Agency

And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you a knowledge and he hath made you free.

He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you.
Helaman 14:30-31

**Pray that the Lord will prepare the hearts of specific people to hear the gospel. Pray also to be sensitive to those whose whom He is preparing. "It will be a great day," taught President Gordon B. Hinckley, "when our people not only pray for the missionaries throughout the world, but ask the Lord to help them to assist the missionaries who are laboring in their own ward."***

So last Monday we had a multi-cultural feast, where all the elders and sisters brought food from "home" and we shared it. There was tons of Mexican food, Canadian food, American food, Chinese food, it was really a cool experience. I totally was wanting to bring true Texan food, but I made sopapillas instead and EVERYONE loved them. 

We had a Family Home Evening lesson with a less active family in the ward, it went really well. He speaks Spanish and everyone else speaks in English so we taught in both so the kids could learn Spanish and he could learn a little English. We taught about service. 

We taught Ana the lessons about The Gospel of Jesus Christ,  Obedience and Prayer. She loves prayer and we talked about how much I love obedience. I think its genius that Heavenly Father gave us the principle of obedience to bless us. 

We also taught a new investigator named Luz, we taught her about the Restoration. She and I talked about what Catholics believe and what we believe. It was a really great lesson and fun to share and increase our knowledge. 

WE FINALLY GOT ANOTHER LESSON WITH MARIA!!! We taught her the importance of Obedience, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, and For the strength of Youth. It was super great and we invited her to come to church! 

Pictures from the multi-cultural activity and the Garden restaurant thats in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Ana our recent convert, and me contemplating the purpose of bed bugs

We met with Carolina Lopez and taught The Gospel of Jesus Christ with a member present. They also got a blessing because their baby is super sick :( 

There was a Navajo lady I met who sang the national anthem in her tongue and that was such a neat experience. Thank you Grandma Marilyn, for the information about the navajo children you had in your home for many years because I use it daily now. 

I went to the doctors and they fixed me up:) Im all better and ready to continue working! Sister Hansen helped me and talked me through it. I actually saw her hours before she had passed away, but we had no idea until Thursday morning. 

When we heard about the passing of Sister Hansen, we called the Sister Trainer Leaders (SLTS) to talk to them about it. When we went to work I asked Sister Gonzalez if we could make it a companionship goal not to talk to anyone about it. We together could talk but not with members, investigators or anyone else. That whole day we felt as if she was walking through the streets with us and we loved it. I truly felt her loving spirit helping us serve harder and more mightily, with "fire in the bones" as she always said. We saw a less active trying to put cardboard in her van because someone had shattered her window and taken things out. Her face was completely red and swollen from crying that morning.  I helped her put the cardboard in place of the broken window and my companion had called the Elders. We had another appointment but we told her we would be back that night to read the Book of Mormon with her. 

Sister Hansen was an amazing lady. She lived a very faithful life and I love her so much. That day I only cried when I kneeled down to pray for President and his family.  The rest of the day I was thinking that I will get to see her again someday and THAT reunion will be a magnificent one. We had a missionary memorial service for her. Just missionaries from the Salt Lake City mission and the family was there. The funeral today, all missionaries were sitting in the back and at the last song, everyone was crying. The song was, 'God Be With You Till We Meet Again', then EVERY SINGLE MISSIONARY spontaneously stood up and finished singing. Dallin H. Oaks, who was on the stand, pointed to President Hansen and his family to look back. They were all in tears and so were we. The spirit was so strong and Im so thankful to be able to honor her in that way. She loved singing and music. I love her so much and cannot wait to see the missionary reunion in heaven with her:) I also saw Rinna! I would like to share a passage from my journal on the day she passed away...

"Heaven gained a wonderful woman today. We were in studies and our district leader Elder Parker called, explaining we had "Mission News". I was already in my head thinking about what it could be... Elder Parker's voice changed after saying how proud President Hansen is about the work that we have been doing and going forth. "Last Night, Sister..." I immediately knew what he was going to say. A sister in our mission died, but who? After hearing the words "Sister Hansen" an overwhelming moment of silence captured the room. I had talked with her yesterday, hugged her, thanked her. Now she is gone....I said a prayer.  After I was done, I felt peace. I finished with my studies, and went to work....All I wanted to do was ask her what it was like to be in the Spirit World. I know she's continuing missionary work up there...We had 2 doors slammed in our face today, my first! But the joy and love I felt today had no comparison to any other emotion."

