He's coming Home! March 27th, 2020

We found out earlier today that our Elder Blake Markham will be coming home tomorrow night due to the world-wide Coved-19 epidemic.  Our church has taken measures to keep our missionaries safe, as well as those they serve and their families.  They are bringing all foreign missionaries back to their home countries.  Elders who have served for 18 months will be released from their duties early.  Sister Missionaries will also have time cut short if they are close to being released as well.  Those who still have time, will be given other assignments as soon as possible.  Right now, the world seems to be under quarantine, so it will be a while until we know for sure what Blake's new assignment will be.

Mike and I will pick him up from the airport tomorrow night, then he will quarantine himself for 14 days.  We will be informed of his next assignment later.  He will still serve under mission rules while he is living in our house.  We will try and keep everyone posted as soon as we are given instruction.

Blake was very sad to be leaving the Mexico, Mexico City East Mission, the mission he has grown to love so much.  But he knows that Heavenly Father is in charge and will lead him to where He wants Blake to be.  He will go wherever he is called!  His testimony has always been this strong.

But Momma is especially happy to be getting him back....even if for a short while.

Love,
Momma Markham

Transferred to a New Area March 17, 2020

Hello Momma,

It sounds like the United States is having more problems than here. I hope everyone is being safe! Keep washing your hands! And shower three times a day, sometimes four.


....I am now in a new area called Mirador! I was moved into a county called Ecatepec. The stake is also called Ecatepec. It is a huge place! I am hoping to get pictures soon. There is this very large hill, almost a mountain, that looks over Ecatepec. Which is why my area is called Mirador. In Spanish it means watcher. Our house is at the base of this mountain. The top of it is around 700 to 900 ft, from where we are living. We went close to the top yesterday to eat with a member. That is when we got to overlook the city. We could see the temple from it! And we're about an hour away. My new companion is Elder Wynn from California! He just finished being trained so I was called to be senior companion again. It was sad leaving my last area. Otilio's wife gave me a stuffed animal bunny she made for over 7 months! She found out I was leaving so she wanted to give that to me to thank me for helping Otilio. I'll take a picture of it to send next week!  

I hope all continues to go well! I miss you all! I saw the pictures and they are wonderful! I like the turtle's name, haha! It is so tiny!! 

I love you!!

Love Elder Blake Markham

More Pictures! March 10, 2020

Pictures! March 10, 2020

Spanish Sign Language March 10, 2020

Family and friends,

This last week was probably our best yet! We had the baptism for Otilio and it was a very touching experience. Many members attended to support, there were over 20! And other family of his also went. They were his mother, his sister, and his cousin. Both his mother and sister are not members. And neither of them are from our mission. But his mother will be in contact with other missionaries from her area! It was very sweet that Otilio's mother attended. After the ordnance, she gave Otilio a big hug while she cried! 

We also scheduled two other baptism dates for this month for Alex and Elvia! They both are very happy.

Subject- So there I was, walking with Elder Molina to an appointment. We had left early after a prompting came that we should do so. It was after last pday and it was already dark. We were walking through 2nd street, I look over across the street and see two men (one in a wheelchair) communicating by Spanish sign language. I had already knew that my companion knew how to communicate using that language and so I said,"Look!" The two men had taken notice of us by then and both gave a thumbs up to signify that they respect us. As we approach, my companion begins to communicate, asking who they were and where they were from. We found out that they are from our area and they are in a family of six! Long story short, they accepted a return appointment and I now can use a bit of this language. Things like introducing myself and asking simple questions. It's a lot easier to learn than any other language! It's different from English sign language because the foundation of Spanish sign language is Spanish itself. So they form the first letter of each word with their hands and make motions accordingly, for the most part. I'm looking forward to this appointment!

That's all I have for this week as far as an update, but I will now send PICTURES!  With no captions though because there are a lot. They will speak for themselves.

Follow the Prophet and Have Faith! March 3, 2020

Family and friends,

It's so wonderful to hear from all of you! I am glad to hear that you are doing great and I also love hearing about all your experiences. 

It's March already and that means only one month away from General Conference! Before I begin with my topic, I will give a quick update! 

