p i c t u r e s

"hey y'all!"

Hey Y'all!

 

yup, I'm officially in the South. That's really exciting news about Dad! He'll be so awesome!!!

 

There is so much to talk about. The past 6 days have seemed like 6 weeks! No joke. But it's been so great to be teaching real people and be in the real world. Well actually, I'm not sure if this is even the real world. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a movie because I can't believe that people actually live like this and talk like this. It's hilarious and I've already seen some crazy things!

 

My companion Hermana Wong is awesome! She has only been here for one transfer so 6 weeks and we are definitely learning together. Remember that blog post I read to all of you about that apartment with the cockroaches and the graffiti and the sirens. Well guess what... I live in that exact apartment hahaha! And it's really not as bad as she made it seem.This area was just opened to sisters about 5 months ago and we are in a city called Center Point, right outside of Birmingham. Super ghetto, but we are safe and doing well! We mostly speak english and we don't bike in this area. It's a really big area! Our ward is super awesome and is one of the biggest ones here and most helpful with missionary work but not very big compared to what I'm used to. The zone leaders are in our ward too but they are english speaking so they can give us referrals sometimes.

 

Right after transfer meeting on wednesday we went out to the trailer parks where we only go once a week because of miles, but that's where most of the hispanics are. Oh and only one of my suitcases came in. The one without my clothes haha! But don't worry we went to go pick it up at the mission office on thursday. So off we go and we had a couple appointments but the thing that stuck out the most that day was when we met Joe. He was sitting on his front porch which was a mess and there were dogs running around everywhere and he was about to start smoking. We just kind of got to know him and figure out where he was coming from. Everybody loves Jesus down here so their relationship with Him is usually no problem. Joe is a pretty emotional guy and when we shared the Book of Mormon with him and were reading the introduction the spirit was so strong! He just said how this is exactly what he needed and how it wasn't a coincidence that we walked by his house today. So my first lesson ever in the mission field went really good! Even if there was smoke blowing in my face and I was sitting on quite possibly one of the dirtiest chairs ever to a man who was missing some teeth. Haha does that paint a nice picture for you?

 

Pretty much all the stereotypes of the south are true!

I've seen more football paraphenelia, missing teeth, old people, churches, teenage moms, and felt more heat than I ever have in my whole life. It's a party down here!

 

The humidity and heat actually hasn't been that bad. They say that it's been one of the coolest summers and a lot more rain than usual. It is the most bizarre thing to come to a place where you don't know where anything is and you don't know one soul. Thank goodness for GPS and thanks goodness for my companion who knows all our investigators. We're actually teach quite a few people right now and 2 are supposed to be getting baptized within the next couple weeks which is awesome!

 

It was so nice to walk into the church on saturday for our pioneer day activity and find something familiar. The church is true wherever you go! And I was so excited to see members of the church! We have this awesome new convert named Deantra who got baptized about a month ago. She comes teaching with us a lot and she has such a strong testimony! It's amazing how when people come to know that the gospel is true, they completely change their lives around. We're going shopping with her next week to help her find some more modest clothes! She is the best!

 

I've also come to really learn how important are members are in the work. Finding people is not fun. In fact, I'm pretty sure tracting is one of the most ineffective things in the entire world. Especially in Alabama where everyone is really private and most people don't even answer their doors. So having the members help come to lessons and help give referrals is the best!

 

One of my favorite things this week was going to the nursing home to sing. We do it every week for service and those people are hilarious! They just listen to us sing and sometimes try to sing along. There is this one lady who is super spunky and even starts dancing in her wheelchair sometimes! And there is always an amen after we explain what song we're gonna sing haha! Gotta love it! So the good news is I have been able to play the piano quite a bit already!

 

Well, the rumors are true, missionary work is really hard and it's not exactly the same as what the MTC made is seem like but it's so awesome to teach people and to have them understand how they can come closer to Christ. The south is absolutely beautiful and I love being down here!

 

Missionary work is awesome and I can't wait to continue learning and growing. There is a lot to do!

 

con amor,

Hermana Blackner

"4 more days!!"

Hola!!!

4 MORE DAYS!!! My time at the CCM has flown by and I've loved every minute of it, but it's time to get out into the real world and teach some people! It's kinda fun being the oldest now. Not like it really means much, but we just feel very experienced now haha! Yesterday we got to host for the new missionaries! It was a so much fun, but also kinda sad. Like I'm pretty sure it was more sad to watch all the moms crying then it was when I got dropped off haha! I got to host two really sweet sisters. One going to Salt Lake spanish speaking and the other one going to Sao Paulo.

