Tornado Survivor

Yup, you read correctly, I have officially been in a tornado!
I didn't actually get to see it, which was kind of a bummer, but it definitely hit right here in Fort Payne. And I did wake up to our weather alert texts and the warnings from our wonderful weather radio, NOAA (like Noah...kinda ironic because he was the one that prophesied about the flood)

But all is well and we are safe!

I was sitting in church yesterday and I came to the conclusion that I am most definitely a city girl. Don't mind visiting the country and just exploring it for a while, but there is no way that I could live here! It is pretty crazy, but it's definitely a fun adventure :)

It's a little different to adjust to missionary work out here because everything is SOOO spread out. We're talkin' like our branch boundaries are 80 miles across. Part of it even goes into Georgia and we're about an hour and a half from Chattanooga, Tennessee! Our branch has about 50 regular attenders including children and it's the smallest building I've ever been to. There's not even a cultural hall! But the people are really sweet and most of them are converts so it's been fun to hear about how they joined the church. One of my favorite parts is the "mountains". For all you folks out west, they are most definitely glorified hills. But we just go with the flow and call it a mountain while we're here for all intents and purposes haha! I'll have to take a picture of it soon!

Fort Payne is the "big city" around here and there is just one strip that has a few restaurants and most importantly, a WALMART. It's quite the crackup and I am slowly, but surely learning to love it! It took Hermana Torgersen about 3 months to get used to it and I've been here for less than a week so it'll come :)

Speaking of which, I am just so SO happy to be here with Hermana Torgensen. It is most definitely a dream.come.true!!!! In fact, earlier this morning we were reminicsing about our days in the CCM. We just had an absolute blast! And now we get to be together in the field. It's completely different being in the real world together, but definitely just as much fun :) She is the sweetest, most positive, Christlike person I know! And I just feel so blessed to have her as my companion. (Shhh...don't tell President we've been companions before!)

We are working with some awesome people too! We met a man named Jubentino this week. He had met some other sisters before and really wanted a book of mormon. We were able to bring him one and had a great lesson with him, and Hna T did most of the talking (she's had some more practice with her spanish) but she said that the gift of tongues definitely helped her with that one. We were also with a member from the branch and were able to translate for her. Let's just say our espanol has come a looonnnggggg way since the CCM. We are also teaching this cute family that has a baptismal date! They have theee cutest two year old named Alex and I just can't wait for them to join the church! It definitely is a struggle to get hispanics to come to an english ward/branch but we're doing the best we can. There are a few less-actives that we're trying to get back and hopefully start a little spanish group. I guess they used to have one but then Alabama changed the immigration laws and a lot of them had to leave. #welcometobeingaspanishspeakingmissionaryinthestates

Can you believe all of this talk about hispanics? Finally, after half my mission we are speaking spanish on a daily basis. It's a little bit difficult because I haven't had that much experience but I'm just trying to do the best I can!

All is well from the backwoods of Alabama! Being a missionary is such a fun adventure!

Together again :)

con amor,
Hermana Blackner

Hello From Fort Payne

Well this was probably the best day of my life because guess what??!
Hermana Torgersen and I are back together!!!!!

I couldn't have asked for anything better :) It's seriously a dream come true!

We are so ready to go to work here in Fort Payne! It's super super country which will be different for me but I'm excited! 

We are going to mutual tonight and we are in a branch which will also be new! Fun and exciting changes :)

love you lots and you'll hear more from me on Monday! 

~Hermana BLackner

On the Road Again

It was a great week to be in A.L.A.B.A.M.A.!!! 

My favorite part about the name of this state is that there is a letter "a" every other letter. Kinda like banana haha! 

In just two short days I will be headed to a new area with a new companera! It is always so sad to say goodbye to everyone but such is the mission life. And I know that I am going to be going where the Lord needs me to be. 

Tuesday: We got some snow today! But this was nothing compared to what was to come! We weren't allowed to drive, so we just went out walking! We got to make snow ice cream! 

4 cups of fresh snow

1 cup of milk

1/2 cup of sugar

vanilla

mix together and enjoy! :)

It was awesome! But mostly all the snow was melted by that night.

