March 22, 2012 Whitewash Training, new zone, new area, new companion...same me =D

Well Hello Family,

 

It has been a great 10-11 days here. Miatta was sustained a member of the Oldham Ward and we went hiking up a great peak at the edge of our area with some members of the Ashton Zone. But all good things come to an end...or at least in mortality they do and the good thing I am speaking of is my time in Oldham...with a car...and with knowledgeable companions...

 

I am now back on foot/bike/bus. We are not really sure. I am emailing you from Widnes which is in the Warrington Ward and the Liverpool Zone. I have never served anywhere in this zone and it is all alien to me. The people speak Scause(sp?) aka Liverpudlian which is a mix of English with extra flem on the c,k, etc...

 

I am white wash training a new missionary who is also from South Africa like Elder Gordon was. He has heard of Elder Gordon but they never met because they were both normally on the computer. They probably battled online sometimes =P. But Elder McLeod (mc-cloud) is his name. He is great. I would send you pictures if I could, but you will see them soon enough anyways. We honestly have no idea what we are doing here with this whole white washing thing. He doesn't know what he is doing here period and I am trying to figure which way is up. IT WILL BE GREAT! =D. But there is a dated investigator here so that is good...Sad thing is that she flogged our appointment last night. So my little friend and I walked an hour there with a member...walked an hour back to town to Morrisons (like walmart...) bought him some really posh sheets that were marked down for clearance, and then walked back home. That was about 3 hours of walking for him. Apparently I walk fast. He slept well, but he is still exhausted. Poor kid. He has a brother on a mission in Minnesota! So Tanner and he are pretty close! His parents are not members and he is has a strong testimony from his grandmother. He was baptised at age 13 but has been to church since he was 3 because his grandmother took him. She passed away 3 years ago so I admire him and his brother for coming and doing what they know is right. They have good solid testimonies.

 

He keeps trying to figure out how long I have been here. I don't have the heart to tell him or talk about it at all...He will find out next week at zone conference. Departing missionaries give their testimonies. That will be a weird one to experience.

 

I was waiting for all the phone calls and rings to start happening last night...but NO ONE CALLED! It was definitely a weird experience being a companionship that no one needs to call. I started to feel a little isolated haha but then realised that that is the reason I always wanted to read the scriptures in my free time. Because I actually HAD free time to do those things.

 

It was mothers day in England this past weekend and it was great being able to think of Mom and all that she does. These next 6 weeks will be very interesting, but I am really looking forward to focusing on my ONE Elder McLeod.

 

One by One,

 

Elder Blackburn

March 12, 2012 No time

Well I was going to upload pictures to you but I have absolutely NO TIME Left. After emailling president Preston and President Fletcher reports...there is not a lot of time for all of you. Sorry! I even extended for 15 mins and only have 2 mins. But here we go.

We had a baptism this week! I have pictures. But can't upload them. Too long. Her name was Miatta Gbouma from Sierra Leone. She will be a strong member of the church here in Oldham and already has members of her family who are strong in the gospel as well so I don't worry too much about her future. She also has Family that lives in Indianapolis and is going to visit them in October! HOW GREAT IS THAT?! haha

REFERRALS! HELLO! HERE WE COME! haha

I love the Lord. He is great. Is he not?!

LOVE YOU!

Elder Blackburn

March 5, 2012 Hello from Sunny Oldham!

Hello everyone!

It was a great week. It was very busy! We had about 20 hours of meetings all together this week and add 10 hours for travel time and set up, but that is ok! I was able to go to my first ever Stake Priesthood Leadership Training and it was great to see how Bishops and WMLs and Wards are held Accountable at these types of meetings. PMG pg 148! We trained the WMLs on what they can do to help their missionaries and investigators in their own specific wards. We tried to help them find places to learn their duties besides the New Red Manuals. We showed them the information chart on page 145? of PMG and how they should know more than us and President Preston about each individual. It was great because Elder Jackson and I had worked with 5 out of the 8 WMLs present due to our past areas and so we were able to smile and hold them accountable and they took it very well. President Fletcher (Stake President of Ashton) was there and he was asking for goals and Oldham ward was the only one that actually knew their baptismal goal out of all of the wards and so at least we were well represented! 

We did not have a lot of finding time due to the meetings...But I worked on something this week I have been wanting to do. It is called MUSLIM Contacting. Considering 50% of the population is Pakistani, Iranian, Iraq, Bangladesh...There are lots areas which are heavily Islam and what I did with this young missionary who is really good, we went into this area and we started tracting in the middle of the day. The key to this kind of contacting is this..."ASK THE WISE MUSLIM MAN." They are very very nice people but the only want to bash with you or are not interested so you quickly tell them what you are doing and simply ask them where the white people are on the street. Honestly, it works! They immediately point at 3-4 doors of white families haha These white people barely ever get spoken to because missionaries and JWs barely ever go into these areas and so they are not as hardened. We set up 4 appointments and got in 1 door =P. It was fantastic. I am definitely doing it again! Elder Jackson was laughing when I told him what I did over the exchange. The new missionary was pleasantly surprised that it actually worked..."oh faithless generation..." =D

There was an amazing baptism of two individuals from Namibia in Ashton 1 this past week. One of my old areas. Elder Gianotti (italian) and Schmid (austrian) had asked at the beginning of the transfer where they should go. They asked me because I had already served there. I told them of a lady I may have mentioned to you last June...yeah I know you have no clue. But her name was Sandra. She lived in a tiny flat and worked for another church so never came to ours although she accepted the Book of Mormon as truth. I told them to go to West St. and knock on again. Well they did on Saturday evening. Sandra had moved out. But Harold and Rudolphine Kauvi from Namibia had just moved in Friday evening. They were upset because they did not know how they were going to get to church. They also are asylum seekers because of the fighting in their country. They were told by the British government that they would not be allowed to stay any longer than 3 weeks. Well the Lord knows His Children and their hearts. He sent the Elders there Saturday February 18? and on March 3rd they had already gained a testimony of everything of the Gospel and its Restoration through Joseph Smith. They were divinely prepared and elect "and the elect hear my voice" and they did. It was a great miracle to witness the divine appointment that Elder Giannotti and Elder Schmid were able to make it to. Harold and Rudolphine Kauvi last night were able to speak in front of a group of about 50 of their conversion at a mission home fireside and to testify of the Restoration. Two weeks later on the day they were confirmed members of the church.

Miatta Gbouma is being baptised this Saturday the 10th of March and we are very excited. She has two little girls. A cousin and a niece who are being prepared right now too and it is all because of another cousin from Sierra Leone and she came to get this lady baptised. I have no doubt about it!

They are all so so great!

I love you all!

Elder Blackburn