Last sunday was awesome as usual! Carole Mikita spoke for relief society. She's a news anchor for KSL and has traveled around the world usually during temple dedications for news reports and has some way awesome stories! She is a convert to the church, in fact most of our speakers are and it's so cool to hear their stories and see how the gospel has blessed their lives. She is from Ohio and the missionaries started teaching her mom when she was little. She talked about how the children will remember us and how some people have never seen people "from out west". I had never even thought about that before! I'm so excited to teach families and interact with little kids!

So I haven't had the opportunity to play the piano a ton but I did play it at church for a district that was leaving. And one time during additional study I went to play. And I get to play the hymns for our branch! 

Two pretty funny things happened. The first one was before sacrament meeting started.

 I was just sitting down, minding my own business and then decided that I wanted a mint.

So I got the container out, opened it up, opened the little paper that's inside, and then when I went to grab a mint.

Don't worry, it gets better.The container slipped out of my hands, and the mints exploded everywhere!!!!

I just put my hands over my face and started laughing haha! And we're at the MTC and everyone is so nice so immediately there were like 5 people surrounding me and helped me pick them up. It was pretty funny!

The next one was at dinner. Oh btw, the Nally's just randomly happened to sit next to us. It wasn't assigned or anything. So we're sitting with the Elders and I had to go grab a fork and they were laughing about something but I didn't really think anything of it because they are always laughing. We're just enjoying dinner and I had water and raspberry lemonade. When I got to the end of the lemonade it tasted kinda funny so I stopped drinking it.

And then, when we're walking to put our trays away

Elder Shipley says, "I have a confession"

Me: What is it?

Him: Did your drink taste weird?

Me: Yeah, that's why I didn't finish it

Him: Like salty?

Me: uh...yeah! That was it! What the heck Elders?! Why?!

Him: I'm sorry, but you handled it really well. I would've freaked out if that happened to me

Boys...they're so weird and I don't think they ever grow up haha!

Sunday night we watched the testaments! I had seriously been looking forward to it for so long because I hadn't seen it forever! It was so good! There's a line in there where the son asks his dad why he can't be happy for him and his sucess and the dad responds by saying, "I am happy for you because you are my son, but I'm sad for you because I know your happiness will not last. We kinda compared that to our investigators when they don't keep commitments. There is this awesome quote in PMG from Elder Holland that says, "The first thing you will do when an investigator tells you he or she had not read and prayed about the Book of Mormon is be devastated!" He says we can't be casual about it because it is salvation we're talking about. We need to be encouraging and supportive but we also can't settle for low expectations.

Well our district had a life-changing experience with Hermano Ralphs this week. As you know, it hasn't been the easiest getting used to his teaching style but something happened this week and it all made sense! So he spoke english for the first time in the past 3 weeks. Like for real, he had never said one english word before. And when the first word came out, we were all in shock. In fact, we just started laughing! His spanish voice and his english voice are completely different! 

This is what I wrote in my journal...

"Isn't it amazing how different things can be when all you do is just connect with somemone. He is talking about the reason why he does what he does. When we get in the field in just 7 days, there is going to be this stigma of "greenie". Our expectations are going to be lower because people will think that "we don't know the language" "we can't teach by the spirit" "we don't know how to talk to people" But really, we do! We have been learning all of this for the past 6 weeks. We are going to be in contact with the people that have been prepared for us. Missions are hard. We are going to be tried and tempted more than we ever have been in our whole lifes. I've gained a lot of respect for Hermano Ralphs today. And let's be honest. It's been a long road but all he's ever wanted to do is prespare us to be the best missionaries the world has ever seen. Through his experiences and what has helped him the most. By sharing countless examples and stories to get it in our heads. By making it hard and having high expectations. There is time to prepare for every purpose under heaven. When the time for performance is present, the time for preparations is past. How grateful I am for this experience and for this difficult time to learn and grow and be the best I can be. How foolish was I to be so stubborn and not understand what I could possibliy learn from this teacher that frustrated me so much. He could possibly have had the biggest impact on me thus far. Our teachers won't always be there to help us and remind us but we will always have the Spirit. Just like in the temple, all that is asked of us is a body and a willing heart. Same with a mission, the spirit does the rest. It is so vital to always have the spirit to be with you! Being a missionary is a full-time job! We got the job and now we need to keep it!"

We then did this activity where we wrote something that each person in our district has improved on in the past 5 weeks, including ourselves. We then went around and shared them. I didn't think it was possible to get any closer with these missionaries, but it was such an awesome experience! When we bring others up, we become more like Christ. We forget about ourselves and then everyone feels good. It invites the Spirit.

On Tuesday after devotional we took an MTC picture. It is the 3rd full MTC picture that has even been taken so I guess it was kind of a big deal haha! Elder Richard G. Hinckley spoke and one thing he said that stuck out is that the greatest suffering a missionary can experience is regret. Will you think... I wish I had or I'm glad I did?

