January 23, 2012 Oldham

This was another quick week here in Oldham. Went on another exchange.
Had fun with my companion. We took our two investigators to the Temple
in Chorley and walked around it. They really like it and the family
history center. Diego got himself a new quad from the distribution
center and then they drove home.

Funke Ogunnaike was supposed to be baptised this week, but she is the
legal guardian over her uncle who has a brain tumor. He lives in
Belgium and before he could be operated on she had to sign papers so
she took the 8-9 hour Eurobus trip from here through France to the
french half of Belgium and signed the papers for him. She is still
there at the moment, but was devastated that she couldn't get baptised
this weekend. She will be when she comes back, we are just not sure
when that will be. Hopefully soon because she has two 12 year olds and
one 11 year old here at home living with another uncle who is not the
nicest man in the world to be around with if you are a member of the
church.

So besides that, everything else is same old same old. Oh ya...I got
sick this past week...Threw up for about 2 hours or so...give or take
some time. That was fun, but I wasn't alone. 5 or 6 other
companionships in the zone were sick as well or still are. But After
those 2 hours I had a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner although my
stomach was killing me haha.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Love,

Elder Blackburn

Isaiah 22:23-it should help you remember the temple...LOVE YOU

December 29, 2011 Transfers

Well, Elder Hughes who I was calling with on Sunday is now in Newcastle Zone with Elder Ericksen. My new companion is Elder Smart from Sandy, UT. He came out one after me and is great with the scriptures. We are excited to be together because we have never ever been in the same zone or even close at that! SO, it is good to get to know the missionaries you do not know. Elder Sandor is still in Bolton. Elder Gordon got sent up north to Blackpool or aka the Las Vegas of Great Britain. Poor fragile mind in those conditions...I can't think what he is going to learn there! But the baptism in Wrexham has not gone through yet, but that is because Mary has introduced her friend to the church and she wants to be baptised together this weekend! YAY! =D

 

We have 2 really good investigators and a 3rd who wants to bring her 3 kids to church this coming week.

 

I love you all

 

Elder Blackburn

December 19, 2011 Calling

Well because I am about 6-7 hours ahead of all of you. My companion and I will be making our calls from 6-9 or somewhere in between there. We do not know exactly where we will be or who will be calling first. He will probably call right at 7 so I will probably call at 6 or 8...I am not to fussed and because I have so many people to call and only an hour to do it am doubly not fussed because I can break it up. You all are just a distraction anyway haha. BUT I may be trying to call grandpa's home phone. So if you could have that ready for me mom because I do not have his number. I do not know if he will be at church or not or one of the other numbers. If Anna or someone else wants to talk they can pass their numbers to mom and I will try and give them a few minutes. I have 60 mins talk time. PERIOD. That is it. I will cut you off mid sentence if I am going over time. Why?

 

Obedience is the first law of heaven.

 

I love you all, but I love God more. Try to obey his servants.

 

Elder Blackburn

December 12, 2011 Hello Family

So I am not frozen solid yet. Oldham is in the "Mountains" here more like high rolling hills and so there is snow on the tops of the Pennines here. But once again...I LOVE having a car. NO thinking I have to cut my toes off this year hopefully!

 

I was out of my area mostly this week. Went on exchanges with Elder Skibbe from Berlin and Elder Boswell from SLC, UT who is one of our Assistants. Learned a lot from both Elder Skibbe is experienced and goes home next week and was able to get back on track this transfer to finish strong. Elder Boswell is a mini mission president. Fireball from the start. Our area though had a great week. (maybe because I was gone...) BUT  when I was here we got back in contact with a couple of people we have taught once and they now seem to be really excited. Something just clicked this week as we taught them the importance of 1) our calling as missionaries, 2) our message, 3)commitment and uniting with The Church of Jesus Christ. Many accepted baptism dates and return appointments and church attendance. We will see 2 of them tonight. We are running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

 

On a more worldly note, I lost 8lbs this week on the Herbal Cleanse and Elder Hughes really liked it as well. Could have been better but I had 2 tea appointments in the middle of the week. The rest I was eating chicken, eggs, salmon, cod, and haddock (random fish I never heard of)...and peppers, assorted veggies, and multiple jars/cans of Salsa!!! WOOP WOOP go me.

 

I love you all,

 

Elder Blackburn III or the Foreign one, Good Looking one, ...dare I say it...old one...EEEEESH

December 5, 2011 This week in 2 mins.

Well it has been a great week. As you see I only have 2 mins before the computer kicks me off.

