May 25, 2021

 Hello again everybody!

If I didn't have this weekly email to keep track of time, I would have no idea how much time had already passed. Quite a lot has happened this week, so let's just get right into it, shall we? 

So first up, on Tuesday night, we got a call from the Assistants, who informed us that we would be getting another companionship of Elders living with us. We exchanged some details about how many beds we had, how many bikes, etc., slashed our plans for the next day, and spent the better part of the night moving beds between rooms, and trying to fit all our stuff into the one room my companion and I share. Good times. The next day, we kind of just had to wait around for the entire morning, because the only word we got from the mission offices is that we would be getting the new Elders 'Some time before 2:00'. Very helpful of them. So we kind of just sat around outside doing personal and companion study until they finally arrived. With two extra beds in tow. Yeah, apparently that didn't get communicated well enough. So we had to drag both extra frames and mattresses over to the other Elders' apartment. And then go all the way back to our apartment to help everybody get settled in. So we did nothing important all day on Wednesday, which was kind of a test of patience.

Thursday, however, and the subsequent days, were fantastic. All of the patience, all of the phone calls that hung up on us, and all of the people that vanished without a trace (Or at least, we couldn't find a way to contact them), all of that effort finally bore fruit on Thursday, as well as on every day since then. And in classic fashion, it was in the way we least expected. Out of all of the calls we made, and all of the people we talked to, take a guess how many we ended up teaching? If you guessed Zero, you'd be right. And yet, starting on Thursday, and continuing until today, we had the windows of Heaven open above us, and Investigators rain from the sky. Almost literally. We must have gotten about seventeen references from the ward, from other missionaries, and even from other missions entirely. We even got a few that already had baptismal dates! It was a powerful lesson to me that we are blessed for our efforts, even if we don't understand how or when. So just keep working, even if you aren't seeing success! I promise you that if you will press on, no matter what, you will see your efforts rewarded. :)

So since I already snuck in a Spiritual thought, let's talk food, hmm? This week, I began experimenting with Horchata. And none of that cheap powder mix stuff. I'm talking about traditional, rice and cinnamon sticks, soaking overnight. And man, it tasted amazing. I've been messing around with the recipe to try to improve it, I'll let you know what I end up with. I also made an amazing beef stir fry over white rice. It was delicious. And the members have consistently been bringing absolutely spectacular food. Tortillas are a must. I think my favorite thing this week was probably Enchiladas Verdes. They were superb. 

Moving on from the food session, and since I've already given the spiritual thought, I thought I'd just list some of the other interesting happenings this week: I played the piano for Stake Conference, that was pretty fun. I played Hark all Ye Nations, aka La Luz de la Verdad, and some other missionaries in our area did the singing part. I'm glad piano is finally a useful skill, and I appreciate the opportunity to serve. I've also been playing a lot of chess with my companion. I'm rapidly improving; He's really good, but I've already beat him a few times. It's nice to have something to do to help us wind down in the evening. 

And last but not least, I just wanted to share another quick story about life in Mexico. So there we are, taking a quick walk over to the nearby tienda to buy a couple of snacks, when all of a sudden, a police car comes screeching out of nowhere, and stops in front of us. We kind of stop, and wait to see what happens. The officer rolls down the window, takes a look at us, sees our nametags, nods, and then speeds off in the other direction. Yep. No clue what that was about. And that's just kind of how life is here. :P 

I think that covers me. Until next week!

- Elder Blankenbiller

1. Our Zone at Stake Conference
2. Beef stir fry 
3. Zone party last P-day 
4. Playing piano for Stake Conference 

May 18, 2021

 Hi Everybody! 

I've been keeping pretty busy this week, what with a new companion and everything. We've been trying to go through all of the contacts in our areabook, attempting everything within our means to find new people to teach. Rumor is, things here might start opening up soon, but until then, all we've got is a phone, and a Facebook account. We do our best. :P 

Either way, this week was pretty great. What with all the phone calls we were making, as well as all the appointments scheduled, it felt very productive, even if not too many people answered the phone. The only thing we can really do is do our best, and trust that God will bring us to the people he has prepared to accept His gospel. Hard work brings blessings! 

