Follow the cat to Chile 🐱

 Hola a todos!!!!!

We have had a super crazy week but that's alright! This week we said goodbye to Hna Hyatt as she left for her original assignment in Chile! But getting her off to Chile was a wild ride this week. We were driving back and forth to the tri cities which was a bit crazy but also pretty fun. It meant that it feels like we haven't done a whole lot of missionary work in the past few days but sometimes it really do be that way. I was sad to see her go but she is absolutely going to kill it down in Chile! We also had olive garden for her dying meal because the APs messed up and didn't tell us when to be at the mission office to drop her off and we were there waaaaaaay too early. So Sister Rasmussen told us to go get ourselves a nice dinner and that is what we did. Was it about $20 I blew on Italian food? Absolutely. Sometimes you just gotta treat yourself.

So now it is just Hna Dust and I, vibing up here in Walla Walla. We are desperately trying to find people to teach and we are so desperate that we honestly took directions from a cat. We had pulled over in a neighborhood and watched this fluffy gray cat look both ways before crossing the street. Then it trotted down the sidewalk and paused at the corner and looked back at us in the car. Hna Dust and I looked at each other and went, yep, we're gonna follow the cat. It clearly knows the people around here better than we do. So we turn the car around to follow this cat and it starts trotting down the sidewalk as soon as it sees us coming and then stops in front of this yellow house. So we go knock it. Sadly no one answers but we have become so desperate that we'll take directions from a cat on where to knock doors. So everyone pray for us to find people to teach because we are honestly trying everything we can think of. 

But we had a cool milagro yesterday! During interviews, President Rasmussen specifically promised our district that if we would focus on member work and being exactly obedient we would be able to see miracles. And we have been going and visiting ALL the less active members around here this week which has actually been super fun. And several of them came to church yesterday!!!!! How cool is that???? 

Pero, espero que usted esté muy bien y que la primavera llegue muy pronto. Yo quiero ver el sol otra vez, jaja.

Con amor,

Hermana Blackburn

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Follow the cat to Chile 🐱 Inbox

 Hola a todos!!!!!

We have had a super crazy week but that's alright! This week we said goodbye to Hna Hyatt as she left for her original assignment in Chile! But getting her off to Chile was a wild ride this week. We were driving back and forth to the tri cities which was a bit crazy but also pretty fun. It meant that it feels like we haven't done a whole lot of missionary work in the past few days but sometimes it really do be that way. I was sad to see her go but she is absolutely going to kill it down in Chile! We also had olive garden for her dying meal because the APs messed up and didn't tell us when to be at the mission office to drop her off and we were there waaaaaaay too early. So Sister Rasmussen told us to go get ourselves a nice dinner and that is what we did. Was it about $20 I blew on Italian food? Absolutely. Sometimes you just gotta treat yourself.

So now it is just Hna Dust and I, vibing up here in Walla Walla. We are desperately trying to find people to teach and we are so desperate that we honestly took directions from a cat. We had pulled over in a neighborhood and watched this fluffy gray cat look both ways before crossing the street. Then it trotted down the sidewalk and paused at the corner and looked back at us in the car. Hna Dust and I looked at each other and went, yep, we're gonna follow the cat. It clearly knows the people around here better than we do. So we turn the car around to follow this cat and it starts trotting down the sidewalk as soon as it sees us coming and then stops in front of this yellow house. So we go knock it. Sadly no one answers but we have become so desperate that we'll take directions from a cat on where to knock doors. So everyone pray for us to find people to teach because we are honestly trying everything we can think of. 

But we had a cool milagro yesterday! During interviews, President Rasmussen specifically promised our district that if we would focus on member work and being exactly obedient we would be able to see miracles. And we have been going and visiting ALL the less active members around here this week which has actually been super fun. And several of them came to church yesterday!!!!! How cool is that???? 

Pero, espero que usted esté muy bien y que la primavera llegue muy pronto. Yo quiero ver el sol otra vez, jaja.

Con amor,

Hermana Blackburn

I know why you've come...

 

Hola a todos!

Another week up here in the WKM. So I have officially been in Walla Walla for over a week and that's awesome! I'm still trying to figure out which directions the streets go and where I'm at. Because my internal compass gets really really turned around here. I think we're going one way and nope, we're going the opposite direction.

