Men Are That They Might Have Joy - 2 Nephi 2:25

This week was c.r.a.z.y.! But I think every week in mission life tends to be on the adventure side. There's never a dull moment. The weather is still trying to make up it's mind so we've had some beautiful short-sleeve days and some bundle up days tambien.

We got to go to the temple on tuesday and it was glorious! Out of all my favorite places in the whole entire world...definitely makes the top of the list. Two words that could describe the experience:

{joy & peace}

Joy because that's what Heavenly Father created us to have. And peace because the spirit is just so strong within in the walls of the Lord's house.

In case y'all didn't know, Satan is real. And he's not fun to deal with. But guess what happens when we stand up to Satan? You get stronger. And you prove to Heavenly Father that you really really really do want to follow Him and keep His commandments and that nothing can stop you from progressing and making it one step closer to returning to live with Him.

"Don’t give up. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead Youkeep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come. Some blessingscome soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of JesusChrist, they come."

Sister T and I went exploring a little bit in downtown Bham this week. Saw some crazies, had some good gospel discussions, even met an awesome man named Bob at the UAB hospital. He asked me about the salmon up in WA and thought I was going to steal his money. And as with most everyone else, he could read me like a book and knew that I didn't know what to think about him. He is a character! And bless his heart, he has cancer. But I think we were able to make his day a little bit better. I know I would want visitors if I was laying in a hospital bed! He told us that we shouldn't pray with our arms folded because then we're closing off everything that is in our hearts. So we just prayed with our arms open wide so all the good stuff that we were saying could be sent up to heaven :)

Sports update of the week:

(since none of y'all have even mentioned MARCH MADNESS. Only one of my favorite times of the year...) 

Sign me up for FIFA twenty fourteen. Yup, you heard it here first. I'm gonna become a professional futbol playa. You know me and all my mad skills with all those hispanics.

ha. ha. funny joke! I can't play soccer to save my life, but we just have a blast every friday night with all our amigos. It's a work in progress. Ya never know, I might actually get aggressive enough to be good at this. Need to work on my agility. Literally have no control over my feet. But good times nonetheless.

SUCCESS STORIES

This is what we were asked to share last week at district meeting. I was feeling a little brain dead that morning so this is what I came up with. Success is different for every person. And recently for me, success can sometimes be just waking up in the morning. Success can be making it one more mile down the road. Or even just to the next door. Success is knowing that you're a child of your Heavenly Father and knowing that He always loves you and is willing to help you. Success means that you just keep trying and that even when you're on a mission to serve others that somehow you end up serving yourself because you never knew how strong you really were. You become more converted, you learn priceless knowledge, and at the end of the day you just have gratitude because you know that you didn't get through the day on your own. Our Heavenly Father is constantly mindful of us and we just have to look for His hand in our lives because He wants us to find SUCCESS.

I thought I would hop on the band wagon and talk about our new teaching method. Ready for it? 

The Restoration of the Gospel in 7 minutes. The investigator prays, gets a book of mormon, and is invited to be baptized all in about 20 minutes. Crazy right?! Well it works. They teach themselves, want to read more, and they have a stronger testimony of prayer. Baptisms are supposed to explode and this helps us to find the elect. It's a big deal. Kind of a new adjustment and takes lots of practice, but is so much fun!

Today we are off to the zoo! I love going to the zoo so there will probably be good pictures next week :)

con amor, 

Hermana Blackner

Got Green?

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!
Never been a fan of green, but I do have my nails painted today #antipinchpolish

Well it's been nice to have a fresh start somewhere more permanent! We've been doing some great work and have quite a few people we're working with now :)

I'm feeling a little bit under the weather today so I'll write as much as I can but this week may be a little bit under par. 

 

First of all, can we just talk about how much I absolutely LOVE the hispanic people! They are just so humble and so much easier to talk to and are warm and inviting!

Hermana T and I have been continuing to talk to e.v.e.r.y.o.n.e.

It's a lot of fun! We've been doing a lot of walking too which here in the city, you always find people to talk to. Especially when the weather is nice! And spring is definitely almost here!

I gave my first talk in espanol yesterday! I was a little bit nervous given the fact that I had less than 24 hours notice but it all went well! And it was on the Savior. Easiest topic ever, right?!

We helped out all day on Saturday with a huge Family History Day at the church. When we were getting our instructions I wrote a note on a post-it. Here's how it went: 

Me: " I think I'm going to be one of those old ladies that loves family history someday haha!"

