i didn't even say happy mothers day to mom!!!

wow brendan's talk is awesome!! it brought a little tear to my eye! well done well done.... so it was nice to talk to you guys!! i realized that i didn't even say happy mothers day to mom!!! i feel so bad!! i was just so excited to talk to you guys i guess. its crazy to think that the next time i hear your voices will be in person. it was nice to talk with every single one you... brendan's still a pest because he ran over my longboard but i love him. ten's still the coolest kid on the block but he's a blast. vicky's still the most beautiful girl in fort st james but pure in heart. mom's still the hottest mom out there and the most funnest bubbly person but knows when to lay the law down and dad is still a jokester and amazing father but clearly shows the love for his children. i love you all.. when i get home i wanna do a little slideshow for you guys like what brendan did when he got home and just talk about everything.. but its nice to know i made it this far. god loves us so much and helps us every step of the way. i hope we can all continue to give thanks for all that we have. prayer is so important. if we don't feel like praying we should instantly get on our knees till we feel like praying... summer will go by fast so enjoy it! do scriptures and enjoy the whole  family together. we will have to get new family pic when me and lan get there. we have never done winter pics but i think it would be awesome. love you all! CTR

there is a coffee factory by our apartment

hi everyone!!! ok so dad.. i'm calling today.. its just a precall though to coordinate when i'm going to call on mothers day. i'll probably call around 4 my time so it'll be like 6 your time. WOOT!

    so this week was crazy. this whole month was full of trials and hardship but i'm so grateful for them. we watched a few families suffer because they didn't have any food and it really got me down. we gave them the fruit in our fridge that we had and the church helped them out. i thought a lot this week about how we are so lucky that we don't have to starve or worry about what we are going to eat the next day. we don't have dirt floors and we have locks on our doors. there is a coffee factory by our apartment and every monday the workers carry sacs onto this big truck.. so that night every night there are two poor women who come with plastic baggies and pick out the coffee beans from the dirt that may have spilled out of the sacs and they sell it. its so sad. i always like to give them my fruit or yogurt if i have it in my fridge and they get soo so happy. so be sure to thank god for all you have . give thanks in every opportunity you have.

    i've been enjoying my mission and my area so much. the people are great and i know the members so well and i know who to go to if we need something and where to go and the streets... its always so sad to leave an area. but that's how the mission is. everything comes to an end but we will always have that testimony with us. we just gotta feed it and nourish it daily. do you guys take the time to watch the mormon messages? they are a great way to build your testimonies. well i have some cool stories for you guys when we talk on the phone. 

     but dad i like your last email. they talk about all the christ-like attributes. there really is no other better way to live life than trying to be like jesus. because if we don't try to be like him we really won't get closer to our father in heaven and that's sad. i love the perfect example that he set for us. and the more we try to be like him the more we love him and our desires to be obedient increase.

i love you lots. stay righteous! and can't wait to hear your voices! make sure everyone is home sunday night!

fear god and not men

dad! and mommy! man i miss you guys a lot this week. we have been working super super hard. i'm addicted to achieving goals! i used to hate setting goals cause i thought they were stressful. happy to say i overcame that and i have goals for when i get home. big ones. that i will achieve and no one will stop me. on the mission i've learnt to put my foot down and fear god and not men. before i wanted to please both. i've learnt that that is impossible. it does not work and will never work. and if you're obedient and as diligent as you can be physically and spiritually you will receive revelation necessary to do the lords will and find his chosen children. man i love this work. i feel like i just cant get enough of it. i don't even miss you guys.. well i do... a lot.. but its not like an "i miss you and wanna come home" but man dad.... some days are draining and crazy hard and i could use your advice... BUT i'm SO grateful for every trial and hardship in my life... its an opportunity to show god that i will not give up... i like to pray and ask god to show me my weaknesses.. and let me tell ya.. he showed me this week. i'm so stubborn and prideful but man the lord is so merciful! i think back on how i used to be at the beginning of my mission and i was not the best missionary... i thought i worked just fine but truth is that i wish i would have put my whole heart and soul into the work. i really believe that we become converted on the mission. thanks for supporting me. you guys rock. 

   we have been working with 2 couples who are getting married and every time we baptize or marry a family satan is so strong! so i always like to warn them at the beginning and i prep myself.. so this week has been stressful but i'm learning lots! love it!! well i am so proud of vix for going to young women's stuff! young women's is the best! i can't believe that she's gunna be 13.. WOW. ahh i feel like it was yesterday that  became a teenager! hahaha oh man.. can't wait till i get home to give her advice! lol. well i get to do a precall home in like 2 weeks. yay! so make sure you answer strange numbers.. ALSO. it'll be the last call home and the next time i hear your voices it'll be in person.. woot! love you all so much.. be good..