Wednesday: It was pouring down rain all day and then around 4 o'clock, we had a snow day!!! It was probably the best thing ever! We had were at the church and then weren't allowed to drive anymore so we hurried to the Triggs to practice our song for Sunday. It was absolutely beautiful! And when the Elders got there, they just couldn't resist throwing some snowballs. So Sister McDowell and I go out there in our skirts and we built a snowman with the Elders and Eric and Chris, who is actually a less-active. Snowball fights = reactivation! It was so much fun and the snow just didn't stop coming! And all the boys were just ruthless! We were completely drenched. I'm pretty sure I looked like a drowned rat, but it was so much fun! And of course, we felt like we were right at home, because we had to take off our wet stuff at the door and Mama Trigg handed us towels, warm socks and had made us waffles, eggs, bacon, hot cocoa, and popcorn. It was a blast!!! We walked home since we couldn't drive and there was a good 5 inches. This never happens in Alabama. And of course it was documented by pictures and go pro videos :)

Thursday: We did some de-junking and de-cluttering in our apartment as part of our weekly planning this week. It's lookin' good! And then we went out and met a woman named Barbara. She was just the sweetest lady ever and was so confused why we were outside in the cold that night haha! Gotta love the southerners, they are always so worried about us being safe, warm, and fed :) 

Anyways, she met missionaries a long time ago in Tennessee. 

Short story:

Some Elders were biking and one of them had an accident right in front of her house! She went out to help him and then they became friends and they started teaching them! She even took them out to do fun things on p-day! And they are still in contact with them, but just like every other person I talked to this week, "she's baptist" and she really respects us and what we do but she says she's not going to change her beliefs haha! We'll see about that....

Friday: Happy Valentine's Day!♥ Sister McDowell and I started the day off right! We went and got a heartbaker pizza at Papa Murphy's and for dessert we had a red velvet chessecake molten cake. It was all divine and SO worth it! 

After District Meeting I had the opportunity to go to Madison with Sister Kudlacek! We had an absolutely amazing exchange! I always love exchanges because you get to learn so much from other missionaries! We just went around talking to people and handing out lots of chocolate! It was so cool to talk about the love that our Heavenly Father has for each one of us on this special day of love. All the holidays take on a whole new meaning when you are a missionary.  It was so great to actually go out and work and just be a real missionary! Nothing spectacular happened, but I can't tell you how much joy I felt just from being able to go out and talk to people. I felt pretty invincible. It was supposed to be warming up today but that didn't exactly happen. It started pouring down rain! And we had a few minutes before our dinner appointment so we went out and knocked on a few doors. Well, we ended up talking to this guy for a really long time on his front porch and by the time we showed up to dinner we were absolutely soaking wet. It seems to be a trend this week haha! But that didn't even phase me because either I was just being really blessed or I knew that I was on the Lord's errand and I was going to do whatever necessary to share the gospel with these people. 

I was able to reflect a lot with Sister Kudlacek on our experience as missionaries and what we love about it. It is absolutely amazing to talk to someone who has the same drive and passion for the work that you do. There are so many aspects of being a missionary that are completely out of your control but it's up to you to take what is thrown at you and rise above the challenge and in the end, become more like your Savior for doing so. It really isn't easy, but it is so so worth it! We talked a lot about losing yourself in the work to find yourself. 

{Luke 9:23-25} 

We both are about halfway done and realized that we don't have time to waste. There is a great work to do and we were called to serve here in Alabama for a reason. We need to be using every minute of the day with great effectiveness so that we don't miss opportunities that Heavenly Father has put in our paths to bless the lives of the people here and offer them service in any way that we can. 

Saturday: Today after we exchanged back Sister M surprised me with all of my mail! Valentine's Day mail is so much fun! Too cute! We had to go back to our apartment so Elder Tyler could install our new tiwi. Now Sister M has to make sure she's following all the rules since it actually works. But it will be ok because she's a really good driver!

[Charlotte] We are finally teaching her! Yay! We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and she could just not wait until we got to the part about where we're going after this life. She probably asked us about it like 5 times throughout the lesson haha! She says that most of the stuff that she knows about the church makes sense but that she doesn't actually believe it. So I guess what it really comes down to is FAITH! So we talked a little bit about how we find truth and how we get answers from our Heavenly Father. She is going to get there!

