You are invited to get hype

 

¡HOLA!

First off, before we begin, I hope you have read the subject of this email and have adequately prepared yourselves. Because you muuuuuuuuuust have the proper level of hype to be able to handle this week. Normally, my email subjects relate to something funny that happened this week and then I tie something spiritual in with it. Well lo siento, this whole week has been amazing and spiritual and funny so therefore, the warning exists. 

Listo? 

This week has been full of MILAGROS! Seriously, like one after the other. Also, this week has been really hard and Hermana Hollingsworth and I have worked so hard. With the current situation, we can't go and knock on people's doors only to have them slammed in our faces. But the Covid equivalent of that is people just leaving you on read. And you try and you try for hours, days at a time with no luck to get people to respond to you. And that's hard. This week has been full of what has just felt like constant rejection. Whole days of technology doors slammed in your face. But I am hear to testify that the Lord loves effort. If we keep our heads up and just keep trying, he will bless us. So I want to share with you guys the milagros of this week!!!!!

1) Rosie and Aleah!

So this one really has to do with the power of prayer. Aleah us a young girl in our area who's mom, Rosie, is less active. She's been taught almost all the lessons and we really think that if we could just teach her and finish up, Aleah would be baptized. She's said before that's something she'd like. But Rosie constantly ghosts us. So we had drafted up a pretty BOLD text to send to her the next morning to try one last time. The next morning we sent the text and then decided to say a prayer. In the middle of this prayer, for the first time in weeks, Rosie answered and said we could teach her daughter on Monday! Tonight! We were so excited. Guys, Heavenly Father answers prayers. It was amazing.

2) Daniel y Filiberto 

So both of these are potential investigators we've been really trying to get in with and teach the lessons. But neither of them have been super responsive. But Daniel had a total change of heart on Saturday and texts us all the time asking questions about when he can come to church with us and loves all the videos we send him. So we are really going to try to teach him the first 2 lessons this week. Yay!!!

And Filiberto is the same way! We sent him a video we had made yesterday and for the first time in a month he responded!!!! We had a super amazing conversation and Hna Hollingsworth and I cannot believe he answered.

3) La familia Campos

So this is an interesting story. So we were planning this week and for some reason, this family kept coming to mind. The son is an RM but the only member in his family. And for some reason the spirit would not leave me alone on this. I sat there, looking at his name in my phone, almost like triple checking with the spirit that thus is right, when mi compañera sighs and says, "Just get it out. What's bothering you." I looked at her and said, "The spirit thinks we need to visit this family."

So yesterday we took a gift over to them and met the son and the mom, Maria! And she was so kind and wonderful! Long story short, we're going over on Saturday to do service for her pulling weeds and she's offered to feed us!!! And the whole zone is welcome to come over and play volleyball in her backyard!!! Guys, the last time missionaries met with this family was in November. And they were a bit stiff then. But something has happened and Maria opened her home to us with ten minutes of us talking to her.

So I don't know what that prompting was for. But I am so grateful that I listened and at the very least, I need to serve this family. Which I am more than happy to pull weeds for hours to help her. 

4) Temples!!!!

Guys, I received some exciting news during the devotional with President Rasmussen on Sunday. The Columbia River temple is just now opening up for phase 1! But even more exciting is that the first presidency has released information about those of us missionaries who because of Covid were not able to go through. In my area, as soon as the temple receives clearance to go to phase 2, all of us missionaries with be the first to go. Also, my parents, if they are able to, are also welcome to come up and join me. If not, either Sister Rasmussen or mi compañera will go with me.

Guys, this is such a direct answer to prayers and fasting for months! I was almost leaping for joy when I heard that news. And I look forward to that day when I can experience that. But for now, the Lord has given me a huge blessing just by letting me know, "I am aware of you and your struggles. There is a plan, be patient, it's coming."

5) Deborah! (Hna Hollingsworth's mom)

Oh my goodness, there's a reason I saved this one for last because just thinking about it fills me with so much happiness. We have been teaching Deborah with the help of the elders in her area and it has been an amazing, incredible experience. But nothing quite describes the joy I felt as I sat next to mi compañera and watch her invite her mom to be baptized. And she accepted!!!! AUGUST 15TH EVERYONE! And we have been so thrilled all week. Hna Hollingsworth has been so overjoyed to see her mom make that commitment. And I am so grateful to have been a part of the last post of her journey. I just can't believe it, she said yes!!!!!!!

