It was a great surprise to be Elder MacPherson's trainer because we connected before he made it to the mission. He's the great-nephew (or something like that) of Steve and Colette Johnson, for my friends back in Red Mountain. They contacted me as soon as he got his call and I've sent him a few emails in the last couple months. Never would have believed I'd be training him myself. It's been a blast working with him. He's eager to work and is full of the new-missionary energy. His testimony is a flame and he's ready to share it with everyone he meets. He's going to make an excellent missionary, I have no doubt.
As training always is, we've had fun adventures. Turns out neither of us can cook. Locked the keys out of the flat today. Our Chinese isn't all that impressive. But hey, we're ready to work. We've both grown a lot from each other in this first week. I help him with his Mandarin and studies, he drags me out the door to go exercise and to get extra hours of GQing in. He's the man. We round each other out and we go to work. I've been called to train but that doesn't mean that hes' the only one learning. From the most humble sources comes the greatest of lessons. I eagerly look forward to seeing how far we go.
Besides the new companion, there hasn't been a ton of change. Most of the schools are on vacation right now, which makes it really hard to make new contacts but pretty easy to get the ones we already have to church or activities. The draw for English class has never been bigger. I've gone from being a backup teacher to leading a fifteen-student group at both of our branch english classes every week. Elder Sanchez, the Zone Leader in the English city zone (AKA "Heidelberg Zone") has been reaching out on Facebook and tripled our English class attendance. The fruits are already being seen as several of these new friends have interest in the church and are meeting with the missionaries. How lucky I am to be a small part of this. A shoutout to any of my English or language teachers who happen to get these emails, how grateful I am for you. What a powerful thing language is; learning another language changes the way you view the world. My respect for Chinese has grown on my mission, of course - but as has my love of English. Lots of good.
Having Elder MacPherson out has also reminded me of how much growth happens in the mission field, how much you come to understand about people. You get into a bit of a routine as well, once you've been out so long. My new companion has been going through old area book records and is just devastated every time he sees a record of a person who had interest at one time but fell away from the gospel of Christ for one reason or another. These are our brothers and sisters. We should be doing everything we can to reach out and help them. And maybe we can't do a lot, and we definitely can't do it all well. But the Lord will work through us as we trust in Him. I've seen it. I've felt it. And I know He loves His children. We're in His hands - we need not fear.
In closing, I hope you all have a fantastic week. Elder 马 and I are going to go get lunch and then I will consider buying a harmonica, at request of the Zone Leaders. My poor companion.
Miss you all tons - have a great week!
Elder Blackhurst
I asked Elder Blackhurst for a picture of he and Elder MacPherson together. This is what he sent. Seriously?!?
