November 16, 2021

Well, today is a pretty exciting day. I am now a nine-month-old missionary. So that's cool. Only a hop, skip, and a jump away from one year. And since one year sounds a lot bigger than nine months, I think we'll just leave it as it is until I get there. 

Anyways, on to the meat of the sandwich, what am I doing down here in Mexico? Well. This week has definitely been a week of miracles. After two and a half weeks of calling people, trying to set up meetings, and getting no results, we got a bunch of referrals dumped on us at the same time, and now we've got a week full of meetings, two people on date for baptism, and several more well on their way! Never gets old, seeing the way the Lord's plans come to fruition. 

Since I'm sure that at least three of you asked, yes, we have successfully moved houses. I am now living downstairs. And we've basically got our hands on everything we need, and anything we don't have, we can just ask for. Really convenient, right? 

And now, a funny story. There we are, two young dudes in white shirts, walking back to the chapel from having lunch with a member (Which, quick side note, was amazing. They made this sort of beef and bell pepper mix, with melted cheese on top, which we ate with tortillas and home.ade guacamole), when out of nowhere, this guy starts walking next to us, clearly very drunk, and starts yelling something about how we believe in a fake Jesus, and we're going to burn in Hell for it. Until, of course, being to busy with his drunken tirade, he crashes into a telephone pole, and gets knocked out cold. I swear, I felt like I was in a movie or something. (The guy is fine, but it was hilarious)

And in a brilliant transition to a very related subject that doesn't contrast at all with the previous one, a Spiritual Thought (since I've been slacking off on those recently). Today, our spiritual thought is brought to you by a book of the Old Testament you've probably never bothered reading: Proverbs. Specifically, three verses from proverbs. Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 16:9:) A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps."

I really like these two passages, I think they compliment each other very well. And it paints a very clear picture for us: We must move forward, and trust the Lord to direct us. And we know that we can trust Him. He will never do anything that will not be for our benefit. And, if we still aren't quite there yet, we can pray, and ask Him what His plan is for us! It's that simple. So, my invitation, in closing, is that you should give it a shot. And no matter what, remember to look for the good in every situation you go through. :)

I must be off, I've business in the city. I shall return in half a fortnight. Until then. 

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photos: (Not too many this week, I've been busy :P )

1 - District Council photoshoot 

2 - Me, I guess 

November 9, 2021

 Well, I think I've got about fifteen minutes to write this, so here we go. We're in the middle of moving, kind of. For the past two weeks, we've been living in the top half of our apartment with our Zone Leaders, and they just finished remodeling the downstairs, which is where I will be soon. Should be fun, once we get all of the dust, dried paint, and broken furniture cleaned out, and all of our stuff moved in. :P And that's what we've been doing so far today - making the place inhabitable, and arranging furniture, all that fun stuff. The best part, though, is that since it's a new house as far as the mission is concerned, we're getting all the new house perks, namely: New refrigerator, microwave, cooking utensils, tables, chairs, fans, bedding, cleaning supplies, etc. If only getting a new home was always this easy. I imagine it'll take a bit more work after my mission than just buying a house, cleaning it up, and calling president to give me a bunch of furniture and such. Oh well. We can deal with that when we get there.

Anyway, enough about what I'm doing right now, let's talk about what I've been doing this week. The answer is, a whole lot, and nothing at all. Nothing at all in that we haven't found any new people to teach, nobody came with us to sacrament meeting, and we've got zero people on date in this area. And a whole lot in that we've completely cleaned out our Areabook of all the people who weren't progressing, met a bunch of members, got a bunch of meetings with people set for this week, had interviews with our mission president, attended a Stake Conference, had a Zone Council in which we all went and contacted people in the street for half an hour in the same area, went to a Mission Leadership Council, and ate an unhealthy amount of amazing food with members. That, plus all the hours of trying to talk to people, and have meetings, and you add up to a pretty busy time. Which is great, I mean Christmas is only a couple weeks away now, and I started this whole merry-go-round ride in February. So hey, it's been a while, about time I got busy, right? ;)

Anyway, long story short, we're busy, and I couldn't be happier about it. I'll keep you updated with any exciting developments in the work, but for now I think I'll just share a quick spiritual thought, and go finish helping with the house-moving project. 

