Nov. 15, 2011

Dear Family

I am having a great p-day. We got to play a preach my gospel game today in companion study with the zone leaders. So with that the day has already been made. We are in a full time car here in redhawk, which is great for getting to appointments, but not for staying in shape. Oh well just more of the sacrifices that a missionary makes. In case anyone feels like i am getting too spoiled, this last weekend i went on exchanges, and lost the privilege of having a car. Instead i was on bikes and spent a good four hours riding around in the rain. I was also without raincoat and umbrella, left both of those in my apartment. I got soaked, and i think some of my clothes are still wet, but i now feel like a real missionary. It is also district activity this week, which means some basketball at the stake center, and then next week we get to go to the san diego temple. Looking forward to that.

It is great to see pictures of James, looks like everyone is doing okay and is healthy, which is always good. And it is also good to hear that avery maybe joining me out here next week. You have no idea how many times we get offered to take little kids out tracting with us so that parents can have a break. It gets pretty humorous.

So did you hear about the two missionaries in texas that passed away last week? Was it in the Dallas mission? Don't worry mom we are being very safe, and i fully expect to come home whole and healthy.

So this week was a really good one. We also had zone conference, it was not nearly the ordeal leahs was (all it entailed was a 40 minute car ride down to vista). But it was really good. We learned a lot about how to study and teach, and how to create real usable study journals. I found out that president cook's study journal consists of four filing cabinets, I found someone who might actually give brother harris a run for his money.

In terms of investigators we have had a pretty good week. We are working with one lady denise, who was supposed to get baptized yesterday. But we encountered some setback and have had to move the baptism back at least a week. It was pretty cool though because on sunday we were really hoping that she would get to church but unfortunately she didn't show up. So we stopped by after church to see how she was doing. We found out that she had been up since three that morning debating on whether she should continue with this or whether she should just scrap the whole conversion thing and find something else. Finally she prayed and asked heavenly father for a sign to tell her what to do. Right after said prayer, we knocked on her door. She then told us that she knew this was what needed to happen, and how happy she had become since meeting with us. A pretty cool thing for a missionary to get to experience. After that all the rest of the stories pale in comparison.

Thanks for everything, and hope everyone has a great week. Good luck mom with your surgery hope all goes well. I love this gospel, and still love serving the Lord, somehow it never seems to get old. I love you all, and hope everything continues to go so well. Love Elder Blake

Mom i would like more pens, and more of those moleskin journals, that fit conveniently in pockets. Other than that, just more socks, nutella, ties, and conference talks. Thanks for everything.