Transfers!

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Posted: 6 December, 2016

So, we found out about transfers. We’re both staying together, apparently moving to a new ward (to be determined) and apartments. This should prove to be an interesting transfer again.
This has been a really fun week despite transfers looming around the corner.
On Tuesday, we had an awesome day of weekly planning. It took us all day until knockout to get it finished because we also had to find areas in which other people would knock as part of a zone blitz which happened later in the week on Thursday. Afterward we taught several less active members of our ward using the Christmas initiative.
On Wednesday, we did service for a Spanish non-denominational Christian church before visiting a bunch of people. After knockout we were supposed to receive dinner from a member at 6:30 and with poor communication between us and the member we ended up waiting until almost 8pm until we ate and we were unable to do any work that day. We both felt bad about that.
Thursday we had an awesome district meeting where we set goals as a district. That was followed by a zone blitz and we picked up a bunch of potentials only to find out we won’t be there to see their progression.
On Friday we had an exchange with our district leaders which went really well. I went with Elder Mahlum and we taught a recent convert that evening. Here in our mission, we do exchanges from mid-day to mid-day, so in the morning, I needed new bike pedals because mine were cracking plus a new back gear because a part inside the gears had gone bad. That cost $63 (see follow-up email). We managed to teach one of their investigators later that afternoon.
Sunday was a sad day. I know last time I served in this ward I wasn’t exactly sad to leave, I was more or less excited. This time however was quite sad. I actually grew to love the area, the members and non-members alike.
I love serving a mission and getting to know the people I am privileged to serve.

 

Elder Blodgett

California San Fernando Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Feast Week

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Posted: 6 December, 2016

Fast Week

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Posted: 24 November, 2016

Boy, this week breezed on by. Literally and figuratively. It has been a fantastic week and we’ve seen a lot of miracles.
Flashback to a week and a half ago Tuesday, we decided to elevate our goals.
We set high goals with the intention of working hard to achieve the higher goals and it worked.
So, now let’s move back to the week we’re currently in.  On Tuesday, we had our weekly planning. Afterwards, we set out to work. We found a new investigator at dinner time. We had dinner with a semi-recent convert. They had a friend over and we taught her the Restoration message and invited her to read the Book of Mormon. She agreed to us continuing to teach us. Yay!
Wednesday, we decided to forgo doing a regular service project we often do and instead went to visit a lot of people. We had been hoping to receive a referral. We weren’t terribly disappointed that we hadn’t received one as it was merely Wednesday. However, much to our surprise, just as we had finished visiting all the people we had hoped to visit and still had time left over to visit, we received a referral. So we visited him and contacted him even though he wasn’t the least bit interested.
On Thursday we had an amazing district meeting on finding and the importance of fasting.
Friday went on exchanges. I went on what would be the equivalent of my grandson. In the mission life. It is said that if you train someone, you’re their dad and they’re your son. So I went on exchanges with my trainee’s trainee. So in other words, my Son’s Son, or grandson. Anywho, Elder Johnson is a great missionary and I enjoyed our 24 hours together. We taught several less-active lessons what went very well.
Saturday, during the exchange, we found several new investigators as a result of visiting and checking in on other investigators/former investigators/potential investigators. After the exchange we went by all of our other investigators to remind them about church the next day even though none of them came.
Sunday was a fun day. Ha ha! We had an awesome time at church and afterwards we did knockout. We were invited to attend ward pie night. I made some pumpkin pie for the event since I had some canned pumpkin sitting in my cupboard. I put it good use by making the pie. YUMM! The other pies were also delicious. Sunday was also my 18-month mark. I’ve done a whole sister’s mission. WHOA! I now have six months left starting this Wednesday at which point I start 6 months to sexy.
What a week!
Elder Blodgett
California San Fernando Mission
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Working Hard and Sick…at the Same Time!