[Brenda] This cute lady got her patriarchal blessing yesterday and she was seriously on cloud 9. It was the cutest thing ever! She was just describing to us exactly how she felt and what happened throughout the whole thing and you could just see the excitement through the phone! We had another movie night and we had mexican food this time. It was super yummy! And we just laughed and laughed and talked about everything. It was a blast! We watched the Emma Smith movie and I was thinking a lot about the persecution of the saints at that time. They were among some of the strongest people I know. It is absolutely amazing to see how they endured all the trials that were given them, especially to Joseph and Emma. Throughout the whole thing I was thinking a lot about why there is so much persecution against the church and I thought about something that President Hanks tells us a lot. He says that there is only so much anti because it's true. If it wasn't true, no one would care. And that's just really not fair at all! But I guess that none of us will have to suffer as much, or in the same way as those early saints or more importantly our Savior. As we are strong though and strengthen our faith each day and stand up for what we believe in, then I think those opposing parties will lose their power. There is nothing that can bring us down if we have the Lord on our side. 

Sunday: Elder Leali'ie'e, Elder McMurtry, Sister McDowell and I sang "I Believe in Christ" yesterday in Sacrament Meeting. It brought a really nice spirit to the meeting and it was fun to see all of the wonderful ward members watching us with bright, smiling faces Ü 

And the best part about church yesterday was the awesome investigators that the Elders brought and the wonderful less-active that came back to church yesterday after a good 10 years. She referred herself to mormon.org a few months ago so she could get in contact with the missionaries and we have re-taught her the lessons and then she was finally ready to come back! It made me so happy to see her there!!!! And afterwards when I asked her how it was she said that she felt right at home! Yes!!! So exciting :) 

I started to say goodbye to people and got lots of pictures at church. I'm really going to miss this amazing ward! I have just grown to love them so much and am so grateful for their friendship and good examples! 

Global Warming is a Real Thing

Hola! Yo quiero hablar mas en espanol pero no hay muchas oportunidades aqui. Es no bueno!

Well that's about as much Spanish as I get to use this week. 

It really hit me as people keep asking me about Spanish that I really don't get to use it 

and I'm freaking out because I'm almost halfway done with my mission 

and I feel like I'm never going to learn it!

Every week our district leader has us work on a Christlike attribute and we report back to him on Sunday nights. This past week I was working on patience. Throughout my mission, I feel like my patience has improved tremendously, but we can always do better right?

Well this week Heavenly Father was going to teach my patience. 

The first 3 days of the week...there were some major trials! 

And they came in the form of ELDERS. 

But we persevered and came out conqueror. 

This week we had reason to CELEBRATE!!!!

February 6: Sister McDowell's year mark (Kenzie's birthday Ü) 

February 7: One year anniversary of receiving my mission call

February 8: Elder Leali'ie'e's 2 year mark!

So during correlation on friday night, we had Cafe Rio. And it was d.i.v.i.n.e.

The works:

pork

cilantro lime rice

homemade tortillas

the dressing

homemade pico de guallo

homemade guacamole

beans

horchata

Sounds amazing, right?

We went on lots of visits this week. 

First, with the Primary President to all the kids who have birthdays this month! It was so fun! 

And then yesterday with the Relief Society Presidency to less-active members. 

It's really nice to be involved and get to meet more people so that we can help them to strengthen their testimonies and fulfill our purpose!

We had dinner at one of our favorite families this week. We had breakfast for dinner and they were all in their PJs. It was adorable! 

For our lesson we talked about our families and how important they are and how we can show our love for them. And one of those ways is SERVICE. 

So we had them each pick someone in their family to do service for this week and then tell us at church yesterday. 

They all walk into the building and they are giggling and avoiding eye contact with us. 

Sister McDowell and I had kind of forgot that we asked them to do that but then the mom came up to us and said that they reason for all the silliness is that they were waiting to tell us who they were going to do haha! 

It was so precious! 

So one by one, they each came up and told, and then next week they are going to report on how it went! 

Quick recap on zone conference:

----Mosiah 18:30 

We will always love Alabama

This is copied from what I sent to President this week. Remember this?

