Dia de Gracias

The highlight of this week was Thanksgiving! On Thanksgiving we had a Thanksgiving lunch with a family in the ward. And then for dinner we had another meal appointment with a part member family. One of the meals we had was more Mexican food then American! A lot of the sides were different types of rice and for dessert they had Mexican cake instead of pie. Also at both of the meal appointments all the extended family was there and it was tons of fun to get to know everyone! 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 • Many people run the race for the wrong reason. (footnote 25a) They run to obtain a reward that is of the world. Why do you run this race of life? Do you run for the reason of Paul? Do you fight for our Savior? Those that run the eternal race and fight the eternal battle, those that discipline themselves to be chaste (footnot 27a), receive a reward in heaven that is more magnificent then anything of this world. This reward is eternal life and salvation in the life to come. (1 Peter 1:4)

This is one of the member's houses where we had a meal at this week. We ate outside the porch next to the river. 

Lighthouse in Port Isabel!

Turns out that a dirt road in the rain means muddy car.

Port Isabel! This are was a street right next to the ocean. Some of the houses we knocked were right on the shore. One of the guys even said that he goes out back and fishes off his porch. 

Another pros Pic of the fields. 

Montar por Bici

This week we took three bike days because we are running low on miles. The day that we biked out to Port Isabel we stopped and decided to talk to a man walking down the street. As we started talking to him he introduced himself as native American Jacki Chan. He then told us he had been to our church before but couldn't talk because he was late for his bus, then he sprinted off down the street. 

A lot of the members here are super cool and willing to help us. We have one person named Maria that has been being taught for about a year but we were finally able to set a date for baptism with her for the 8th! We're hoping it all goes well and she decides to get baptized. We also have this other guy named Juan and we have a baptismal date for him also! We have been doing a lot of finding this week and we have a ton of potentials that can become investigators this week! 

Spiritual thought of the week is that you never know what is going on in others lives. As we were biking we felt the need to turn down a street we have never been on. Further down that road we felt like we needed to knock a door. We knocked the door and a lady answered. We shared a little video with her then she opened up to us and said she is going through a hard time. She shared her situation with us and about her son not doing well medically. We will be going back and visiting the family this week. You never know where the spirit will tell you to go or what to do. You just first have to act in faith. Ether 12:4

I have now officially ridden on one ocean and the other, so essentially I have ridden coast to coast!

Port Isabel!

Just another picture from the week

El Río aquí en Los Fresnos. We also took this picture when we were lost. We were looking for a neighborhood and we went a different way because of the bikes. We went down a dirt road and then biked through the middle of a field and realized we had no idea where we were! 

Bienvenidos a Los Fresnos

Since  I wrote last I have moved to a new area called Los Fresnos. It is closer to the border and also closer to the ocean. It is a small town out in the country and a lot of our area is open and spread out with lots of fields.

Matthew decided to join the church and was baptized and confirmed this weekend!  He is 19 and has been coming to church with his girlfriend for 2 years.  And one day last month he asked the missionaries if he could be baptized!

Bike day. In the area here I now have a car but we have limited miles. So we still have to bike occasionally. So we decided to bike and it happened to be the rainiest and coldest day 

Here is a picture of the area

 Bodega! This is one of the big warehouses right on the border that we go to to look for ties. Today we pulled a bunch of nice ties. My companion found a versachi and I found a Gucci.

This week we had zone conference and it went really well. I learned a lot and he does deep doctrine training which is really cool.

Brownsville Zone

Zone Conference

Senior Companion: these missionaries passed off all the lessons in English and Spanish.

Being presented a Senior Companion certificate by Sis. Torres

Los Fresnos

Elder Blackham wasn't able to finish his letter this week but here are some excerpts from some of his letters to us and some pictures posted by awesome members.  He promised a longer letter to fill you in next week. 

The area I am in, Los Fresnos, is way out in the middle of nowhere.  It is a small town just outside of Brownsville which is a town on the border near the ocean.  Everything is really spread out and there are a lot of farms and fields!  A lot of the stores and restaurants are completely Hispanic.  On Tuesday we went to a tocaria and it was super good and cheap! This morning we went to a warehouse on the border to do something called "digging."  Basically there is a giant pile of ties and you look through it for good ones and buy them for 50 cents.  My companion's name is Elder Murdock and he is from Idaho Falls.  As far as things in common we are both two white people in a Mexican town.😂😂  He is big into football and played at Boise state for a while before his mission. He has been in the mission for the same time as me.  We came in to the field together but he went to the MTC in Mexico.

We do have a car! Our area is really big and everything is super spread out.  But we only get 1200 miles a month so we still have to bike.  I am still trying to figure out who everyone is here and who the people are that we are teaching but it seems like the members here are way more willing to help and do missionary work then in Harlingen and also it seems like there are more people here that we are teaching.  We are actually in a ward here and there were 87 people that came to church.  It was just barely made into a ward a little bit ago and there are so many people that come they had to add a portable building like thing on the property so everyone can sit in one room for sacrament!  There are some people that have already been being taught but I am still trying to get to know all of them and what point they are at as far as progressing towards baptism.  One of them that I know well is named Matthew and he is getting baptized this Saturday!  The other one I know well is named Maria and she is a part member family and is super cool.  We had a dinner appointment with her yesterday for her birthday.  

Last night we knocked on an apartment door and a guy opened.  We asked him how his night was going and he responded, "It was going..."  He completely rejected us but he also told us to go talk to the people up above him.  I am pretty sure he told us that thinking that they would wreck us with the bible.  So we went upstairs and knocked the door.  They let us in and we shared a message with them.  I am pretty sure it was a preacher and his brother.  He kept saying scriptures out of the bible with the exact reference and place where they are.  We talked a lot about the need of the Book of Mormon and gave them one.  I think we will be going by again in a few days to talk to them and see what they think.