August 30, 2022

Hi again everyone! Nothing super out of the ordinary about today... but as of tomorrow, I'll be a short five months away from getting kicked out of the mission! ;)

This week was super fun, but quite exhausting. Some Baptismal interviews, companion exchanges, ward activities, etc. Pretty sure we spent less time in our area than out. But we got a lot of good work done, so no complaints from me! :)

Quick things from this week: I used my powers as a District Leader to teach my district important things such as personal finances and how to better learn English (I'm the only American in my district). We had exchanges with the elders in an old ward of mine, and got to go visit some families I met a long time ago. I also had a baptismal interview with two awesome kids in that ward, who ended up asking if I could be the one to baptize them. 😅

Other than that, we've been drinking way too much hot chocolate, eating gigantic tortas at a place we found the other day, and spending way too much time at the ZL's place, because they're currently hosting the other elders in the district, and we like playing cards perhaps a little bit too often. 😝

And to wrap things up, a spiritual thought I had while studying one of my favorite chapters of the Book of Mormon, Alma 12. It really stood out to me this time around how truly critical our agency is to God's plan for us. Every time Alma mentions what our potential is, he mentions it together with explaining how it's all our choice. So, choose to follow Him! 

Hope you all have a fantastic week! 

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photos:

- ¡Viva la Mocte!

- I think somebody stole the bank... but they left the money, so that's nice 

- Pretty sky with some trees in the way 

- Giant Tortas 

- Chocolate Strawberries, because the primary is the best

- A fondue table and everything 

August 23, 2022

 Hey everybody! Another week, another email! Hope you've all had an exciting week, because I sure know I have!

For starters, we spent a whole lot of time this week working on getting the ward more involved in the work. And, well... we'll see how it goes. They're digging their heels in a bit, but we're gonna keep on pulling. We had another activity with the ward Friday night/Saturday morning that went pretty well, we went street contacting with the youth. And (at least, I think) they really enjoyed it! Hopefully we can keep up that excitement. 

It rained pretty hard this week, and we ended up getting caught out twice, arriving home super soaked. Fortunately, we had some hot chocolate at the house, which made things a bit better. We've also been drinking a lot of hot chocolate from 7/11 in the mornings; it only costs $1.05 for a large. 😝

Other than that, it's just been an absolute whirlwind of lessons, contacts, and everything else that comes with it. Its been a super fun week, though! I've really been enjoying myself recently. Especially because I just realized that I can count the months I have left as a missionary on one hand! :P 

Anyway, that's a wrap for me! Have a good one! 

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photos:

- I found root beer in Mexico!

- Toothless isn't looking great...

- It rained a lot this week :P

- The metro sign is looking at me 👀

- Me and one of the Zone Leaders

- My new addiction (don't worry, it's chocolate ;)

August 16, 2022

 Hey everybody! 

This week was transfer week, so everything has been a little bit crazy. But it's all sorted out now, and we're ready for another six weeks! I have a new companion here with me, Elder Orozco, from Oaxaca! He's got ten months in the mission, and we've actually been in the same Zone a couple times already. So that's pretty cool. Anyway, to give a quick overview of what happened this week, I stayed in the same place, my previous companion got called to the office to be a secretary, we ate about a million tacos, and I'm suffering from a mysterious malady that's making my eye turn red. (It's probably just stress or something. :P)

Still, in spite of all of the chaos, it was a good week! We got a lot of good work done with the ward, and we had an awesome activity last Friday! We had some Sister Missionaries from the Visitor's Center come to our ward to help out with an activity for the youth! We did a sort of Mini-MTC, and the ward absolutely loved it. We might even end up making it a monthly thing (if we can get permission for the VC Sisters to come back, that is). So the ward is doing great, and we're really excited to keep working with them!

We're also super excited because this coming month, we've got a whole lot lined up. Two (maybe three) baptisms, and we also just happen to be in the middle of the city, which is definitely the place to be on September 15 (Mexican Independence Day). They have a whole tradition where the President rings a bell while reciting the names of the heroes of the revolution. And the place where it happens is right in our area! So hopefully, we can make time for that. 

Either way, it looks like it's going to be a great few weeks! 

- Elder Blankenbiller

Photos:

-  My old companion rocking the anime ties we got

- A Rainbow from our apartment window 

- My new companion and me

- The sister missionaries came to help with a ward activity! 

- A family home evening I had with the ZL's Sunday night

August 9, 2022

Hey everybody! 

We had a pretty great week, with lots of incredible happenings which I'm very excited to tell you about. So sit back, grab a glass of horchata, and enjoy the tales from Mexico.

First up on the list, we had Zone Conference this week. And we had a visit from one of the Seventy, Elder Douglas! It was an amazing conference, I know we all learned a lot. But the part I wanted to mention was about one of the assignments they gave us. A week before the conference, they asked all the missionaries to prepare a five minute talk about the process of conversion, and that they were going to pick a few missionaries to give their talks at the conference. And they chose three people to give their talks the day I went. Out of some forty-odd missionaries that were at the conference with us, I got picked. But hey, I've got no problems with public speaking. And how often do you get to speak in front of General Authorities?