Hna T: "Yo tombien. We can do it together! Maybe start our own club!"

hahaha!
So there you have it in writing. Family history is awesome! And it's not just about the pedigree charts and the temple work. It about the stories and the real lives of the people behind the names. It's all about the "dash".

We hit our halfway mark together! It was an awesome day! Half cookies, balloons, BBQ, postcards, nail polish, fun notes, and of course lots of teaching. Even to some crazies in Bham.

I feel like recently Sister T and I have been doing a little bit of the divide and conquer method. One teaches the lesson while the other distracts the kids. Lots of candy, stickers, and playing with their toys does the trick :) The good news: that means we're teachingfamilies!

So a little info about our branch. We have about 20 people there on a good day. It just needs a lot of strengthening. Mostly in the form of reactivation. There are some awesome priesthood holders and really faithful members. They just work work work all the time but understand the importance of the covenants that they have made. I've been able to help out a lot with music, so that's been fun! We also play futbol every friday which is a blast! 

It's true! He does live and He loves each one of us! I'm am so grateful to be a missionary and help others to grow closer to Him! Strengthen your faith and recognize the miracles that follow!

con amor,
Hermana Blackner

On the Road Again

Hermana Torgersen and I got transferred again! I'm not kidding!
We're probably setting records. 3 areas in 3 weeks. Yup, it's been curaaaazzzeeee.
BUT. We've been having a lot of fun! Speaking spanish and just talking with all of la gente.

We also decided that we're going to start a professional packing business. If anyone needs their house packed up in 2 hours of less, we're your girls. Just give us a call! We're pretty much p.r.o.s. now!

So here's our new address once again. This one will be a little bit more permanent though. At least for the next 3 weeks.

12 Aspen Cove Apt. 202

Homewood, AL 35209

We still love getting mail! That's something that hasn't changed :)

We are now in the Altadena Branch! It's muy chiquita but we love it!
There is lots of good work to do here :) And it's super close to my old stomping grounds in Bham.
So that's a plus! I know the area a little bit from exchanges and district meetings and what not.
We are in the citaayyy! Hermana T hasn't figured out how to deal with all the busy streets yet ;)
And guess who our district leader is?!!!

Good ol' Elder Wilkins from the CCM. He's matured a lot since those days :)

Hermana Torgersen and I got to do some work in the mission office last week! It was super fun!  <<filed papers, organized mail, put stickers on planners, counted out mormon.org cards>>
ya know, all those office things. 

And let me tell you, they needed the help! When two of the senior couples leave this month, it's gonna be a little rough! But that means that we just get to serve more! Lucky us!

We've been getting a preview of spring the past couple days. It is seriously soooo nice! But all good things must come to an end right? (speaking of which, in two days is the big 9 months. the downhill slide begins...)

We taught some awesome lessons on tuesday. It really reminded me about how everyone needs the gospel and how it can apply to anyone in any situation. Basically it all comes down to the fact that we are literally His spirit children and He loves us!

The missionaries here in this area have been really helpful at getting us some lists of people to teach and introducing us to the members and getting us started so hopefully I'll have some awesome teaching moments to share next week. It's just been the weirdest thing to be going out and talking all day to people but have nothing be permanent.

We had a stake relief society meeting on Saturday and I got to see a lot of the wonderful ladies from the Birmingham Ward. I love them all! Birmingham will always have a special place in my heart :) It was so fun to get caught up on their families and the ward and such. It felt like I was talking to people from home. almost...

The Stake Relief Society President was talking about how after watching a movie she realized, along with the character, that we can't have perfect lives. But we can have perfect moments. So the rest of the night was dedicated to sharing perfect moments in missionary work, the new youth curriculum, temple work, and finding lost members. 

What have been some of your "perfect moments"??

Something I've been contemplating on a lot recently is the fact that I am supposed to be here. There have been tons of tender mercies {kind of a theme from my life} that have shown me that Heavenly Father really does know me and love me. 

While I was sitting in the meeting listening to a young woman play "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" on the violin, I realized that amongst all this craziness, that that's really what I'm doing. Just going where the Lord needs me.

This is what I wrote in my planner:

"How lucky I am to be here with the best companion in the world sharing the gospel to all who will hear in Alabama. I don't think it will ever cease to amaze me that I really am a representative of Jesus Christ, but I'm so glad I'm here! I am so grateful for President and Sister Hanks for their love and for the relationship that I have developed with them. This is where I'm supposed to be"

One last thought. I was reading Our Search for Happiness by Elder Ballard and found this awesome quote:
"A quality life is one that positively influences others and makes the world around it a better place in which to live. A quality life is one that is constantly growing, expanding its horizons and enlarging its borders. A quality life is one that is filled with love and loyalty, patience and perseverance, kindness and compassion. A quality life is one that is based on eternal potential and not confined to this life only. A quality life is a life well-lived."

