Have Courage and Be Kind

 

¡Hola!

Everyone, this week has been absolutely insane. There's no other way to put it. And this week has been filled with miracles and tender mercies that I am so incredibly grateful for. 

For the first time on my mission, I GOT FED!!!! Okay, not that might sound a bit weird, but in about the whole month I've been here, Hermana Hollingsworth and I have never had any members bring us food, or eaten outside anyone's house, or even been given treats. Nothing! And that was a bit bizarre to me but it's okay. We were originally going to go over for food at la casa de la familia Campos, but they got COVID so that was immediately not an option. But when Johnny heard this he immediately invited us over on Thursday to come and eat at his house! Which was super awesome, and we were looking forward to it all week. And on Tuesday when we met with them, we brought Elder Miranda y Elder Brown with us. And oh my goodness was that an incredible lesson. I was so grateful for the Elderes insights and Spanish abilities. Elder Miranda is from Bolivia and Spanish is his first language. And Elder Brown's mom is from Honduras so his Spanish is also really good. And Johnny just instantly connected with them. It was wonderful to watch and the spirit was soooooooo powerful at that meeting. But on Thursday, we went over to their house kinda expecting the food to be made but surprise . . . it wasn't? Luckily, it was just hotdogs, so that wasn't too bad. But also, I've never tried to grill anything in my life. As I'm trying to do this, all I can think is, "I really should have paid more attention when my dad does this." Thankfully everything ended up okay, but I was surprised by how they eat hotdogs. With mayo, ketchup, mustard, tomatoes, onions, and pickled jalapeños. So that was super interesting. But I was super grateful for the food. 

And then we got a chance to play with them that spiritual chutes and ladders game we made and it was AWESOME! The whole family loved it, even Johnny's sister! Mateo, the 3 year old, ended up winning, but that's okay. He was so unbelievably excited to be able play the game, no one could even be mad. But we ended up staying at their house for about 2 hours, which is like an hour longer than we were planning on. So no one tell President, he might get mad. But it was so good to spend time with this family that I have really grown to love. 

Now everyone, the really hard part about this week. So, due to some struggles out here on my mission, I've been sent home to give me some time to figure everything out. So I packed up and flew back to Phoenix, AZ last Friday night. And leaving my mission was hard, really hard. There is nothing in my life that took more courage than forcing myself to turn and walk away, leaving the Hermanas that I love so much, Hermana Hollingsworth, who became the older sister I always wanted, and my wonderful President and Sister Rasmussen. I love them so much. And as soon as I can, I'm going to be back out on my mission. I have learned more in 2 months or so, than I have in years. And as soon as everything figures itself out, I will be back on a plane to Washington, because I know I have to finish a mission there. And I have loved every single minute I got to spend being a missionary and helping people find this wonderful gospel. 

So, you guys aren't going to be receiving any emails from me until I go back out, So sorry!!! But I promise I am going back out as long as everything works itself out. I want to go back with all of my heart. And I know that I still have a work to do up in WA. 

Yo sé que mi Salvador vive y este desafío es una parte de su plan para mi. Durante este tiempo con mucha incertidumbre, es muy importante que tengamos confianza en su Expiación y una garantía de que todo estará bien. 

The title of this week's email comes from the movie, Cinderella. This movie came out during a very difficult time in my life and it helped me when the rest of the world seemed dark, and bleak, and hopeless. The quote, "Have courage and be kind", has gotten me through many a dark day. And I know that if I have courage and trust in my Savior, this too shall pass.

I love you all so much! I have appreciated your constant support of me during this short part of my mission, and I look forward to talking to all of you soon when I head back to finish my mission.

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Blackburn

Fotos:

1) Hermana Hollingsworth and I with Elder Miranda y Brown after the lesson with Johnny y sus hijos!! 

Don't give up on Facebook!

 Hola!

So I don't even know where to start with this week. The last week I wrote to you all about was an absolute week of miracles and almost as if to balance out that week, this week has been hard. It was as if Heavenly Father let me taste the sweet, powerful joy of missionary work and this week has humbled me and told me, "Look, this work is wonderful, but also, it's hard. But don't worry, I'm here with you." And it was a bit of an uncomfortable reality check. This week has been full of struggles but also sweet tender mercies that have come at exactly the right time in the middle of all my difficulties and anxieties. So I'd like to share some of those sweet tender mercies with you.