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Posted: 18 November, 2016

Hi Mom! It’s been a crazy week. Having a cold made it a bit stressful, but it was still a lot of fun.
So Monday we had epic meal with a member at Hometown Buffet. It was super fun and we ate a lot of food. I love being around the members.
Tuesday we had weekly planning which was nice because we could stay in the apartment and stay nice and cozy too. It wasn’t until we hit the streets that I realized how bad this cold was. I felt miserable. We managed to visit a lot of people that day but I was slowly getting worse as the day went a long and I slowly was more and more out of it.
Wednesday was even worse. We had interviews with President Henrie which was great and I somehow had enough energy to walk to interviews in a suit and all but it wasn’t until we went to do some service later in the day that I felt like I hit a brick wall. We had TWO dinners that evening with some less active members of our ward which is when I found out who won the elections: Yay Trump! Well, sorta, because both options from what limited information I’ve heard about the two as a missionary was that both options were less than ideal.
Anywho, Thursday was my last day of feeling like a bag of garbage. We had a cool zone lunch and I brought a can of a diet soda that I’ll leave nameless (do you know who I’m paraphrasing?) and a couple of pulled chicken sandwhiches. We then had district meeting immediately afterwards which was about the importance of once again why we must open our mouths and how to help our investigators attend church, a common problem in our mission. Afterwards we had knockout and had an awesome lasagna dinner despite being out of energy and wishing to be in bed.
Thursday night I found some Robitussen which helped me to have a fantastic night’s sleep, and as I soon discovered as we went out to proselyte on Friday that my energy was back and I wasn’t feeling like garbage. I still had a cough and a runny nose, but that’s manageable.
Saturday we made a lot of visits. We were scheduled to have a meal with a member but he had to change the time around and instead have dinner at a restaurant. We were told we could pick where to have the meal and having been so impressed by dinner at Hometown Buffet, we couldn’t resist. Yay!
Sunday was church and we had an awesome sacrament meeting. The senior couple who serves in the ward spoke and they gave amazing talks on hastening the work in the Kingdom. Afterwards in priesthood I came down with a headache so when we got home I took some meds and took a nap before knockout.
It was a crazy week, but we toughened through it and all is much better now. Hope all is well at home!

This week has been interesting. It’s flown by despite the challenges that presented themselves to us. Monday was quite fun. It started with us having preparation day. Instead of proselyting after 6 (see Missionary Handbook) we had a combined zone activity with the Canoga Park zone. We had pizza followed by watching Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration (2005). If that sounded like a carbon copy of last year for Halloween, I’m glad somebody was paying attention! Tuesday was once again weekly planning. We thankfully finished it with not too much time left over. I always fear that it will take too much time, but it was okay. Afterwards we taught a lesson to a less active guy and did knockout early so we could have dinner early so we could go tech a bunch of appointments. Sadly a lot of those fell flat. Wednesdays we do service at this weird Hispanic church. We gave out food to the homeless people that come for a sermon and then get food afterwards. On Wednesday I got a flat tire. After patching it with Elder Smith’s patch kit, we took it out for a spin and found out that his patch kit was a piece of junk. We were on foot until Friday when we managed to get a good patch kit and a second inner-tube. Wednesday was ward visits, which our ward does to try to get more home teaching done. On Thursday we had an awesome zone training meeting about having the faith to reap. Elder Smith and I did a musical number of Because I Have Been Given Much. Afterwards we had Knockout and went to a lesson with an investigator. He wasn’t home and after having been reminded of the fact that we needed to “open your mouths” (see Doctrine and Covenants) we did so and ended up having a bash for nearly 2 hours before it was time to go home and get something to eat before nightly planning. Ugh! Friday after getting the bike repaired we set out to work. We made a lot of visits which was of no success. Saturday was a bit of the same story. Church on Sunday was fantastic. It was fast Sunday. We had an awesome lesson in Elders Quorum on home teaching based on Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s recent talk in General Conference (see http://gc.lds.org). Throughout the day I thought I was experiencing some sort of fasting like pains, but my biggest fears came as this morning I awoke to what I thought the pains actually were–a cold.

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Posted: 18 November, 2016

This week has been interesting. It’s flown by despite the challenges that presented themselves to us.