 

D&C 123:

17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

This week has been incredible and I absolutely love being a missionary and getting to see the Lord's hand in everything and every miracle He works. 

Cuídense mucho!

Hermana Blackburn

Fotos:

1) Okay, so I did not really realize how large my area is. We take part of the tricites but also way out into farmland! Eltopia is in the middle of nowhere!

2) The other Hermanas had exchanges this week so we got to be in a tripan with Hermana Dixon! Love her!

3) Guys we made a game for Johnny and his kids! Spiritual chutes and ladders, all in Spanish.

4) Yield to cows!

5) This is the stinker that was larger than me when he jumped up. So I'm holding a present with food in it above my head and he's jumping around and wiped his boogers all over my dress! It was disgusting! 

Mount Rainier is a Cherry???

 ¡Hola!

Everyone I have made it to WASHINGTON! This past little bit has been absolutely insaaaaaaaane. I finished up my online MTC training and I am now in the field! Oh my goodness, it is so great to be here! I was a bit sad to leave my wonderful district behind and my amazing {}, but I know all of us are off to do great things in each of our missions. Mi {} is actually going to the Yakima, WA mission so I went up here to Kennewick all by myself. Pero no se preocupe.

MY MISSION PRESIDENTS AND MY TRAINER IS AMAZING!!!! So I arrived here last Tuesday, which was a little bit insane. I had to be at the airport at 4:00 a.m. guys, that's so incredibly early! Then I flew to Salt Lake City before catching a connecting flight up to Pasco. Our plane to Pasco was filled with, I kid you not, like 25-30 missionaries. I was one of 45 missionaries coming into this mission at this time. That's so crazy! There were missionaries everywhere! Those that had already served and this was their reassignment, immediately went out and served that day. Thankfully, I got a bit of a break and got to chill at the mission home with my mission presidents for a bit. And then we got to stay in a hotel for that night and then met our trainers in the morning!!!! 

First area: PASCO 5TH OESTE!!!! 

Guys, there are 12 missionaries in this ward. TWELVE! That's insane! There's so many of us, also this ward is kinda large, but still!!

Mi nueva {} es Hermana Hollingsworth!!!! And guys, I honestly could not ask for a better companion and trainer. She's been so kind and patient with my absolutely awful attempts to speak the language and learn mission rules. It's been a bit of an adjustment and I still goof up all the time, but she'll just kindly correct me when I forget something. She's such a soft-spoken, kind individual, but has the ability to speak Spanish with such clarity and smoothness that I really admire. I hope that kinda makes sense. She's also been so wonderful in letting me do part of the work, since as a trainee I don't have all privileges unlocked yet, she'll hand me the phone and let me struggle through what to text to people in Spanish or have me enter lesson plans into area book. The online area book is a huge blessing and we have already seen several miracles from contacting former investigators this past week. I also live with Hermana Webb and Hermana Bowcut, who are amazing!!

Now, the two cool things that relate to the subject of this email. 

Fabian, one of the most incredible people I've ever met, got baptized last week and we've been teaching him retention lessons that have been so wonderful. But, bless his heart, he always brings us so many fresh cherries. And apparently, cherries are a thing here and they are delicious!!!!! Hermana Hollingsworth told me they were called Mount Rainier cherries, and my sleep deprived, starving brain that Wednesday morning we got to the apartment, looked at her and said, "Whaaaaaat? Mount Rainier is a cherry? I thought it was a mountain?" And they just laughed and laughed and laughed. They taste almost like something in between a peach and a cherry. I have almost eaten all of them since getting here and I love them. 

Then I read this wonderful talk again for personal study, I've studied it before, but it really applied this week and helped me a lot. It's called, Finishers Wanted, by President Thomas S. Monson. I'll attach the link below because it's sooooooooo good. But one of the qualities he describes of a finisher is the ability to give all of your effort. We had a mission wide devotional last night and that was also another theme that came up a lot. Is giving everything to the Lord, 100% effort, and then a little bit more. There's this quote that he says that I think applies a lot to cherries, a life lesson we can learn from the cherry. Cherries always come in pairs, they're literally stuck together. And because they're stuck together, they grow together faster and easier. President Monson quotes this old poem:

“Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;
Beginners are many, but enders are few.
Honor, power, place and praise
Will always come to the one who stays.
“Stick to your task ’til it sticks to you;
Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it, too;
For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile
Will come life’s victories after a while.”

