Making the blind see

​Good Morning,

This past week was a busy week and there are a lot of things that I want to share with you this week. This email might be a bit longer than usual but there are a lot of things that I have been pondering on that I wish to share with you.

This week was a great week for missionary work. Monday night through Wednesday morning I was on trade-offs with a missionary who is serving just north of us that covers all of south Lansing. It was a lot of fun. Their area is a little rougher than our area in Holt but they have a lot of people that they are working with. One of them was an older man that we had the opportunity to go over there and talk about the importance of church attendance and reading the Book of Mormon to find more peace in our lives. He mentioned that he wasn't able to see that well or read at all because of his glasses. Of course, I spent several months working at an eye doctor as an optician before my mission and I asked him if I could see his glasses. The first pair was a rimless pair of glasses that had the lens popped out. I used the ribbon in my scriptures to pop the lenses back in. The other pair was the ones that he was wearing and they were very poorly adjusted to his face and sitting way to low. So I adjusted them to sit a little higher so that he would be able to properly use the bifocals and read. I explained to him how to best use the bifocals and told him how to better take care of his glasses. We then read a chapter in the Book of Mormon with him and he was able to read it with us!! So I guess you can say that I had a unique opportunity to "help the blind see" this week. I got a kick out of that as I was thinking about that whole experience.

The rest of the week was filled with several appointments with people that we have been working with and a little bit of door knocking. It has been in the low 30s and sometimes high 20s with a little bit of snow when we have been out door knocking so we have tried to schedule as many appointments as we can to try to break up the door knocking and not spend as much time in the cold.

Friday evening I got a call from President Jacobsen informing me that my Grandpa Bill had passed away. It was something that I had prepared myself for throughout the week and I didn't take it as hard as I thought that I would at first. As I spent the last few days pondering on the time that I got to spend with him and the great life that he lived I kept having my thoughts pulled back to a picture of Jesus Christ that sits on my desk. I am grateful for the knowledge that I have that this life is not the end. We are told in 1 Corinthians 15:22 that, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." We are promised that because of the atonement of Jesus Christ all of us will also be resurrected and be able to return to our Heavenly Father with our bodies "restored to their proper and perfect frame." (Alma 40:23) Because of the knowledge that I have of our Heavenly Fathers plan for all of His children, I can "see the great reason of sorrow, and also rejoicing- sorrow because of death... and joy because of the light of Christ unto life." (Alma 28:14) I spent a lot of time thinking of how I shouldn't be sad to lose my grandpa because I know that he is a better place now. But I realized that the only way to take the sorrow out of death is to take love out of life. I know that Grandpa Bill loved me dearly and he wanted what was best for me. That is one thing that he always made clear to me is the love that he had for me and always wanted what was best for me. One of the things that I have realized about life is that sometimes we might feel like nobody understands the pain or sorrow that we are going though. But our Savior, Jesus Christ, knows the depths of our trials, our pain, and our suffering. he alone offers us eternal peace in those times in our lives. He stands ready to help us in times of need and comforts us with his invitation to, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30) Whether it be the best time in our lives or the worst, He is with us. That promise never changes no matter where we might be in our life.

Well that is it for this week. This week should be a great week. Several of us are going to the zoo this afternoon. I think itll be funny to see an elephant with snow in the background. I think some of these animals are probably in as much shock as I am of how cold Michigan is. We are suppose to get snow this week and it should stay pretty cold. I guess I will have to break out the snow gear!! I hope yall have a great week!! I love yall and I am grateful for all of your love and support!!

Elder Bloskas

P.S. He is a picture with the "Grape of Wrath" (named that because it is the only purple car in the mission. All the other cars are silver and sometimes black or white) right after it started snowing!