4th of July and a new Mission President

"Well, this week has been so packed with stuff! Tuesday was Zone Conference/Introduction of our new Mission President. He basically laid down the law. I guess it's pretty typical of new Presidents to come in aggressive to let all of us know who's boss. He is really cool though and really gun-ho about being obedient and doing our best so it was a good boost. He gave us a CD of music and was like "alright this is a guideline of music you should be listening to... It just has music all of us basically already have so we're like awesome thank you... I'll write you home about what he specifically talked about. The fourth of July was really fun, it says in the handbook that holidays are the best for contacting... ha ha no one wants to be bothered really. We tried anyway. That night we went over to a members home and had a little BBQ and two investigators were there that were invited also. We did some sparklers and then returned home. Fireworks were being shot near our apartment so we watched them from the stairs. On Friday an investigator who we've met with quite a bit and who my companion had been previously meeting with for four months before had a breakdown and told us how her parents had abandoned her and her siblings abused her and how her kids hate her and she has no idea why and she was just crying and crying because her kids won't talk to her and they tell her they don't love her. She told us how the last four months til now is the first time she has ever felt loved in her whole life - it was so sad. It really made me realize how much mothers care about their children and how mothers deserve respect and love. We gave her a blessing and I had the opportunity to give it and it was such a neat experience I felt the spirit literally pulse through me and felt the chills as I gave it. Afterwards I couldn't remember what I had even said and my companion said "That was the coolest blessing I've ever heard, man." It was a good experience to say the least... Saturday morning we woke up at good ol' 5:30AM to pick corn in a the Church's field for two hours and then helped a lady move for 7 hours. The moving was fun though because us, and the Rogers 1st Elders and the Spanish Elders and another set helped with us and so we had a lot of fun. ha ha Well, that's about it from Elder Blackburn :) hope you guys are all doing well and staying cool, It was 108 on Thursday... but it just rained and cooled down luckily."

Love,
Elder Blackburn