April 26, 2022

 Hellllllllo everybody! 

Pretty exciting stuff this week! We had a baptism! Hermana Clara Gallegos got baptized on Sunday morning, nice and early. 9:00am, to be precise. And since the font takes about four hours or so to fill up... we had to wake up at 4:30 to go fill it. Yep. That was fun. I'm not sleep deprived. You're sleep deprived. Anyway. :P The baptism went really well, Hermano Martin (Clara's boyfriend) baptized her, and then after the baptism, proposed. Definitely a new experience. I think that's the first proposal I've ever been at, which is surprising, since I did spend a whole semester up at BYU. ;) Speaking of, Congratulations to all my newly married and engaged friends! (Making me feel old, but whatever)

Other things: We had a Blitz here in my area on Friday, which went remarkably well. Turns out, street contacting is just kind of overpowered. I think between the six of us in our district, we banged out about a hundred fifty or so conversations in an hour and a half. And we got a bunch of numbers to call. So that should go towards increasing our teaching pool nicely. We're going to have another one in my old Area, Aguilas, on Wednesday. Should be fun. Plus, right after that, the plan is to start Companion Exchanges, and I'll also be going to Aguilas. Nostalgia seems to be on the menu this week.

And to wrap things up, a tale of Mexican things. There's a little store about half a block from the chapel, which makes it very convenient when we're hungry. And the store has always been blue. Until yesterday. When they painted it red. Why did they paint it red? Because they contracted with Coca Cola. And apparently, one of the requirements to contract with Coca Cola is that you have to paint your store red. So now it's red, I guess. :P Just thought that was kinda funny. Anyway. See you all next week!

- Elder Blankenbiller

Photos:
- They're both from the baptism *shrug*

April 19, 2022

 Hi everybody! Me again! (Though... who else would it be?)

So, as mentioned last week, I am in a new Area, in an old Zone. Makes for quite the throwback when you meet people you've met before. For example: The stake president was in the ward I served in six months ago, and he was in our temple session today. Small world, huh? Or small city, I suppose. But that was cool. And he gave us a ride back afterwards, which was nice, because riding the metro is fun, but not when it's like ninety-something degrees outside. The metro becomes a literal oven. (Hmm. Possibly a solution to the fact that we don't have ovens in our houses... then again, probably not. :P )

We got to go to the temple today! Which is always a great time. Makes me laugh a little bit, because I'm realizing that for as long as I've been old enough to go to the temple, I've had a temple within about a twenty minute drive of where I live. Spoiled, I know. But hey, I've also gone to the temple pretty often. So I'd say I'm taking good advantage of the situation. (Go to the temple. You know who you are. :)

Also this week: Semana Santa! (Because here, the party is all week, not just on Easter Sunday ;) Seriously, everybody was either gone on vacation, or had people visiting who were on vacation here. Made for quite the party scene. Too bad we don't get invited to any of that stuff. Oh well. Next Easter, I suppose. But Semana Santa was great for missionary work, because everyone who was actually still here in the area was out *looking* for someone to give them an Easter message. Because apparently religion is only important at Christmas and Easter. :P We did get a lot of phone numbers out of the whole thing though, so we'll see how that goes. 

Speaking of, when I got here, we only had one person in teaching. And she has a baptism date lined up for this coming Sunday. So. Most of our focus has been grinding out street contacts, trying to find people in Areabook, and Facebook, and whatever other resources we could scrounge up. And we've got a lot of people who have potential to talk to this week, so hopefully that turns into something. But yeah! It's business as usual. :)

Hope you all had a great Easter! See you next week!

- Elder Blankenbiller

craig.blankenbiller@missionary.org

Photos:

- A visit to the pyramids! Kind of...

- Ramen place that I remembered from six months ago

- And the Ramen served there

- My new companion and I

- Temple trip!

April 12, 2022

 Hello again!

I'm running out of ways to open emails. :P I guess I'm just not as funny as I used to be. Makes sense. I've been on a mission for nearly 14 months now. ;) 

Anyway, bit of a change this week, I got transferred! So I'm in a new area, in an old zone, with a new companion. I was actually just in this Zone, about six months ago or so. It was kind of funny driving out here and recognizing different places. Doesn't happen too often, that. I will let you all know what my new area is like... just as soon as I know myself. :P

Other news... Beats me. The transfers are kind of the biggest news I've got. Leaving my last area wasn't fun, I'd been there for quite a while, long enough to really get attached to the people there. It was nice, to be honest. But definitely a bit sad to have to leave. :/ Still, new beginnings are a staple of missionary life, so I suppose I can't pretend I didn't see this one coming. ;) 

Hope you all are doing well! Sorry for no pictures this week, but we don't have our own phones, so... I had to leave my pictures behind. See you next week!

- Elder Blankenbiller

April 5, 2022

 Hey everybody! 