So let's go about living quality lives and looking at the eternal perspective. What a wonderful life we have to live! Enjoy the journey :)

{best family ever} {they own a bakery} {love them}

con muchisimo amor,
Hermana Blackner

The Dream Team Goes to Birmingham

Yup, you heard it here first ladies and gentleman,
Hermana T and I are in the LORNA SPANISH BRANCH!!!!

Heavenly Father answers prayers.

And is SOOO mindful of our individual needs.

We have been waiting for this day for our entire missions...

a) to be together again

b) to actually speak espanol!

It is a DREAM.COME.TRUE. Ü

ok, so looonnnngggg story, but basically we got two hours to pack and then we drove an hour and a half on friday night to Bham. It wasc.r.a.z.y. But all is well! And we live with two other sisters and it's a blast!
Here's our address:

202 Chace Lake Pkwy

Hoover, AL 35216

We ♥ mail!

We don't know exactly what we're doing yet, but it'll all get under control soon! So for right now we're just along for the ride :)

It warmed up a little bit this weekend which was so nice! We were just out talking to people without a jacket. It was fabulous! Hermana Torgersen is adjusting to the big city :) She's been in small towns for the past 9 months. 

Change. is. good.

Saturday we got to do some service by setting up for a wedding reception!
It was so much fun but also so weird! It looked gorgeous though and we all decided that we are not ready for all that business yet.
Good thing we don't even have to think about it for 9 more months.
Like for real.
Total anti-boy/love/marriage right now.
As it should be, right?

We also got to go to a baby shower for a lady in the branch. So fun! The hispanic people are just the sweetest! Lots of laughter and lots of new people to meet!

Sunday = best.day.ever!!!!!!!

seriously.

It could not have gotten any better!

So we got ready and went to church. 

For almost a split second we felt like we were in another country.
All the hugs and kisses and spanish.
Plus the 10 missionaries...all gringos. Woo!
It was a lot to take in but the best part about it was that we felt completely at home. We just fit right in and felt so incredibly blessed to be there. These people are absolutely amazing and have so much faith and are so loving and such great covenant keepers! They have such strong testimonies too! 

Let's be honest, I understand a lot more than I can speak, but even just being around the language is so cool! We felt like we were completely fulfilling our purpose as spanish speaking missionaries. Yay us!

And to finish off our crazy week, we had the opportunity to go to the Hanks last night.
Can I say, "luckiest sisters in the world!" 

So here's what went down.

President comes and picks us up and then makes me sit in the front seat because he has done enough chauffeuring of kids in his life haha!
Windows down, jacket off, completely chill mission president.
I am seriously so grateful for that man!

So we get to the mission home and help Sister Hanks finish making dinner and it was amazing!
And President was excited because he says he never gets fed this good haha! So we're just talking and laughing and enjoying each other's company like we've all been best friends for years.
It was unforgettable!

And then we got to play the piano and violin for a while. We're definitely going to do a musical number in church sometime soon! (after we practice more)
It was so nice to touch the strings of a violin again! Sister Hanks and I are going to do a duet sometime too which will be so fun! She already reminds me so much of Sister Gehring, it will just feel so good to do something like that! 

We then watched the CES Devotional. Sister Burton of the General Relief Society Presidency spoke about recognizing the spirit in our life. I love learning about this topic. #confessionsofformersisterblackner: sometimes I would actually just study talks and scriptures about the spirit. I don't know why, but personal revelation has always been really interesting to me and something I feel like you can never know too much about!

So here's her 8 steps:

one. pray sincerely

two. act promptly to answers

three. search the scriptures daily

four. live the law of the fast

five. be worthy and worship often in the temple

six. don't trifle with spiritual things

seven. be prepared to move forward with faith

eight. let the Lord decide what details He gives and when He gives them
It was very uplifting :)

Then we ate ice cream, played more music, and had family prayer! I can't even imagine being a mission president but he said that this was the most fun they've had in a long time! A whole night where they didn't have to worry about anything and didn't have to go speak anywhere or deal with some missionary in a crisis. It was the perfect sunday!

Get ready for lots more spanish and a whole new side to missionary work! We are just so lucky to be here and to have the opportunity to bring the gospel to the people here in Hoover! Stay tuned 'til next week!

♥con muchisimo amor,

hermana blackner (officially hermana Ü)

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!