Fernandina Beach, Letter #10 March 28, 2011

Hello from sunny Florida!
This week was very interesting to say the least! It seems like Elder Parker and I were running on a treadmill, going really fast… but not going anywhere? To sum it all up in one sentence…it was kind of a confusing week overall. However, we have had some good things happen to us this week! We had a really sweet lesson with a part member family. Their 13 year old son (who is not baptized), is a pretty funny kid. So as we were teaching I had the idea to compare the gospel and the priesthood to Star Wars! Yeah, ha-ha and he understood it completely. That’s right that’s how yo boy rolls. He was totally involved in the lesson then! He loves church, so hopefully this week we will be setting a date with him! His entire family is pretty awesome. His mom was baptized around 14 years ago out in Utah. Their family has been here for 3 years in Florida!

Other than that, we have been struggling with some of our other investigators. Our efforts have been trying to get them to come to church. One has just got told from his boss that he has to work on Sunday now, and he wasn't too happy about that. However, he is going to do his best to get work off on Sundays. Then we got a new investigator from another part member family. This one said that, “He would have been baptized by now if he had Sundays off” …cause he works every Sunday. We taught him about fasting and the whole family committed to fast this past Sunday. Elder Parker & I fasted with them as well, so hopefully God willing, he will be baptized when his employer gives him Sundays off.

So that has been the extent of our week - Plus a whole lot of bike riding!! As usual we were trying to save miles on the car, cause we are getting close to the end of the month. On the biking side of life, I decided to take the mighty hill challenge once again, and yet again I came, I saw, I beat it down…again. Oh yeah I did, that hill cannot handle my awesomeness! That’s how Elder Blair rolls!! Ha-ha! Other than our investigators all working on Sundays, all is well in Florida and we are all ready for this next week, cause we know there is great things ahead for us this week.

Aw, man Mom!! That’s awesome you got to meet Aunt T and some of the family! I miss them so much. Man they “all be crazy”!! I can't wait to see them again! They are so funny!! ha ha, well that’s awesome that you got to see them!! I heard about you meeting Sister Bishop, I never got to know her too well though, (still surprised you met Aunt T!) The weather is fine here, a little rainy today, but other than that, it’s been all right this last week.
I am sooo happy hearing about Tim! I love Tim so much! I love all the Barbers very much!! I met so many awesome people in Starke! I just love that place!

I sent the pic’s you needed off today, so be looking for them. Speaking of pictures you should owe me some soon too! So take some of the Fam and send my way! I am still the most popular Elder when it comes to mail, even though I am an old man here now, I still rake in the letters…ha! So keep them coming! I still love to get mail from everyone back home, oh yeah!
Well, time to say goodbye but I will talk to everyone again next week!
Love Elder Blair (who bikes in awesomeness!)

Fernandina Beach, Letter #9 March 21, 2011

Hello people,
Well to start out, we biked this week twice! And I enjoyed every minute of it! The weather was lovely and nice. The best part was that road that gave me my butt trouble the first time I was here in Fernandina well I came out I licked it like a pro! Oh yeah! Take that you stupid, long, nasty old road!! You ain't so nasty now!! Elder Blair is back and he ain't taking any crap! Yeah boy! I wasted that hill! I think I should whistle “Another one bites the dust” as I pass that hill next time! My bike is the best and the fastest bike in the mission! And I am the fastest missionary I know at this point on a bike! Speaking of bikes, what do you want me to do with my bike? Bring it home for Drew, or sell it out here. It is all broke in for missionary work …and in all the right places, (if you know what I mean) and this bike knows how to do some serious missionary work, day after day…so it’s ready for yet another Blair missionary to take the handle bars!!