 

1. I went to Bolton again to see Marianna and Jozseph Horvatt. They were baptised last year. We helped them begin to start goals on going to the temple before May. They want me to go with them.

 

2. Went to the temple as a misson. obviously split into two days and two sessions a day, but it was great. I really enjoyed seeing the zone together and actually knowing all the faces now! haha.

 

3. besides that everything is great.

 

4. I finished Jesus the Christ. Not enough time.

 

I love you all!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Elder Blackburn the Elder

November 28, 2011

Hello Family!

 

Well this week was THANKSGIVING!! WOOOOOOOOOOOooooooo....right? it was wasn't it? o...I am in England...where...they don't...show gratitude...I guess...darn......siiiiigh.

 

Well It shouldn't surprise me. Last year we had a sports day so it distracts us, because we are still playing a turkey ball of sorts, but with more rules and not as exciting. This year though we had an extra 30 mins for tea! WOOP WOOP! I enjoyed it. Except my companion has been having some really bad headaches that basically make him pass out for a couple hours so I didn't get to much out of it. He is a hard worker. He is extremely intune with the Spirit. But we basically were disabled besides trying by potentials and lessons this last week after Thursday.

 

I have been reading Jesus the Christ again and I am up to page 410 or so and have really been refreshing my mind on what it is that Faith can do in unlocking the power that Christ desires to bless us with.

 

I gave a talk on Hope this week to introduce myself to the ward. It was specifically on "How do we react when our Hopes are not Realized"...I thought it was pretty fitting for Bishop Walsh to give me that. The ward seemed to enjoy it. It wasn't my best, but it was ok. I am enjoying the car and the absence of the bike, but my leg muscles are starting to turn back into mush already.

 

We went back to Bolton which is about 25 miles away for a baptismal interview of the District Leader there and as Elder Hughes went to go with him, I stayed behind with his companion. I wanted to stop by Marianna and Joseph Horvatt from last year. They were the couple that got baptised with Elder Merl and I. So as I knocked on the door, Marianna opens and just sees a missionary in the dark. Joseph hears me say hello and from the other room yells, "Blackburn?!" thump thump thump, pops his head around the corner and lets us in. It just showed to me the importance of staying in contact. We did not have a lot of member support at the time while meeting with them last year and so after Elder Merl and I left, they had Marianna's family and that is about to help them out. There was no spiritual anchor. They have been coming off and on and still want to be married in the temple, but I told them and they understood that it takes work and they need to start preparing now so they can do it. They are techinically allowed because they have been married and members more than a year, but they need to be fully active and obedient before going. I hope last Thursday and this exchange in Bolton this week will be able to set goals and make plans on the day they can go to the temple so they have something to work towards just like a baptismal date. I want to get Bishop Knights approval for this as well, so hopefully we can work quickly this week. I will let y'all know how it goes.

 

Sometimes, being here in England I like to put on a nice thick southern draaaaaawwwwwwllll to help get the point across that I am from America. I enjoy seeing people's reactions to it. I hope you are all doing well.

 

I love you, Take care.

 

Elder Blackburn

November 21, 2011

Hello Family!

It has been an interesting couple of days. Today is the first time I have seen the sun since I emailed you last. I was asked to sing as a solo/quartet/choir yesterday without practicing and without a voice in the Ashton Stake Conference. It went ok. I was singing a lot with Elder Gordon the music that Hermana Blackburn sent me last Christmas because he can play the Piano really well and we were wanting to sing some new songs for our members. It was good, but I think with the singing practice and what not during our extra companionship study time the last two days of the transfer and the cold/wet/wind I got sick. Didn't stop working, but it wasn't pretty. We set up 30 appointments this week here in Oldham so we were still effective, but it still wasn't pretty. Elder Hughes got a little sick as well. Elder Hughes is from Oklahoma. He is an OSU Cowboy. His family is from the Polynesian/Phillipino Islands somewhere long back, but he can understand Tagalog a little. He can't speak it though. We are really happy to be working together. Or at least I am happy to be working with him. =P Oldham ward is a great ward from all aspects I can tell with missionary work. I will miss the people in Wrexham. (Basically had my Christmas mapped out already, but OH WELL)...I got a car and so I won't get hypothermia this year! WOOHOO. The thing about Oldham is that it is in the "Mountains" here too. You can't really call them mountains, but think of a tiny rock and if it has a hill right next to the sea and the wind/snow/sleet/everything comes, what is it going to hit? The Hill...And we are on the Ocean side, not the warm side like the Leeds Mission. But No complaints here!

I love you all. I am excited for Tanner. I am out of time. =/

LOVE YOU!

Elder Blackburn