Yesterday, the church released this year’s initiative for Easter. There are several videos that speak on the importance of Jesus Christ, what Easter is really about (the atonement of Jesus Christ), and how we can follow him in our lives. I personally really like the animated video with that speaks about following him and how to follow the gospel in our lives. Today, I plan on burning some DVD’s here at the family history library so we can share these powerful tools for feeling the spirit at the door step and in the homes of investigators and members.

We met with Joe again this week, he hasn’t had time yet to come to the family history center. Besides inviting him to come there, we’re going to try bringing one of the family history specialists in the ward to come to a lesson with him later this week.

The weight continues to come off. I’ve lost 2 pounds this week. I’ve been doing a good job at dieting and working out every day, which has paid off.

For the heck of it, every evening this week, I’ve been reading the Pearl of Great Price for the sake of reading deep doctrine about the creation. Lot’s of fun!

https://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=HP_SU_3-13-2016_dMIS_fSPC_xLIDyL1-A_

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

I don’t know what is happening. The past few weeks have flown right by, but it doesn’t seem as if anything truly happened.

This week we did some service for a member at his convenience store. He is super cool and gives us free sandwiches when ever he is there and we come in. And Tuesday was no exception. We helped him do a few things and then he gave us some sandwiches. Except me, I can’t eat carbs right now so all I had was some meat and cheese.

My diet is going alright so far. I’ve lost another four and a half pounds this week!

On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to help the city of Santa Clarita to maintain trails. We hiked up some trails in Newhall and cleaned the trails, putting the dirt in just the right places and making drainage ditches for rain water runoff. On Thursday we did some service at a nearby food pantry.

Friday, we had our zone training meeting. We had a mission tour earlier in the week and then had some training on Wednesday to all the zone leaders and district leaders, followed by zone training meeting on Friday.

We met with our investigator Joe yesterday who prayed for the first time and despite not wanting to come to church with us, yet; he is willing to come to the family history center at our church building some time because he is really big into genealogy.

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

I promise that I was not kicking Dad (His response to a dream Richard had). This week has been super fast. I have no idea where the time went.

On Tuesday, we had interviews with President Henrie. They went well. He recommended a really awesome diet that has helped me to lose 5 pounds so far this week.

On Wednesday, we did some service at a nearby park doing a lot of raking.

Thursday and Friday, we did service for a member in the ward. His name is Tom Howard. He has been in several big movies such as Forrest Gump. He is and active pilot and has built 2 airplanes and is working on his third!

Saturday morning, we did some service for our Elder’s Quorum President removing his bushes around his yard.

We talked to a lot of people today, but not much success. We taught a lesson to our investigator Joe and we haven’t been able to get a hold of Mark yet.

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

Week by week, things get better. On Wednesday, I had a doctor’s appointment. I’ll start with good news, then bad, then good again. The good, was my blood pressure went down from last time I was there. The bad was that my weight still went up. The good news again is that since I was at the doctor’s office I lost 3.6 pounds!

Unfortunately, it looks like the iPads got pushed back a week or so. President told us that we are going to be having special visitors from the Missionary Department here next week, so hopefully that will be when we get them will be at zone training meeting when the Missionary Department is here. If not, I don’t think we’ll get iPads and then I’m going to make a fuss.

It’s not that my testimony is faltering or that I’m trying to be disobedient, but when a general authority says one thing and someone below him says something else to the contrary, who am I to believe? The member of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is a prophet, a seer, and a revelator? or my mission president? I think I’ll listen to the member of the quorum of the twelve first. That is simply the order of revelation.

We picked up a new investigator this week. His name is Mark and he was super excited to receive a Book of Mormon and to read it, and we already went back to visit him two days later to teach him again and to invite him to church. Sadly, he did not come to church.

Yesterday, we met with one of our other investigators who has been taught for a few months. We are taking baby steps right now with him. At this point, he doesn’t feel very motivated to do anything, but whenever we meet with him, we know that he is making those small steps towards baptism.

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

This week has been a real change here in Castaic. Having my former companion being in the same apartment as I am in and having another brand new missionary here has been quite the change.

Last week, after we emailed, we went to a park where a member of our ward set up a zip line. It was so much fun as our last day as the four of us missionaries before transfers.

It’s kind of weird being in the same ward but in a different area. The work is much in the North area than it was in the South area. We barely have 2 investigators.

So we have exciting news here in this mission! We just got iPad approved (FINALLY)! If you could kindly send me $200 so I can get one, that would be greatly appreciated.

There was not much more to report on this week. Just need that $200…thanks!

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

…the other bedroom in the apartment! There are two companionships (both elders) of missionaries in the Castaic ward + all four of us live in the same apartment. Elder Thorpe is training and becoming the new district leader here, so I am becoming companions with Elder Sponseller. So, all I have to do is move my stuff to the other bedroom in the apartment. Elder Sponseller’s companion is going somewhere in the San Fernando Valley.