Our mission had a conference call the next day. We are getting IPADS soon!  We are excited because that will help the work! 

Maria came to church... THAT WAS A MIRACLE! I woke up with a HUGE headache and she said she couldn't come because she had a fever. I texted her asking if she wanted a priesthood blessing and the Elders went, texted us saying her dad said she was going to church. A frustrated text followed from her saying "I guess my dad doesn't care that I'm sick but ya... I'm coming to church" I knew I had a responsibility to make her have a spiritual experience. "Im sorry:( I said we can both be sick at church. Sis B has a headache" Praying that it would work I sent the text and she was laughing and saying she would meet us at her house. We picked her up ( it was a BEAUTIFUL sabbath day) and we walked to church and she absolutely loved it. We also taught Primary kids the Articles of Faith, well I did, my companion doesn't know them haha.

Thank you for your prayers for my mission president and his Family. We were lucky enough to know her and serve with her. The memorial included President Clayton (from the Presidency of the 70) and Elder Don R. Clarke (from the 70)

Today was the funeral and we were also privileged to hear from Dallin H. Oaks who read a letter from the First Presidency about Sister Hansen. She changed my life. She helped me see who I want to become. I love her and know one day we will see her again. It is not easy losing a dear friend and a mother figure but thanks to the Atonement of Christ, we can live again. 

I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED! I'm going to be in a trio with Hermana R

Con Amor
Hermana B

Our prayers are with President Hansen and his family and the Missionaries that loved Sister Hansen so much. 

Hermana Blankmeyer's Mission Presidents wife, SISTER HANSEN, passed away suddenly on Wednesday.  For more information follow the link to lds.net and Deseretnews.com articles.  

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865620132/LDS-mission-presidents-wife-dies.html?pg=all



http://lds.net/blog/buzz/mission-presidents-wife-dies-unexpectedly/#.VMLNXMa1nzI

Mission of Latter-day Saints

"Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations;" -D&C 115:5 

**It is SO important to open your mouth about the gospel to everyone - regardless of the result!** 

Well this week was great! We taught Yulene about the Book of Mormon with a member there and her husband was more receptive about it.  Yulene was surprised that her husband was more willing to let her do it than she thought! 

We taught Erika about Alma 24; she told us that she has never really read the whole Book of Mormon cover to cover. My companion and I bore strong testimony that she needs to in order to know everything and be able to gain a testimony of all of it. 

My companion went to the foot doctor and to get some medicine and help, but while she was in the consultation, I was talking to a couple of elders from the Family History Mission and was getting an understanding for how their mission works – I noticed how much I love learning about new missions and hearing how the gospel gets spread in many different ways!

We taught our recent convert Ana about the restoration. We got to know her and her story a little better and understood her background where she was kicked out of the house at age 21 because she decided to be baptized. Her parents forgave her and let her back in to the house; they just want no one from the church in their home, so we teach her at the church (which is conveniently right next to her house) and we have lessons there. She is an amazing example! 

We also taught the Ledesma family about the Restoration. They are also recent converts and are working towards getting sealed in the temple. He is an amazing example to me too, and is always striving to be better than the day before. 

We taught Carolina with her husband and a 14 year old girl from our ward. She did great! She asked many great questions and all is great with them! 

We taught Yulene the law of chastity and she said she wants to get married here in Utah and have a party with her family in Mexico, but her husband wants everyone to be there. So we are in the works of figuring out when and where they want to get married so Yulene and her husband can be baptized!  I love teaching Yulene because every single time we teach her I ask understanding questions, and she responds with "Yes I believe it, it’s true!" She, like all of us know it’s true; it’s just when we came down to this earth it was hard for us to remember the truths we knew before. We as members and missionaries can help them remember these eternal truths. 

We also found a potential investigator one night and we were with a member who is amazing. Her and her husband served in the same mission in Argentina (where he's from) and they got married quickly after and have a one year old boy. They are an amazing family because they always want to help us in missionary work and have been there and seen many of the same things we see, and can help us in different situations. The spirit was really strong and I loved her testimony. 

Church was BOOMING! Miriam Organista, a 19 year old girl in the ward, got called to serve to the Ecuador Mission, and got her call on Christmas and was to report on March 4th. She received another letter and call asking her to leave this Wednesday. She had her farewell and everyone she knew came! It was a great sacrament meeting and reminded me of when I left and all those that came to support me! Thanks again to everyone; it really meant a lot! 