This week we had exchanges!!!!! Now, exchanges are kinda a bit different because of the fact that due to COVID there's no overnight exchanges. But I still got to go and spend the day with my lovely STL Hermana Clark! Guys, she goes home in like three weeks and is one of the kindest, most energetic, wonderful people I've ever met. And I am so sad I only get to spend such a short amount of time with her. So I got to spend the day working her area and let me tell you, I felt a bit like a fish out of water. I'd gotten kinda usted to Oeste and to go to Kennewick SP1, I floundered for a bit. But, there was such a sweet tender mercy. We went to visit the Lucianos and according to Hermana Clark, it was a miracle they were even there. But then we got to go and teach their kids outside about the 10 commandments using hand gestures. And I had been carrying these HLJ (Haz lo Justo. Spanish for Choose the Right. So CTR rings) everywhere with me. A wonderful friend had given them to me just before coming out on a mission and I had been wondering when would be the right time to give them away. And for some reason, as we opened the gate to walk up to their house, the spirit told me loud and clear, "you need to give them the HZJ rings." 

And so I did!

There was such a sweet spirit there and even though I'd only met these kids one time, their energy and desire to learn more about the gospel was amazing. I don't know what will come from that experience, but to see their faces light up as they slipped those little rings on, I loved it so much.

This week has also been hard because it seemed like a lot of our potential people just stalled. They just stopped having a desire to respond and learn about the gospel. So we've been desperately trying to find new people to teach this week. I have spent a good several hours organizing the area book into formers that have numbers to contact in there, people with real addresses recorded, and those that really don't have either. So we're hoping to perhaps see miracles from that this week as we work to try to drop notes off for people with our phone number to get in contact with us and call all the rest of them that have numbers. 

And we've had lots of training on Facebook this week and guys, you don't understand how important Facebook is to missionary work. Just to give you guys an idea about how much more people we can contact, through Facebook, I'm going to tell you some of the most incredible statistics I learned this week. So our mission Facebook page, in the past 28 days, reached over 107,000 individual people. That's the equivalent of filling the general conference center like 5.1 times! And that means that for every single individual missionary in the mission, that means in 28 days, I had contact with 514 individual people. THAT'S CRAZY!!

I'm not even allowed to use Facebook yet! 

I get access to that privilege this week and I am sooooooooooooo excited! 

But in the midst of all of these struggles this week, I have seen miracles because of Facebook. We found 2 NEW PEOPLE to teach! Just because of Facebook! And they are both so incredibly wonderful and I could not be more excited. They came as a direct answer to prayers to find and teach new people as we were contemplating dropping others who have simply stopped progressing. And it was almost an instantaneous answer. Within a few minutes, people were dropped in our path to teach. And it has been incredible. So my invitation to all of you guys is don't give up on Facebook! It is so incredibly important to missionary work. Find the local church Facebook pages for your mission, wards, stakes, or branches. And all you have to do is heart ot wow something, or comment. Those actions are worth like 3x more than just a simple like. And the missionaries need all the help we can get. 

This time of Covid is a time of learning and becoming better at missionary work. And it is my testimony that there is a definite reason for missionary work being shifted to this online module. Because it is working better than any attempt to knock on doors or tract. Literally, there were Hermanas in my zone this week that had been talking to someone for a couple days on Facebook this week and the first video call they did, they invited him to be baptized on August 22. MILAGRO! 

So, there are so many opportunities for missionary work that something as simply as sending a wow reaction to a Facebook post could literally help find someone ready to be baptized. It absolutely blows my mind! And the milagros are so real!

Take care everyone! Be safe!

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Blackburn

Fotos:

1) Hermana Hollingsworth and I sitting in the car at the church to get WiFi so that technology would cooperate this week. It's been a bit crazy with everything lately!

2) We went on a walk over to Maverik to get a snack! (THEY HAVE THOSE HERE! I haven't seen one since Utah)