I was listening to a talk by Elder Holland that he gave at BYU, about the Liberty Jail experience. And I thought it was amazing, you should definitely look it up if you have a minute. (Or if you're lazy, like me, here's a link: Elder Holland - Lessons from Liberty Jail) In it, he talks about how harrowing the experience was for Joseph Smith, and how we can feel his pain in Doctrine and Covenants 121, in which he cries out to God, begging to know why he has been forsaken. However, the Lord gives him one of the most powerful answers in all of scripture. And from it, we learn a very valuable lesson. The worst situations can be the best of teachers if we will let them. And that's the key, isn't it. We have to be willing to learn, even though it's hard. So. Be willing to learn, and you'll be able to overcome anything the world can throw at you. Trust me, and if not me, Elder Holland has a pretty good idea of what he's talking about, I think. ;)

Anyway, that's enough out of me. See ya!

- Elder Blankenbiller

Photos:

1 - Mission Leadership Council, we grabbed a photo with an hermana who was in my companions MTC district 

2 - A very tasty lunch

3 - American money - strange the things you miss

4 - Christmas donuts. Don't yell at me, Thanksgiving doesn't exist here. It's the Holiday Season down here 

November 2, 2021

 Hello again, it's me.

And boy do I have some stories to tell this week. So. As mentioned previously, I'm whitewashing an area with my new companion. So we would have been spending lots of time trying to get to know the members through Zoom calls, and stuff like that. However, we also got news from our mission president that we're now allowed to contact people in the street, have lessons in people's homes, use public transit, basically just totally open as a mission now. So... we've been running around nearly constantly since then. I can barely even remember when one day ends and the next one begins. But honestly, it's been so nice to actually be able to meet the people we're teaching, and form better relationships with more of the members. 

The only downside to all this... is that the members never seem to get tired of feeding us. I had dinner three times on Sunday. Pozole, Enchiladas Verdes, and lastly, several dozen Tacos Dorados. Now, I can't complain, because it's all been delicious, but I am also beginning to understand how people can put on a few pounds during their missions.

Anyway, other things that have been going on: We had Halloween and Día de los Muertos back to back, which was awesome. Tons of people dressing up, all of the traditional foods and decorations, and an unhealthy amount of Pan de Muertos with Hot Chocolate. It was delicious. We also had the opportunity to go to the center of Mexico City, Zócalo, which has the National Palace, a bunch of museums, and is currently absolutely decked out for the Day of the Dead. It was awesome. And on the theme of being busy, I've just been informed we've got things to do, so I'll see you all here next week!

- Elder Blankenbiller

Photos:

1- My brand new metro pass (or as I like to call it, my city boy license)

2 - The massive Catholic Cathedral in the center of the city 

3 - The inside of said Cathedral 

4 - Me doing a Coco cosplay 

5 - These are all made out of sand

6 - Riding the metro as a squad 

October 26, 2021

 Hey everyone! 

It's been a blur of a week, so forgive me if I stop making sense at any point. Anyway. This week, we had transfers. So I am now in a brand new place in the mission, near the airport. Both my area and the zone are named Moctezuma. I'm sure that'll never get confusing for anyone. 

Speaking of confusion, my companion and I are whitewashing the area, so neither of us have any idea who anyone is, or where anything is, either. And the best part, the mission office still hasn't reassigned our missionary accounts to this new area, which means we don't have access to areabook, which has our daily planner, lists of contacts, etc. So until that gets fixed... we've got no idea what we're doing, and no idea who we're supposed to be doing it with. :P

It's definitely going to be an adventure, this cycle. I will try my best to keep you as updated as possible. And since it's a new area and all, we've got a lot of figuring stuff out to go do, so I'm gonna end this here, with a quick spiritual thought. That thought being by way of encouragement: you can do it! Trust me, I understand. Life can be rough sometimes. So for all of you going through something, who feel like you just can't do it, I'm here to reassure you, you can. :) And what's more, you can ask the literal God of everything for help. So stop waiting, and do it! You'll thank me later, I'm sure. ;)

Anyway, I've got to go, the Christmas tree's on fire. (Bonus points if you got that reference)

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photos: (Don't have a ton this week, they're all on the other phone)

1: My new companion and I

2: A metric ton of Pan de Muerte, for the Day of the Dead 

October 19, 2021

Hi everyone, welcome back!

