We baptized Tim on Saturday and he was confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints yesterday and also has the aaronic priesthood conferred upon him also. It was a wonderful experience and i am so glad to be a part of it. Our Easter Sunday was great we had four investigators in church and great speakers and a wonderful musical number. They all plan on attending again for many of them this was there first time. We are still teaching Jared the only thing holding him back is gaining a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon. I hope he will continue to try to do so. We are now focusing on teaching Benny who we haven't been able to teach since last week or 2 weeks ago. He works a ton so he is really hard to teach consistently. And various other people that we are starting from the beginning with. We had a wonderful Easter and thank you everyone who sent me something, I really appreciate it. I hope you all remembered the true meaning of Easter and seriously pondered that this weekend.
Thank ya'll for your help and support I really appreciate it!!
Love,
Elder Blomquist
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Service is the Work of The Lord
We raked leaves for the mentally disabled girls non-member dad and he was so impressed that he asked us when we were going to teach her. We hope to invite him to be baptized first and then baptize her himself. Things are looking really good for them. He lost is brother and his dad within a month of each other and so his mom is having a hard time also. We were over at there house and I guess his mom is not friendly to anyone at all ever, but she talked to us about everything and then invited us to dinner the Saturday before Easter. When we tell people that know his mom there jaws drop to the floor literally haha. Tehy ask us id she was serious and if we are lying about it. So it was very cool that she did. So that family is very close to being taught and hopefully we can get them all in the temple one day :)
We have another new investigator her name is Taylor and she is very excited about learning about our church. We will be talking to her at a members home and I think that she is a golden investigator.
Tim is set to be baptized this Saturday he has successfully quit smoking and really is a totally different person then when we first found him. Jared we haven't seen in a long time but me and my companion honestly think the only thing that is really holding him back is his fiance who is a member! So that is frustrating.
That sums up this last week. The coming week I am sure will have a lot more for yall :)
We have another new investigator her name is Taylor and she is very excited about learning about our church. We will be talking to her at a members home and I think that she is a golden investigator.
Tim is set to be baptized this Saturday he has successfully quit smoking and really is a totally different person then when we first found him. Jared we haven't seen in a long time but me and my companion honestly think the only thing that is really holding him back is his fiance who is a member! So that is frustrating.
That sums up this last week. The coming week I am sure will have a lot more for yall :)
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The Ward Makes the Mission
Well we had a great week for teaching and if every week was like this last one we would have a baptism every week! Did ya'll know that 80 percent of investigators who attend a baptism before there own will get baptized?! That means if I get 10 investigators to come to e baptism then 8 of them will be baptized! This ward is so much help. I am almost certain this is the best ward on the planet! they are always there and willing to help with anything we need, and are very missionary minded!
Okay this is a random story but I met a pretty neat guy on Sunday. His name was Jimmy if I remember right. He is riding his one speed bamboo bicycle through all 50 states! He started in San Diego and was in Mississippi yesterday. He was a member of the4 church and that is how we found him haha we found this guy sleeping in a sleeping bag outside of the church building this morning. He is super hard core about everything and seems to me to be a really cool guy. I honestly thing that it is a stupid thing to be doing in general for me anyways but oh well. He was a seminary teacher and then went into doing micro loans for people in third world countries. I think that it would be fun to do just because all the cool people that you get to meet. He has a website bamboocyclist.com anyways that all about him i guess I just thought that was a cool person to meet and be able to know i guess haha
Alright now back to the missionary work! We had four people at the bishops twins baptism and then taught a man named Benny who is way legit. He is going against his entire family who is southern baptist to the core! in order to fin out for himself if this might be true. We also had a family reactivate themselves and they have 3 children that we need to teach and baptize so that lucky huh? 3 already set up for us. Tim is still looking solid for the 23rd of this month and Jared I am not sure we haven't seen him in about two weeks, but I think he should be solid too.
Let me say that the ward is what makes an area successful or not and keeps people at church. If all of the people here in the south were still active they would have a temple in Jackson, MS. It ust irritates me that people don't go to church because they don't want to drive that far or wake up that early! I mean I was the same way i guess haha. Help you missionaries! Tracting works but for the amount of houses to knock and the actual success you see out of it is minimal. The success comes from the ward and there willingness to share the restored gospel with their friends and family.
Oh and Transfers are on the first Tuesday of May. So even though i am certain that i won't be going anywhere we never know so refrain from sending letters around that week until I send out an e-mail like this saying that i will be in Petal still. Oh and if you don't intend on writing me once a week but rather one a month then send it to the mission office or home haha i am not sure which but you can ask my mother and she will know.
I will actually write down some of the stories i have for next week but my hands are tired and i have to go play football with my p-day haha
I love ya'll and remember that his church is the restored church of Jesus Christ and nothing will bring you more joy than feasting upon the words of Christ and doing the basics :)
Love,
Elder Blomquist
Okay this is a random story but I met a pretty neat guy on Sunday. His name was Jimmy if I remember right. He is riding his one speed bamboo bicycle through all 50 states! He started in San Diego and was in Mississippi yesterday. He was a member of the4 church and that is how we found him haha we found this guy sleeping in a sleeping bag outside of the church building this morning. He is super hard core about everything and seems to me to be a really cool guy. I honestly thing that it is a stupid thing to be doing in general for me anyways but oh well. He was a seminary teacher and then went into doing micro loans for people in third world countries. I think that it would be fun to do just because all the cool people that you get to meet. He has a website bamboocyclist.com anyways that all about him i guess I just thought that was a cool person to meet and be able to know i guess haha
Alright now back to the missionary work! We had four people at the bishops twins baptism and then taught a man named Benny who is way legit. He is going against his entire family who is southern baptist to the core! in order to fin out for himself if this might be true. We also had a family reactivate themselves and they have 3 children that we need to teach and baptize so that lucky huh? 3 already set up for us. Tim is still looking solid for the 23rd of this month and Jared I am not sure we haven't seen him in about two weeks, but I think he should be solid too.