We went to a Hispanic Devotional that Elder Don R. Clarke from the Seventy spoke. It was amazing and I got to see a lot of the missionaries I served with in Layton in the Spanish program, along with many of my old members from the Layton 3rd ward! He taught us a lot of great things including:

-Faith & Diligence are the most important attributes we should have. 

-The home is the most sacred place; after the temple. WE SHOULD MAKE IT THAT WAY!

-Missionary work is the most important thing to do, not only do we do it here but in the life to come. 

-Many other churches try to copy 2 things but cannot succeed. 1. Missionary Work & 2. Tithing 

I love you all so much and can’t believe my last week in this transfer is already here! The time is going by so fast and I love every minute of being a missionary. I hope you all stay safe and sound and continue doing what God wants you to do! 

Con Amor,

Hermana Blankmeyer 

Maurie and Apolinar - the recent converts who have completely changed their lives around! 

And my picture wall next to my bed :) thanks for the camera!

Effective Study

***Ask the missionaries to role-play with you!***

"Your destiny is in your hands, and your important decisions are your own to make."  -Spencer W. Kimball

So this week was a wild ride... it really tested me and I hope you all take the time to read all this blog to get to understand why it was. 

We had lunch with an elderly missionary couple, "The Allens", at a Panda Buffet!  My fortune cookie said, "You will travel to exotic places on your next trip." I laughed and then thought,  "DOES THIS MEAN I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED?!?!" Then I was reminded that Rosepark is probably the most exotic place I could go on the mission. But, I'm thinking Italy would be a good place to go maybe after the mission.. :)

We visited Apolinar and Maurie and taught them some new members lessons this week! They are seriously the greatest and I love them. We visited Yulene and as we were knocking she was getting ready to leave.   We have been struggling getting into her house to teach her and I personally was getting a little frustrated knowing she was home.  We still didn't give up on her... we set up an appointment for the next day! We visited Cindy and she was making dinner and gave us some tacos like they make in Mexico and it was super yummy! I miss those wonderful tacos...I'll have to learn how to make them so I can have them even after the mission. 

In our "power hour" we went out with the Sister Training Leaders (STLS) and they helped us both work in our area. So I was with Sister Johnson working on set lessons and visiting people who are progressing.  My companion, Sister Gonzalez went with Sister Pearson to find new people to teach. I was teaching Yulene the plan of salvation and how it changed my life. She really loved what we taught and after I invited her to be baptized on the 25th of January.  She accepted without a doubt. Sister Johnson invited her to kneel and pray before we left and ask God if that is the date she should be baptized on. She did and the spirit was so strong and she said, "That's my date."  I love Yulene and her decision to be clean from sin and want to follow Christ! She is an amazing mom who has been through a lot! The next day, we visited her again and taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ! Being cleansed from sin, faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. 

We also taught Carolina Lopez. She is 17 years old and has 2 kids and has a LOT of temporal needs. She might lose custody of her daughter to her drug addicted ex-husband in California.  She believes he is abusive, and all these things. She is not married to Christian, her boyfriend now, but he seems fine. She really loves learning about the church. 

So my birthday happened on Friday and THAT WAS A WILD RIDE! 

First, the STLS came over with pancakes at like 7 am and then we got ready to go to our zone meeting. We walked and got there early.  I noticed there was a funeral happening in the other side of the building. The whole zone sang to me in their native tongue. It was fun to hear English, Spanish, Portugese, and Samoan (AND they were all competing to get their language heard so it was like a yelling birthday song) We were having such a great and spiritual zone meeting.  Then we left the multi-purpose room to go watch videos down the hall. When we returned we finished up and got ready to leave. My bag was gone. I had just finished taking out my spiritual journal and PMG but my wallet, camera, $120 cash and everything else was gone. Then I start hearing other missionaries say the same thing "Where is my bag?"  Turns out 5 bags were stolen from the room at the church and a van was also broken into in the parking lot. I called the police and when he came we explained everything...

***IT WAS SUPER hard to have to call my mom on my birthday to tell her that it got stolen, but I know it was secretly a blessing to hear my mom say, "happy birthday" on my actual birthday*** 

It was a pink salmon colored bag that was from target and it had only my wallet and my camera that were of value. It was SUPER hard that day, BUT THANK YOU! to the SigEps & my KayDee sisters who wrote little notes on my birthday.  Also for the birthday present from Brax, honestly that really helped me get through the day and to know that everything was going to be okay. 