when i did sleep i would dream of teaching

 well hello everyone! well i just wanna say this week went much better than the last. we worked our butts off and i hardly slept and when i did sleep i would dream of teaching and try out different teachings in my dreams to see what would work. so i basically did practices in my dreams ahahhaha i dreamt like that all week. or i dreamt of ways i could be MORE diligent! hahah so i applied what i dreamed and felt good with heavenly father at the end of this week with the work we did. so its been great. hna child was telling me how on saturday she got her trunky letter! that's what we call it.. it asks what airport you wanna fly into and stuff about your mission and life and family.. weird to think i'll be getting that letter in about 3 months or 2 changes.... AH. 

     dad i like the story a lot about joseph and the coat of many colors.. i've been reading the bible from the beginning and the coat actually has a lot of symbolism. its interesting how each thing in the bible or each story has some sort of symbolism of the gospel. i couldn't imagine how joseph felt when he got to see his dad again and his family. its amazing how he stayed obedient and at the end realized that the lord let all those bad things happen for a reason because he basically saved egypt and his family from a deathly famine. its like our trials on our missions. in the end they are for our own good and teach us what we need to learn to get closer to our heavenly father.

   well i'm enjoying my mission more than ever. i love this work and feel so blessed to be a part of it. when i get home i want to go out with the missionaries all the time and help them as much as possible.

    have you guys seen the new bible videos?? they are absolutely amazing. the character of jesus christ is perfect... we show our investigators elvive.mormon.org a lot and they love it.. i've seen it a million times and still don't get tired of it.

   i love you all lots! take care and do whats right and i'll see you on skype in three weeks!! WOOT!

 

ps  forgot to say.. i gave a talk on sunday (president basically asked me to burn the members a little because they are a little flojo ahorita) so that went very nice.. used a bit of alma 5 and jefferey R Holland lol but when i was up there my investigator's little girl kept screaming... NANA!! aka hermana.. and she was pointing at me and she kept yelling for me.. it was so cute!! love the little kids!

i feel like i can't ever dare break the sabbath day

hey dad! well thanks for your email! its what has been on my mind all week. conference was amazing hey? i learnt so much and i think it impacted me more than ever before. i think its cause i am more spiritually strong than ever so the messages penetrated my heart so much. i didn't really have a testimony on the sabbath day before but now... oh man... i feel like i can't ever dare break the sabbath day. and the talk that talked about always being there and loving those who have fallen away from the church. pray wait and watch is what he said... elder nielsen i think it was. its so sad when someone falls away but we should never give up on them because they are a child of god as well. conference made me so happy and i received lots of revelation but i also felt sooo sad for the world. so many worldly things out there that don't matter and so many people blinded by satan... including the most righteous at times. that's why its so important to pray and read our book of mormon EVERYDAY. i don't like excuses. they will never work when we answer to god. 

   mom and dad. i cannot express how i feel about jesus christ. my love for him has grown so much. its hard to explain because when you have a change of heart its a little indescribable. i have never viewed the gospel in my whole life the way i do now. he is the ONLY one who was able to atone for the world. he did it with his free agency because he is obedient and did god's will. he is the light of the world. my saviour. and i can't wait for the day that i can see him again. i want everyone to know of christ. i want everyone to feel the joy of the atonement in the way that i have. heavenly father loves us SO much! the more i ponder it and think of it and pray and see miracles on my mission the more amazed i become and i get to comprehend a little portion of the love he has for us. when we feel discouraged we need to pray. even if we don't want to... we should remember how merciful the lord is! prayer is powerful and it works. i testify of that. i know without a doubt that the tomb is empty and jesus lives as a glorified being. i love you all. 

    i pray for you all all the time everyday begging god to protect you all and help you comply with the commandments so that we can be an eternal family. 

    we have changes today.i will be sad if i get separated from my comp. i love her a lot and we make an awesome duo and are always in agreement. there is unity and that has been a huge blessing. stay righteous and enjoy spring time!!!

JUNGLE FRO!!

