Jack - September 27

Hey everyone, quick week for me this week. Not a lot happened other than the same old schedule everyday, so the week kinda flew by. We had an earthquake drill last week, and then about half an hour later there was an actual earthquake, at least some people think there was, I couldn´t feel anything so maybe it was just really small, I know Chile gets them a lot. Yesterday morning all of the previous groups of missionaries left the MTC for their missions. Both the previous group of north americans, there for 6 weeks (like me) and all of the latinos, there for 3 weeks. It was weird to say goodbye to them because we´d only known them for 3 weeks, but we´d grown pretty close, especially with our roommates. This week went a lot better with my companion, I don´t know what changed but we haven´t had any arguments and we´ve been able to practice teaching with much better unison and accord. Something I forgot to write about last week was something else that was said in the devotional we watched from Elder Bednar. He suggested that we should all read the Book of Mormon with a specific question in our mind that we want answered. Then as we read, mark all of the scriptures and passages that stand out and when you finish reading, do a little review and write a summary of what you learned. He said that by the time we´re his age (he was speaking to a bunch of missionaries in the original devotional) we should have bookshelves full of different copies of the Book of Mormon categorizing our growth in spirit and knowledge. What a cool idea. So this week I´ve been trying it out and it is incredible. I just started from where i was in my current reading, I didn´t bother starting over again. And I just started with one question in mind, but as I´ve been reading more questions and passages of scripture hace stood out to me. It has been the best experience I´ve ever had reading the Book of Mormon ever. Each time I read I say a prayer first to help me focuson my study and on my questions and it is amazing, I´m able to understand and learn so much more. I highly encourage everyone to try it. For your first time maybe focus on trying to find out if the Book of Mormon is true, even if you already have a testimony of it, and mark whenever someone bears testimony or anything else that stands out to you. It is truly an incredible experience. I hope everyone is doing well and I can´t wait to talk again next week.

Elder Blaylock

Parker - September 25

Well Hello everyone!!!

So, This week has been rather interesting. Let`s start from the beginning. 

So Tuesday, we didn`t actually get much done, cuz I had to have an interview with the president in the afternoon that took up a lot of time.

Friday, we went to a Zone Conference, and it was pretty good. Oh yeah, I don`t know how it is in other missions, but here, when someone is ending, in their last zone conference, they give their "Faithful Testimony" and two people gave them this time. One was a sister who was in my first district a year ago, and the other was my zone leader in Tucuman, we did comp exchanges so many times, we`re basically companions. But yeah, it was weird to see, that these people are ending the mission, and that really there isn`t a whole lot of time left for me. 

My comp is saying that when he leaves, I`m gonna train. And yeah, it`s actually very likely. the only question is whether my current comp stays here for one or two transfers. But yeah, basically when I leave this area, I`m gonna have like 6-8 months left, which is insane. 

Also, after the conference, we went with some elders in my district to their area to do exchanges. They had two baptisms last week, and I had to give the baptismal interviews, it was crazy. Afterwards, they had an activity, and invited us to stay. Basically every organization had to prepare some desserts, and the missionaries were gonna be judges, so that was a fun night. One of the elders in that companionship made dirt and worms, you know, with the choclate pudding, oreos, and gummy worms? It was weird. 

And then yesterday was my comp`s birthday, and we had TWO barbecues. One for lunch and one for dinner. It was AWESOME.

And today, we went hiking up this hill/mountain here. It was pretty cool, pictures are included. And then we went and ate MCDonalds in the city. Then we came back to write, but the chapel here has like trashy internet, so we had to come and use an internet cafe. 