This last week we picked up six new investigators and they are incredible! There are a few that struggle, more than usual, with faith. But they are willing to learn, grow, and progress and that is always a good start. There are a couple of our investigators that already have a good grasp on faith. And that came mostly from their experiences. Alejandra and Daniel are a couple that live together. They are both about 60 years old. Alejandra is blind and Daniel can't see very well. It's not that he needs glasses, his vision is just beginning to fail him. We had a very special return appointment with them the other day, and Alejandra's brother was there with us. He is a convert of about two years! Except he lives in a different ward. The three of them were there with us and they shared experiences of how they know the Lord loves them. Alejandra's brother had a serious smoking problem before he was baptized. He received surgery and he now has a large hole, about the size of a quarter, in between his chest and throat. From that, he drinks water and eats soft food by a special technique in which he holds his breath bends over slightly and throws it in. Then sits up straight for it to go down. Because of this problem he has, he speaks very softly and it always sounds like he needs to clear his throat. But by this experience, he explained all the rough patches in his life that led him to his baptism. He says how he has felt the love of our Father in Heaven and His Son so abundantly in his life that he knew becoming baptized is what he needed. He felt like he should give something back to the Savior after everything the Savior has given to him. Alejandra has a special faith and story of her own. But she is in a rough spot at this moment. Daniel goes to work every day except Sunday. He works from 11 in the morning to 11 at night. That leaves Alejandra at home by herself the whole day. She has the same schedule every day, she wakes up, sits at the edge of her bed until she goes back to sleep later that night. She has one path in her small apartment that she knows. And that's the path from the edge of her bed to the bathroom. Daniel comes back once during the day to feed Alejandra during lunch. It's all very heartbreaking to hear. Although, she does know how to function the dvd player that she has so we will be getting the Book of Mormon on audio for her and Daniel. But this is her schedule, day in and day out. And it has been for a long, long time. I am very happy that my companion and I are here to minister to them and help with their needs. 

About the subject of this email- First I want to share a message about faith! We have a couple of investigators who struggle with this principle. They think that faith is only hope and a desire. But it is not only that. Faith is so much more. There are many that believe that faith is simply putting trust in the Lord and hoping that He will do everything for you. The doctrine in D&C 58:26-29 says otherwise. Faith is first the desire, and then we need to act. For example, we have an investigator who knows a lot about the Book of Mormon. He has this great knowledge, this great gift! He has read the Book of Mormon many times over from cover to cover, and yet, he doesn't seem convinced that the church is true. But he knows the Book of Mormon is true. He lays in confusion regarding what is true and what is not. It might be hard to think why this person, who has read the Book of Mormon many times, still struggles with feeling if the church is the right one or not. After all, the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to convince everyone that Jesus is the Christ and give light to all those who read it, right? Yes, of course it is it! But there's more! He has the faith that the Book of Mormon is true. The thing that he is missing is that he is not showing this faith. He doesn't want to sacrifice his time to go to church, he doesn't show that he has this faith by being receptive, he wants everything to be proven to him. In a sense, he is fulfilling what it talks about in Alma 12:9-11. About those who harden their hearts are dragged down to outer darkness. He has hardened his heart to many of the things we say because he expects it to be proven. And still, Alma 32:21 says that faith is a hope of things not seen. We have heard it said many times that if we were given proof, that would not change if we believe or not. The belief needs to come before the proof. We don't have answers to everything yet. Elder M. Russel Ballard is an incredible example with his faith among many others. As he spoke to a number of ministers in other religions while he was a mission president, a minister there made a comment about how they would all believe if Elder Ballard simply put the golden plates on the table in front of them. Elder Ballard quickly felt prompted to say something along the lines of ''You are a minister of your religion. You should know that that is not how faith works. If I put the golden plates on the table in front of you, you would not know if the Book of Mormon is true any more than you know now." And that is exactly right. Faith doesn't work like that. We can know this because we have proof all around us; proof that there is a God, proof that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church, proof that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and so much more! We live in this world, this world is proof. If you want more proof, then something to do would be to watch the talk given by Tad R. Callister called "Witness of the Book of Mormon". I will say that if someone does not have faith in Christ, watching that talk will do nothing for if you know that this is the true church of our Savior. But if your faith is pure, nothing wavering, your testimony will grow immensely by the Spirit whispering to you that the words are true. We know that in order to receive more, we have to do more. It's like it says in D&C 82:10, we have no promise when we don't keep the commandments. But when we do keep the commandments, the Lord is bound by His own celestial law, and we are blessed. People who are not first willing to show their faith cannot receive more. They are stuck in confusion and they are brought down. Remember, we do not need all the answers right now. It is impossible to know everything at this moment. But continue in faith, and we will learn little by little as the answers are shown unto us in the Lord's time. In review, faith is first the desire to learn and know, then the desire to act, and then the part in actually taking action in whatever form the Spirit directs. We must first be willing to give before we receive. Joseph Smith teaches that we must first live the celestial laws/commandments in order to enter into the Lord's kingdom. We cannot start doing it after. Hence the reason Alma teaches this in Alma chapter 34. This is a time of repentance and progression. It is NOT a time of procrastination. We cannot expect the Lord's atonement to save us in our sins at the end of our time. The Savior's atonement saves us from our sins. The atonement is all powerful, but we cannot access that power unless we let it.