But a super fun week! We had interviews with president and sister Rasmussen on Friday and that was awesome. It's always super cool to be able to talk to them and get their input on things that are going on in the work. So I really did enjoy that time spent with them. Also, we have been really struggling to find people so it was super cool to watch President Rasmussen receive revelation in the moment about what we need to do as a district to help our areas and help the work move forward here. And what the Lord told him was to focus on the members. So that is exactly what we are going to do! Because we have done nothing but tract since I got here and it hasn't been super successful haha. So I bought a lot of stuff at the store today because I am going to be making a lot of cookies in the near future lol!

Also, we had a super fun district activity where we got together at a member's house and lit a giant bonfire and told stories and had a testimony meeting. So, fun fact, my district leader is Elder Hawks which is funny because he's a Marshallese speaking missionary but they decided to give him a break and put him into english work out here so he doesn't get burnt out. But he has some hilarious stories and long story short, I now know how to whistle with the top of an acorn.

Now, about the title of this week's email! We ran into this man named Paul this week as we were tracting and I'm going to do my best to describe this encounter because it was hilarious. So we're going up to his door and there is a huge window and we see this man sitting at this giant chair by the window reading a newspaper (who even still reads those). We knock on the door and he gets up to answer. This man, Paul, answers the door and he looks to be in his early 30s straight out of the 2000s with a red sweater and baggy jeans and the rectangle glasses. And oh my goodness the pain on his face, he is in tru agony as he goes, at 0.5 speed, "I know why you've come......... I know why you're here. And I know................. you believe the message you bring to be the.......... truth. But I just can't accept it as............ the truth."

Oh my goodness it took him like 5 minutes to get that out! You're not the first person to tell us no, it's fine! But it seriously was like he was breaking up with these sister missionaries he'd never met on his doorstep being like, "It's not you, it's me. And I'm sorry."

Oh, it was hilarious!!!!! Our source of comedy for the past few days has been, "Hmmm, I wonder what Paul would do in this situation? Do you think Paul is the running type? Has Paul ever had a girlfriend?" Oh it's been sooooooo much fun. So thanks Paul, we appreciate you. 

Pero espero que todo esté bien y tenga una buena semana! Disfrute cada día!

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Blackburn

Sister Blackburn was called to serve in......

  the Kennewick, Washington Spanish Speaking LDS mission!!!  She will serve for a period of 18months.

Daniel in the German Shepherd's Den

 Hola a todos!

So this has been a super crazy week but here we are, still alive and kicking. So I got transferred to Walla Walla on Wednesday and I am currently up here serving with Hermana Dust and Hermana Hyatt! Hermana Hyatt is getting ready to actually go to her reassignment in Chile and so we have spent a lot of time driving and doing all sorts of other fun activities to make sure she is all squared away with the Chilean government. Also, just spur of the moment thing, we all had to get our Covid booster shots on thursday because if she didn't get it that day then they wouldn't let her in the country. So Hermana Dust and I were like well I guess we'll get ours too. So that was a fun adventure sitting in the Walmart Pharmacy. Thankfully the only side effects have been major fatigue but maybe that's also been a result of the huge amounts of driving and running around we've been doing. Who's to say?

It's been crazy up here any time anything happens my response has been, "I'm just here for vibes". So I really have been just vibing as we've been super busy. But a lot is different here in Walla Walla. First off, our area is HUUUUUUUGE! Like the whole Washington side of our zone if someone speaks Spanish, we teach them so that's legendary. Also our zone is incredibly large not just in the number of missionaries but also the fact that to drive from the north Washington boonies to the southern Oregon boonies it might take like 2 hours! Poor Pendleton missionaries are always driving up so far. RIP

But a couple huge milagros! There's this less active family that has a son who wants to get baptized and the mom's a member and she kinda wants to come back to church and so of course we want to help that happen! Here's the sitch. Their house is guarded by giant german shepherds. But I was like, no way are we going to let that stop us. So next time we went I grabbed some leftover turkey from the fridge and fed these giant dogs and then lo and behold, unlocked the fence door and walked in the yard and up to the door and knocked on it. And the mom, Ashley came running out because she was like, "no one has ever just come in the yard before! The last person to do that got mauled." So uh yeah! Turkey and angels, all the protection a missionary needs to help a child of God get baptized. It was like Daniel in the lions den but I was Daniel and they were giant german shepherds, not lions lol.  

Also! I got to go back to Basin City yesterday because my friend Jesús got baptized!!!! And it was such a sweet service and he is so very excited to keep progressing and improving!!!!1

Pero, espero que tenga una buena semana!!

Hermana Blackburn