But yeah, other than that, everything`s going great here, love you all

Elder Blaylock

Jack - September 20

This week FLEW by, after that first week time has been flying so fast. A lot happened this week but at the same time it´s hard to remember all of it. Last wednesday after emailing we did a session at the santiago temple (which is right next to the MTC) and it was awesome, we get to do it every pday. I love the reverent peace of the temple, it´s the best place to pray to God with any questions or concerns you have. A bit later last week my companion and I had a big argument, so I´m still having trouble with this companionship, some days are better than others. Monday and Tuesday were actually national holidays so it was really cool and lucky that I was in the MTC because we celebrated all of Monday. We ate a ton of good food, learned a lot about some of the dancing they do in Chile (with ponchos and hats and boots with spurs it was sweet) we also played some field games in teams for most of the day, for some reason i was a team leader for my team so they´d explain the rules of each game to the team leaders but both the team leaders for my team were gringos haha and they were explaining in spanish. That night we had a devotional with the MTC president, he taught us more about the holiday and the history of Chile. Monday was their independence day. Tuesday was a holiday celebrating all their branches of their military so we got to leave class to go watch some parades, I didn´t get any pictures though unfortunately. This sunday we had some really good devotionals. We watched a talk from Elder Bednar about the Character of Christ and trying to be more like Him. One of the best ways to do that is to always think about others before yourself. Something he shared that I really liked were his thoughts on faith and the story of the brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon. The brother of Jared presents his plan to light the boats to God, which was to have God touch the stones so that they could be illuminated. In the verse where it talks about the brother of Jared seeing the finger of God, Elder Bednar points out and speculates about the fact that there´s a period between the sentence where God lights the stones and the brother of Jared sees the finger of God. So Elder Bednar pointed out that maybe God started lighting the stones and the first few all the brother of Jared saw were the stones lighting up, but he had to believe that God was touching them before he would be able to see God´s finger, because faith is a hope for things which are not seen which are true. Ether 3:6 ¨And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger. And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord...¨ This reminded me of another scripture about faith that says ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. So if you desire something of the Lord, go to Him with a plan and faith that you will receive just like the brother of Jared. This was really important to me because it is exactly what it felt like after my argument with my companion, before I was comforted and assured by the Lord that I was doing what was right I had to prove that I would stand by what was right. I hope you are all doing great! I love it here and I can´t wait to be able to tell you more. Until next week.

Elder Blaylock

Parker - September 18

Well, how´re you all doin? This week has been long and interesting, so I´ll start from the top.

So, Tuesday. My first District Meeting as District Leader. I think it went well. I focused on our purpose as a missionary. I don´t know how many of you know this, but our key indicators changed and now we only report baptisms, people with baptismal dates, people who went to church, and new investigators. So I focused on how from the first visit, we need to be bold and start talking about baptism and going to church, because that´s what the key indicators tell us we need to be focusing on. We also did exchanges with the ZL´s that day, and I got to be with a good friend, Elder A, he was my ZL in Tucuman at the beginning of the year, we´ve done exchanges so many times we´re basically companions. So that was pretty fun. The only interesting thing about that day was that we had to change out their gas tank, carry the empty one like five blocks away and then grab a new one and carry it all the way back. And then we had to figure out how to open it up without any tools. In the end I managed to use an old rusted bike chain to crack it open. 

Wednesday. We got done with exchanges early morning, and went back to work. Really rough day, one of those days where all the appointments fall through and nobody wants to accept us. But it´s fine. These days happen sometimes. 

Thursday was very interesting. So ok. Here in Salta, there is a very big Catholic holiday called Semana de Milagros, or Week of Miracles. Where years and years ago, there was this huge earthquake and people were praying to these saint and virgin statues and that part of the city wasn´t destroyed, so now there´s an annual pilgrammage where people walk for thousands of miles to the catholic cathedral in salta. So, this is where we come in. We were told that we could go to a service project thursday morning, something to do with food. Ok. We get there.....oh my goodness, this is a huge event here. What we were basically doing was acting as a rest stop for all these pilgrims. There was a whole bunch of people making sandwiches and handing them out with water, and there was also a station for people to get medical attention for their feet, where there were people washing feet with this water mixed with a weird brown substance. We had to refill the water bins when they were used and then dumped. We also saw lots of guys our age who were becoming catholic priests, wearing like wizards robes or something. All in all, rather fascinating. 

And then Friday was the special conference with Elder Mark A. Bragg, a seventy who´s in the area presidency, doing a mission tour. It was very good, he´s very cool and taught some great things in the conference. At first there was a meeting for leaders in the mission, and I´m district leader so I went to that. It was really good, learned a bunch about being a leader. And then, before the second meeting, everyone got to get up and go shake his hand. And when I get there, he actually stops me and says "Elder Blaylock! I need to get a picture with you" what? how does he recognize me and what´s this about a picture? "I was with your brother in Chile last week in the MTC" So yeah, got to meet a seventy. And he even spoke in Conference in last April. About light if I´m not mistaken. Gave me some words of comfort, showed me a pic of him with Jack. Telling me about how happy Jack looks. It was really good. 

And Saturday, we went early in the morning with a member very far away to teach some friends of hers. They are a good family, they just live very far away. It´s very beautiful too. I´ll send the pics later when I can get my camera.

Sunday. Very special. I´ve been very focused on partaking of the Sacrament lately. It was very special yesterday when I took the Sacrament. Also did a lot of introspection, found out a lot of things about myself. Made lots of goals to be better. 

So yeah. It was a very long and interesting week. I love all of you. I´m praying for each and every one of you. By name. That´s something that Elder Bragg emphasized in the conference. 