I hope that as a missionary, I can be like these cherries and do what President Monson says and give all my effort to the Lord. I want to grow to become a better person and the best way to do that is to give the Lord the one thing I can, my agency and my will. I hope that all of you will "stick" to the Lord. I promise that as you do, he will stick to you and help you put in that effort that is required of the gospel. 

Have a safe and wonderful week everyone! 

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Blackburn

Finishers Wanted

P.S. If any of you want to send me any letters or packages, here's the mission office address. They'll get them to me from there! I love hearing from all of you! Thanks for the love and support!

8202 W Quinault Ave Ste D
Kennewick WA 99336-1017
United States  

Fotos:

1) Dutch Bros before weekly planning! Hermana Bowcut front left, Hermana Webb, front right, and Hermana Hollingsworth and I in the back.

2) Nightly walk

3) Mask up!

4) Pasco! This is a cool view on our walk.

5) Hermana Hollingsworth, me, plus some sheep. (I live in the country now, remember)

6) Last pic with the fam at 4:00 a.m. 

7)  Picture on the plane.

No big deal, it's only 2:00 A.M.

 

!Hola a mis maravillosos amigos y familia! 

Okay, I know last week in my email to all of you I was freaking out about having been a missionary for a whole month, well I thought that was as exciting as it got, I was so wrong. Absolutely so wrong. I leave for the mission on JULY 14TH!! That's like six days away! What is happening? Where is the time going? I have three days left of el CCM en linea and then it's off to the mission. Somebody push the pause button please, because I don't know if I'm quite ready to say goodbye to my amazing maestros, distrito, y mi hermosa compañera. The next email you guys get from me will be after my first week as a missionary in Kennewick, WA. I keep joking with my family that since my mission is surprisingly 75% Oregon or so, if my first area is in Oregon, I will laugh so hard. Be called to a WA mission and end up in OR first just seems hilarious. :)

This week has been so crazy, and honestly, I've loved every second of it. Spanish is still hard and I can't believe they're sending me out here in a few days because no entendio nada. But getting to teach people this week and spend time with my district has been amazing. And I want to tell all of you about my favorite aspect of the online CCM that I don't think I've really told you guys before. Which is my bad, because it has honestly changed my life. 

President Nelson has said in regards to this global church and this global gospel, "If you think the Church has been fully restored, you're just seeing the beginning. There is much more to come. … Wait till next year. And then the next year. Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest. It's going to be exciting." 

This online MTC experience has helped my fully see the full extent of the restoration and the continuation of revelation and this global church. In the back of my mind, it's easy to know that La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días es all over the world, but I never experienced that until this online experience. Mi compañera y yo, two hermanas in Arizona, have been able to teach people in all parts of México, Guatemala, The Dominican Republic, and El Salvador. To be able to testify of my Savior to all those people in countries and so different than what I have known has been incredible! 

Then this week, I had the most wonderful experience. I wish I could adequately describe to you the joy and the excitement for missionary work as I sat in a one hour meeting with missionaries from all over the world. I met an Elder from Sydney, Australia, numerous sisters from various parts of the Philippines, a sister from Fiji, an Elder from South Africa, a sister from B.C., Canada, and missionaries from all over the United States. I was surrounded by missionaries learning so many different languages other than their own and their amazing testimonies and thoughts. The inspiration for the title of today's email comes from the sweet, kind, amazing sisters from the Philippines, Sister Silos and Sister Palayar. When just getting to know each other, I asked what time it was for them, because here in Arizona, it was a little bit after 11:00 in the morning. They looked at each other laughed and said, "It's 2:00 a.m. here." Naturally, I freaked out and was like WHAT! Oh my gosh, why are you up that late. They smiled, looked at us, and said 

"No big deal, it's only 2:00 a.m., nothing is more important than my time with the missionaries and with the Lord."

That really stuck with me. Because to me, being awake at 2:00 in the morning sounds like a super big deal! I don't think I could do that! I'm already exhausted right now and I'm not waking up that early! But their simply testimony that nothing is more important than time with the Lord stuck with me. As I got out into the mission field, that is what I want to remember. Is that this time that I have to spend WITH the Lord, with be the most important time FOR my life. My mission is going to make all the difference, and yes, it's a little terrifying to actually be going out to Washington, but I am getting to spend time with the Lord and that should motivate me to get out of bed and do anything he requires of me.

Stay safe everyone! Talk to you from WA (or OR) soon! 