I loved St Patty’s Day this year! I went to bed the previous night with a green rubber band on and in the morning I woke up, ripped the blankets off Elder Parker and saw he was not wearing any green! So I pinched the living daylights out of that boy!! Ha, ha! I got him 9 times, until I took mercy on him. So that was fun. Then later that night after we got back and did our planning; he was getting into his PJ’s and once again I noticed that he didn't have anything green to wear… so I got him again. Then I gave him a green rubber band to put on to save himself from me. Muhahaha!! I know, you’re thinking he should have been more ready and prepared after all he is an eagle scout! First rule to remember: Never bunk with an Irishman on St. Pattie’s day, if you’re not prepared with some green!

In other news, we picked up 3 new investigators this week. Better yet, all have potential to be baptized soon! So I am super excited about that!! Two of them are part member families!! So hey, we will see what happens there. I will let ya'll know what goes down.

Spring break hit this past week here, and that means there are loads of people here in Fernandina! Which then presents a great opportunity to teach! Oh yeah! Ha, ha!! Just perfect for some missionaries here in Fernandina to hit the streets! Things are going so well here. The members are really coming alive and going on tradeoffs with us on a weekly bases! We are really getting things moving here! I don't think it will be long before we have another explosion!!

Well that’s pretty much the Fernandina news for this point and time. Thanks for all the packages and gifts that ya'll sent, I got the St. Patrick’s package (I wore the St, Pat’s tattoo sleeves out tracting last Thursday…just kidding). And yeah I have printed off those pics onto a cd and will be sending that home this week. Well that tis all for now, I’ll talk to ya next week.
love Elder Blair (who kicked some major hills’ butt this week!)

Fernandina Beach, Letter #8 March 14, 2011

Hey ya’ll, friends and fans of Elder Blair,
Elder Parker and I ate at a buffet place here on the island for lunch today. I knew I should have not gone there in the first place and sure enough, I think we over ate. Well, I know I did.

Tuesday was great! Bowen was a lot of fun! He was in a rush to see everyone here in Fernandina so we didn’t get a lot of time to catch up, but it was cool to see him again. I was able to hang out with Bowen for an hour, then we went and saw someone we both taught while we were companions here, for about another hour. Then he had to get going, he had lots of others he wanted to see. It was great to see him again! Same old Bowen!

This week is St. Patties Day, but I don’t think we are doing anything-super special. Well this last week went by super fast, we did a lot of tracting day after day. Oh funny thing this week… I was just tracting along when I saw this tree growing on top of an old tire. And I was like what? Why? Who would do that? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks... I'm in the south!! So I snapped a picture of it and kept on tracting!!

This week we have been working with a gentlemen that has been studying from mormon.org and has almost read the entire book of Mormon. Mormon.org is an amazing missionary tool! He says he does not want us to teach him just yet... He said that his wife still wants to do her own investigation before we come over and teach the family, which we were ok with because we didn't want to force him or anything. It is his decision and he has to feel good about his choices so we have been waiting for a while for him to decide when we should come over. He has been coming to church for the past two Sundays and then yesterday he called us and says, “His wife would like a Book of Mormon so she can start reading for herself!” We were so happy when we heard that!! Elder Parker and I swung by his house that very night and left him with an extra copy, so we will see what happens!

It has been so nice here in Florida, the weather has been prefect! I'm just really happy everything is going well. We have been working with this less active family, they have been coming back to church here and there, and we are so excited because they are really super awesome. As missionaries, you really don’t have a favorite investigator, or family… you just love them all!! Everyone we work with, talk to, or teach, is amazing in their own way, and touch your life for the better. Jason and Debbie are going to try going to the temple in April. Our next Zone Conference will be in May.

I am for sure going to bring some good ol’ southern recipes home with me; they sure can cook here. When you sit down to a meal, the table is packed from one end to the other with mouth-watering goodness!! Ha! If you get a chance to talk to Sister Gainey, tell her I say hi and I miss her family.

So life is good here, remember that I appreciate ya'll everyday! I should get running now. Talk to everyone again next week.
Love Elder Blair (who is now… going to work off some of his lunch!)

