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Welcome to the blog of Paul and Doris Blackham, which we have entitled, “From Bristol to Boise with Faith”. What follows is a brief description of the events in our lives that bring us to this point. On October 29, 2024, we received a call from the Lord’s Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson to serve as a senior missionary couple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Our assigned calling was to the England Bristol Mission in the role of Member Leader Support (MLS), with our service to begin on May 5, 2025. From that day forward we watched on the missionary portal as the number of days until our service counted down from 188 until we would report to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah. After five days in the MTC we would proceed to England to begin our service in the England Bristol Mission. We completed the numerous checklists of what we needed to accomplish before our departure, including clothing preparations, personal items, visa needs, immunizations,...
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General Update

From Doris: Today Paul and I read chapter twelve from the book Tuck Everlasting with our granddaughter, Enna. This book is one of my favorite books and we are enjoying sharing it with her. Here is a quote from chapter twelve:   “That ’ s what us Tucks are, Winnie. Stuck so ’ s we can ’ t move on. We ain ’ t part of the wheel no more. Dropped off, Winnie. Left behind. And everywhere around us, things is moving and growing and changing.”   This quote summarizes how I have been feeling lately. Stuck. I am trying to move forward, but I am not on the same “wheel” as those around me. Everywhere around me things are growing and changing, and my progress is so slight that it is hard to feel forward progress.   About twenty-five years ago I had a conversation with Cathlene, my sister-in-law. She shared an insight I have never forgotten. She said that the biggest challenge she felt with her own physical trials was not the pain she felt, but her lost dreams for the fut...
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Did you know?

  From Doris: Our family has walked 3414.42 miles to Bristol. I have made 77 hexagon flowers. I do not have a metallic taste in my mouth due to the chemotherapy drugs I take, but I do have a persistent sour taste. It is similar to what one gets when drinking orange juice after having had a bite of syrup drenched pancakes. We have raspberry bushes filled with blossoms. We also have a blueberry bush with lots of ripe blueberries. We love reading Sammy Bird books (by author V. Moua) with our grandchildren. Sammy, the main character, asks the reader questions.
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Humor

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 From Andrew: "Rapunzel, let down your hair [hare]"
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Counting Blessings

  From Doris: Our son Tom and his family came from Iowa to stay with us for a few days. It was wonderful to be with all of them. Our granddaughter Enna wanted to make a quilt with me while they were here. Using a technique called “quilt as you sew,” Enna sewed herself a quilt. Even when family is far away physically, we still share memories of times we were together. We will soon have another granddaughter to shower with love. She will be born later this week. I finished sewing an acorn themed quilt top. For the most part our basement painting and improvements are finished. We did not have to live through the heat wave in England during the past few weeks. We live in an air-conditioned house. I am strong enough to attend an endowment session in the temple. I was able to stay at church for 1.5 hours. My cancer is still in remission
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Tender Mercies

  From Doris: I have seen the hand of the Lord in the lives of family members recently diagnosed with cancer. In both cases, the cancer was found early and was treatable.  
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