First of all, when you were talking about the waters of Mormon and how Alabama will always be a sacred place for us I thought about a couple years ago when my parents went to Guatemala in July and actually saw the waters of Mormon. They sent each of their kids a postcard from there and I was at BYU, but the other 3 still lived at home. So they all got their postcards in August or so. I was taking a Book of Mormon class that fall semester and one day in October, our lesson was about that place and the significance that it had for all of those people. When I walked home from class that day my postcard came 3 months later! I told my teacher about it and he then talked to me about the tender mercies of the Lord and how sometimes things like that happen and they definitely aren't coincidences. The Lord really is involved in the details of our life and I am so grateful for those places, like the waters of Mormon and Alabama and BYU where people have come to the knowledge of their Redeemer.

----Service Soften Stony Souls

----What describes YOU?

Do you do things out of duty or out of love?

duty     -------------------------------------------------------->          love

on a mission                      missionary                     disciple

It was a fabulous day! 

Well we're supposed to get some snow today and tomorrow. I know spring is just around the corner! I just know it! 

love love love

Hermana Blackner

My Week in the Land of Carbs

It all started last monday when we made the half hour drive out to see our good friends the Lynchs!

We hung out there all day on the farm and even though it was too cold to go out and get a tour and feed the chickens and what not, we stayed in the cute little house and baked all day! 

Homemade pizza and homemade cinnamon and orange rolls. It was all to.die.for.! 

We were stuffed! 

And then ate it for the rest of the week. 

But of course we shared with the elders. 

Bless their hearts, it was probably the only real food they got.

 It was the end of the month and none of them had any money #missionaryproblems 

That night we had FHE at the Trigg's with a super sweet lady in our ward named Linda. She has special needs and she is a hoot! I love her! 

We talked with her about the blessings that Heavenly Father has given us and then Sister Trigg showed her a mormon message about families. She said she's been watching it all week :)

We had an [uh-mazing] broadcast this weekend! It was with Elder Perry and Elder Rasband on Hastening the Work! It was broadcast at 85 locations to all the ward councils. 

Elder Zwick came and talked to the zone leaders and sister training leaders and besides saying that "we had the best missionaries in the entire world", 

he also told them that we are getting our technology soon! 

As in like 2 months!!!! :) 

So. we are super de duper excited about that!

{the scripture of our day} 

          D&C 88:73

So they instructed us for the first hour and then the second hour was a question and answer session.

It was so cool to be a part of and the spirit was so strong! 

They truly are men called of God and were sent here to the South to help instruct our leaders on how they can better help us!

basically Elder Perry just told them to stop wasting our time and that they needed to fill our calenders. 

And he is hilarious! 

Everyone was commenting on how different he is when it's not General Conference!

We had a PPP party this weekend as well! 

Pajamas, pizza, and popcorn! 

We watched the Testaments with Brenda and it was a blast! We all just love the end when the Savior comes. It is powerful to watch!

Pretty sure every missionary has that movie memorized by the time they go home. It's our only form of entertainment haha! 

The most amazing find of the week....

my favorite feature: the separator! Then you can get multiple flavors and they won't all run together! GENIUS!

P.S. There's one in Tacoma. You won't be disappointed :)

The day I figure out Alabama weather, that will be theee day.

One day it's 60 and wonderful and we don't need a jacket, the next day it's 30 and pouring down rain and miserable. Just make up your mind!

Can we please just talk about how it's F E B R U A R Y??

I just can't believe it! I got my mission call a whole year ago and my little sister is turning the big two-oh! What has become of the world? Craziness!

Well the coolest thing I probably experienced this week was how every morning before studies I would always pray that I would be able to use the things that I studied in my teaching that day. 

And guess what?

It worked! Without fail, all of the many wonderful things I had studied fit in perfectly with the lessons that we taught!

Coincidence? I think not.

I'm doing a social experiment on the hastening of the work. I'll give ya an update on that next week :)

funny line of the week:

all the men yesterday bore their testimonies about their wives and how they had found their better halves and just appreciated and loved them so much and were so grateful that they were sealed in the temple. 

well. a 15 year old got up there and said...

"unlike these other men, I'm still waiting for my better half"

hahaha what a comedian!

Congrats to the Seahawks! Last time they even went to the Superbowl was when I was in 7th grade. Such a long time ago! Wish I was there to celebrate in all the excitement! So fun!

love y'all muchisimo

Hairmanna Blackner