Let me say that the ward is what makes an area successful or not and keeps people at church. If all of the people here in the south were still active they would have a temple in Jackson, MS. It ust irritates me that people don't go to church because they don't want to drive that far or wake up that early! I mean I was the same way i guess haha. Help you missionaries! Tracting works but for the amount of houses to knock and the actual success you see out of it is minimal. The success comes from the ward and there willingness to share the restored gospel with their friends and family.
Oh and Transfers are on the first Tuesday of May. So even though i am certain that i won't be going anywhere we never know so refrain from sending letters around that week until I send out an e-mail like this saying that i will be in Petal still. Oh and if you don't intend on writing me once a week but rather one a month then send it to the mission office or home haha i am not sure which but you can ask my mother and she will know.
I will actually write down some of the stories i have for next week but my hands are tired and i have to go play football with my p-day haha
I love ya'll and remember that his church is the restored church of Jesus Christ and nothing will bring you more joy than feasting upon the words of Christ and doing the basics :)
Love,
Elder Blomquist
Monday, April 4, 2011
The Power of The Priesthood
So this was a really good week!! We dropped some of our investigators because they weren't progressing and our time should be used elsewhere. So we only had 2 steady investigators and they already had a date for baptism. Our teaching pool of people was small so we were worried about finding more people to teach. As we prayed together as a companionship for more people to teach this last week we have found 3 more real investigators! They are all very interested and are looking forward to letting us teach them about our church and bringing them closer to Jesus Christ. Prayers truly are answered and I have many more examples of that.
Also this week we were given the opportunity to give 4 priesthood blessings all within 2 days of each other. I think that this conference was amazing and addressed some real problems with priesthood holders. We should never live below our privileges! God the Eternal Father has given us the authority and power to act in His name! Just stop and think about the gravity of that calling. We all take the priesthood for granite and that is inexcusable! We as priesthood holders should use this power to bless the lives of others, the great thing about the priesthood is that we cannot use it to bless or heal ourselves only to bless the lives of others. Did Christ ever use His power for himself? What a wonderful and marvelous blessing the men of the church have and how many of us try to avoid using it? It blesses our lives and the lives of others more than we con possibly comprehend! Utilize this blessing that God has given you and use it as He would have you to use it.
I am so grateful to be on my mission. I can't even explain how much more i have grown this past month! The help I am to people, the blessings I can be for someone just be listening can be astounding. Me and my companion have a really hard time only staying at places for an hour because people do not want us to leave. This old lady her name is Ruby we call her miss Ruby, she says she always feels better when we come to visit. Even if i am not converting everyone i talk to I just want to bless the lives of my fellow men.
People are so open to us as missionaries, I don't know why but i think people feel like they need to tell us everything. We have 2 awesome new investigators and one of them is looking for relief from the past and asked us if church would help? I was so excited to tell her about Jesus Christ and His atonement for us! She is looking for the very thing we have to offer. It is amazing how the Lord works, Like one a the talks in general conference said, "Great blessings are always right on the heels of affliction." How true that statement really is.
On a side not i do not like tracting. It is very awkward, and simply does not work. As a missionary now i can tell you that as members of this church is is your responsibility to make missionary work happen. We can do almost nothing without the help of members! So help your missionaries! The only reason this area is great and having such success is not because of my and my companion but because the members are very missionary minded!
I am having a great time here in the south! It is getting hotter but oh well :) Thank ya'll for y our prayers and support! I love hearing from everyone and I hope this was fun for you to read. Next week will be better :)
Elder Blomquist
Also this week we were given the opportunity to give 4 priesthood blessings all within 2 days of each other. I think that this conference was amazing and addressed some real problems with priesthood holders. We should never live below our privileges! God the Eternal Father has given us the authority and power to act in His name! Just stop and think about the gravity of that calling. We all take the priesthood for granite and that is inexcusable! We as priesthood holders should use this power to bless the lives of others, the great thing about the priesthood is that we cannot use it to bless or heal ourselves only to bless the lives of others. Did Christ ever use His power for himself? What a wonderful and marvelous blessing the men of the church have and how many of us try to avoid using it? It blesses our lives and the lives of others more than we con possibly comprehend! Utilize this blessing that God has given you and use it as He would have you to use it.
I am so grateful to be on my mission. I can't even explain how much more i have grown this past month! The help I am to people, the blessings I can be for someone just be listening can be astounding. Me and my companion have a really hard time only staying at places for an hour because people do not want us to leave. This old lady her name is Ruby we call her miss Ruby, she says she always feels better when we come to visit. Even if i am not converting everyone i talk to I just want to bless the lives of my fellow men.
People are so open to us as missionaries, I don't know why but i think people feel like they need to tell us everything. We have 2 awesome new investigators and one of them is looking for relief from the past and asked us if church would help? I was so excited to tell her about Jesus Christ and His atonement for us! She is looking for the very thing we have to offer. It is amazing how the Lord works, Like one a the talks in general conference said, "Great blessings are always right on the heels of affliction." How true that statement really is.
On a side not i do not like tracting. It is very awkward, and simply does not work. As a missionary now i can tell you that as members of this church is is your responsibility to make missionary work happen. We can do almost nothing without the help of members! So help your missionaries! The only reason this area is great and having such success is not because of my and my companion but because the members are very missionary minded!
I am having a great time here in the south! It is getting hotter but oh well :) Thank ya'll for y our prayers and support! I love hearing from everyone and I hope this was fun for you to read. Next week will be better :)
Elder Blomquist
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