Because He Lives

It's a sunny day in Grand Rapids. The last several days have been a little colder but this week we are supposed to be in the 50s!! The work is moving forward and I am loving every moment of it. This transfer has FLOWN and now as we start week 6, it is unlikely that me and Elder Dunn will get to be companions for another transfer. We had a great week and we have another great week planned!

Tuesday I was on trade-offs with Elder White. We got to see Louie, who is a Buddhist that has been meeting with missionaries for a long time. He is a great guy and he really just enjoys us coming to visit him. We also got to see a few less actives and did some finding downtown. 

Wednesday, we had district meeting. A few weeks ago I was talking to the assistants and told them that they should come to one of my district meetings this transfer and so they came and were at my district meeting. I was nervous to be teaching a district meeting with one of the assistants there but I felt like it was a good district meeting! I also was on trade-offs with Elder Fisher this week, who is a newer missionary. We got to teach a guy from Rwanda and it was probably the most difficult lesson that I have taught because of the language barrier that we had... 

Thursday, we taught Ivanko who is our super solid investigator! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he loved it! He is really looking for direction and purpose in his life and he seemed to really enjoy the lesson! We also got to teach Jamie, who is a less active member who has had a rough time lately but she is doing better and came to church Sunday! 

Friday, we got to help a lady in the ward do some work in her yard. She has a lot of limbs that were cut down a few months ago and we helped her son use a wood chipper to chip all of the limbs. It was super cold but it was fun! We also stopped by to see several people and had several other lessons with them. 

Saturday all of our plans fell through and we found ourselves doing quite a bit of finding downtown. We talked to several people and had a few miracles that we were able to find some awesome people that accepted return appointments with for this next week!! Yesterday, we had several people come to church and had a great Sabbath!!

In other news... The Chicken Coop, where we ate at a few months ago, has had several shootings and robberies lately and the cops told the owners that if they didn't start closing earlier they were going to station a mobile unit outside of their building. Luckily they agreed to close earlier. 

Also, the church is doing an awesome Easter campaign called Because He Lives!! It has an awesome video that you can watch and share on HeLives.Mormon.org. General Conference is this week!! I am super excited to hear the words of our living prophet and apostles and to receive direction from the Lord!! All 4 sessions can be watch on LDS.org, Mormon Channel, BYUtv, and at all LDS chapels. I encourage all of you to at least watch one of the lessons and see how the words of living prophets can benefit your lives!

Lastly, transfer calls are Friday. I don't expect to get transferred but you never know. I will let you know next week whether I am being transferred, if I have a new address, and who my new companion is.

I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the blessings I am able to see in my life every day because of it. As we celebrate and remember the last week of the mortal ministry of our Savior, Jesus Christ, I am reminded of just how much hope and joy it gives me to know that I am able to one day return to live with my Heavenly Father. I am so blessed to not only have this gospel in my life but to also proclaim it to all of Heavenly Father's children here in Michigan. We are all blessed with opportunities to bless the lives of those around us every single day and it is a sacred trust that should not be taken lightly.

Anyways, thanks for all of the love and support!! I hope y'all have a great week!!

Elder Bloskas