I don't know if I've mentioned this but our district struggles a little bit with singing hymns haha! But recently we've been doing pretty good! And we're even singing in Sacrament Meeting because it's our last one. We're singing God Be WIth You Till We Meet Again and we practiced last night so hopefully it goes well! I did some intense abs this week and let me tell ya, I can feel it haha! I've also been playing a lot of bump which is always so fun! And we did yoga this morning. I seriously wanted to lay on the mat for the rest of the day! It was so relaxing! Well I love you all and I can't wait to talk to you!!! Oh btw...we got a letter yesterday and we won't have any of our luggage until Wednesday night! That's like two days after we get there! Paro esta bien!

con amor,

Hermana Blackner

p i c t u r e s

"the book of mormon is probably the greatest thing on the planet"

Hola Mi Familia!

Only a week and a half left and then I will be in A.L.A.B.A.M.A.! SOOO crazy! The MTC has flown by and I can't believe we're the "old" ones here now. Well I guess we'll start with the 4th of July. After our fabulous p-day, we had class for only 2 hours and then we went to a devotional. There was just one speaker, a musical number, and then we got to watch 17 miracles! Oh, and we sung lots of patriotic hymns. It was awesome! Then we went outside, had ice cream bars, and watched the fireworks. Definitely a highlight of the MTC. So that didn't get over till like 11 or something, already way past our bedtime. Then our service project every week is to put away all the chairs, stands, podium, mats, and tarps in the gym after devotionals so we had to do that and didn't get to bed till after midnight! It was pretty crazy, but seriously such a fantastic day :)

On sunday, everything was a little bit different because of fast sunday. We had a mission conference with the whole MTC which was way good. Then Hermana Torgersen and I had to teach our district meeting on faith in Jesus Christ. It was so fun to prepare a lesson in English and just have a discussion with our district and everyone participated which was awesome. We based a lot of it off of a talk by Richard G. Scott called The Transforming Power of Faith and Character. It's a good one so you should definitely read it! I even made cute little handouts with a quote and a picture on it :) So we didn't eat until 5:20 which is a long time to wait when you get up at 6:30 haha but it was all good. We sat by the MTC president and his wife at dinner and it was way awesome to meet them and talk with them. Kind of a big deal ;)

On tuesday our devotional was L. Lionel Kendrick whose son is the mission president of the Carlsbad mission right now! He had all the missionaries going there stand up and told them to be nice haha! I also got an email from President Hanks and it sounds like they enjoyed their first week in Alabama.

Hermano Ralphs has challenged us all to memorize D&C 4 in spanish. I was working on the Articles of Faith so there is lots of memorizing going on. But I think it, I think that's how I learn best. We didn't do a ton of teaching this week but the lessons we did have went really well. Juana is continuing to progress and is still getting ready to be baptized. We committed Carlos to be baptized so that was good! Hermano Ralphs has been having us practice inviting people to be baptized on the first lesson before we even say the opening prayer! How crazy is that??! I think I had my first awkward spanish moment in a lesson though yesterday. I asked Carlos if he would read Alma 34 tonight and he said yes. And so I said, "el libro es por usted" (this book is for you) and I handed it to him but he didn't take it, he just said how? and so I thought he was asking how the book was for him. And I started explaining that he will be able to find answers to his questions and Hermana Torgersen started saying that it was another testament of Jesus Christ. So then I asked him again if he would read it and he said yes and I handed it to him again and he said, "¿Oh, el libro is para mi?" And I was like, "Si!" So after the lesson he was gave the book back to me and said "El libro is para usted, Hermana Blackner" Gracias Hermano Ralphs....so essentially por and para mean the same thing but you have to use them for different purposes so por would mean the book is by you and para is the book is for you. So he thought that I was saying that he wrote the book...false haha! And most people would totally know what you were saying and it wouldn't be a big deal but Hermano Ralphs was just trying to make my life complicated and said, it's ok, that's how we learn" thanks a lot haha! So we got a good laugh out of that one!

Other funny moments of the week...actually probably too many to count because we're always laughing. So our district kind of struggles with singing hymns acappella. Like, it's bad. Individually, everyone has pretty nice oices but you put them all together and it's bad news bears. There are notes flyin' all over the place. And I always have to contain my laughter and stop singing because it's just awful. Paro esta bien! One day we'll get it I'm sure haha! We also changed seats in the classroom. Big news. I know! But really, it doesn't take much to please missionaries and we are all enjoying our new view, especially since we spend so much time in there. Elder Holman is super short, like 5'5" and to remember his name we just said he's a whole (hol) man in a half man's body hahaha!