Love,

Elder Blaylock

Follow up to the surprise email from last week - September 15

Mission accomplished!  I met your wonderful son in Salta this morning.  He is doing well and is working hard!  He is happy and healthy.  I showed him the photo of us with his brother and he was pretty happy to see him!  He also said that he is the shortest of the group!  WOW!

Un abrazo.  Thank you for your faithful service and for preparing such amazing young men!

Elder Mark A. Bragg

Presidencia de Area

Area Sudamerica Sur

Jack - September 13

It´s been a long couple of days and a quick week since I arrived at the MTC. I was of course sad to be leaving my friends and family for two years, but I can testify that the Lord looks out for those who place their trust in Him and follow His will. On the first flight a flight attendant stopped by me as I was reading the Book of Mormon and talked to me about serving a mission (He´s a member) and just that quick conversation really calmed me down, and let me know that God was watching over me. On the second flight a kind attendant showed me to a better less crammed seat because I´m so tall. Once we arrived at the MTC I struggled a lot with a lot of homesickness and stress over how little time we were given to unpack and adjust, I was so stressed that I couldn´t focus at all during the first class. After dinner however, and being able to kind of decompress by getting to know the other missionaries I arrived with, I felt much better and was able to lose myself in the work. And I can´t stress how important that is, I haven´t felt homesick at all since then (mostly), it's so easy to lose yourself in this work and i feel truly blessed. Every night I look through the pictures I brought with me of my family and friends and I am so grateful for all of you. My district is awesome, my companion is a little less awesome. Elder R and I are complete opposites, and it causes a lot of stress and problems, usually on me. He is very cocky and enjoys being the center of attention, he´s not very focused on any of the lessons and is very stubborn in his views of how a lesson should be taught, but then he still expects me to put it together. He talks a lot, and i mean a lot about his many girls at home, and how he´s dating like 2 or 3 but none of them know. It´s awful. Sorry everyone, I needed to decompress. Part of the reason I know he´s my companion is because the Lord knows each of us and has a plan for us, even if we only know part of it. Elder R is pretty good at trying to talk with some of the native speakers, which has encouraged me to be more extroverted. Oh and by the way the gift of tongues is real, my spanish has improved so much in just this last week. I think the Lord has a sense of humor though because ever since I gave a lesson back home about the gifts of the spirit, I´ve been seeking after those gifts, and one of the ones I´ve been praying for is the gift of patience, and how do you build patience? through patience. It´s very stressful but I guess having to be patient with my companion is helping me build patience so that´s good. Seeking after some of the other gifts of the spirit has been very enlightening. During a personal study time where we were supposed to be studying the doctrine of Christ I was stopped by a large portion of scripture highlighted, which is unusual because I usually don´t mark my scriptures, and it turned out to be the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, as I read it I made a list of attributes and associated blessings. A little further in the chapter we are instructed to ¨Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.¨ Looking back on my list I realized that these attributes and their associated blessings are our Light and that we need to share and Strengthen that Light. Furthering my study, I wanted to focus on one particular verse: ¨Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.¨ What an incredible blessing. Through further study in books such as As a Man Thinketh, and some quotes I´ve heard through my life I put together more notes on being pure in heart. I´ll try to just send a picture of those since I don´t have a ton of time to write. I want everyone to know I´m doing well out here, the food has been pretty good, I haven´t had any problems being too picky about the food, that and I usually can´t eat very much, it´s very filling. My district is awesome and we´re like a family and it´s weird because we´ve only known each other for a week. I hope everything is going well back home! And I hope everyone is safe and happy! 

Elder Blaylock 

Written on my comp's foot while he was asleep (not by me). My Latino roommates are hilarious, but they also never go to sleep.

Parker - September 11

What a week!

Wow, oh my goodness, this week has taxed my mental, social, and physical energies way more than I thought. But I`m told by my Zone leaders that I`m handling it well. So that`s good. 

My Comp, elder F, is really cool, and helpful, he`s very active and has a good memory, which helps a lot with whitewashing. But basically we weren`t able to actually work until Saturday. 

But yeah, it`s been crazy. Being a district leader isn`t too hard, just gotta see how people are doing at the end of the day. And then every Tuesday I have to lead district meeting, so that`s gonna be an interesting day tomorrow. 

But yeah, other than that, not too exciting, just trying to work hard. I`m sending a pic from pday today,

Love you all!

Elder Blaylock

A surprise email - September 9

Dear Blaylock Family

We are on assignment in Santiago this weekend and met your wonderful son today at the MTC.  He is doing very well!  He is happy, healthy and working very hard!  I don't meet too many missionaries taller than I am!  I am trying to get on my tiptoes in the photo and I am 6'3''!

