Una Semana de Dolor y Muchas Bendiciones

This week has been a crazy one. My companion crashed on his bike this week and hurt his leg. He has been laying in bed for a few days now doing nothing but sleeping. He sleeps for about 20 hrs a day. We are waiting, hoping, and praying he will get better soon. In the meantime it has been hard to work our area because he can't walk and nonetheless isn't getting out of bed for more than the bathroom. We are lucky to have two other elders here in the area that live very close by. We have been doing some half day exchanges so I will go work my area with one of them while the other stays with my companion and then I'll stay with my companion while they work their area. It has been hard work but it has payed off! We have seen many blessing from it and been able to teach those that need to be taught!

This week at church all of the stake leaders came and spoke. One of them that talked during sacrament meeting spoke about cleaning his garage. He thought his garage was clean but then when a friend asked him to get something for him he tripped and fell over some stuff in his garage. He then made the decision to clean it. After a few months he can now park a car in his garage. There are still a few old cans of paint that he needs to dispose of because you can't throw those away in the trash can. He then related this to the atonement of Jesus Christ. We all need to clean up our garage (our lives) whether we think it's clean or not there is always something to clean. And some of us may have old paint cans that need the help of a bishop to get rid of. I loved his analogy and how applicable it is to all of us! A lot of the time we think of repentance as a bad thing but truly it is a great blessing that we have! I encourage all of you to evaluate your garage and do what you need to clean it up! With cleaning your garage and repenting no bad things will come only greatness and a better you!

A view from the biggest building in Alice

A very confused alovera plant

Note from mom:  Elder Blackham and his companion seem in good spirits in spite of Elder Ferrin's injury and being stuck in the apartment for a large amount of time.  They were excited to be teaching a man named Ashton who has committed to baptism and has been attending church every week.  It has been a blessing that another set of elder's is in the area and can help with their needs while Elder Ferrin is off his feet.  Elder Blackham has also been able to do family history work and keeps all of us busy at home doing the temple work for the ancestors he has found (well over 100 now!)  Elder Blackham has been keeping up on his Spanish with Elder Blanco, one of the other missionaries in Alice, who is from the Dominican Republic and doesn't speak a lot of English yet.  He finds it strange to be attending an English speaking ward again and doing most of his teaching in English.

La Primera Semana en Alice

Alice is a completely different place then my last two areas. It is an English branch here and there are a lot of white English people. In the past week we only meet 4 people that speak only Spanish. I like the area here; there is a lot of potential and some nice people. I feel like I am in real Texas. It seems like it is impossible to go anywhere and not see a truck wherever you are. And of course all of the trucks have a lift kit or two. I think the other missionaries truck is the only truck that is "normal". There are four missionaries here in Alice. On Easter Sunday it was Elder Blanco's birthday. We couldn't go buy a cake for him but we were able to find a cake mix and some frosting in our apartments. I do have to say I could definitely be a professional cake maker/decorator. 

Alice crew

Texas limo. I have no idea what this is. Just found it in some junk yard.

Birthday cake for Elder Blanco

Note from mom:  It has been such a blessing to be able to talk to Elder Blackham weekly.  This morning we were able to meet his new companion Elder Ferrin, from Arizona.  Elder Blackham is happy to be back in a bike area.  He is already seeing the results of a lot more exercise and less Mexican food from the members! His first Sunday in the Alice branch the speaker in sacrament didn't show up so of course they called on Elder Blackham and Elder Blanco (the two missionaries new to the area) to give impromptu talks.  He is hoping not to lose his Spanish now that he is in a more English speaking area.  He got an upgrade to the apartment with a dishwasher, washer, dryer and carpet.  He's excited to be serving the people in Alice and has some wonderful people they are already teaching.

Último Semana

This was my last week in Los Fresnos I am headed up north to a city called Alice. I haven't heard anything about it or my companion so I'm going in blind. I'm excited to change things up! We had a great last week here in Fresnos. We were driving on a dirt road as a short cut from one appointment to another and we found a super old cemetery! (pictures below) the oldest grave that was legible is from 1927! We looked up the cemetery and there isn't much about it. It's basically in the middle of nowhere and it's almost all one family that used to live there and farm the land! On the road, as we continued our journey, we came across a large group of wild pigs as well! 