Fernandina Beach, Letter #7 March 7, 2011

Hello to everyone back home!
Well here is another week that has just flown by! Elder Johnson was transferred to a little town called Interlachen. Now I do mean little town, this is a town where they only have one paved road throughout the entire town! Ha-ha

My new companion is Elder Parker, and he is from Bear Lake Idaho. Elder Parker goes home a transfer after me… so we got two old fools here in Fernandina! There were 2 Elder Parkers' in our mission at one time but the other Elder Parker went home last October. Elder Parker and I have been working really hard this past week. We have been trying to be smart and wise with our time.

Great news; on Sunday we had several new people show up!! One was a lady that has been inactive for 13 years and she has 3 children that she brought with her on Sunday. Two of the children are baptismal age! We were able to get her phone # after church and we should be setting up a time with her this week to see the family. The next person who showed up, was a gentleman that we have been working with. He just showed up to church as well. We had not had any meetings with him yet, but when we ran into him he said he would check out mormon.org and that he would see us in church. Now several weeks later, he showed up and get this he has read almost the entire Book of Mormon and has studied the Articles of Faith. However, he says his wife is “standoffish about the church still” so he still does not want us to come by his house for a lesson or visit. He committed to still studying on his own; and he said that he would see us next week at church!! So that was really cool! So things should be looking up here in Fernandina and to say the least we are pretty excited!!

We are trying to help the members with their missionary work and so far, it is going pretty well. Things are moving along; sometimes it is slow and sometimes fast… but at least is moving forward!

And Elder Tate got to go back to Starke for his last transfer!!! I am so jealous about that!! That lucky bum... Anyways ha-ha I am glad ya’ll liked the Thor picture. It was sent by CP the other night when I was over at his place. Yeah one of our part member families found out that I liked Thor and they bought me a Thor Helmet!! So that is who I scored the helmet from; and then today I went to Target and picked up the Thor Hammer as well!! Ha-ha I just had to get it, I couldn’t resist!

The bread finally arrived and it was really good, and thanks for the Utah Truffles…they were as good as ever! Oh hey, Elder Bowen should be here tomorrow with his family!! Yeah man I am pretty excited to see him again! The members are getting pretty stoked as well to have him in Fernandina again. He went home last January, so everyone here is getting pumped to see him on Tuesday!! Ha-ha that’s pretty sweet that we are both in Fernandina again together one last time!!

Gas prices are going up, but here in Fernandina it is not over 5 dollars, yet anyways. I hear Florida has the highest prices in the country, but we are not paying $5.00 per gallon…yet. Today for P-day we already had lunch at a really cool pizza place! So that is why we are writing a little later today. Our weather is a little chilly this afternoon, around 67 degrees. We have had some warmer days lately but these last few days it has dropped off the warmer temperatures. Also in other news we can no longer go to the beach, President has banned the beach from all Jacksonville missionaries, so I will have to figure something else out to send home for the shadow box. I will try to come up with another idea.

So yeah um that’s the news for today! But I gotta get running now. Everything is good here, and I am good as well so don’t worry about anything. Life for Elder Blair is fantastic as always in Fernandina! Thanks to everyone for all the letters, cards and packages. I just love the fact they just keep coming my way despite what everyone said when I first got out…”Every missionary hits a dry patch your last 6 months”. Well not here for Elder Blair!! I am grateful to everyone for all they do to keep my pumped and happy while I serve. Thanks to each of you for your support, it makes being a missionary so much easier when you have “fan mail” from friends and family back home!! Well I’ll talk to ya’ll next week!

Love to everyone!
from the luckiest elder ever…Elder Blair!!

Fernandina Beach, Letter #6 Feb. 28, 2011

Here we are another week-gone way to fast!

Well, first off - for transfers (which will be Tuesday this week) I am staying in Fernandina and my companion Elder Johnson is indeed leaving, kinda stinks; but I suppose change is good. I really hope that I stay in Fernandina until time for me to head home. I really want Elder Day to come here and be my last companion, so maybe tomorrow that will happen. I am thinking that this next companion will be my last companion. So yesterday (and again today), Elder Johnson and I have been swinging by some people’s houses and saying his goodbyes to everyone he has come to know and love here in Fernandina Beach. Today for his last P-day, he wants to go to a local pizza place in town and try that out for lunch so after this letter we will be going for pizza!

