission from their great grandmother.. so thats fun, they're fun to teach prob be baptised in about six months due to the mother being in rehab.. but they are really solid investigators
we have annie who we just started teaching this week, she's from samoa she had a really ruff upbringing, she was a felon a long time ago.. its crazy, she is really cool tho.
cali is great i love it out here, the weather is awesome its been like low 70's all week. its ok to be jealous.
anyways things are good.. its really hard tho, prob the hardest thing ive ever done in my life. everyday i come home im so tierd.. my trainer is cool.. i want to say only good things about him, LOL.. anyways idk this area is super good tho. the members are still great, i get to teach a huge multi-family home evening- im going to teach about the scriptures, then im going to have everyone look up the scripture from their birth date, example: mine would be 8 - 28 in any book, so like 1 nephi or alma or helaman, just find the best one then share it.
anywaysI know this gospel is true I know that through faith in our Savior, through the Atoning sacrifice he made, WE CAN BE FORGIVEN. I have felt the love of our Father in Heaven i know He lives. this gospel changes lives, we dont need to go searching for how to have happiness, or what to teach our families, we already know. and there are so many people in this world that dont have this blessing. i know this gospel is true, there is no way it couldnt be. . and dont forget to pray :)
Love,
Elder Blandon
So the mission is going good.. we're still teaching alot, about 18 - 20 lessions a week, we have 4 progressing investigators, we were going to have some baptisms this week but we haven't been able to meet as frequently as we wanted to..
the first is Jai, she's a way cool black girl, like in her late 20's. she loves church, we've been able to hook her up with a couch and food from the church she had a baptismal date but we haven't been able to meet with her as much as we'd like but she comes to church most of the time so that's awesome
next is Taralyn and jasmine.. they are sisters 14 and 12 they've both been going to church for about 3 years. they want to be baptised but they need permission from their great grandmother.. so thats fun, they're fun to teach prob be baptised in about six months due to the mother being in rehab.. but they are really solid investigators
we have annie who we just started teaching this week, she's from samoa she had a really ruff upbringing, she was a felon a long time ago.. its crazy, she is really cool tho.
cali is great i love it out here, the weather is awesome its been like low 70's all week. its ok to be jealous.
anyways things are good.. its really hard tho, prob the hardest thing ive ever done in my life. everyday i come home im so tierd.. my trainer is cool.. i want to say only good things about him, LOL.. anyways idk this area is super good tho. the members are still great, i get to teach a huge multi-family home evening- im going to teach about the scriptures, then im going to have everyone look up the scripture from their birth date, example: mine would be 8 - 28 in any book, so like 1 nephi or alma or helaman, just find the best one then share it.
anywaysI know this gospel is true I know that through faith in our Savior, through the Atoning sacrifice he made, WE CAN BE FORGIVEN. I have felt the love of our Father in Heaven i know He lives. this gospel changes lives, we dont need to go searching for how to have happiness, or what to teach our families, we already know. and there are so many people in this world that dont have this blessing. i know this gospel is true, there is no way it couldnt be. . and dont forget to pray :)
Love,
Elder Blandon
Monday, November 1, 2010
the water stopped leaking
Well the first transfer is over! it looks like I'm staying in hayward, this last week has been crazy, it went by really fast, we added a few new investigators so that's good. i had new missionary training it was really good! i got to see all my district from the MT! so that was nice.. i took some cool pic.s at the temple.
On Friday we had a 'trunk or treat' at the chapel there are a lot of non-members that attend so we knew it would be good to hit it up.. we dressed up as missionary's ;) it was crazy tho! this ward really knows how to party!! they had all kinds of stuff going on.. some one just gave me a huge bowl of candy and said 'give this out!' so it was a pretty good missionary tool :) i just handed little kids candy and was like 'I don't think I've met you before?' we were able to set like three appointments with non-members that night!! the youth of the ward learned the thriller dance and did for everybody, it was really funny!! elder Canova and i got to help with the doughnut eating game it was weird tho cause it was like a party an stuff.. and missionaries don't party.. we had fun.
anyways so we've been teaching a girl named Vanessa! she's 19 and she is a golden investigator, she's been going to church for a while now, and i guess no one has ever asked her to be baptized! her boyfriend is a member(he just left on a mission) and didn't want to pressure her into getting baptized but we just were teaching her one day and just asked her.. so she's been doing so well, she reads and prays more than a lot of people i know.. anyways her baptism was on HALLOWEEN!!! (yesterday) it was a really good day.. it started out a little rough but it was really good.. on the way to church i realized i had forgot my tag (I've never done that) and we had to turn around, we don't live far from the church tho.. so we were late, church was good it was a fair-well, sis. Becky Rohner, the Rohner family is AWESOME they just are so happy and funny and laugh all the time and their mom is crazy! she's in the relief society stake pres. anyways her talk was really good, we teach two investigators at the Rohner house so right after church we headed over.