Hard work also brings an appetite, and that brings me to my favorite part of the email! And this time, it's even better, because, thanks to the divine goodness and mercy of God, my new companion can cook! Hence the title. We've been having a little bit of a friendly competition, where everyone wins, because we both get to eat great food! ;) So far on the menu: Breakfast burritos with homemade tortillas and guacamole, French toast with nutella and fresh bananas, Chicken with a chipotle sauce, pasta with mushrooms, chicken wings with Buffalo sauce, Beef lo mein, chicken fried rice, and Hielitos, which are kind of like ice cream? You make a tres leche, blend up some oreos, mix it all together, and freeze it. They're delicious. So yeah, needless to say, I've been eating good this week. :)

Moving on from the food (I'm sorry, I know that's what you came here for), I wanted to share a really cool spiritual thought that was given in our District Council yesterday. So, a long time ago, this Spanish guy named Cortez and a couple hundred soldiers came in some boats to conquer all of the land for Spain. They landed, and when they discovered how many people were actually living over here, his men all got scared, and wanted to retreat to the boats and leave. So Cortez, in a move that seems rather insane, ordered his men to burn their boats, effectively cutting off any means of escape. 

What was his plan, you may ask? Well, he was aware that if his men knew there was a way out, they wouldn't fight as hard to win. Once he removed that option, they were ready to give it their all, because there was nothing holding them back. And thus, he conquered the entire continent with a few hundred men. 

Now, what does that story have anything to do with a spiritual thought, I hear you asking. Well, allow me to enlighten you. If you will, recall the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis, who made a covenant with the Lord to never shed blood again, and then "buried their weapons of rebellion". They made sure that there was nothing holding them back from serving the Lord. And that's the message here. What are, metaphorically speaking, our weapons of rebellion, and our boats of escape? It's often small things, maybe a commandment you'd rather ignore, maybe it's being just a little bit prideful. 

Whatever it may be, those things hold us back from being fully on the Lord's side. So, starting today, I'd like to encourage you all to take some time to think about what you have holding you back from serving the Lord with *all* your heart, might, mind, and strength. It's not the easiest thing in the world. Believe me, I know. But I promise that you will see an increase in blessings, and the hand of the Lord will be made manifest in your lives as you strive to follow Him. 

Alrighty, that's a wrap folks. As always, thanks for listening in, and I'll be back next week with more tales from Mexico! Stay tuned. :)

- Elder Blankenbiller

Pictures:
1: Alitas con salsa Buffalo 
2: Tostada Francesa 
3: Cita con Hermanos Mario y Carolina
4: If you know, you know 
5: My companion does a lawnmower impression 
6: I don't care if you are a bunch of 18-25 year olds living alone in Mexico. You can still eat good food!

May 11, 2021

 Hi again everybody!

As the title suggests, we had transfers this week. I did not get moved, but they shipped Elder Juarez out to a different zone, may he rest in peace. My new companion, Elder Muñoz, happens to have been the previous companion of my MTC companion, Elder Walker. Small world, huh? (Or maybe just small mission ;)

Either way, we had a grand old time with me doing my best to explain everything about the area, and to my surprise, mostly succeeding. I feel like I'm getting better at Spanish every day. Who knows, soon, I might even be able to say something in our lessons? (That was a joke. I promise I'm working hard down here. *glances around nervously for the Mission President*)

Anyway, since I've broken the pattern of talking about food first, guess I'd better do it here before you start wondering who's writing these. Last week on Friday, we had companion exchanges within our district, meaning that for a whole day, I sat on the other side of the room. XD Seriously though, they were great. I got paired up with the only Elder in our district who speaks no English, so that was quite the test of my abilities, let me tell you. Nevertheless, I pulled through (which is clear evidence to me that God still works miracles), and afterwards, we went and got tacos to celebrate. And this time, oh boy, this time they were amazing. And they cost like sixty cents apiece. Plus a horchata. It was Heavenly. So I can now say that yes, there are in fact good tacos in Mexico. At the moment, it's a fifty-fifty, but I'll let you know if those odds change.

Also in the food related topic, Elder Muñoz and I spent our first night together making tortillas. Very fun, very messy, and very tasty, I highly recommend you try it at home. 

And for the finale, the important part. Spiritual stuff. 

On Saturday, I had my first baptism of my mission! It was an amazing experience, and made even better because I got to be there for the whole experience, from our first contact with Miguel, all the way to his baptism. His grandpa actually got to baptize him, so definitely an experience he'll remember for a long time. 

So that's one down, and (quickly Googles the approximate population of my mission) ah. I see. One down, 1.2 million to go, minus the ones who are already members, and hey, we're well on our way :)

And for my spiritual thought for this week, I'd like to talk about the Israelites. I'm sure you all remember the story of Moses leading them out of Egypt. But what struck me most about the story this time around was how quick the Israelites were to complain, and to forget all the things that God had done for them. And as a result, they ended up wandering around in the wilderness for forty years. So the moral of the story is really quite simple: be grateful! Something I've been trying to do more often is say a little prayer whenever I see a way I've been blessed during the day, just a quick thank you to God. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but I know that we will be blessed for showing our gratitude, and that we're keeping our promise to always remember Him. 

