Merry Christmas! {week 25}

Hello!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Being a missionary on Christmas is one of the best things ever! I love this area and the people in it soooo much!

So much happened this week and I'm in at a little bit of a loss of what to say. We got to celebrate Christmas with so many families and it was such a wonderful experience! 

We also had zone conference this week which was SO AMAZING! President Wong is incredible! There are so many good things to quote from it! Like "as long as you are breathing serve for the church" "I want you to succeed but you have to think clearly" "hang on, have faith, miracles are coming" and "if you can't take correction you're not fit for the kingdom" I've been learning that even though we will experience difficult things in life, it is for our benefit. God is molding us into who we need to be. As Elder Rasband said (paraphrased) "allow him to make more of you than you could ever make of yourself on your own."

It is so clear to me that Heavenly Father is guiding and directing this work. He loves us and sees the potential in us that we do not see in ourselves. It takes some work, but we can all use faith as a real power to "do whatsoever thing is expedient in" christ (Moroni 7:33) 

Thank you so much to all who sent me something! My Christmas truly was incredible! 

Sister Bloomfield 

Pre-Christmas Miracles {week 24}

Hello!

This has been such an AMAZING week! We saw so many miracles! I am soo grateful for the gospel. It is so precious to me, and this week it's really been put in perspective for me how blessed I truly am to have it in my life. 

I have so many amazing things to write about! Last Monday we met a Chinese couple who wants to learn about the gospel! We knocked on the door and tried to communicate with them (their English is limited) Sister Van Valkenburg was able to say "I'm a missionary" in Chinese and they immediately invited us in. We taught them about faith and they got really excited. They said "you come back and teach us twice a week." We were stunned. That never happens! It was such a miracle!

After meeting the Chinese couple we had another miracle that's going to take some back story. About a month ago the English elders in the Willoughby ward told us about this lady they had met who wanted to learn about the gospel. We dropped by her house a couple times and she was either not home or it wasn't a good time. We didn't really feel like she had a ton of intent so we decided to not focus on her that much. Flash forward a couple weeks and we've been having these random moments where we've had to rush into Walmart really fast and buy something then rush out for one reason or the other. A couple of times now a certain Salvation Army bell ringer has gotten really excited to see us. That happened a couple of times and each time three thoughts crossed my mind 1) "we REALLY need to talk to that lady" 2) "Ahh but we're really late!" 3) "She's probably just an excited member of the church anyways" After meeting the Chinese couple on Monday all of our appointments fell through and for some weird reason we found ourselves in the Walmart parking lot. Looking back I can see how much the spirit guided us. Anyways, the same bell ringer saw us and got really excited. So we started talking to her and it turns out it was that lady who the elders had told us about! She said she was hoping that we would come by her house again and was always really excited to see us at Walmart. She was so grateful that she was finally able to talk to us. She has a brain injury so talking is hard and that's why every time we dropped by previously she wasn't able to let us in, she was just having a hard time with her brain injury. We set up an appointment to see her and were able to meet her and teach her in her home. She has had an insanely hard life and told us she thinks she's going to hell. That broke my heart. Before we even had a chance to say something she just looked at us and said "I've heard of this word... repent.. .how do you repent?" I almost started crying. Something that is so ingrained in me is something that this amazing person has had to go so long without. We were able to tell her how to repent and tell her about baptism. She was so excited and happy. Words cannot even describe the joy I felt. Heavenly Father is so merciful. It is so apparent to me how much he cares about her. He gave us sooooo many chances to reach out to her. I'm so grateful. I will never ignore a prompting again! I'm so grateful for second chances.

Anyways, the miracles don't end there! We met a 71 year old lady the other day and were able to teach her in her home. She told us that she has been searching for a religion her whole life. We taught her about the plan of Salvation but were only able to teach her about how we lived with God before we came to earth. We were only able to teach her that one thing because she got SO EXCITED. She kept saying "Wow! No one has ever told me about that before!!!" She was so happy and she even thanked God that someone finally told her about that. It made me soooo happy! I cannot even describe how amazing it is to watch someone learn about the gospel for the first time. Words cannot describe the joy. I've known about the gospel my entire life and it's ingrained into every fiber of my being. It's so easy to take for granted the simple truths that so many go without. But it truly is the most amazing on the earth. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and His life and love for us. It truly is endless.

This week we were also able to participate in a choir concert! It was so amazing! We had hardly no practice but during the performance it felt like angels were singing with us. I love this ward so much. So much. I'm so grateful for my chance to be here. 

Heavenly Father loves each of you so much. More than you can even comprehend. Sometimes it can be hard to feel that. But it's so true, and He will never give up on you.

2 Nephi 26:24

He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation

Wow I think this is the longest email I've ever written! If you've made it this far then congratulations! Have a great week and a Merry Christmas!