He mentioned that his brother, Parker, is in Salta in our area!  We are going to be there next week on a mission tour and we will be sure to share this photo with him and take one with him to send to you. 

Thank you for preparing such worthy and willing young men to serve the Lord.  I know that there are many blessings but I recognize what a sacrifice it is to have two sons in the field.  May you be richly blessed!

Un abrazo!

Elder Mark A. Bragg

Presidencia de Area

Area Sudamerica Sur

Parker - September 4

Hey Everybody!

Sorry for the late email, but wait till you hear this.

So Sunday afternoon, the assistants call, telling me that I am going to be district leader now. Then at night we get the transfers, I`m headed to Rosario de la Lerma in Salta, it`s like an hour away from the capital, and my comp is gonna be elder F. 

OK, great. I get on a bus, fairly comfy, there was a movie too, A Dog`s Purpose, which was about a reincarnating dog, not my favorite film, haha.

Anyway, then I get to Salta, and guess what nobody told me? I AM WHITEWASHING (starting everything from scratch)....Oh my goodness. Basically what happened is there was another twig here, and the missionary here managed to convince the president to open up the twig as a separate area. So he`s going there, and I`m here, whitewashing, as well as first time being district leader...

BUT

I don`t want you guys to worry about me, I am going to be fine. My companion is pretty cool, so far we`re getting along fairly well. He`s from Utah.

I don`t have a whole ton of time, but I want you all to know that in these times of changes and challeges, The Lord will help us, we just have to go and do the things the Lord commands, because we know the Lord wouldn`t give us challenges or difficulties without preparing a way for us to get out of it or through it. Keep Praying. Keep Reading. Trust in God, and Believe in Good Things to Come. 

I love you all,

Elder Blaylock

two missionaries out in the world again

Brock 2.0

The Evolution and Articulation of Brock 

Overheard after spending a great day with his brother.

B: It's so hard.

J: What?

B: That things are so good that you don't want them to end, but if they don't end...it would be really bad.

- - - - -

(Think about it: summer vacation; eating a box of See's chocolates {ha!}; childhood; a good nap; Adam and Eve in the garden...)

 - - - - -

As a child Brock had a really hard time with change. Harder than the rest of the kids. Hearing this (deep on many levels) realization and acceptance of this hard life-concept was reaffirming to me as a parent. 1. To all those out there in the thick of child-rearing--oh, it's hard! So hard. And sometimes you despair and think that things are not going to turn out okay; concepts are not being learned; the same situations occur over and over again, ad nauseum. Hang in there. I lost a very dear friend to cancer a little while ago. She was a few years ahead of me in life and she gave me advice and a listening ear as she had had a son very much like mine. She gave me encouragement and hope and I am so grateful to her. Hang in there. 2. Missions are amazing. They are so hard and good. There are concepts that we have been trying to teach in our home for years. Years. But were only realized and truly learned when our children have been put in the midst of the trials, service and deep spiritual faith and commitment that all go hand in hand when someone decides to serve a mission. I am so grateful for this opportunity that the gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints helps to provide for my children. For those of you interested, I am including the text of Brock's homecoming talk. It is balm to my soul as I get ready to send out yet another child into the world.

xx
jenny

- - - - -

I’ve been asked to speak today on a topic that has been at the forefront of my mind for the last two years; a topic that is near and dear to my heart. What blessings come from the commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, described by Doctrine and Covenants sec. 20 verse 37, as one “truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto repentance”1? Or, to retool the phrase; what do we get, what happens to us when we are truly converted?

Well, I can start off by saying that true and complete conversion is a rare point that few, if any of us, will reach in this mortal existence, so these blessings that we will receive will be received in degrees, in accordance with our own degree of conversion. It’s a process, and we will be blessed by our progress within that process.

One of the greatest gifts that comes from committing to the Gospel is understanding. We understand our relationship with our fellow man as our brethren, that we must esteem them as our own flesh. Paul puts this to words in the first epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 8, 13, and 20:
“So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us...
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe...

