I Need to Learn a New Language! Jan 28, 2019

Hey guys! This week was so great! it was the first week in my new area with my new comp. Elder Espinola is from Buenos Aires and hes super great! Weve had a lot of fun. Also I love Embarcacion! Its small and the church is a branch so theres only like 15 people each week and our area is kinda in the middle of nowhere. Parts we have to teach kinda in the jungle and almost all the roads are dirt. The people are amazing and there are soccer fields and mango trees literally EVERYWHERE!

In one house I ate 8 mangoes and they were so freaking good! And as we were leaving we passed a soccer field and they kicked the ball to me and told me to start juggling. That was fun and we told them wed come play with them later. 

This week my comp asked me if I spoke Spanish before the mission, so that made my day! Before I left I barely knew anything haha, but I'm grateful for the companions I have had that have helped me progress with the language.

BEES! We had an activity for the kids Wednesday and during it a beehive fell through the roof and the room filled with bees. luckily no one was there,  there were so many and i think they are still there. The room smells like honey too which is good haha

The people we teach are amazing and one family has a ton of kids that are all going to church! They live in the jungle basically so its fun to teach them. Also there's a guy were teaching that speaks Guaranine! 

NEW LANGUAGE- Guaranine (I think that's how its spelled) is a language that some people here speak because we are so close to Bolivia! Its nothing like Spanish and i've started to learn it to help in our lessons!

On Saturday our branch had an activity where we played soccer and went into the mountains to have a fire and cook food! Lots of fun and it was great to get to know them better.

WE were going to have a baptism on Saturday but right before there was a hail, rain, lightning storm and the light went out of the church so we had to postpone it to next week

Sunday was my Birthday! it was such a great day!In the morning we passed by the houses of the people were teaching to bring them to church! We had 8 people come to church with us which is more than half the amount of people that usually go regularly!  Most of them are kids and I love that were helping them have the church in their lives. 

THE HAND OF THE LORD- Also on Sunday we were just randomly walking in the street and walked past the house of a guy we had found earlier in the week. We had never got his address because we had called an ambulance for him, but on Sunday he had gotten better and was standing outside his house when we passed by! we shared a bit about the restoration and set a date to go back to talk to him and his family!

I'm so grateful that i had the gospel in my life growing up, so it made my day bringing the kids to church where they learn of Christ and can bring that light back to their homes and be examples to their families!

In the night we passed by a members house and had cake which was a lot of fun! 

I know our Heavenly Father loves us and that he sent his son so that we can have peace in this life. There is a great plan to it all, and God is aware of everyone. He has restored the gospel of Jesus Christ through a prophet, and today he continues to guide his church! 

Dream big, love life, and turn to Christ in everything!

-Elder Blackburn

fotos

1. Branch Activity

2. El Rio

There are more but the computer is slow. I'll send more next week