Parker - August 7

Hey Everybody!

Guess what? today is a special day. Exactly one year from today, I will be on my way home! 

Yeah, technically haven`t reached the halfway point yet, but still quite the milestone. 

Yeah. It`s been crazy. yet we haven`t done a whole lot here. We`ve just been working hard, finding new people to teach, and having people progress toward baptism. And this saturday, it`s likely that we`ll have another one. So expect pictures. (It`s quite the miracle, because if she didn`t show up to church yesterday, we`d have to postpone it again, but she managed to show up right before the sacrament, so it was ok). 

And last thursday, I did exchanges with my former comp Elder Arts, the dutchman. It was really cool, cuz it was just like old times. He`s a really good friend. After talking a bit, we decided that someday, either he`s coming to visit me in the states, or I`m gonna visit him in the Netherlands. We talked a lot about a lot of stuff. Cuz he`s at the end of his mission. He cut it a bit short cuz he has to go to school, so he`s leaving in the middle of the transfer, next sunday. We also watched the best two years, and he actually is dutch, so it was a lot more interesting. 

Yeah. It`s been crazy. Now I`m basically at the halfway point, and now brock is home. I swear, every time I see a pic of him home, a wave of emotions come over me, like half of it is relief that he`s finally home, that eventually the mission does end, and that he has grown and changed so much, and the other half is that I`m not there yet, that I`ve still got a year to go, and how much changing i still have left to do. 

But all in all. I think the mission, and my progress in it, is just how it should be. Sometimes people say that the mission passes by really fast, some say that it`s taking forever. But in the end, sometimes it`s one and sometimes it`s the other, and it turns out being exactly two years. No more. No less. 

I love you all, and I can`t wait to see where I am a year from now. 

Love,

Elder Blaylock

Parker - July 31

Hey Everybody!

This week has been fairly crazy. Got my new comp, he`s pretty chill. Really tall too, like dad`s height. 

So yeah, for the second time in my mission I`ve had to be in charge of the area. I`m not senior comp yet, but still, i have to direct the area because I know the people and where they live etc. 

So yeah, somthing sad happened. Wednesday, the really old mother of one of the members in the twig died, so Thursday, we spent the entire day at the funeral. Which was also a catholic funeral. It was ok though. The member asked me to dedicate the grave at the end. Which was incredibly nerve-racking, but I think I did ok. 

Also, we found a new investigator who´s gotten mixed up in some weird things, we had to give him a blessing in our second visit with him so he could be protected from evil influences. 

And yeah, everything`s going pretty well with me, pretty chill. 

And yeah. Brock, you man, you stupid stupid man (no offense intended, just quoting hook). You made it home! I`m proud o´ you! Its really great to see the pictures and to know that the mission does end, sooner or later. It`s crazy, brock`s already home. I`ve only got a year left. And jack`s getting ready to leave. I can hardly believe it. 

I love you all

Elder Blaylock

Brock - July 25

Oh Happy Day!

Parker - July 24

Hey Everyone!

Wow do I have a week to tell you guys about. 

To start off, we were able to set some baptismal dates, so that`s really cool. we don`t have anyone that`s like right now gonna get baptized, but the ones that have a date set, they`re progressing rather well.

Also, ok, here`s the interesting part. Friday, in the morning, well, we have been trying to get our apartment changed, but the missionaries in the offices aren`t getting anywhere. So my comp got a little heated. He`s also been having tons of personal problems, so he was pretty discouraged. he kept saying I don`t feel like being in the mission anymore. 

So, Saturday, we spent the entire day travelling. we left in the morning to go to Salta, where the president is, and my comp had a talk with him. He came out a lot happier. 

And now, we have transfers! i will be staying here. my comp goes off to Salta. My new comp is Elder A, from Utah, he`s 6´8" really tall, but that`s cool. He`s already here, and he seems pretty chill, we`re gonna get along this transfer. Also, my MTC companion is now in my district! It`s so crazy and cool. 

Yeah, that`s pretty much it, I`m so excited for brock to go home, then I`ll have ayear in the mission, and then Jack heads to Chile. This transfer`s gonna be interesting. 

I love you all, and hope Brock has a fun plane ride. 

Love

Elder Blaylock

Brock - July 24

Just sending a quick e-mail to check in. We're at the president's house. I've already been interviewed. I love you guys. 

Mission accomplished. 

Parker - July 17

Hey everybody!

So yeah, this week went by fairly fast. Really the only things of note were the exchanges that we did. I stayed in the area with a Chilean ZL. He´s pretty cool, not a whole lot of people like him, but we got a long pretty well. I think its because he likes to be strict. 

Yeah, And I got the package!!!!! Finally! I am so happy to have gotten the package. It really boosts my spirits. 

Yeah, also, we finally got a certain investigator to church, and she liked it, so she´s gonna get baptized in the beginning of August, really cool. 

Oh yeah, completely forgot, we had Zone Conference last week, and I met the new president, Orquera. He´s pretty cool. Really capable, like President Chaparro, my last president, but he´s also got the spirits of a brand new missionary, so it´s gonna be interesting working with him. 

We still have no idea if I´m gonna stay here or if I´m gonna go. There´s a tiny tiny tiny possiblilty that I stay here with the same comp, but it´s really unlikely, and niether of us wants that. We get along really well, but we both really kinda need a change. 

Yeah, other than that, not much happened this week. Hope you all have a really great week!

Love you!

Elder Blaylock

Brock - July 17

This week was pretty exhausting. We worked to the bone, and Sunday morning we went by all of our investigators and not one went to church. Thankfully, one of the members brought a friend to church. We taught him a little after church, and he accepted everything pretty well. So that´s good.
My new companion is cool. He´s from Honduras, and he speaks English bascially fluently, but we only talk in English when we joke around. On Friday we had our multi-zone conference, and we (the zone leaders) had to prepare training. I think it turned out fine. I talked a little bit about Capitan Moroni. In Alma 48, it talks about Moroni, that if all men had been, and were, and ever would be like him, that the powers of hell would have been shaken forever, and that the devil would never have power over the hearts of men. So we talked about some of the things he did and was, how he pointed to Christ by the way he lived his life, and how we can apply some of these things to our missionary work. For instance, the people of Moroni had great faith in the Lord.

15 And this was their faith, that by so doing God would prosper them in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God that he would prosper them in the land; yea, warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger;

16 And also, that God would make it known unto them whither they should go to defend themselves against their enemies, and by so doing, the Lord would deliver them; and this was the faith of Moroni, and his heart did glory in it; not in the shedding of blood but in doing good, in preserving his people, yea, in keeping the commandments of God, yea, and resisting iniquity.

Here we see that the people had faith that God desired that they prospered, that he would warn them what to do, and where to go. I talked about applying this to how we work, where we work, and having the faith that God wants us to find the elect and is always trying to help us. I hope the training went over well. 

Today we had to come down to the capital, because tomorrow we´ll have the self-sufficiency course and the temple session. So we kind of wandered around, me and the other Americans going home. The bought a bunch of fake stuff, like ties and wallets and belts. I didn´t see anything "Brazillian" enough to be a cool souvenir. But we did go to a "famous" pizza/churrasco buffet that I´ve been hearing about my whole mission. This is going to be a good week. I love you guys. Don´t know if the next time you hear from me it´ll be an email or if we´ll be huggin and crying, so...

Elder Blaylock