On Saturday, Elder Johnson and I got a call from one of the primary teachers in the ward asking us if we could play the role of King Benjamin during primary. Sweet sauce!! So Sunday during Primary, we were able to dress up and do a little skit for the primary kids! It was super fun!! Well actually, on Saturday night we did a little practice performance! We figured that since we live on in a two story building it would be the perfect place to practice. We went out onto our porch at 9:00 pm and I played the role of King Benjamin to our neighbors! Ha-ha yeah! To tell the truth, I am not exactly sure if anyone heard us…but it was fun nevertheless.

This week at church, we were able to get an awesome less active family to come back to church!!! moreover (wait for it…) they stayed for the full 3 hours of meetings and participated in all the class discussions! Elders Blair and Johnson are way stoked about that!! Man oh man…Elder Johnson and I have had so much fun serving here together in Fernandina. He is an amazing missionary! We work hard and have fun while we work!!

I have not received the homemade bread, but don’t worry when it finally…does arrive ehh I will just pray over it and eat it anyways, stale or not!! Ha-ha! Oh yeah news of the mission- we found out that our mission boundaries are going to change this summer and go up into Georgia and some areas of South Carolina. It won’t happen until July, I think. That will really expand our area. I never got a chance to serve in Georgia but I hear it is really pretty up that way.

I am going to ask Sister Gainey for some of her southern recipes. No one cooks like her!! Her cooking is sooo good!!! Maybe we can trade her some northern recipes…hehehe!! Sister Gainey is the best!! I told her that she is pretty much the older sister I never had! That’s a cool thing about missions. It’s kinda cool to come on a mission and gain more family members!!

So yeah, that is pretty much the week in a nut shell. Today I will be getting a new GPS because I have saved up enough money. I will also start putting addresses from my peps in Florida in the GPS, so we can keep everyone’s addresses for our return visit!! I gotta get running now so I will have to talk to you next week!!

Love ya’ll
Elder (serving in righteousness) Blair (Words of Mormon 1:17)

Fernandina Beach, Letter #5 Feb. 21, 2011

Hey family and all my other peps,
All is well here in Florida!! This week we did a lot of service, oh yeah! We helped move a family out as they head off for Tallahassee; we also helped build a ramp for Brother Harris. Brother Harris had hip replacement surgery so he cannot get around too well so the ward got together to build him a ramp. Moreover, since Elder Johnson and I are pretty much the only young guys who were available in the ward we came and did all the heavy lifting! We really had a good time and Brother Harris was excited about the new ramp.

In addition to those projects, we helped a less active (part member) family do some yard work this week for several hours. Then Saturday we helped another part member family paint some of the windows on their house. My goodness, last week we could barley find someone to serve and now this week we had a whole army of people that needed help!! Elder Johnson and I really enjoyed it!

In other news; we didn't get our baptism that we were planning on for last Saturday the 19th. We still have to do some work with them to get them ready for baptism, but we did have great success with some of our less active families. We were stopping by this family’s house (maybe once a week) they are super cool people, but they had just not been coming to church. However, after our lesson this week we were able to get the wife to come on Sunday! Her husband and son stayed home though, but it’s a start! I think if we got that family back to church, that would be amazing because they are super nice and really cool!

This week with the Florida weather, it really has been heating up a lot. Not to the point where it is too hot - but very nice spring weather, which I am excited about! I really enjoy springtime in Florida, it’s a great time of year here.

I really enjoyed the 100 days candy bar poster that ya’ll made for me!! It was pretty clever! I can't believe I have less than 100 days left! I never really thought about it, until I opened the poster. Oh well.