The second part of this email is follow the prophet!!! Isn't it great to have prophets and apostles here on this earth?! Revelation is given to President Russel M. Nelson to assist the savior in directing His church. Let's remember the changes we had quite some time ago about making families more centered on gospel learning. We had the time change to two hour Sundays at church, and an extra hour given to learning in the home. What a wonderful example of revelation that was! Many acted and the Lord responded in blessing us. But now, we see how sickness is impacting the world wide church. Many families in the church are now suffering in many ways. Buildings are closing and now church members are FORCED to stay in their homes. Wasn't that a merciful gift from our Heavenly Father that He gave counsel to the prophet with many reasons among this one? I think it was. Heavenly Father knew this was going to happen. On His time, He gave counsel to president Nelson. It was time. President Nelson was given revelation to have time at church changed. And for those who took that counsel to heart are now being blessed because they were prepared! Instead of being as many others who are scrambling around trying to figure out how to keep a Christ centered home when they forsook the counsel given by our prophet. Many members in the east are starting their learning now about how to make a Christ centered home. That is difficult. There have been many that have relied on church meetings to make their home more Christ centered. But that is not how it works. The prophecies given by prophets and Jesus Christ Himself will come to pass regardless if we're prepared or not. In the words of our Savior, "For behold, I come quickly." The end is drawing near! Stay close to the counsel of our prophets and they will not lead us astray! Make your homes more Christ-centered before it's too late! The prophet's counsel is for our own spiritual well-being and at many times, our physical well-being. The family is the center in the Lord's purpose of the plan of salvation. Keep this scripture in mind! D&C 1:37-38.

Take care everyone! I miss you all! I finally got a new cable for my camera, so pictures to come next week!

-Elder Markham

It's been a while! Feb. 18th, 2020

Family and friends,

I apologize for how long it's been since I have given an update! And I need to respond to personal emails next week in order to write to everyone this week! 

  But wow, it's truly been fantastic! These last few weeks were great! This week we had our zone conference and that was definitely a highlight. We talked lots about the Restoration in order to prepare for this upcoming general conference. Spiritual eyes were opened wider and hearts became a little softer! It's always a joy to feel the pure love of our Father in Heaven by the Spirit. I also got to see a handful of the elders that were with me in the CCM! As much as these guys have changed, Elder Xanthos still has his humor that will crack anyone up, Elder Lundquist continues to blow me away with his learning abilities, especially with Spanish, Elder Bingham is still that leader that I have always seen him as, and Elder Bates is still the light of the group!!! 

   The work continues to roll forth! Blessings have been poured out here in Pantitlan. One of the first that I noticed was of course Elder Molina. What a help that he has been! Things are going a lot better and feelings are become sweeter and sweeter because of the continuing guidance of the Spirit! From the beginning of the cycle to now, we have six strong new investigators, nine in total, four of five that were invited attended sacrament meeting this past Sunday, one has a baptism date for March 7th and he is right on course, and a few more are about ready for a baptism date!   

   I don't have enough time to share any stories this week, but trust me, I have interesting experiences very often. 

   I love the mission very much and I am surprised every day! Learning by experience is perhaps the best and most effective way to learn. With that being said, this mission has already taught me more than I ever could have imagined! As missionaries, we are supposed to be out here helping people change their lives but I can feel my life being changed after each person accepts any invitation. I feel that because there is always a new peace when we know that the person we are talking with wants to repent. By that, we are fulfilling our purpose as missionaries. Because we are out here to teach repentance, not other strange or hard to understand doctrine. Alma 12: 9-11 and Alma 26: 22 have helped me a lot while being out here. I suggest each of you read and ponder it! 

  Thank you all for your support! More updates will come next week! 

-Elder Markham