“For ye are our glory and joy.”2

This understanding that Paul and his fellow missionaries had of their brethren, a gift in and of itself, led to other blessings. Because of this understanding, they desired, as did Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah that “salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.”3

Their understanding of their relationship to others led to a desire to share these blessings with them! Not only did it bless them with the desire, but it blessed them with the opportunity and the knowledge of how to share those blessings! And tell me, did Paul have fruits showing that he truly desired the salvation of his brethren? How about Alma and the sons of Mosiah? The scriptures say that they baptized thousands of converts unto repentance. They showed their desire by working to attain it.
The longest I stayed in any of my areas was six months. In my mission this was somewhat uncommon, so I felt that I came to understand the concept of “eternity” there. On my first week in this area, my companion and I found perhaps the humblest house in the entire city. Now, I don’t want you thinking that this is common for Brazil, so don’t start thinking that I served in the Amazons or something like that. This house truly stood apart. It was a small, dilapidated shack, made from bamboo shoots and plastic sheeting. It sat, illegally, on private property. In this house lived a family of six in the worst of conditions. The parents were unmarried, chemically dependent, and thin and dry from said drug usage. The father worked in the streets, scouring the trash for recyclables. The house had no shower. The children had only recently been going to school. Now, it took a long time, but slowly we helped them out of their addictions. We helped them get married. We baptized the mother, the father, and the oldest child. And after that, he led us to others, who led to even more. 80% of the people who I taught and baptized in the area were because of that family. In my last week in the area, on New Year’s Eve, I visited this family. Clean, their formerly gaunt appearances filled in with a healthy glow, living in a rented home, readying themselves to purchase a car, and with the children playing quietly and happily in a corner, I saw the people that God had always known them to be. I saw the people they had become, through the commitments and ordinances of the gospel.

Conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ also allows us understand our role in our own lives. When I was leaving for my mission, as a young man who perhaps did not study the scriptures as often as he should, I was questioned about which scripture I would want on my mission plaque. Panicking, I scrounged up a scripture mastery without much thought, and turned it in. Doctrine and Covenants 58: 27-28:

“Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness:
“For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.”4

And I didn’t think much about it.
However, “all things work together for [our] good”5. My mission president was a man whose commitment to this gospel shone on his face and rang in his voice, and he had a thing or two to teach me about being an agent unto myself. I held an erroneous yet common belief, that I was not in charge of my own fate, and that I could blame circumstances, other people, anything but me, for my own misfortunes. I was being, in my mission president’s words, a victim.

My mission president expounded to us something that Lehi taught his sons in the beginning of 2nd Nephi6. We are free to do one of two things, to be one of two people: one who acts—or one who is acted upon. We can receive what we are given and make ourselves content or point the finger at others or at our situation and say “That’s not fair!”—or, we can do something about it. We can act.

This changed my life.

Understanding that my own actions would either get me where or what I wanted, and that complaining, or murmuring, or inactivity of any sort would never solve a problem for me, opened my eyes to the role I not only played in my own life, but about the role I played as a missionary in the lives of those I served—that, regardless of good desires, work had to be

done if I truly desired their salvation. We know it is “after all we can do”7, that we are saved by the Savior’s grace. My mission president loved us because he loved the Lord, and therefore he wished to teach us this great thing.

The Savior’s grace brings me around to perhaps the greatest blessing of conversion—conversion itself. Conversion is, as its name suggests, change. More specifically, a change of our nature. We change our behavior when we start to follow the Word of Wisdom, when we start to pay tithing and attend church meetings, and so forth. But when we are changed, when we are converted, we gain a better understanding of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When we understand that, when we understand the enormous price and the pure, unbridled love that Christ had for us to the point that he suffered, he anguished bodily and spiritually to pay the price for our sins, we are able to partake of His infinite mercy and able to repent, and be clean.

Because that’s what it’s all about. Repentance. To enable us to live with God and our families forever.
Because of Jesus Christ, we have these opportunites, these blessings, these gifts. All we have to do is commit ourselves to be like Him. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve, said in General Conference of October 2000:

“Now is the time for each of us to work toward our personal conversion, toward becoming what our Heavenly Father desires us to become. As we do so, we should remember that our family relationships—even more than our Church callings—are the setting in which the most important part of that development can occur. The conversion we must achieve requires us to be a good husband and father or a good wife and mother. Being a successful Church leader is not enough. Exaltation is an eternal family experience, and it is our mortal family experiences that are best suited to prepare us for it. The Apostle John spoke of what we are challenged to become when he said: ‘Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we

shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.’”8 9

Brothers and sisters, I testify to you that I know that my Redeemer lives. I know He loves me and wants me to become like him. I testify that I know with all of my heart that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet called of God. I know this Church is true. I challenge you all to ponder the words I have spoken this day, and invite you to act— seize the blessings of conversion. After all, the process of conversion is what qualifies us for eternal life. I bear these things as my solemn testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

CITATIONS:
1 D&C 20:37

2 1st Thessalonians 2:8, 13, 20
3 Mosiah 28:3
4 D&C 58:28-27
5 Romans 8:28
6 2nd Nephi 2:26
7 2nd Nephi 25:23
8 The Challenge to Become, Dallin H. Oaks, General Conference 10/2000 9 1 John 3:2