Well Done Thou Good And Faithful Servant

    So... It's been a minute. If I remember correctly the last email I sent was a few months ago. As much as I'd love to say I'll be writing more of these emails, I'm not going to promise anything; but you never know because I definitely haven't stopped learning and growing from the spirit since I've been home. Today however there's really only 2 things that I want to touch on.

      The first thing is that I started a podcast, or at least I'm a part of a podcast. My best friend has really been the driving force behind it all, he's the one that's put in more of the time, money, and energy to make a good product. I mostly just help brainstorm topics and co-host, but nonetheless I highly recommend that you check it out especially if you've been missing seeing my emails. Naturally, I talk a lot about my mission, both in Utah and Texas, and the lessons I've been learning. The podcast is called, Walk with Him, which can be found anywhere that podcasts exist. We also have a website and email list that y'all can check out (link below).

      When I was in Utah, they would always put a picture of all the missionaries that would be going home that transfer under a caption that said, Well Done Thou Good and Faithful Servant. This phrase was something that I admired from the first time I saw it and I looked forward to being able to be see my own picture there and being able to know that My Father and My Savior were pleased with my work. In fact, I remember putting in one of my emails after seeing my companion and trainer go home that I noticed that he was able to be proud of his mission as well as his mission president, family, and Savior and I distinctly remember seeing that and having it motivate me to do my very best so I could feel the same. Which by golly do I get to say the same thing. When President Johnson woke me up April 22nd and told me that I was going home, he actually made quite a point telling me how proud he was of me. He said it 3 or 4 times in that 30 minutes conversation and even teared up telling me so. I've always known that my family was proud of my efforts and being home and around them has only strengthened that knowledge. Learning that my Savior was proud and being able to be proud myself of my mission took time and has come from the same experience.

     After you've gotten your mission call, you're supposed to go onto the church website and formally accept the call that you've gotten, which I did. While I was in Utah I heard a story called conversion of a Catholic (which can be found online). In the story this convert ends up going on a mission and they baptize an elderly lady. They then proceed to tell her about patriarchal blessings and she gets one which they read to her because she's blind. He shared only one thing from that blessing, but it sure stuck with me. Her blessing said that she would've joined the church 25 years earlier if the Elder that accepted his call had ended up leaving. I feel like that's pretty self explanatory why that stuck with me, but it's ended up being something that's given me a lot of peace. When I first got home I didn't know if I wanted to finish my 2 years or not, but I knew that I wanted to give it a fair shot so I committed to the Lord that I would at least serve for 4 months which is when I would hit the 18 month mark. Shortly after I got home, my friend got his own mission call to Ogden, Utah. Over the next 4 months I ended up being to help him quite significantly which was cool because I felt like in a way I was still helping the people of Utah to receive the gospel. He ended up leaving right at my 18 month mark and he even mentioned me specifically in his farewell talk and what I was able to do to help him. More or less immediately after he gave that talk I felt this great and unmistakeable sense of accomplishment. The Lord very distinctly told me 2 things, 1. That I had completed all of the work that I had committed to do when I accepted my call and 2. He said to me, Well Done Thou Good and Faithful Servant. It was only after this experience that I knew for sure that I hadn't disappointed my Father or my Savior and was continuing to do the work that they wanted me to. Realizing that everybody that I wanted to be proud was indeed proud helped me. The other thing that helped is that because my friend went to Ogden, I'm still helping out the people of Utah one way or another.

                I love you guys.. I really do, Elder Blacker 

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