Week 52 (Riberas, Mexico)

It is transfer week, but I didn’t have changes, neither did my companion. Two elders in the district have changes, one finished his mission and the other went to a different area. I won’t find out until later who the new people are. 

The week has been slow. Not a lot of people home or any new experiences. Lots of walking and lots of heat. My companion still is a bit down he has been really quiet lately. I know a lot of his feelings have to do with the work and the fact that we haven’t had a lot of it. We spend a lot of time walking around looking and knocking for people. I guess we will see if we can get some more success going in that aspect. 

Caren actually got baptized this last week. I went on Friday and I interviewed her for the baptism and she was one of the most prepared people. Usually during the interview I have to explain a lot like detailed definitions. But she knew all of the answers perfect and was able to answer all of the questions in depth. It is cool to see that the lord is preparing people and has prepared them and they are all out there just waiting to be found.

Thanks for the advice with my companion. The hard work is what we have been lacking. Lots of walking and sun. So he has lots of time to think and get distracted by home. I hope this week we can kick it up a few notches and help him get his mind of home. 

This week we had a capacitation from President Chaves he talked about the importance of work in the building of the kingdom of god. He talked about all of the work and preparation that the Lord has done so far. He has been preparing people by moving them around and moving neighbors around so people get those seeds planted, he has been preparing the members since the time of the organization of the church for now when the prophet has announced that this is the time for members and missionaries to work together.

The lord has prepared President Chavez with the scriptures all of his life to help us become better missionaries to help the work of the lord. The Book of Mormon was worked on and prepared ever since 600 years before Christ came. The missionaries are being called at a younger age and more is being required of them because we have been prepared more. We have been preparing and learning in the pre-life ever since the creation of the earth. 

We may not have the capacity to all of those things or to do things that are even close but we have to do our part. We have to contribute to the work of the Lord. To be the most effective we have to learn to work with goals and with mini goals to achieve the bigger goals we have to lay out a plan with checkpoints to arrive at our goals.

He shared a quote from elder oaks it says:

“To believe isn’t sufficient, testify is to know and to say, to be converted is to do and to become.”

He says we believe but it isn’t sufficient because even the devils believe too, the only difference is that we don’t tremble (James 2:19) we testify as well but what we lack is the conversion. To do and to become. We should look at it like this what is it that I want to become? A good missionary? good comp.?good parent? a god? then we need to look at what we need to do. what work needs to be done. 

If you always have in your mind what you want to become, e.g. a god. getting up at 6am every day gets easier, getting along with companion is easier. Because if you can’t deal with you comp how are you going to deal with a third part of your spirit children when they rebel? 

Love Elder Blanchard

Week 51 (Riberas, Mexico)

I got to see the baptism of Javier. He was an investigator that Elder Neumann and I contacted in my last area. He got baptized this last week and they invited me to come back to my old area to see the baptism.

We just contacted him in the street one day by a gas station. We went with him the next day and taught a lesson. He said that he had been praying for help from god to make a decision to take a job promotion or take a new job in the U.S. and he said that when my comp asked if there is anything we can do to help before heading out. He said that he felt like that was god answering his prayers and saying I will help you with whatever you decide. He came to church with us that next Sunday without hesitating.

This last Tuesday I got to play soccer in the street with a bunch of kids. We started off juggling and then we played a game in the street. It was pretty fun and we got a bunch of contacts out of it. 

On Thursday I completed one year since I entered into the MTC. What better way to celebrate that with a giant bowl of cow stomach soup. It is called menudo. And the members fed us menudo this last Thursday. The worst part about it is the texture. Really slimy and slick. To get it down I ate like a million rolls. I would stuff a bit into the roll and then eat it. I bit into my cow stomach sandwich one time and by accident pulled out the whole square of stomach and it flopped right onto my chin. 

This lady that we contacted this last week named Caren, is going to get baptized this next weekend. We had just left the house and we were walking towards our area and we saw her struggling with a tank of gas to get it to her house. So we went over and helped her carry it home and we contacted her and she has come to church with us these last two weeks. 

My comp has been really down lately. I talked to him about it and he wants to go back home. Before he was a member he smoked, and here on the mission he has found that it is harder than he thought and the stress gives him the desire to smoke. He says when he smells it makes him sick but it is just the stress that gets to him. He had an interview with President Chaves today and talked to him about it so I guess we will see what happens. 

Apart from that everything is great, the area is growing and we are getting more work and finding more people.

Love Elder Blanchard

Week 50 (Riberas, Mexico)

I don’t have a lot of time to write but I wanted to at least write you something real quick. We had a meeting yesterday so I didn’t get a chance to write. So today we get to get off a quick letter.

Sorry about disappointing you guys and not sending lots of pictures but I have been doing better. 

Also I got the package that you guys sent me. It got here last week thanks for all of the treats and the ties. The books are really cool I really like the teaching tools one. The ties are great too, all the missionaries want them ha-ha. I like them a lot. I haven’t opened all of the presents but I will soon.  I can’t believe you are going into the fourth grade you are growing up so fast.

Something funny that happened to me and my companion happened the other day. We were talking to someone on the street and the guy asked how old we were and I told him I’m 19 and my comp said he is 25. The guy then asked if I was my companion’s son, ha-ha.

I miss you so much too, the time is going by so fast for me and I will be home before you know it. I will try and write you a paper letter and see what I can do because I’m not sure how to send off a letter. I will try and figure it out so I can get a letter to you.

Love Elder Blanchard