our lessons went well we were able to get another potential investigator who happened to be cutting hair while we were there, we just walk in the kitchen and were like 'hey you should take lessons and come to church' so we got her info and bounced. we went looking for some referrals and we actually found one! we were at his house looking for him and he just pulled up. his name is Matthew he was bump'n hard rap when he pulled up but we started talking to him about work and all that. it was crazy tho i really gained a strong testimony about the gift of discernment, I shook his hand and looked him right in the eyes, i could see right into life, it was a really powerful experience. after that it was off to Vanessa's baptism!!
so we showed up to the church to set up, everything seemed to be going well, we started the font and set up the room elder canova said to me 'do you think 50 chairs will be enough?' i said 'probably not, we should get more just in case' but I'm the Jr.companion so what i say doesn't really matter ;) i was really nervous for some reason, our mission president has us teach the Restoration while the people being baptized are changing, so i started studying up to teach. after a little while people started showing up. it turned out that about 70+ people were attending!!! i guess a few extra chairs wouldn't have made a difference we had people standing in the halls..anyways the we shut off the water so we could get started.. but we could hear it leaking... so we got a big stick and tried to get it stop but we couldn't get it to stop draining it was going pretty fast and by the time the baptism happened we wanted enough water to be there.. we couldn't do anything but pray. the program started there was a song and a really nice talk given about half way through the talk i was listening to the water draining and it just stopped! just strait up stopped.. it was really a miracle.. so then it was time for the baptismal ordinance, it was really nice Vanessa was crying before she even got in the water, it was short and sweet.. then it was my turn! the restoration in front of 70 people i was really nervous but i was praying a lot i don't even know what i really said but i remember i felt like i was gonna cry the entire time.. i think it went well anyways.. well i love this gospel SOOO much i love this area, love missionary work. i love all of you and i miss everyone have a good week and keep up your scripture study!!
Love elder Blandon
On Friday we had a 'trunk or treat' at the chapel there are a lot of non-members that attend so we knew it would be good to hit it up.. we dressed up as missionary's ;) it was crazy tho! this ward really knows how to party!! they had all kinds of stuff going on.. some one just gave me a huge bowl of candy and said 'give this out!' so it was a pretty good missionary tool :) i just handed little kids candy and was like 'I don't think I've met you before?' we were able to set like three appointments with non-members that night!! the youth of the ward learned the thriller dance and did for everybody, it was really funny!! elder Canova and i got to help with the doughnut eating game it was weird tho cause it was like a party an stuff.. and missionaries don't party.. we had fun.
anyways so we've been teaching a girl named Vanessa! she's 19 and she is a golden investigator, she's been going to church for a while now, and i guess no one has ever asked her to be baptized! her boyfriend is a member(he just left on a mission) and didn't want to pressure her into getting baptized but we just were teaching her one day and just asked her.. so she's been doing so well, she reads and prays more than a lot of people i know.. anyways her baptism was on HALLOWEEN!!! (yesterday) it was a really good day.. it started out a little rough but it was really good.. on the way to church i realized i had forgot my tag (I've never done that) and we had to turn around, we don't live far from the church tho.. so we were late, church was good it was a fair-well, sis. Becky Rohner, the Rohner family is AWESOME they just are so happy and funny and laugh all the time and their mom is crazy! she's in the relief society stake pres. anyways her talk was really good, we teach two investigators at the Rohner house so right after church we headed over.
our lessons went well we were able to get another potential investigator who happened to be cutting hair while we were there, we just walk in the kitchen and were like 'hey you should take lessons and come to church' so we got her info and bounced. we went looking for some referrals and we actually found one! we were at his house looking for him and he just pulled up. his name is Matthew he was bump'n hard rap when he pulled up but we started talking to him about work and all that. it was crazy tho i really gained a strong testimony about the gift of discernment, I shook his hand and looked him right in the eyes, i could see right into life, it was a really powerful experience. after that it was off to Vanessa's baptism!!
so we showed up to the church to set up, everything seemed to be going well, we started the font and set up the room elder canova said to me 'do you think 50 chairs will be enough?' i said 'probably not, we should get more just in case' but I'm the Jr.companion so what i say doesn't really matter ;) i was really nervous for some reason, our mission president has us teach the Restoration while the people being baptized are changing, so i started studying up to teach. after a little while people started showing up. it turned out that about 70+ people were attending!!! i guess a few extra chairs wouldn't have made a difference we had people standing in the halls..anyways the we shut off the water so we could get started.. but we could hear it leaking... so we got a big stick and tried to get it stop but we couldn't get it to stop draining it was going pretty fast and by the time the baptism happened we wanted enough water to be there.. we couldn't do anything but pray. the program started there was a song and a really nice talk given about half way through the talk i was listening to the water draining and it just stopped! just strait up stopped.. it was really a miracle.. so then it was time for the baptismal ordinance, it was really nice Vanessa was crying before she even got in the water, it was short and sweet.. then it was my turn! the restoration in front of 70 people i was really nervous but i was praying a lot i don't even know what i really said but i remember i felt like i was gonna cry the entire time.. i think it went well anyways.. well i love this gospel SOOO much i love this area, love missionary work. i love all of you and i miss everyone have a good week and keep up your scripture study!!
Love elder Blandon
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