I was a bit worried when received transfer calls on Saturday that I would be leaving the ward that I just moved in to, but this is exciting. Elder Sponseller is a great missionary, so I’m not too worried. Plus, the four of us are together more than 50% of the time, so I’ll still see Elder Thorpe a lot.

There is not a lot more to report on for this week. The work is a bit slow around here, but we keep hitting the pavement every morning at 10:00am to find more people to teach.

We picked up who we thought would be this super solid investigator this week. After we first came in contact with him, it was impressed upon my mind that he would serve a mission. Well, not yet. We met with him the next day, technically picked him up as a new investigator, said he’d come to church, and then things went a bit funky. The next day, he says he can’t go to church because he starts work at 11. Then later in the evening he says that he’s going to be hopping aboard a couple of buses and a train to get to Ukiah (somewhere in California) and will be “going on a mission of [his] own.” He left this morning.

We did some service this week, but that’s about it for this week. Talk to you again soon.

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

So…if you haven’t already noticed by the subject line of this email, there was an emergency transfer this week. I’m doing alright, but the culmination of a lot of different situations was simply too much for me and Elder Moon to stay together. I’ll explain a little bit more in a separate email to you.

Now I am currently serving in Castaic. It’s a really nice ward. The previous two wards that I served in were small and, on average, old wards with a lot of people who were older than 60 years of age with a small youth program. So, to come to Castaic where there is actually a real youth program and people who aren’t going to die yet is really nice. I’d say it is my favorite ward thus far.

Compared to North Hollywood, there isn’t nearly the same size of teaching pool here. It’s alright, so now instead of teaching, we are focusing on our finding techniques and being bold at the doorstep.

My new companion is Elder Thorpe. He is super awesome and is full of energy and the spirit. He is thankfully more talkative and knows how to plan, so I don’t have to do more than half of the work now. That is a real blessing to me right now.

“Repentance is a process and not something that happens at one particular moment. It requires consistency.” —Elder Francisco J. Viñas

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

Wow! This has been quite the week! We have seen miracles all over the place. Well, let me just break it down from here.

Last week, we had a cool p-day activity to get to know the other members of the zone. Previously, the zone seemed to be really divided and nobody knew each other and there were no zone activities on preparation days. It seems to be changing this transfer.  (He sent photos of all of their name tags on the California flag and missionaries eating a cookie or taco or ?? tied to a string, hanging from the ceiling.)

On Tuesday, we had a fantastic weekly planning. We met with our investigator Jason who is still unable to come out of his apartment yet. We also met with a recent convert of approximately one year who we are now teaching about the temple with her. She looks forward to taking out her endowments.  (Must be an adult member for at least a year, in good standing in the church.  We make additional covenants with our Heavenly Father and receive additional instruction to enable us to return to live with Him and our families forever after the resurrection.)

Wednesday, we went on exchanges with the Spanish elders in my district. I went in to the Spanish area where I was on bike with Elder Garner, and Elder Moon remained in North Hollywood. It was cool to learn a little bit of Spanish while I was there and to be in on bike to get some exercise. While I was gone, Elder Moon and Elder Garner’s companion, Elder Santana picked up 3 new investigators during knockout, all under the age 23 (23, 19, and 16).

The next day after the exchange, we had knockout again and on the last door we knock on, a man lets us in and teach him. His son recently passed away in the past 6 months and has been looking for a message to uplift him so we picked up another investigator there. Later that night, I gave my first baptismal interview and she passed! (To confirm the individual wants to be baptized for the right reasons.)

On Friday we again went on exchanges with the zone leaders and there, we had a super cool miracle where we knocked on the door of a less active member who the previous missionaries had been working with before the emergency transfer. They were so happy to see us. They were also surprised by the fact that the homebound sacrament (communion) passing hadn’t been by them in several months, so they were also happy to see us to get that started again.

When we got home the next day, after exchanges, it turned out this was one of the families that President Henrie told us not to go to because of something to do with the emergency transfer. Later that evening was a baptism, for the same woman I gave the baptismal interview for. It was super exciting to see her enter the waters of baptism. We also made a visit to Dean who still has not made it out to church.

On Sunday, our last miracle of the week was a man who randomly waked in to church for sacrament meeting. He is apparently interested in the church and happened to sit next to the member who will be feeding us this Wednesday. She invited him to come over for dinner with us so we will begin teaching him on Wednesday!

Some of you may wonder if Allen has been affected by the significant rain received in recent weeks in California. He sent a photo of a truck in front of a puddle, with a caption  “When it rains it pours”.  It appears there are large puddles on the side of the road, but you can still see the curb.

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