Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Saturday, September 2, 2017
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
- - - - -
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
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.
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
“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
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.
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
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
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Parker - August 28
Hey everyone!!!
So yeah, first off, baptism!!!!!!!! It was a little stressful, cuz thursday morning, they called asking us to postpone until next weekend. We went to them in the Afternoon and got everything smoothed out. It was not fun, cuz there was just a lot of complications, but everything worked out in the end.
It was great. We also had a great Sunday. We watched the transmision of Elder Rasband for South America, it was really cool.
So yeah, this week has been fairly good. I`ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I need to get done for the second half of my mission. And one of the speakers in the transmision talked about this, she called it the Law of the Harvest. If we want Strawberries, we have to plant Strawberries. So I decided to start doing some things now that I am gonna want to have as good habits when I get home.
This next week is the last week of the transfer, and I am fairly sure that I am leaving, so next week, we`re all gonna see some big changes. Brock off to college in Dad`s car (wow, mom must really love that new car). Jack off to Chile, to start two years of spiritual growing. And me, heading to a new area, with a new companion, most likely with a new responsibility.
Anyway, that`s pretty much it, not a whole lot else happened this week. Love you all!
Elder Blaylock
By the way, I can`t tell, but in these pics mom is sending me, it looks like Jack might actually be taller than brock? please someone respond to this.
Monday, August 21, 2017
Parker - August 21
Well, it`s official. I have made it halfway through the mission!
And yeah, this week, it was fairly interesting. We actually did exchanges this week, and I got paired with Elder Robinson from the MTC! It was pretty cool. To come back to see each other after a year in the mission.
Yeah, and something really crazy happened this week. Last Pday, when we picked up the bikes from the shop, someone began talking to us in english. He actually teaches english, and he started talking to us, cuz he wants to practice. And this week, we were able to visit him in his house. On Friday, and he asked us to talk in English. So, I taught my first lesson in English. It was super crazy. It was really hard for my comp, cuz he`s kinda forgetting his english. But I was able to transition fairly well. And, as we were talking, his father came over and invited us back the next day for Argentine Barbecue. So, that was pretty awesome. And when we went back, we got everyone involved and they`re all really interested.
We have also found a family of new investigators that are awesome and almost every time we go there, they just give us really good food. And they`re progressing very well.
Also, we are working with lots of other people to get baptized. But really, it`s weird. This zone is rather difficult, so the ZL`s keep asking us "What are you doing to have so much success?" But I`m just like "we`re not really doing anything special, i just feel like the Lord is giving us a lot of blessings." I don`t know if I am being modest or humble or anything, that`s just what it feels like.
And wow, this transfer is going by super fast. We already are in the second to last week. And me and my comp were looking at the missionaries who are leaving in the next couple transfers, And wow, this next transfer is gonna be really crazy, mostly because now they`ve come up with a rule: 25 months maximum. So they`ve stopped allowing extensions, while allowing all of those people who already extended to stay extended. BUT 25 months max, so like several ZL`s and one of the Assistants are leaving halfway through the transfer, as in like a couple days. It`s so weird.
But anyway, That`s really it for me this week, I hope you`re all doing great!
Love
Elder Blaylock
Sunday, August 20, 2017
Parker - August 14
Hey Everybody!
First of all, BAPTISM!
Yup, it went through. She got baptized, and she`s super excited to continue in the church. Seriously, it was great. Also, for some reason, this last sunday, a whole bunch of less actives decided to come to church, as well as a family of investigators, who told us when we first met them that it`s very hard to get them to go to church. But they came!
Yeah, it was really good. We also had a president`s conference last week, and my interview with the mission president was really good, helped me out a lot. gave me a new perspective on certain aspects of missionary work.
Also, my good friend, Elder Arts went home this sunday, cutting his mission a bit short in order to get back to school on time. It was really crazy, especially cuz they had to replace him, and their gonna have to replace his comp in a couple weeks cuz he extended his mission, but the rule is 25 months maximum, so he`s headed home before the end of the transfer too. Basically they`re whitewashing the zone leaders for like the third or fourth time here in the Concepción Zone. There are gonna be a lot of changes this transfer, cuz of a whole bunch of leaders that are ending the mission. I am most likely going to go up and be senior comp, probably district leader too.
But anywho, it`s all good. Sounds like you guys are having fun at the beach. Wish i could be there, but don`t worry, I`ve learned how to be a little bit patient. I`m basically at the halfway point, one year left is nothin.
Love you all, hope you guys enjoy the wind and the sand. That`s why I love my "rock," cuz it`s really great to just sit there and enjoy the powerful forces of nature. the wind, the waves, the clouds, the shifting sand, the sunset. Take the time to enjoy the nature around you.
Love
Elder Blaylock
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
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