Another Transfer Week

Good morning and Merry Christmas!! 
It is such an amazing season and it is such a blessing to be able to be a missionary during this Christmas season!! We had another great week.

Monday, we got to drive the transfer van around and pick-up/drop-off all of the missionaries that were transferring. It is always great to be able to see all of the amazing missionaries in the mission. Tuesday, we got to go to the capitol with those missionaries that were going home and then also to the temple. The temple was amazing as always. I was able to really enjoy it and received several answers to prayers.That night we had departing dinner and testimonies with those missionaries who were going home, including those missionaries who will go home next week mid-transfer for school in January. Wednesday, we dropped off the outgoing missionaries at the airport and picked up the new ones!! It is always so great to meet the new missionaries and the new ones we got this transfer are awesome!! I am excited to see how well they do in their new areas. That night we had dinner with them and then had them do paperwork and answered a lot of their questions. Thursday, we had our training for the new missionaries and their trainers and it went really well. Then we drove to MT. Pleasant to drop several of them off in their areas. Late Thursday night we got a call from one of the sisters up north in one of the areas that we opened and they said that they never got a key for their new apartment. So we had to get them a hotel room for the night and then me and Elder Haddock had to drive a few hours to meet their zone leaders Friday morning to give them the keys to their apartment. So Friday, we spent most of the first part of the day driving up there and then since it snowed Friday there were several wrecks on the highway and it took forever to drive back. That night we got to have a few lessons that were super awesome. We got to teach a guy named Austin for the first time and he agreed to be baptized the first of February! So I am excited for him! Saturday, we had to finish several things in the office and then we went to a baptism!! Yesterday was another great day at church and we got to go to President and Sister Jacobsen's after church to help them put together things for the Christmas parties this week.

This week we are going to be super busy! Wednesday and Thursday we are going to have both of our half-mission Christmas Parties and then Friday is Christmas!! It should be another great week!!

Thanks for all of the prayers and support!! Merry Christmas!!

Elder Bloskas

P.S. Here is the picture that me and Elder Haddock used for our Christmas card that we are picking up today to send out!! 

Transfer Planning and NFL Football Players

Good morning,

It was another great week and a lot of cool things happened this past week. It will be a shorter update than usual since we are emailing today instead of Monday since we will be driving all over the state for transfers.

Monday, we spent the morning beginning transfer planning and we actually got most of it done before about 3pm when we went to the stake center and played basketball for the rest of the afternoon. Then Monday night we went to FHE with Trey and he really enjoyed it. I thought that he would think that it was kind of silly but he really enjoyed it and got into it! 

Tuesday, we spent the morning transfer planning a little more and we got a lot done in the office.  There has been a missionary who has been struggling with things that have been going on back home and has really been discouraged. President really wanted to find a way to help him stay motivated and so that afternoon, we went with President and this missionary to Detroit to meet Haloti Ngata from the Detroit Lions, who is highest paid defensive tackle in the NFL! We got to go to his house and meet him and his family. It was a really cool experience to meet him and spend time with his family. They live a very humble life and Haloti was really down to earth and had a good conversation with this missionary while me, President Jacobsen, and Elder Haddock kept his kids entertained! It was an awesome experience. Then we drove back to Lansing and President Jacobsen took us out to eat at 5 Guys! 

Wednesday, we drove to district meeting in Sturgis (which is right at the bottom of Michigan and part of their area goes into Indiana! Elder Mafile'o is the district leader and he did a great job at the meeting, we were really impressed with all of the missionaries in his district. After District Meeting we went to lunch with them and then drove a half mile to the Indiana border and took pictures by the sign before heading back to Lansing. We spent the rest of the day doing things in the office to prepare for transfers next week and then taught Trey that night. 

Thursday, we got to teach Haley, one of our super awesome investigators and then we met with President for a little bit before driving to Greenville for a doctors appt. Thursday night, we went over to President Jacobsen's and called all of the new Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders.

Yesterday, we had transfer calls all morning and then we  got to teach Michael, a new girl named Tatiyana, and Trey. All three of the lessons went really well and all of them them are doing really great in the gospel! We spent the rest of the day doing some last minute things in the office. Today we are driving to Mt. Pleasant to attend the baptism of a girl named Calie that both me and Elder Haddock got to teach while we were there. She decided to be baptized a little under a year ago but decided that she wanted to be baptized on her birthday (since it has emotional significance because of the events that surrounded her birth where she almost died and the doctors told he that she was a miracle).  So that is happening today!

It should be another great week! I am excited for another great transfer here at MSU!! Thanks as always for the prayers and support!!!

Elder Bloskas 

A Savior Is Born- Christmas.Mormon.org

**Note** Cale wrote this on Monday, December 7, 2015.  Sorry for the delay.--Kristi

To start out this week I encourage all of you to check out Christmas.Mormon.org and watch the two awesome Christmas videos that the church put out!

Well, we had another really good week! We got to spend a lot of time on campus and teaching lessons and we had a lot of cool experiences! 

Monday, we had our usual meeting with President Jacobsen and then we went to lunch before going and playing dodgeball with a bunch of the missionaries. Monday night we went to the YSA FHE with our investigator Michael! He is doing really good now and continues to pray about the gospel and what Heavenly Father wants him to do. 

Tuesday, we had a really good MLC! I got to train on goal setting and how we can be better as a mission by setting goals. It was a really good discussion and I think most of the leaders were able to learn things that they are able to take back to their zones and help their missionaries. That evening we had to take care of some stuff for President Jacobsen that involved us picking up a missionary who was going to go home. 

Wednesday, we went to the airport with the missionary that was going home and then drove his companion back to his area to be with a few other missionaries for the rest of the transfer. That afternoon, President wanted us to help him put Christmas lights on the mission home. So we got to do that and then that night we were able to have another really good lesson with Michael! 

Thursday, we taught a super awesome new girl named Haley! We found her walking in a snowstorm a few weeks ago and she was definitely placed in our path for a reason. She is super prepared and the lesson went really well! She actually had lunch with another guy that we are meeting with about what the lessons were like. That afternoon we got to spend some time on campus before we drove to pick up another missionary who had to go home.. It is always a bummer when a missionary goes home but this week was super rough because we had two go home.

Friday, we got to spend most of the day working on campus and we got to talk to a lot of awesome people. We also got to teach Trey, and had an awesome lesson with him. He is preparing to be baptized probably right after Christmas break.

Saturday, we spent some time talking to people on campus before we went to the church to set up for a baptism that our ward was having. Both of the sets of Sisters had a baptism and it was an awesome day. Both of them were Chinese and didn't have a belief in God before they met the missionaries and it has been awesome to see how far they have come. Overall it was a really good week!!

This week we will be transfer planning all week and getting things ready for transfers next week. We are also teaching several lessons so it should be another great week!! Thanks as always for the prayers and support!!

Elder Bloskas

P.S. Here is the spiritual thought that I included with my weekly email to the mission leaders last night but I think it can apply to all of us as we live the gospel: 

We really need to have a positive attitude and help the missionaries in the mission realize that "We Can Do Hard Things!" If we are willing to discipline ourselves to the principle of success, we will experience success. One of the most important things that we can do to be successful is to believe and act like those missionaries that we have always wanted to be and that our Heavenly Father has called us to be. Ultimately our actions, and attitude will help us become the type of missionaries that we want to be. George Bernard Shaw said: “People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. People who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.” In order for us to be as successful as our Heavenly Father wants us to be, "We must learn to become creators of circumstances and not creatures of them."

 -M. Russell Ballard