November 27, 2023

Alrighty, this week's been a good one! I feel like the last week of a transfer either flies by or drags on and feels like forEver. This one flew by. Thanksgiving slapped me in the back of the head, it came up QUICK!! I totally blanked on that thing. But it was fire we went to a friend's house and had a fire dinner, it was kinda weird cause they were all related and we were the only white people in the whole house but I loved it. It was a blast talking with all these Hispanics, eating food, and gambling...a little branch out about this one. As we were nearing the end of our night they brought out la lotaria, which is basically the Spanish version of bingo. And then they brought out the money. This is when I gave my comp a look like...we can't play. But we did! Cause the ones who invited us over bet us in...(it'll be an interesting lesson when we get to it) but me and my comp were technically gambling...in behalf of someone? I'm not sure on the logistics we were just in it for the bingo. But they sent us away with our winnings which we wanted to give back to them...so I left a whole $2.00 richer. Not so bad. But probably will not be a common occurrence. My trainee was left a little stunned after this experience. Poor guy.

I’m getting another kid Saturday, that is, a new trainee. So I’ll be training two missionaries this transfer. He’s a visa waiter, so Idk how long he’ll be with us. 

We've been seeing lots of finding happening, which is amazing, but I feel like I'm being given a little trail of faith, because our finding often leads to many dead end conversations. It's been a long path of patience, because we aren't getting a lot of lessons that pull through, amd I want to have my trainee have a good experience and get to teach lessons. But we have seen little miracles as we have put in that effort. We've seen lessons pop up as we go out and find. My testimony of being diligent has grown so much on the mission! As I've seen not only my spiritual strengths increase, but that of my companion as well, I know that God is blessing us for doing the best we can in such difficult situations. I know that it can apply to our everyday talks outside of mission life as well. Staying diligent, being who God already sees us as will lead us to success and to miracles in our lives. I testify of that in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

Ciao,

Elder Blankenbiller 

Christmas lights downtown

Turkey bowl with the district

Octopus 

November 20, 2023

Dude I hit my eight months today and I don't get how it came up so fast. I feel like the days are long but the weeks go fast. 

Anyways this week has been great. We had a lotta hard things like friends dropping, but we made this new friend! His name is Jesus Gonzalez de Venezuela and he's rad! He came to our group meeting Sunday night and a ward activity tonight for Thanksgiving! He's met some many members already it's amazing. He loves basketball too which is a plus. If you guys could all pray for him so he will continue being willing to listen to our message that'd be amazing! 

We've got this other guy David who's a baller, my guy drives a Tesla and took us for a spin it it. Super fun.

We had a dinner with one of our inactive members and he made us some bomb tacos and we played pool and talked and it was so fun. Hes only inactive cause he works crazy hours. And his boss sucks cause he doesn't ever give him time off on Sundays. He was a crazy active member in México but then he moved here and things have gotten in the way. We'll get him back. We have to. So if you all could fit in Victor into your prayers too...much appreciated. 

We felt like we hadn't been seeing a lotta success recently but it really picked up, because of the effort we put into it. Knowing that something was gunna come out of it. I can testify that everything good comes from the effort we put forth. Blessings will always come to those who seek them and I have seen that so strongly this week. 

Love you all! 

Elder Blankenbiller

-top of the Columbia tower 

- tesla friend 👌

 

November 14, 2023

Hey! How's it going, I missed last week so I'll fill you in on a little stuff. It's getting cold here. I'm not used to humid cold, and the wind is the worst. And the Latinos know it too cause it's getting harder and harder to find em. But we don't ever give up hope, so we still find. 

So we had a blitz with pretty much all of Spanish in the mission which was rad, we got so many good referrals and made so many friends!! Good stuff. 

We also had this lesson with this friend of ours, David, who's the goat. He's so close to getting baptized! He's the nicest guy ever and he's got a Tesla and took us for a spin in it. 

We had to unfortunately drop one of our friends, Marcelo, from bap date due to circumstances but if you could all keep him in your prayers that'd be amazing. 

God is so good, even through the cold and all these new changes in the weather and missionary work, he always let's me know that he's watching over me. We went to the temple today and it was an amazing experience, it always is. But to be reminded so strongly of the love God has for us, that he gave us all these covenants, or agreements, so that we can be blessed when we follow them. That he loves us so much he's already given us everything we need to come back to him! We just need to love him back. Enough to give our all to him, because he gave the life of his beloved son for us, so that we could come back to him. I know that God has a plan for us and through Jesus Christ we can all be brought to the eternal presence of the Father once again. And I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Bye, 

Elder Blankenbiller

-Tirimisu or however you spell it.

- elder langi on the blitz with me. It's 5:00 in this picture 

-apple fritters 

 -nice cloud