Sister Stratton and Elder Tauaui were devastated that their bags were taken away. They had really personal things they were attached to. I realized in these days (Friday to Sunday) I noticed my prayers. At first we were all praying for these bags to show up, then I changed to ask for Sister Stratton and Elder T to get their bags at least, then Sunday morning everything changed. My prayers were asking for the man who took these bags. That he and his family may be safe and use the money that I know I had in there for good and for his family. I started pouring out my soul for him and I realized it's not the will of God for me to get that bag back. I gave up my will and sincerely had love for that man who maybe made a bad choice, but there is always hope and repentance available in this life. 

We taught English Classes and that was super fun. I loved helping a ton of people pronounce words in english and helping them understand the language more. The program we use is really great! 

Saturday we also were able to meet with some recent converts, and less actives! It was nice to get to learn and teach them. Sister Gonzalez has tendonitis and we are going to the doctor tomorrow to figure out what needs to happen. 

Church was great. I love church. The spirit is so amazing and I love singing the hymns. I love taking the sacrament, getting to teach Gospel Principles and learning more in relief society. Yulene unfortunately couldnt make it, but we will get her there next week! The bishop talked about the robbing of the bags and reminded everyone in the ward about keeping things with you at all times. 

This morning we had interviews with the mission president and he gave me "homework". He said I needed to write you and tell you that he has 1 sentence that defines me. "This is one devoted saint" then he needed me to tell you about how impressed he is with my work as a missionary in this mission. He also said that I'm .."an example that shines brightly for all the mission, including him and his wife"  He wants you to know that you should be proud of the person I am becoming and how deeply converted I am in this marvelous work.

I love you and know that I need to change and be even better. Everyday I try to apply myself to become the missionary I want to be. The "challenges" I have gotten through are to help me learn and grow and I thank Heavenly Father everyday for the opportunity to act on the attributes of Christ that I am trying to develop each day. I love this work and this area, even the crazy hard days are so worth it. 

I love you and thank you all for the birthday wishes!!   

Con Amor,

La Hermana Blankmeyer 

My Purpose

*****Set a date to invite your friends to learn from the missionaries!!!!********

"We carry upon ourselves the reputation of the church - each and every one of us." -Heber J. Grant 

11 MONTHSSSS WHATTTTTTTTT. It's crazy to think it's already here and I will be going home in July. I understand how fast that time goes so it helps my companions and I focus on WORK WORK WORK!

SO.... this week was great!  We met a really animated, cool New York guy on pday last week and I love when New Yorkers are super passionate about something; it's quite hilarious. We had a fun zone snowball fight and I was killing it and the elders got to the point where they were fighting to have me on a certain team until I got too cold to play and was appointed to just making the snowballs.  (The fact that I had some accuracy while throwing is still beyond me too...)

We had a NDH (FHE) with a family and a sister from the relief society that came and brought her 5 year old son. We taught them about how unique and beautiful families are.  We had an activity to make a family banner or emblem that they could make and see each day and remember how uniquely perfect their family is because it's theirs. It was a great lesson!

While we were walking to the next appointment we were trying to call another sister who just got her call on Christmas to El Salvador and leaves in March! She asked if she could come with us to meet an investigator named Barbara. She and I were talking on the phone. We got to a pretty busy stoplight and I noticed a car signaling that it would turn left. (I always look for cars before crossing the street, and we always use the signal so we have the right away, but this time was different) I remember talking to Miriam on the phone, but specifically noticing this car and then the walk sign came on and Sister Gonzalez and I started walking. The next thing I know is that this black car is not going behind us, but instead he was coming at us! He must not have seen me because I was wearing a black coat, and my companion was on my right side. He quickly noticed and I just looked down as if time was slowing down and saw his left side of the car light get closer and closer to my knee. I had the impression "JUMP!" I jumped forward and he stopped and slammed on the brakes and I had never been so close to a car before than that moment. Many people where honking because it was a busy street and they saw it happen and didn't want this guy to hit the sister missionaries. I looked back and saw that if I didn't react in that moment, he would have hit me and my knee and probably could have been worse than just a tap. 

