Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Skyping my family for Mothers Day!! Mexican food in Sweden? :)

Hola mis amigos!!

On the beach making a video for a missionary friend that is going home.
So we totally found some real Mexican food in Sweden!!  And it was goood!  It’s owned by a real Mexican and in the middle of Gotland, which is weird... because it’s not just in Sweden, but in the middle of a little island off of the mainland of Sweden haha.  SO that pretty much made my week..  haha  No, there was a LOT of stuff that made my week, but to start off, fishing was awesome.  Didn’t catch anything because we would need to go out super early or super late at night.  It was relaxing and a good day for sure!  We are actually holding onto the poles and are going to go again today! 

But something kind of crazy happened this last week that got me fired up when we were talking to people on the street.  We stopped and talked to these two girls who were on vacation and after a few minutes they needed to leave and weren't interested at the moment.  There was a man watching that worked at a restaurant next to us and I heard him yell out to the girls, "save your souls!" and then began to laugh.  I turned around and our eyes met.  We stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds and then I got kind of fired up and felt like I needed to go over there and talk to that guy.  

Skyping Family for Mothers Day
Climbing the ladder up the fire watch tower!
the tower
When I started to walk over there at a fast face, he backed up pretty quick and went back into his restaurant.  I continued to walk into the door still fired up and wanting to talk to him but having no idea what to really say.  I walked in and saw him behind the counter of the bar with his coworkers and they smiled and laughed saying “Are you from Utah?!"  I responded, "No I’m from California!" and they seemed to be taken back thinking that all Mormons come from Utah.  The guy who asked me was the main worker at that restaurant, and he was surprised and he said he was from California!  Still standing at the door, I realized my companion wasn’t with me so I peaked outside and he was coming in.  We approached them and they asked my companion, "Are you from Utah?!" and he said he is from Australia.  Now they were WAY taken back!  We didn’t even have to try to have conversation. They just became really curious about what we do and why we are missionaries.  I began talking with guy that yelled "save your soals" and he is from France.  I told him how we have a missionary serving in Sweden from France and he was VERY surprised and he then opened way up and was actually pretty positive.  I was talking to him for a while and actually taught him a lesson while Elder Scott was talking to the main guy that worked there.  They actually had a mutual friend that is a pro surfer from California and stays with Elder Scotts family in Australia.  This pro surfer is good friends with Elder Scotts dad.  We left there, with them understanding who we are and what we do, a little about what we believe, and they know that we are regular dudes who are out here for two years talking about what we love and helping people.  So… I'm glad I was fired up and went into that restaurant and ended up teaching those guys at the bar haha. 

My new baby nephew
and sister Natalie!
Another cool thing, that happened yesterday is that we had 6 different languages in sacrament meeting.  We have a guy we are teaching/working with from the Ukraine who is super positive.  He came to church and doesn’t speak a lick of English or Swedish haha.  SO…. Google translate is our favorite!!  I was translating the meeting for him in Ukraine on the phone.  It was cool though, because both talks we had,had Persian translation and one of them was almost all in Persian haha.  This branch here on Gotland is so weird haha, but it's fun and very different than what we are used to in the States.  After church, we taught Igor (Ukrainian guy) and we used google translate at the beginning until we could get a hold of our translator on the phone.  We taught him and he loves what we teach.  It just makes sense to him.  He has agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and if he gets an answer that it is right, he will be baptized.  He wants that and I know if he really does read it and pray about it with real intent, wanting to know if it is true, he will receive an answer... 
Skyping the Family in
California for Mothers day!! 

(Minus one more sister)
Mothers day was sweet!  Got to see almost all the family and talk to my Mom.  It was nice! :)  I will be hitting my "year mark" this Friday and I will be celebrating by burning a shirt and eating Surstömming on the the beach!  (for those of you who don’t know what surstömming is…  it’s probably for the better).  I will make sure to get a good video of me eating it... haha 

Love you all!
Äldste Blackburn
Real mexican food in Sweden!! haha
Restaurant owned by a Mexican!
They use a smoker to cook the food.














Surprise! My good friend Matt showed up!!
(and my other sister on skype being held by my mom. 
My asian dad being his typical self haha


I got to skype my Dad for mothers day! happy mothers day!! Unfortunately tho without my other little siblings and step mom.. But never the less.. It was a good time! (2:00am for him)

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