Elder Blackburn

     Hola a todos! I hope everyone has been doing well this past week. I wanted to just take a few quick moments to give a quick report on how this last week has been for me. Things have been good! I'll start by saying happy father's day to all the fathers receiving this email. The world needs more and more worthy, steadfast, humble, and selfless men and fathers. 

     So I'm not sure if I have Covid or not. I'ts been moving through our mission and through some of the missionaries and I had exchanges on Saturday with our zone leader Elder Joffs and he has it. So who knows. I might absolutely lose my mind if I have to go into quarantine though. 

     The weather has been so amazing. Some days it is just so humid and hot and others it is so beautful. Some of my favorite summer days so far have been the ones that are cloudy, 70's, and humid. 

     Okay here's the invitation for the week. We are still working with Jonathan who has been struggling and fighting to overcome an addiction to smoking to be baptized on July 10th. This week he has to start a two week period of complete abstinence before he can be baptized and so we will be doing a fast and praying for his ability to overcome these daily tempations. If you would like to help bring Jonathan into the waters of baptism I ask for prayers and faith for him to receive the strength he needs. 

     Okay quick spiritual thought. Alma 7:23 says: 

23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. 

     This is one of my favorite verses. My companion Elder Arnett and I were talking this week about spiritual gifts and blessings and we came across a talk that explained that truly the only the we have to offer God that is completely ours is our will and our agency. All the blessings we receive are given directly from Him. We don't magically accumulate them. So if everything we've been given, spiritual and physical, is God's, not ours, truly the only thing we can offer him is our will and our actions. It's an interesting concept of humility and gratitude. 

     Elder Arnett only has three weeks left so we have been working as hard as we possibly can to see success before he leaves. Our mission president promised him that he would see more miracles in the last month of his mission than in any other. And we have definitely seen those happen as we work to serve the Lord. 

Downtown Frederick 

West Spanish zone 

Hugs from my trainer