**Now, the reason why I tell you this is not to tell you a scary story or make you think Utah missions are dangerous. The reason I tell you this story is for what happened afterwards**

I continued with the phone call and I was on the verge of tears because of the shock. We finished the phone call, crossed the street and we needed to cross to the other side.  We proceeded and when we did the guy came back and was turning right and stopped us and asked if we were okay; he apologized profusely. He looked at me and asked if there was anything he could do. I looked at him and felt this overwhelming LOVE. Pure Christlike love for him and handed him a He is the Gift card and simply said, "No problem at all! We are safe and perfectly fine, seriously no need to worry about it! Watch this video that's on this card and you will feel God's love for you and how much He wants you to know it! If you have any questions our number is on the back and we would love to meet with you and help you get closer to your Savior, Jesus Christ."  After that, there were people behind him trying to turn so he quickly left the scene. I don't know if he will watch that video; I don't know what is going to happen with him; but, WHAT I DO KNOW is that the mission has helped me gain a Christlike attribute of pure love and charity for anyone I meet. Even those that I probably have every right to be mad at and never forgive. That was a testimony builder and something I know I needed to work on. I'm thankful for the opportunity that God allowed for me to apply and practice that attribute more. 

We went on exchanges with the STL's and I stayed in the area and Sister Pearson came with me and we had so much work to do! We first had a meeting about poaching and ward hopping which happens A LOT here in Utah and in rose park. We are applying new approaches that President Hanson wants us to apply here in this area, and if it works, we will change the mission and have it spread to Davis County and other places! How amazing of an opportunity and responsibility to CHANGE the mission! We went and found a lot of people who are now new investigators! Sister Pearson taught me a lot on the exchange and we got things done! We went out to dinner to Red Iguana....yummmmmmmmm!!!!  We had a lesson with another member who just recently got baptized! It was a great test of my language skills that day because Sister Pearson doesn't know Spanish and so I was translating and talking and contacting all day. Then we taught a lesson with Erika and she felt the spirit so strong.  We invited her to be baptized and she doesn't want to make a decision yet, but is willing to work towards it!  Last, we went to Maurie and Apolinar and we had our Red iguana leftovers and some fruit we were given from a member and left it all at their house because the last time we were there they had nothing but rotting bread in their kitchen.

**Also a nice little Shoutout to Elder and Sister Hurst for the chocolates and card from GUAM!**

We met a family who is less active but recently converted and we tried to support them and get them excited about church and such! We are going over tonight to have a FHE because the kids don't speak Spanish ,but the husband chooses to take his family to the Spanish ward. We visited some other members and then went to our "New Years Eve Party" where we were going to watch Tangled & Ephraim's Rescue, but we actually watched Finding Nemo, Mulan, and Emperors New Groove. It was super fun and we were home by 9pm.  I hoped everyone would be safe and have a Happy New Year!  Can you believe its already 2015?!?

We also had a moment where we were contacting people in this apartment complex and this man walked up to us and said "Sisters! I need you to come to my house ASAP!" I looked at him and asked where he lived and what time would be best. We set up an appointment for the next night around 7. Sister Gonzalez was looking at his friend or brother and saw he had A LOT of red flags. Certain tattoos, a mask for drugs, etc. I called the Elders to see what we should do; they obviously said not to go to that appointment alone. So we thought about calling the bishop and his wife (in Mexico), we thought about calling the ward mission leader and his wife (he got deported last week to Mexico...) and we approached every auxiliary member and their wives and no one could help us. Finally, we found someone.   We didn't want to think this way, but we were prepared for the worst case scenario just in case, but we knew we would be protected. One family came out with us and I saw her (9 months pregnant), her husband and their 2 year old little girl (who reminds me of 2 year old Sophia). So basically, I was scared and thought "this is not going to end well..." We went to the door, and I knocked and no response. Nobody was home. I don't know if that was a sign from Heavenly Father that they were not home at that time for our safety.  However, we ended up teaching Maurie and Apolinar the new member lessons. We enjoyed a really great lesson! 

Church was weird because my home ward, and every ward on my mission, has been at 11am! So the 1 o'clock time was a change, but we got our studies done before church started :)  We had a wonderful start to the new year by fasting and I love the new goals I have to focus on daily and this new year! 

Love you and hope you all are doing wonderful things!! Thanks for the birthday wishes and I get my mail on Fridays and District Meeting will be on Friday so I bet something will happen...

Con Mucho Amor en Este Ano Nuevo,

Hermana Blankmeyer