And yeah, I think that covers me until next week. Nos vemos!

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Pictures:

1: Tour of the Visitor's Center with Hugo and Patricia 

2: Actually good tacos

3: Baptism of Hermanito Miguel

4: Adios to Elder Juarez

5: Making tortillas

May 4, 2021

 Well hello again everyone!

It's already been another week, and I can only believe it because the calendar says so. I am now thoroughly convinced that time passes faster here in Mexico. Or maybe it's just me. Either way, greetings from Mexico! Someone emailed me the other day and pointed out that I spend almost as much time talking about what I've been doing as I do what I've been eating. And since I'd hate to break from tradition, let's start it off with a bang! I finally went and ate some tacos. And though I know I'm going to get a lot of hate for this, they were nothing special. Honestly, they weren't even that great. In my semi-professional opinion, too much cilantro, the onions would have been better fried a little bit, and more pineapple wouldn't have hurt either. I'm reserving judgement on account of small sample size, it's entirely possible we just didn't go to the right place. Then again, I have been known to be a bit critical of food, so forgive me if I've offended anyone. In other food news, I'm going to an American style all you can eat buffet later today, so that should be pretty awesome. 

Moving on from our food segment, let's talk about the weather. It's a nice solid average of about 75 degrees down here, with 25-30 mile per hour winds come sundown, and the occasional thunderstorm blowing in over the hills. I asked my companion if this was normal. He looked up at the sky, and then replied: "La verdad, estes son los Ultimos Días." 

And finally, the important stuff. How goes the work, I hear you asking. Well, it goes quite well. We've got a baptism lined up for this Saturday, which will be my first of the mission! We also have three other people with set dates for their baptisms, and two of them, Hermano Hugo y Hermana Patricia are husband and wife! We're definitely super excited for them to be baptized, and they've been amazing in our lessons with them, always asking great questions, and eager to learn more. We're actually going to take them on a tour of the Visitor's Center at the temple tomorrow, so that'll be awesome too. 

Sunday was another fast and testimony meeting, which of course means that I got up again and bore my testimony. And man, in the four weeks since last time, I feel like I went from a Primary kid to at least a deacon as far as the ability to share a coherent testimony. I'm very pleased with how my Spanish is coming along. I even managed to get a grasp on how reflexive verbs work! So I'm very hopeful for my progress with that in the next weeks. God is very kind to me, that's for sure.

And speaking of God, wouldn't you know it, it's time for a spiritual message! And this time, it's from the *dramatic music* Old Testament! That's right. That book. I know, I was just as surprised as I'm sure many of you are to learn that the Old Testament does, in fact, contain useful information. ;) (But seriously, if you haven't before, it's really worth a read, at the very least. Trust me, it's a lot easier than people think) 

Anyway, my spiritual message for today is based entirely on a single word used in Genesis 47:9. Jacob and his family have come to Egypt after Joseph invited them there. Jacob and Pharaoh are introduced, and Pharaoh inquires how old Jacob is. Jacob replies, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years". I would like to call attention to the word Jacob chooses to use instead of life. Pilgrimage. If you look up the word Pilgrimage in the dictionary, it is rendered thusly: A journey into an unknown or foreign place, in search of new or expanded meaning about self, others, or a higher power, through the experience. I absolutely love this definition. Because really, isn't that just the purpose of our lives? To become better people, and to learn more about others, ourselves, and God? I especially love how it acknowledges that we are indeed in an unknown land, this Earth is a strange place to all of us. However, we trusted God, and Jesus Christ, and we left our heavenly home to sojourn in this terrestrial world, this Pilgrimage to Earth. But you want to know the best part about a Pilgrimage? It isn't permanent. We will all return home one day, with all the knowledge and experience we gained in this life. It's up to us how much that is, and how much better we will become. 

So I encourage you, as uou continue this Pilgrimage, to remember the reason we began it. Strive to become who you are meant to be, and remember that "for this cause [were ye] born". You can do this. 

And with that, I'll see you all next week! 

- Elder Blankenbiller

Pictures: 

1: Consejo de Zona

2: Tacos

3: Intercambios especiales, saying goodbye to Elder Figeroa 

4: And welcoming a new Elder to our District, Elder Kruetz