Also this week, we set a baptismal date with one of our investigators! It was an awesome lesson, she expressed to us that she had never been baptized despite being in teaching for a long time because she had never had a confirmation that the Gospel was true. But we had the opportunity to give her a priesthood blessing, and she told us that that was the moment she received her witness from the Spirit. It was such a powerful moment, and a real testimony to me that the Lord will touch the hearts of people who are willing to hear Him. 

Anyway, just a really great week this week. Thought I'd share. Have a great week everyone!

- Elder Blankenbiller

Photo:

- After a long absence, our food segment has returned! 

August 2, 2022

How's it going everybody! 

Quite the time this week! I know I said it was raining before, but this week, we got a bit of the worse end of that. We got caught outside in not one, not two, but three absolute downpours, one of which brought hail along with it. Pretty fun. Drying our clothes out... not super fun. :P But hey, that's the way it goes when you live in one of the rainiest cities in the world.

Other fun things from this week: We finally ''found some good people to teach! Two new hermanas, one from a less active family, who are both super interested in learning more about the Gospel! If all goes well, we'll be inviting one of them to be baptized when we visit them later tonight! So wish us luck!

Today was a bit of a touristy adventure, we went to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where they had a surrealist exhibition going on. Lots of Salvador Dali and Diego Rivera (For any of you who know those names ;) We also found the Chinatown of Mexico city, and ate bao for lunch. Good times. 

As a spiritual thought, here's something I've been thinking about this week: I was doing some reading during my personal study about the significance of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And it occured to me that a really important part of both of those is humility, and willingness to be taught. Those both help us learn and grow when we're going through trials and tribulations, because they allow us to have an Eternal Perspective about our lives. Just thought that was cool.

That's all from me!

- Elder Blankenbiller

Photos:

- It rained a lot this week. We definitely got caught in it a couple times. :P

- We found the Mexican version of Doctor Strange's house

- Various paintings from the art museum we went to today

- Also Chinatown in Mexico 

- A family from home, the O’Barrs, came to Mexico City and brought me gifts from my family

July 26, 2022

 Aaaand we'e back! (Though, you were probably expecting that, weren't you?) 

Lots of interesting happenings this week. I became a temporary AP/Secretary, we got lost in a flower market, and we made Italian food to celebrate someone's first anniversary as a member. Confused yet? Let me explain:

Wednesday morning is the usual day for our Mission Devotional. However, we had other plans, we were going to go with our ward's primary president to visit some less active members, with the intent to be back in time for a second meeting with the Facebook team. So we missed the Devotional (which will become relevant in a moment) and went to find a whole bunch of people.The last person we visited happened to be at her little creamery in a massive market. And I mean massive. We probably spent a good fifteen minutes just trying to find her, and we hadn't even left the first big warehouse. We eventually found her, and then after chatting for a bit, tried to make our way back out. And promptly got lost in the middle of the half of the market dedicated to selling flowers. Smelled great. Not very good for navigating. So we missed both of those meetings. :P

And missing those meetings became very relevant the very next day. Tuesday night, we had been told that the District Leader Council would be held at the temple on Thursday. So we arrived, bright and early, to find exactly nobody in the building where they had told us to meet. Confused, we went to the mission offices, and found the Assistants and Secretaries in quite the scramble. Apparently (and we would have known this had we attended the devotional on Wednesday), the mission was on pause until we got all of the records for recent converts sorted. And so my companion and I just sort of got roped into things, and ended up working with the elders there in the office for quite a bit. Good times.

And the last story for the week, on Sunday, one of the newer members hit her first anniversary as a member of the church! To celebrate, we threw a bit of a lunch party, and my companion whipped out a recipe for Lemon Picada, which was delicous. It was a pretty fun Sunday. 

I think that's about all I have the patience to write, writing on the phone is painful. :P Hope you're all doing great!

- Elder Blankenbiller

Photos:

- Ward Lunch Party

- The Gray Pants Gang

- A sampling of Mercado Jamaica

- Elmo

July 19, 2022

Hi again everybody! 

It's been quite the week! We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders, interviews with the new Mission President, and a whole lot of confusion after an entire subway line was shut down for renovation. But let's just get right into it! 

So, last Wednesday, we had companion exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Which is a rather normal occurrence. What made this time distinct was the fact that Elder Rosas was the one who came with me to my area. For context, he served in this area a while ago... for nine months. So he's something of a celebrity here. Made things pretty straightforward to be honest. XD It was a good time. 

On Friday, we did a loop around our entire Zone (because of the closed subway line, which I'll mention in a second) in order to drop off a Book of Mormon and make it to our interviews in the stake center. Where we finally met our new Mission President! He's a pretty fun guy. He and his wife are both doctors (and he has the handwriting to prove it ;), and they're from Utah. They also brought along their two youngest daughters, so a bit of a change from our last president. But yeah. Cool guy. Should be a good time. 

And lastly, the subway line. So. This one subway line was sort of the linchpin of our ability to travel anywhere in the Zone. Now that it's down... we have to take the long way around. And it's a *very* long way around. So that's been a hassle. But it does mean we get to see more of the city, which I'll never complain about. This is the only part in the entire mission that gives you an inkling of why México City is actually a tourist destination. :P 

Anyway, that's all from me. Go enjoy your week! 

- Elder Blankenbiller 

Photos:
- Chocolate from Oaxaca
- Ward Primary Night
- An interesting time