Gonna be a bit of a quick one this week, I've got a lot to say, and not a lot of time to say it. We took a trip to the city center again (the last time I went was in November, which I'm realizing was a long time ago. :P). Anyway. The trip was pretty fun, definitely the most touristy thing I've done in quite a while. And it was nice to be in a real city again. The rest of our mission is, well... not quite as nice. :P

Other things: As of Wednesday, I'm a legal resident of Mexico (again). I had to go back to the immigration offices to get my green card renewed. And go eat at Costco with the Secretaries of the Mission. Always a fun time. We also had Zone Conference, followed by General Conference. Now that I think about it, I've kind of just been on vacation for a week now. ;) Not actually, of course. But definitely not your average week.

I hope you all had a good time watching Conference! If you didn't watch it... I mean really, what are you doing? Conference is awesome. And you need to go back and watch it. I promise they said something that you, personally, needed to hear. Anyway. Enough out of me. Go have a great week! 

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photos:

- Sushi!

- The district at the Sushi place 

- Outside the Palace of Beautiful art

- Aztek Death God statue 

- Big Aztek dude on the floor 

- Proof that Moroni knew how to make a concrete box 

- Everything changed when the fire nation attacked

- A wall of skulls

- Some dead guy? I guess they think he's a relic or something

- The Pyramid at the center of the city. Pretty cool stuff 

March 29, 2022

Hi everybody! I've survived another week in Mexico! And with that week, I've made it to one whole year out here. Talk about milestones. :P

To commemorate my year mark, they're sending me to the immigration offices again, because they only got me a visa for one year last time. Later tonight, I've got to go to the mission offices, and then tomorrow, venture to the other side of the city to get permission to stay here. That, or just wait around until they get wise and deport me. That could also happen. So... pray it doesn't, I guess?

Other things, we went to the Visitor's Center with Isaac on Saturday, that was a blast as usual. Going to the temple is definitely a perk in this mission. And we definitely abuse that perk as often as possible. 10/10, recommend going to whatever temple is closest to you as often as you can. Nothing better, really. 

We're having Zone Conference this Thursday, so I'll be sure to report on how that goes.

Oh, and one of the people we're teaching, Liliana, is moving stateside for a bit, until she has her baby. So we'll have to figure out how that's all going to go down, since she's supposed to get baptized in a few weeks. :P All part of God's plan, even if it makes our plans go sideways I guess. 

I think that about wraps it up for this week, hope you all enjoy yours! 

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photos:

- Members are still the best

- Obligatory Temple picture

- I think I'm getting taller :P

March 22, 2022

First and foremost, Guadalupe got baptized this week! Super exciting stuff, we're hoping to get her to the temple to do proxy baptisms this coming week, so wish us luck getting all that figured out. The baptism itself was pretty awesome, a whole bunch of members showed up because the bishop sent out a statement that the limit on gathering sizes had been removed by the stake president (who happens to be in our ward... hmm). So yeah. Just a really cool experience. :)

Other things: We had companion exchanges this week, the district leader came and payed me a visit, and we invited the family of Oscar (Which is eight people in total!) to be baptized. And they said they would love that! So we've got a couple more baptismal dates to work with now. 

We've also been teaching a family from Chiapas (Southern end of Mexico), and while the dad speaks spanish, the mom only speaks a dialect of Maya called Tzeltal. Yeah. So we were scratching our heads trying to figure out how to help her, when the stake president (Love that guy) came to the rescue. He just called the mission president down there, and got us the number of a lady who speaks Tzeltal and Spanish. So hopefully that should help. And it's also just really cool. Connections, man.

Anyway, to avoid going too long, I think I'll leave it here for now. Hope you all are having a great week! Go share the Gospel, time's running out! (Only kind of kidding)

- Elder Blankenbiller

Photos:

- Missionary work with members is honestly the best

- 50 cents for diabetes 

- Companion Exchanges 

- Baptism Photos! 

March 15, 2022

Helllllo everybody, how's it going? 

This week has been a bit of a ride, we've got lots of people in the teaching pool, but it means we have to do a lot of swimming, so to speak. We're definitely not not busy, that's for sure. Anyway. On to the week!

This week, we've got preparations for a baptism! Hermana Guadalupe is going to be baptized this Friday! We're super excited for her, and we're actually going to have her interview later today, so keep her in your prayers! 

Other things, we've been working on getting the members more involved, and it's going really well! We probably had members come with us in about 85% of the lessons we have. Very cool. Member testimonies are just so powerful, especially for the people we're teaching. There's only so much two young guys can say, after all. 

And that leads me right into my invitation for you: Don't be afraid to share your testimony with people! It may not come super naturally, but it will mean a lot to the people who need to hear it. (And the missionaries could really use your help, trust me!) So yeah. Do that. 

Anyway! Good to talk to you all, I've got to dash, I'll be here again next week!

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photos:

 - 3 Dudes who made a video

- Dragons on sofas 

- God's house