Hey, Shammer.

You're following a well trodden path. Neither stropping nor making lather came easily for me. With the blade, its most likely the stropping. Glen's 3/11 beginners tip thread was the gold mine for info/vids on stropping. http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ch-2011-a.html
As many will say, the noob is in an unenviable position of both needing better edges to obtain success, and from both stropping and shaving technique - they're very hard on edges. 'Don't worry about that - it'll change. You'll get good at both.

For making lather, Mantic's vids are good. YouTube - ‪How To Build And Apply Traditional Shaving Lather‬‏