JUNGLE WOMAN

he's so entertaining!

wow dad! thanks for all the nice details about life. love it! so tarysa and i keep in touch every monday! i'm sooo happy she got married in the temple. i can tell this new guy is super great and she loves him a lot! 

   so normally we give our key indicators to the district leader halfway through the week so they can monitor our work and for some reason our numbers were bad! we were like what the heck... we planned divisions but the members ditched us and with family history it takes away so much time but that never stops us from trying to reach our goals... so the district leader was surprised cause we are always good with our goals. but he said to me.. hermana blackmore .. you guys surprise me every week with your achievements so i know you'll achieve your goals.. so.. hna blackmore.. will you achieve your goals? and i was like umm elder its already halfway through the week so i don't think so.. and he asked me again.. so i changed my attitude and told him that we were going to achieve our goals and more! so we fasted and prayed.. and all with the help of god we achieved our goals.. and more!! we got three families to agree to get married! 3!!! we are soooo happy! miracles really do happen. all you have to do is give your ALL. no matter how tired or exhausted you are.. when i'm tired and feel like my work is finished for the day before 10 30 i think about how jesus was always working and helping people. so i have no excuse to be lazy or slothful. we must be diligent in all we do. because if we do all we can we can trust that the lord will do his part. we may not know how but miracles do happen and he is always aware of us!

    so i'm loving the mission right now. lana has changes today! ah! mine are next monday.so we will see what happens. i still have yet to serve in pucalpa! well i must admit tennyson is the biggest goofball.. i cant wait to see him again.. ahha he's so entertaining! well i love you all and stay righteous!

 

i felt like i was burning them. haha

hi dad!! so i usually get up and workout. my companion only gets up earlier if i do cause she has to come with me to workout. so i was having a very lovely dream of you dad. it was that me and lana were in the mtc and you came with us to protect us from the elders hahahah so you had your arms around the both of us. so when the alarm went off i was like yepp i ain't gettin up.... so i went back to sleep and kept dreaming and slept till 6:30 hehehe well dad to celebrate my halfway mark i did nothing cause i don't want to get too trunky... but for my one year i'll burn a skirt or something! or  a shirt. i've got lots that are so worn out now! lolll. can't believe i hit 10 months in about 2 and a half weeks. crazy. but yeah kalene left about a month or 2 before us. so she hit her one year mark! i'm super pumped to see her again. i should write her!! she is sucha great person and friend. seriously so many of my childhood memories are with her and tyla on the farm. we always had so much fun. i miss those girls.

    so this Sunday i gave the class in relief society. i trained the women on how to share the gospel and why its important. i was so into it that i felt like i was burning them. haha i really wanted to pound it into them that they MUST share the gospel! and that they have the responsibility to do it. and that the prophet and apostles are telling us that as members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints we have the responsibility to share the gospel. and they receive revelation of god to tell us these things and its a commandment that we follow the prophet. its true that the lord is hastening is work more than ever! its amazing! i love it.our friends family neighbours are the chosen ones. they are the ones that our heavenly father wants to hear the gospel. so we are instruments in the lord's hands and therefore must open our mouths and pray for the opportunity to share the gospel.

 so dad and mom and ten and vix. pray and ask god who of all your friends or neighbours needs the gospel. then invite them to a family home evening so they can feel the spirit and then invite them to church.through your example and dilligence they will have a desire to come unto christ. we are all children of god, he loves us so much so we must do everything we can to be instruments in the lord's hands. listen to the spirit. he will guide you and put names into your head of who is ready to hear the restored gospel. we have something that many people don't have... the only true gospel upon all the face of the earth! but everyone wants an eternal family so we have GOT to share the gospel! i feel bad for people who don't know their purpose in life and who don't know why they're here or who don't believe in god. its not their fault though. i just feel so blessed to be on a mission. i've seen families who are at the point of divorce and at rock bottom and at the point of being a broken family. but the power of god is more powerful than satan, so i've seen the gospel change these families and now there is nothing that could tear them apart as long as they always apply the gospel. i love this gospel and i know with everything that i have that its true. i would die defending it because it has blessed me eternally. i know our family is forever. and i love you guys very much.

     hermana blackmore

cocos i had to drink for when i was sick lawl.

 

 

 

 

lil jungle boy. he's always naked and LOVES me

 

this is one of my pensionistas house... makes me grateful to have tile on my floors..

 

members who love the missionaries did this for me.. and bought me dinner haha

 

she reminds me of vix. she loves me and has a great personality!

 

i love this little one! she is so strong in the gospel!!

 

yep i'm a full on jungle girl now.. so my hair is always a frizzball that EVERYONE tries to touch hahah. its grown a bit eh! this is our convert. shes awesome!

 

my companion. i really love her!

 

we make a great team!

 

i always make her try to speak english cause her accent reminds me of mom