¡Los amo a todos!

Fotos:

1) Hermanas Ashby and Terry surprised us by showing up in the same screen! They spent a day together since both live in Utah.

2) Elderes Winters, Miller, and Law took screenshots of everyone's rooms and will surprise us all by coming into the meeting all in someone else's room. Somehow, all three of them are in Elder Moore's room with his signature blanket and chair lean.

3) The sisters from the Philippines and Elder Sengchanh from Australia!

4) The Arizona Hermanas got together for our last p-day today! Oh my goodness it was wonderful!

Meow

 

!Hola!

GUYS! As of tomorrow, I will have been a missionary for a whole month! Where has the time gone? I mean, I've been in el CCM for 5 million years, but also, A WHOLE MONTH! As Elder Gneiting would lovingly say, as he says after every single sentence anyone says, "That's dope!"

For once, I kinda agree with that statement. :)

This week, as always, has been crazy. Mi compañera and I have often said to each other these past few weeks, "I'll rest when I'm dead". And I'm sure that will become more and more true as my mission goes on. Between so many homework assignments from mis maestros y estudios y clases, it seems as though I never have enough time in the day to do everything that I want to. This week, we have had two more lessons with Fernanda, and she is incredible. For the first time as a missionary, I had the experience where my sweet compañera y yo had panned out a whole lesson, only to get into that meeting with her, and have the spirit tell us to scrap the whole thing. I've never in such a moment been so prompted to teach something else or share an experience than I have in that lesson. During this lesson, I had the experience where I was suddenly teaching and talking through the spirit and suddenly, it wasn't me speaking Spanish anymore. All my shortcomings and struggles with the language suddenly fled as the words seemed to almost tumble out of my mouth without me thinking so hard about what to say. Suddenly, I wasn't the one speaking Spanish and it brought such a powerful spirit into the meeting that I haven't ever quite felt before. 

Now, storytime.

Hermano Pérez has a little kitten that he has told us all about and often times we hear this little kitten screaming and meowing during the lesson. Well, on Saturday, the kitten was very much making its presence known and was meowing up a storm. So I ask if we can see the kitten and lo and behold, Hermano Pérez holds up this tiny white kitten! I was sooooooooooo excited! But for the rest of the class, as we were practicing typing out vocab words on the screen, the little kitten would meow. So Elder Winters flooded that whiteboard with the word *meow. It was hilarious and all of us could barely keep it together. I'll attach those pictures at the bottom because it seriously made my day.

But this week we have really been studying the teachings of Christ in 3 Nefi and I came across a BYU speech from President Thomas S. Monson called Light to the World. He discusses the commission Christ gives each and every one of us to be a light to the world. At the conclusion of this talk, President Monson quotes the Lion King where Mufasa tells Simba as he is doubting his purpose, his destiny, and who he is, “Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. . . . Remember who you are. . . . Remember.” 

This week, I have been struggling to see myself as my Heavenly Father sees me. I often feel so inadequate in every single aspect of who I am and what I'm doing. And seeing Hermano Pérez hold up that tiny little kitten with such joy and pride, I couldn't help but immediately relate to not only the panicked expression on its face but also the feeling of being a small, helpless kitten, that is trying so hard to do her best but seems to fall short again and again. This admonition to remember who I am and that I can BECOME more than I am right now, hit so hard this week. Becoming is a verb of progression and improvement, not an instantaneous transformation. 

I just want to end with the words of Thomas S. Monson at the end of this speech because I can't quite say it the way he does. But I want to bear testimony of the reality of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the potential each one of us has to become like our Heavenly Father. We simply need to remember who we are and who's we are. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father's patience with me as I try a little harder to be a little better every single day. 

“Look inside yourself. You are more than what you have become. Remember who you are. You are a son or daughter of our Heavenly Father. You have come from His presence to live on this earth for a season and to live in such a way that you are an example of the believers and a true light to the world. When that season has ended, you will be able to return to live with Him once again. May this be your blessing as you nurture your testimony and as you follow the example set for you and for all of us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, “the true Light, which lighteth every man [and woman] that cometh into the world.” -Thomas S. Monson, 2011

Have a wonderful week! Everyone, please stay safe and healthy! 

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Blackburn

Be a Light to the World

Fotos:

1) El gato de Hermano Pérez. "Lo siento, mi gato está gritando."  

2) The *Meow whiteboard

3) ¡Todas las hermanas!