My Companion Elder Johnson and I are getting along great!! I super love that kid!! He is going to be an awesome missionary! I am kind of nervous about transfers this week, because I really don't want a new companion just yet (this Saturday we get the calls) so I will let you know about that next week. Elder Johnson has been in this area 4 ½ months now, so he might be transferred. The great thing about our companionship is that Elder Johnson makes up for the area's that I lack in; and I make up for the areas he lacks in…so it is a really good companionship! We get a lot done, work hard and have tons of fun!

Well, hope all is going well for ya’ll. I love all the letters and things I have been receiving lately and as always I enjoy rubbing it in my companions face! Ha-ha!!

Love,
The Elder “with shoulders built for service” Blair 

Fernandina Beach, Letter #4 Feb. 14, 2011

Hey, hey, hey!!
So yet another week gone once again! It was a pretty interesting week! Elder Johnson and I did a lot of tracting… cause for some reason most people were busy this week and couldn't find the time to have us drop over. Tracting was long and there were a lot of doors slammed (of course) but amidst all of the bad things that come from tracting there is always a lot of good as well! We were able to pick up a new investigator this week from hours of tracting! Boom diggity!! Therefore, I hope all goes well with that.

We had an amazing stake conference this last week and we were able to get one of our investigator families to come to that, as well another investigator, his girlfriend and their 2 kids. With him, we are all praying about a baptismal date for him so that he can accept be dunked. He wants to be baptized; but he just is nervous about messing up again after baptism.

Nevertheless, this last week was sweet! Elder Johnson and I tried our best to focus on the atonement this week and put things into “action”. So on Tuesday tried to do a service for a member and for an investigator, ideally to find a way to serve each other. It was really fun telling people that we were trying to follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ and do service for others. People had the strangest looks on their faces!! You should have seen their expressions when we would ask, “Could we please do any type of service for you?” You would be surprised how many people said “no”! It was just crazy; we were like “We will do anything you need…perhaps clean your house...mow your lawn? Anything!

Each and every time they would always say no. Man you would think if 2 great looking guys in prime health showed up at your door and said they would be more than willing to do any type of service for you…you would jump at the chance and say yes for sure! Then you would ask, “Do you have 3-4 other friends who want to come by and do housework and do yard work for free? Bring them all!!” Ha-ha!! Well then, finally after many failed attempts, we were able to help a member box up some things (cause they are getting ready to move). After that, we grabbed a 25-dollar gift card (for one of our more poor investigators) and left it in their door. We then did a classic “ding-dong ditch” and peeled out in our car! Yeah!! Therefore, that was our day of active service as wimpy as it was!

Today, we had a super fun P-day!! We went clam hunting down by the beach and scored a big 93 clams! We split them with our member friend Adam; he was the one that took us out with him to show us how it is done. Holy cow it was so much fun!! We got knee deep in the mud, and it took us quite awhile to actually find some “live” ones because the seagulls apparently picked them dry in several areas. At long last, we found this secluded place and saw their air bubbles. (There is a little hole in the sand and if you cover it over with sand and the hole comes back, there is live clams in there).

As soon as we saw the holes, we went to town digging! We only dug in a small area for about 15 minutes and pulled out 93 clams!!! Holy cow you could find like 6 in one little hole, it was so awesome!!! I really enjoyed learning to do that. Adam said when the weather gets warmer; he is going to show us how to catch crabs on the shore!!! I am super pumped for that!! Oh yeah! That is something awesome that they do here, that I never would have had the opportunity to do in Utah, so that is super cool I got a chance to try that today. With all of our clams we collected today, we are going to boil them and eat them later, so that should be pretty fun as well! When ya’ll come back with me to Florida, I will show you how to dig for clams and catch crabs on the beach, how does that sound?

Thanks for the Valentine packages that I received this last week, Elder Johnson and I really enjoyed them!! I know indeed that I am well loved!! It was a huge week of deliveries and mail for old Elder Blair!! Ha-ha!! Oh yeah sweet action!! I love ya'll and hope everyone back home is having as good as a time as I am!! It just doesn’t get any better than this!!

Well...that’s the week in the life of the missionary known as...Elder Blair
Love to everyone!