Well I would just like to end by sharing a little bit about the Book of Mormon. Probably the greatest thing on the planet. I absolutely love reading it and learning more about it. So here's the coolest thing about the Book of Mormon. You should all try it. Just make a list of questions, seriously anything. Just things you're wondering about, "questions of the soul". Write them down and then look for scriptures that answer your question. I know that you will be able to find it! We've done that a couple times in class and its the most awesome thing ever! There is just so much power in the book and it really can help us through anything. We also wrote a list of topics on the board for our lessons, like faith, love, baptism, repentence, atonement, profetas, and then we just searched for scriptures on every topic and then I compiled a list for our whole class so we have  list of scriptures to use during the lessons. One of the most helpful things ever! And then you can just pick your favorite one to use out of all of them. SOO convenient. I know the Book of Mormon is true and I am so grateful for it! I'm almost done reading it and I'm pretty sure 3 Nephi, Ether, and Moroni are my favorites. They are just filled with so much good stuff! I love reading about when Christ came and I just wish I could've been there. How awesome that he talked to them one by one, and spent so much time being with them, teaching them, and praying for them. I cannot wait to meet my Savior. The church is true, the book is blue!

Hermana Eyring left this week on vacation but she showed us pictures of her mission and I'm so excited to get out there and teach real people! She made a cute little book that would be fun to do when I get home. We've had some different substitute teachers recently and it's way awesome to experience other teaching styles and learn from tons of different people. They all did different things on their missions and have different ways of helping us and I love it!

  

I hope you all have a great week! Only one more p-day in the CCM!

Love you lots! Con amor,

Hermana Blackner

"work, love, laugh"

Hola!

 

Well it was another great week in the MTC! I thought of Sister Williams and her mail shoutouts....thanks so much to all the friends and fam that sent me letters this week! It seriously makes my day :) I got my package too and it was the best! It reminded me that I have a real life outside of the MTC haha :) And I LOVE the pajama pants. I wore them to bed last night :) And since it's p-day I get to wear my 4th of July shirt ALL DAY! All the sisters are excited that I'm so excited about today haha! Jealous that I don't get to be at Stadium of Fire but at least we get to watch the fireworks :) It's gonna be awesome! And we are gonna have a devotional too which should be good.

 

So I just wanted to share something pretty awesome. It's Sister Doman's motto, I guess you could call it. Apply it to your life!

WORK

Work hard! NO ONE outworks us.

LOVE

Love more than you've ever loved before. Learn HOW to love. Guess what? It's the craziest thing, but e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e. wants to feelloved.

And last, LAUGH

Have fun and make the most of your MTC experience. supersize it. Because why not??

 

Our zone got a new district this week. 4 sisters and 4 elders just like my district! Two of them are going to Colombia and the rest Argentina. It's so crazy to think that we're not the new ones anymore! Our spanish has been improving a lot especially since Hermano Ralphs became our teacher. We are not allowed to speak one word in english. He says we are going to be the best missionaries the world has ever seen and I think he truly believes that and wants to help us accomplish that.

If you remember from last week, I was kind of having a hard time adjusting to him. And I felt like the invesigator that he was playing, Carlos, was essentially the same person. So one day Hermana Torgersen and I go in to teach him and we prayed like we always do and Hermana Eyring said to just give it time and really try and see what Heavenly Father wants you to learn from him. So we got to get to know him better and try to understand where he was coming from and why he didn't believe in God anymore. We listened a lot and explained why we were there and then I asked him what we could do to help him. He started answering and I didn't catch all of it but I did catch this one phrase. "You can help me to have hope again." And I just lost it. Like I started c.r.y.i.n.g. in the middle of our lesson and it was a huge turning point for me. The spirit in the room was SO strong and any negative thought I had about Carlos/Hno Ralphs totally disappeared and I just felt this overwhelming love for him and wanted to help him. Obviously I couldn't really talk and so Hna Torgersen took over and said just the perfect things that he needed to hear and then guess what...he said he would pray!!!! It was like a dream come true!!! We were reflecting on the lesson later and just realized how important it is to teach by the spirit and how much Heavenly Father blesses us if all we do is ask. Investigators can be frustrating especially when they don't want to do anything you ask them to but over time their hearts will soften and you just have to be patient and love them.

 

Devotional was awesome this week. It was Matthew O. Richardson from the Sunday School General Presidency. I was going to take a class from him at BYU. He spoke about acting our part well. If you look at that stone, the one with the What E're Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part quote, the one that President Mckay saw in Scotland on his mission, you'll see uner the quote all the little symbols and they're each numbers.

No matter which way you add them up, it will always be 18. He compared it to our missionary calls and different lines from it and how when they are all put together, great results will take place. Each of us has a part to do and we need to do it well!

 

My companions and I have been doing a fun thing every night called one nice thing and we say something about everyone in our district and our teachers. It's so much fun and really gets you to focus on the positive qualities that everyone has. You should try it at home! I hope you are all having a fabulous 4th of July! I miss you and love you lots!

 

Con amor,

Hermana Blackner