Dear Family, January
14, 2015
We have a favor to ask of you. On the next fast Sunday could you please fast
for Joel? He is having pain again in his
leg and Kim and Brad think that he may need to go to a specialist to see what
they can do to help Joel. He is growing
very quickly right now which causes him pain in his knee. The blood vessels that are tangled there are
making it hard for him to run and play, although he is a very busy little
boy. He is having his tonsils out today
so pray for him today too. We love you
Joel. Hang in there Kim and Brad. It is a very hard thing to experience your
child going through difficult things that you cannot control. We love Joel and pray he will be well. 
We loved the Christmas letters that we received from
you! Thank you so much for writing them
and expressing your feelings and testimony to all of us. If you have not written one yet it is not too
late. We look forward to reading your
letters but more importantly your children and nieces and nephews will find
great strength from them in the future.
We hope that you are all doing well. We miss you all and think of you all the
time. Even though life is busy, our
thoughts of you are never far from our minds and hearts. You are the reason we are serving now. To bless and strengthen your life by
following what our Heavenly Father has asked us to do. We all will be better and stronger by
obedience and sacrifice for others.
We have had a busy Christmas season. It was nice to spend time with the
missionaries. We had them to our home on
Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We
attended “The Nativities”, went to the Preston Temple with the missionaries,
went to a mission Christmas party, had two Christmas parties with the YSA and
did service activities for those who are not able to get out to celebrate the
birth of our Savior. The month of
December was full of memorable activities focused on the love of our Savior and
love for others. We were not able to
teach many lessons because people were very busy but we did pass out “He Is the Gift” cards to as many people as we
could. We hope to see the fruits of all
the missionaries’ labor as the year 2015 progresses.
We have been visiting with a man named David Schallicker. We have been teaching him the discussions and
he has accepted an invitation to be baptized.
The date is set for January 24th. We are so excited for him and he is happy to
know that after his baptism he will be clean and will be able to follow the
example of the Savior as he progresses in the knowledge of the gospel. He is a sweet and simple man. He has faced many challenges in his life but
he trusts in the Lord with all his heart.
Another man that we have been visiting with is David
Parr. He has been a member for over ten
years but only attended church for a short time after his baptism. He had heart problems and stopped going to
church then. When we first went to visit
him he had tears in his eyes and welcomed us warmly into his home. We instantly felt a connection with him
because he looks a lot life my dad. Of
course his accent is British but his face is similar to Grandpa
Brinkerhoff’s. He became sick during the
Christmas holidays with pneumonia. His
fiancée called and let us know that he was in the hospital and said that he
wanted us to come and visit him. We took
a newly baptized member with us to help give David a blessing. It was a sweet experience. David told us that after we left he felt a
renewed energy and was able to get up and walk around by himself. The nurses were surprised at his quick
recovery. He was able to go home a few
days after the blessing. We hope that as
we visit him that we will be able to teach his fiancée the discussions.
We have been visiting a 19 year old girl named Cassie. She has severe health problems and can rarely
attend church or even leave her home for that matter. She is on a lot of painkillers and passes out
or gets sick to her stomach if she does too much or gets over heated. She is very delicate. We check on her often and offer to drive her
to church or other activities. She loves
the gospel and is a wonderful example to us of enduring to the end. She is a spiritual giant inside of a little
tiny frail body.
We have been traveling again to many areas of our zone. The Elders were moved out of a flat that was
in bad repair and we went to find them another flat to live in. We looked at 15 flats in Carlisle and
Workington. The day we traveled to these
areas were windy and rainy. We were able
to travel without any difficulties and even had a pleasant day. When we got home we heard of problems that
were caused by the wind but we ourselves were protected throughout the
day. We were on the Lord’s errand and He
watched over us. We also know that many
of our loved ones are praying for us which gave us extra support in our
work. Thank you family for your prayers
that keep us safe and help us as missionaries.
We know that the angels are on our left and on our right to bear us up
as we go about the Lord’s work. We love
you and pray for you also. Heavenly
Father hears our prayers. He loves all
of us and sustains us.
Serving a mission is a wonderful yet difficult
experience. Our time is full of
spiritual moments as well as disappointments and rejection. It doesn’t matter if someone tells us to go
away because we know that we have offered them the chance to hear the gospel
and planted a seed. Maybe someday in the
future when they hear the message again they will be better able to accept the
promptings of the gospel.
Please know that we love you! We are so proud of you and all the hard work
that you are doing. We miss you all and
look forward to being together with you again when our mission is
finished. It will be a joyous day when
we can hold you in our arms and tell you face to face that we love you.
Keep smiling! Pray
always! Read your scriptures because
that is where you will find answers to all your problems.
Love you!
Mom and Dad
Elder and Sister Blunck
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