Monday was quite fun. It started with us having preparation day. Instead of proselyting after 6 (see Missionary Handbook) we had a combined zone activity with the Canoga Park zone. We had pizza followed by watching Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration (2005). If that sounded like a carbon copy of last year for Halloween, I’m glad somebody was paying attention!

Tuesday was once again weekly planning. We thankfully finished it with not too much time left over. I always fear that it will take too much time, but it was okay. Afterwards we taught a lesson to a less active guy and did knockout early so we could have dinner early so we could go tech a bunch of appointments. Sadly a lot of those fell flat.

Wednesdays we do service at this weird Hispanic church. We gave out food to the homeless people that come for a sermon and then get food afterwards. On Wednesday I got a flat tire. After patching it with Elder Smith’s patch kit, we took it out for a spin and found out that his patch kit was a piece of junk. We were on foot until Friday when we managed to get a good patch kit and a second inner-tube. Wednesday was ward visits, which our ward does to try to get more home teaching done.

On Thursday we had an awesome zone training meeting about having the faith to reap. Elder Smith and I did a musical number of Because I Have Been Given Much. Afterwards we had Knockout and went to a lesson with an investigator. He wasn’t home and after having been reminded of the fact that we needed to “open your mouths” (see Doctrine and Covenants) we did so and ended up having a bash for nearly 2 hours before it was time to go home and get something to eat before nightly planning. Ugh!

Friday after getting the bike repaired we set out to work. We made a lot of visits which was of no success. Saturday was a bit of the same story.

Church on Sunday was fantastic. It was fast Sunday. We had an awesome lesson in Elders Quorum on home teaching based on Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s recent talk in General Conference (see http://gc.lds.org). Throughout the day I thought I was experiencing some sort of fasting like pains, but my biggest fears came as this morning I awoke to what I thought the pains actually were–a cold.

Back in Van Nuys!

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Posted: 2 November, 2016

Well, after approximately 7 months of not being allowed to email. I’m back! Also, after 6 months being away from the ghetto of the California San Fernando mission called Van Nuys, I’m back here too!
Monday was transfer email day and the anticipation, the nervousness, etc could not have been more rampant. First glance at the transfer email was “Really?” After I got to Van Nuys, I was excited to be here, six weeks was not long enough to be in the ward last time.
Tuesday was actual transfer day, filled with packing, taking a break to go eat at a really awesome burger joint “Rustic Burger” on a gift card from a member and then gettting all of our stuff to the parking lot exchange. It was quite the ordeal but somehow or another we got all of our stuff there and then to Van Nuys. It seems as if the mission Toyota Corollas have like this magical limitless trunk space even though they really don’t. Later in the evening we met with Bishop and that’s when it hit, Van Nuys is a great ward and that I’m ready to serve here.
Wednesday we did our weekly planning and got to work. As crazy as the people that live in the San Fernando valley are, it was once again fascinating to be able to be back and talk with people who are that much more interested in hearing the gospel.
Thursday was district meeting. I met with Elder Lisonbee, the senior couple missionary who President Henrie assigned to me to help me through the Addiction Recovery Program booklet, and was the final step towards allowing me to email you today. District meeting was great it was exciting to meet my new district. They’re pretty awesome!
On Fridays, we have this awesome nonmember we do service for. She is an Armenian and we do gardening for her. This week we planted a bunch of trees for her. Afterwards, she cooked us a good home cooked Armenian meal.
Saturday was a special day. We had ward missionary coordination meeting. It was once again good to see our ward mission leader again. He is so amazing. We also have a new senior couple in the ward. The Sellens are home in Alaska and the new couple is the Strouds from North Carolina.
Sunday was church and it felt homey which would not have been the way I described church last time I was in Van Nuys. Gospel principles was about marriage and the 5th Sunday lesson was about budgeting.
My new companion, Elder Smith, is amazing! He’s from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Elder Blodgett

Tranferring back to Van Nuys!