So. I've officially made it to eight months. More or less a third of the way through my entire mission. Pretty crazy, that. Still got a ways to go, though, so moving on. 

Lots of exciting news this week! On Wednesday, we got permission from our Mission President to go to the temple on P-Day. And then just yesterday, we got permission to have meals at the homes of members! Things are finally opening up around here, and we're taking full advantage of it. Yesterday, we had lunch and dinner with two different families, and then today, we went to the temple! And it was awesome. It's been far too long since the last time. 

And man, the prophet knows what he's talking about when he tells us to go to the temple. So the obvious advice I have to give is just that. Go to the temple, if you can! And if not, take time to study the covenants that you were able to make there. Like President Nelson said, we need the strengthening power that comes from temple attendance, now more than ever. 

And yeah, just lots of awesome news this week. I couldn't be more excited. :)

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photos:

1/2 - Temple trip!

3 - The largest street dog we've come across so far 

October 12, 2021

Busy week this time around, so I'll just jump right into it! We had Zone Conference on Friday, which they changed (much to my delight). Instead of sitting around for six hours, they divided us into groups, and cycled us between six different activities. I think I speak for all of the missionaries here when I say, it was easily the best Zone Conference we've had. So that was fun.

And that wasn't the last time we made the trip to the temple; we did it twice more. Once on Sunday, to take Hermana Mariel and her little brother Uriel to the Visitor's Center and then again yesterday morning with a family from our ward. Their dad isn't a member, and we're hoping to help him get baptized. 

Speaking of baptisms, we had a baptism this week! Hermano Alejandro was baptized on Sunday! It was so great, especially given that our area hasn't had any baptisms since January. :P Either way, he's a great guy, he's really eager to learn and improve himself, and he has such gratitude for everything that Christ has done for him. 

And that's my spiritual thought, to wrap up. Gratitude is really important. Christ has given us everything. He created the world, He blesses us, and He gave His own life for us. When you think about all that He has given us, the things He asks in return suddenly seem much smaller. Having an attitude of gratitude can help us see that, and makes it even easier to follow Him! My invitation, then, is to take five minutes, and say a prayer of only things that you are grateful for. Try it! You'll notice the change it makes. 

That's all from me, I've got to go eat lunch. Until next time!

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photos:

1 - Alejandro's Baptism!

2 - Visitor's Center with Mariel and Uriel 

3 - Visitor's Center again the next day

4 - The temple! (Still hoping we can go soon)

October 5, 2021

 Hey everybody! 

With General Conference and all, it was obviously a great week. But honestly, it would have been amazing even without that. We met a lot of awesome people this week, had many of them watch General Conference, and we've got four people on date to be baptized! Which is honestly really nice, this area has been kinda slow. There actually hasn't been a baptism in either of the Wards I'm serving in since January. So here's hoping we can help people make it all the way! 

A quick funny story. Obviously, having been in quarantine for my entire mission, we don't spend that much time out on the street talking to people. So we miss out on a lot of the normal mission experiences. But the other day, we were picking up our food, and on the way back to the church, a taxi driver pulled over to talk to us. He asked us if we believed in God. We, of course, replied that we do. He then asked us "if you believe in God, why are you wearing face masks?" And then went on a long rant about how Covid is fake, and how the God he believes in doesn't send plagues and destruction, because God loves and protects His children. He then told us thay if we wear masks, we clearly don't believe in God. And drove away. 

My companion and I made it about ten seconds or so before bursting out laughing. Honestly, after eight months of nothing, it was kind of refreshing to encounter that kind of thing. 

Anyway, to conclude, a spiritual thought. From conference, because conference was amazing. Main points - Nelson told us to go to the temple. Especially now that a lot of the temples are reopening, we have the opportunity to go and receive those powerful blessings again. So go do it. Another great one was Elder Nash, who encouraged us all to hold up the Gospel Light, and share it with others. We know that the Second Coming is only getting closer. We can't say we'll do it tomorrow. So do it today! Go share the gospel. :)

Thanks for listening, that's all from me this week! 

- Elder Blankenbiller

craig.blankenbiller@missionary.org 

Photos:

1 - A castle

2 - A fun tie I found

3 - Visitors Center trip!