Treats from Sis. Davis again!

A lo Hecho, Pecho

This week was a great one and a spiritual one as well with general conference. As always conference was great with powerful messages. I think my overall favorite was elder Uchtdorf's! He talked a lot about missionary work and how we can be better missionaries. He talked about 5 things we can do to be better missionaries and the best thing is it's not just for missionaries who are set apart and dress in white shirts and ties and wear the plaque all the time but for everybody! The five things are, draw close to God, fill your heart with love for others, strive to walk the path of discipleship, share what is in your heart, and trust the Lord to work his miracles.

1) Draw close to God. It is much simpler than many think to grow their relationship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Some of these simple things are going to church, reading the scriptures, and praying. As you do these things your relationship with those above will increase slowly but surely.

2) Fill your heart with love for others. Jesus taught "love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34). And many times he has said love your neighbor and your enemy. This may be the hardest thing to do. People can be very mean and rude but there is only one thing we can do, turn the other cheek. I know it is hard at times to do this. I have been told I am a liar, had the door slammed in my face, dogs sent after me, and told that I'm going to hell for sharing the message of the gospel. It's very difficult to walk away from those situations with a smile on your face and a good attitude. But there are things that we can do to make it easier. One of those things is service! As we serve the people we begin to grow our love for them. Service does not have to be some grand thing but can also be simple. There are so many ways to serve I can not list them all but some may be, being a friend to others, helping them with yard work or something, and doing things with them that they enjoy doing (like their hobbies, fishing, hunting, games...). As you do these things your love for them will grow.

3) Strive to walk the path of discipleship. This becomes an easy thing once we have the desire to follow God, which comes by starting to develop that relationship. As you work to develop the relationship God and Jesus will do their part. "If ye love me keep my commandments" (John 14:15). This is so simple! If we love our family we don't want to hurt them. So therefore if we love God we will not want to break the commandments!

4) Share what is in your heart. This also is very simple! If you bought a new car or go on a grand adventure you can't wait to tell your family and friends! It should be the same way about the message we learn from church or the new scripture we find as we personally study! These things are just as exciting as a vacation and when we recognize them as important we will share it with all!

5) Trust the Lord to work his miracles. Many times we invite people do not accept and this is a result of agency. Jesus calmed the sea and can turn water into wine but he can not take away somebody's agency. We must have patience and wait for a person's heart to be softened and wait for God to perform his miracles! This does not mean we can sit back and do nothing! We must still do the first 4 steps to be ready for that miracle!!

Y'all have read the message so now it's time for the funny story of the week. This is what the pictures are all about below. We went by to visit an older member and they had a bucket of ashes they needed dumped out by the canal in the back of their yard. We dumped it out and my companion kicked the bottom of it so everything would come out and his foot went right through the rusted metal! She picked it up and tried to get the rest out but accidently dropped it 50ft down into the canal!! She was so distraught about littering we decided to go after it. We tied a rope around my waste and I went down after it. The wall of the canal was very sturdy due to all of the vegetation so there was no problem retrieving the bucket! And then to make up for breaking the bucket we mowed her lawn for her. 

¿México?

Before I explain the pictures I'll say a few things about the past week. Not much has happened we have mostly been trying to find new people to teach which means a lot of door knocking which always means strange people. As we were biking this past week a man called us over to his house. We tried talking to him but he was either drunk or he has done so many drugs in the past that his mind is mush. He introduced himself by saying his full name, birth certificate number, inmate number, and social security number.

Yesterday it rained for about 14 hours and it was pouring! When we were driving 30 miles per hour the rain hitting the windshield was like driving down the highway in a regular storm. When we got to church the roof in the chapel was leaking in about 5 different spots. It was raining so hard it was almost a steady stream coming through the ceiling. So we put some buckets and moved the chairs. The entire time during the meetings you could hear the water dripping into the bowls.

Pictures, today we went down to downtown Brownsville for Pday. We walked around and found a Mexican market! So the pictures are of an alleyway, the bridge going across the river to Mexico, and the market!