June 28, 2022

 Hey guys!

Lots happened this week, but I've been sick for the last three days, so forgive the shorter email. :P

We had a Zone Conference with the entire mission last week, since our mission President is going home... the day after tomorrow. So that's pretty crazy. We'll have to wait and see what happens with the new one. But the Conference was pretty awesome. Sort of like the end of the Book of Mormon, when Moroni is trying to cram in everything else he thinks would be important for us to know, we got a lot of great messages from President and Hermana Parry. Very sad to see them go.

Other than that, and the rainy season making its presence known (both with lots of thunder, and by making me sick :P), I've not got lots else to say. Hope you all are having a great week! And sorry for the shorter email. 

- Elder Blankenbiller 

- Obligatorio temple picture after Zone Conference 

- We definitely didn't ride motorcycles on exchanges

- The Zone

- President & Hermana Parry's farewell hymn: Para Siempre Dios Esté con Vos (God be with you til we meet again) 

June 21, 2022

Alright everyone. Lots to talk about from this week. Some good times, and a really, really low low. First of all, an elder in my mission, Elder LaMadrid, had a fatal bicycle accident last week. It hit us all pretty hard, as I'm sure you might imagine. We had a small devotional as a mission on Saturday to go over what happened, and also to offer help to anybody who needed it. We also were invited to attend the funeral over Zoom on Sunday. Overall, pretty much one of the worst possible things that can happen out here on the mission. Please include his family in your prayers.

The rest of the week, however, went pretty well! We got to go help some people put up roofing in their houses, because we're going into the rainy season here, and a flooded house is definitely not a thing you want to have. We also had the opportunity to go to the temple today, from which I'll be taking my inspiration for this week's spiritual thought:

So, in Spanish, Endowment is Investidura. From which, we can take the English: Invest. And, of course, when we are investing in something, we can expect it to grow when certain conditions are fulfilled. For example, when you invest in starting a business, there are a wide array of things that you can do to improve and help that investment to grow. Same concept here, as we obey and keep the covenants we have made, we will continue to see an increase in blessings, a higher return on our investment. I thought that was kinda cool. 

Anyway, that's all from me! See you around!

- Elder Blankenbiller

Photos:

- Pomegranate Tea an Hermana bought us the other morning 

- Elder LaMadrid (Last reminder, please pray for his family <3)

- Some cool art

- More of the same cool art, but this time with service buddies

- Temple Trip!

- Brownies and Mexican Hot Chocolate to kick off the rainy season 

June 14, 2022

Alrighty, here we go again! 

Another week in Mexico, and I'm again left questioning my sanity. Maybe it just comes with learning a language, but I swear they keep inventing new words that I've never heard before in my life. And as soon as I figure out what it means, suddenly, everyone is saying it. Maybe I'm just going crazy, though. That's what happens when you eat too many tacos.

Speaking of, I'm a big fan of the tacos. Quite the variety, too. They've got suadero, longaniza, cabeza, ojo, lengua, carnitas, and anything else you could imagine. The trick is finding the right spot to get them, but once you've found one, it's just non-stop goodness. Until you run out of money, of course. :P 

Other things: This last week, we had interviews with the Mission President, which was a little sad, since they were his last. He's leaving this cycle, and we'll be getting our new President in two weeks or so. Gonna be pretty crazy. Anyway. That's all from me, I've got to go do very important things now. (We're definitely not getting more tacos :P)

See you all around!

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photo:

- The last interviews with President

June 7, 2022

This week was absolutely wild, and I've not much time to tell you about it, so strap yourselves in, put on your reading glasses, and brace for impact.

Due to a remarkable chain of events, I was only in my area for about half of the week. One day, we had District Leaders' Council, which took us to the temple for a training about, well, how to be better District Leaders. Specifically, about what we can do to have better District Councils on Mondays, and how we can help our Districts to improve. Good stuff. 

Right after that, we started exchanges with the Zone Leaders, which was nice, because they were also able to help me out a bit more with my assignment. Learning the ropes and all that. And the day after that, we had exchanges with the other elders in my District, so again, I went over there to see what's up with them. Good times. We taught lots of lessons, bothered lots of people on the street, and ended up (hopefully) finding a few potentially new people to teach!

And on Sunday, I got called in to do three baptismal interviews in the Zone Leaders' area. Which was slightly nerve racking, but hey, it is what it is. Super cool family, they'll be getting baptized on Friday, unless I'm mistaken, which is entirely possible given how many things I'm trying to keep track of these days. So yeah. That's how I'm doing. Hope you all have had a great week!

- Elder Blankenbiller