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Posted: 30 October, 2016

This past weekend, we had transfer calls.  I am going to yet another bike area.  This makes for an interesting transfer – I’m going back to Van Nuys!

I’m a little upset that I’m leaving Copper Hill so soon, but then again, after just having been in Van Nuys for only one transfer too will be fine.

We had a great week.  We taught Bill one last time, although we didn’t know that at the time.  We had a member there for the first time in a while.  That was both a blessing and a curse.  The member we brought rambled on for the better part of an hour, so the lesson didn’t go well.

Sorry if this seems a bit scatter brained.  With transfers, I’m a bit nervous.  We’ll still be on a bike, in the same ward, but in a different area of the ward.  Before we received the transfer calls on Saturday we were running by potentials late at night and managed to find a new investigator.

Sunday was Stake Conference.  I love this stake so much!  I’m going to miss it too.  The Stake President here, resident Carlson, is much like President Kindt.  Both are doctrinally sound and wonderful speakers.  The choir was phenomenal (not just because we sang in it).  Elder Pinmentel of the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy was the visiting authority.  He gave a lot of advice I can use more for after mission.

Hope all is going well in Appleton!

Love Elder Allen J Blodgett

Recent Mission Photos

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Posted: 23 October, 2016

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Mission life has been good to me

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Posted: 23 October, 2016

Happy belated wedding anniversary and baptism anniversary for Mom!

Mission life has been good to me.  Thankfully, whatever bug we had last week never came back.  We had the energy we needed to get through the week.

Tuesday ended up being our preparation day and I got the new SD card for my camera.  I managed to get a roomier card – 32GB instead of the 16GB one I had.  The receipt is enclosed.

Wednesday was weekly planning, which went well and for the first time this transfer we were focused enough to finish in one morning.

Thursday was a fun day.  We had several birthdays in our district so someone brought in a bunch of balloons and we all ended up drinking the helium from it and talked in high voices after district meeting.

Friday we did some service at a nearby park before running by potentials for the remainder of the day.

Saturday was the beginning of an epic weekend. We taught a lesson to a family and the committed to find someone to invite to church.  Then, we had a really good knock out and gave several Books of Mormon away.

Sunday got even better.  We had the primary program and it was of chorus yet another spiritual experience because of that.  Then, we had the opportunity to have a member come along with us for an hour of knockout.  We picked up a new investigator, named Kyle, who happens to be a PACKER fan!  Followed by us going to stake choir practice because our zone is going to be in the stake choir for stake conference next week.

Love, Elder Allen Blodgett

PS – will you send me the following?   New tennis shoes, photos of Grandpa Blodgett’s shed (inside and out), and Grandma Steichen’s new apartment.

Spiritually Fed During General Conference

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Posted: 12 October, 2016

I haven’t received the SD card yet!  Please hurry up …

Anyways, this has been a fantastic week.  A lot of cool things have transpired.

Tuesday and Wednesday were a bit, shall we say, boring.  Tuesday was weekly planning.  After planning, we had an exchange with our zone leaders.  We got a bit of work done, but not a lot came from it.  At the end of the exchange on Wednesday, Elder Turner was sick. He slept most of the afternoon.  As he was sick, I got a bit sick too – cabin fever.  No human interaction for 5 or so hours.

Thursday was better, we had an awesome district meeting and set goals for the upcoming month of October.  Side note – time is going far too fast.

Friday, I was super trunky – for General Conference, every time I looked at a clock I figured out how many minutes until conference.  We did some service at a park and had a super awesome dinner with our ward mission leader.

Saturday and Sunday were, of chorus, conference.  It was a great conference.  I particularly enjoyed how the talks seemed to be geared towards investigators, recent converts, less active members, and returning members.  On Sunday, we had the privilege of watching in a members home. Our investigator, Bill, made it and it was a great experience.

Hope all is well back home.  Progress report on computers:  if I finish the ARP book within the next 4 weeks, I get to email again.

Love, Elder Allen J Blodgett

Say, do you know if I can get a flu shot?