Blocks delay in loading, sometimes don't load at all

Have been trying to build in a village and every time, within ten minutes blocks stop responding. Try to break a block and it delays in breaking, or it never breaks at all, or there's no block to pick up. Sometimes I'll break a block and try to replace it with a different block, but it replaces with the same block I just removed. For example break/remove a dirt block, place cobblestone block in it's place, the dirt block is back. Very frustrating and makes the game unplayable.