Brrrrrr!

It is a chilly day in Michigan! The temperature was right around 5 or 6 degrees when we got in the car this morning!! We finally got snow in the area this past week and we are expecting to get more in the coming days and weeks!! I guess I can say good-bye to the warm mid-30s that I was used to for the last several weeks. But it wouldn't be a Michigan winter without snow and it being really cold!

This week was a really good week.

We are still trying to get in contact with a lot of the people that wanted us to contact them after the holidays but with the cold and flu bug going around there were several people that we were unable to meet with this week and our lessons were down a little.

Elder Brown and I spent quite a bit of time door knocking this week when our lessons fell through and met several amazing people that we are hoping to see great things happen with. We had the blessing of working with several amazing people who have not been able to come to church lately because of work or health reasons and it always lifts our spirits to be able to go and spend some time sharing gospel messages with them. I have been reminded this week of just how amazing members of the church are. There are so many amazing people that I have had the opportunity to meet here in Grand Rapids and I have loved serving here so much. This is week 6 of the transfer so this time next week I will know who my new companion is. (Since Elder Brown is going home to take care of some medical things, and I am expecting to stay here in Grand Rapids.) I am truly excited to see all that the Lord has in story for me in the coming weeks and months here in Grand Rapids!

We got to spend New Years Eve with Bro Banner. They didn't want us on the roads or anything that evening and so they wanted us in our apartment or with a member after 7pm and we had to still be home by 10pm and couldn't stay up until midnight to ring in the New Year. But it was great to be able to spend some time with Bro. Banner, who goes to lessons with us almost every day and does so much for all of the missionaries in the ward! Thursday and Friday we were back to work and got to talk to a lot of awesome people as we were out and about enjoying the warm(er) weather before it got cold this weekend. Saturday we had a few lessons planned but with both of those people getting sick we were unable to meet with them. We were planning on doing some more door knocking but unfortunately, with my asthma acting up, I had to go to a clinic and get put on a steroid for an upper respiratory infection and trouble breathing. So instead of going out and working I was forced to stay in the apartment and rest so that I didn't get worse.

Yesterday at church was a great sacrament meeting. We were few in numbers with so many people out sick but it was a great day. Elder Brown and I got to do "Sharing Time" with the primary kids and taught them/ helped them memorize the 1st and 2nd Article of Faith! It was a lot of fun to spend the morning in Primary with all of the kids!!

That is about it for the week! I am including a few pictures of the snow up here and the lowest gas prices that I saw this week! I hope that you have a great week! Thanks for all of the love and support!!

Elder Bloskas

P.S. If you get a chance check out this video about the Book of Mormon. One of the members of our ward showed this to me and I thought that it was awesome!! I know that the Book of Mormon has helped me to grow so much spiritually and I know that it can bless the lives of all of those that allow it to bless! http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865618837/What-is-the-Book-of-Mormon-Video-created-by-3-returned-missionaries-answers-the-question.html