Sister Bloomfield

Christmas Cookies! {week 23}

Hello Everyone!

This has been such an amazing week! One of those weeks where you're just filled with happiness to the point where you feel like you're going to overflow! I love being a missionary SO SO much! 

This week began with an amazing ward activity in Brookswood put on by the ward mission team. Can I just say, I am so proud of the Brookswood ward mission team! I am so grateful for all the work that got put into this! We decorated cookies and then delivered them to a homeless shelter later on. It was so much fun! Words cannot express how much I love the people in this ward! I love them so much! (And the Willoughby ward too of course!) I hope I get to stay here for a long time! Brookswood and Willoughby are honestly like a second home and these people are like family. 

Decorating cookies was such a blast! Later in the week Sister Van Valkenburg and I went to the homeless shelter with a couple of families in the Brookswood ward to pass them out during lunch. It was such an incredible experience. It was so much fun watch little kids run around, handing out sprinkle caked sugar cookies. It lit up so many faces. We ended up with 443 cookies total. I have so much love for the people in this area, I can't even describe it!

We've been seeing a deaf lady in our ward pretty regularly. She's so lonely because she can't understand anything at church. It makes me so happy to be able to communicate with her. I'm going to try and teach her visiting teachers ASL so she can have people to help her when I leave. I'm so grateful I was able to meet her! Heavenly Father truly does put you in the path of people you're supposed to meet. I can say that of so many people in this area. 

We've started teaching a lady from Russia! She has been taught before but contacted us and said she wants to learn more! She's even been to Vladivostok and said she loves it there! I told her about Grandma and Grandpa and she thought that was cool. It's so amazing how the spirit guides us as we plan and teach. During our planning session I felt like we should have her read 3 Nephi 17, but I didn't know why because that had nothing to do with what we were teaching. At the next lesson she started asking all these questions about the chapter and kept saying "how did you know? how did you know to have me read this?" The lesson ended with her asking for a priesthood blessing. The spirit was so strong. It was incredible! 

Lately I've been thinking about how Christ continually said "I came into the world to do the will of the father" during His earthly ministry. As I've thought about why I came out on a mission, I realized that I want to be able to echo Christ's words. Heavenly Father has a plan for us and I want to strive to accept His will in all things. I came on my mission to do the will of the Father, and I came into the world to do the will of the Father. 

Check out the Light the World initiative on mormon.org! It's an amazing opportunity to think about Christ and serve others this Christmas season and is never too late to start!

 

Love,

Sister Bloomfield

 

The First Week of December {week 22}

Hello!

I feel like I don't even remember what happened this week! I know it was awesome though!

I love this area so much! It's really amazing to serve here and I'm so grateful Heavenly Father has blessed me with another transfer! I love it so much! I've met so many amazing people and I just love it here! 

It's looking like we might have a baptism on Christmas Eve! We're teaching the daughter of a recent convert and she wants to get baptized on the 24th! She's such an amazing girl and I'm so excited for her to get baptized :) It will be so fun to have a Christmas Eve baptism!

It's really amazing to me how Heavenly Father answers prayers. There's been multiple times this week where it's just been so clear to me that He is listening and that He loves us. We just have to develop the eyes to see that. 

I've been able to meet so many amazing people from all over the world! I love experiencing so many different cultures. I feel like I'm on a world tour. British Colombia is pretty awesome. 

Lately we've been sharing the Light the World video. It's an incredible video and challenge about how we can do little acts of service to remember Christ each day of December! I absolutely love this season! I love it because it's just so miraculous to me that Christ came into the world, for us. I am so grateful He was born and I'm so grateful for the life He lived. I want to be like Him and live the type of life where I can recognize Him when He comes again.

Something that's so amazing to me is the support Heavenly Father gives us as we do His work. It may be raining, and it may be winter, but when we're sharing the gospel with someone it feels like we're walking on clouds. I love being a missionary so much!

Something that's stuck out to me lately is the importance of being "anxiously engaged." In this gospel we have to be willing to fight for Christ, we have to be willing to swim upstream. Because the gospel is something that is good and true there is a lot of opposition against it. We can't afford to be apathetic or just go through the motions. We have to be willing to take a stand! I don't ever want to forget all that Christ has done for me, and I pray I can live every second of my life in gratitude to Him. 

Sister Bloomfield 

Sister Bloomfield and her companion were excited to get their Conference Ensigns!

Perfect love casteth out all fear {week 21}

Hello everyone!

We had transfer calls this week and it looks like Sister Van Valkenburg and I are both staying! I'm so grateful for that! Up until this point on my mission I've experienced a lot of change so this will be the first time everything has stayed the same. I'm so grateful, I love this area so much!

We moved apartments this week and that was an adventure..... We asked one set of elders and a senior couple to help us and ended up with 4 sets of elders and 2 senior couples! We were moved in like 20 minutes! It was incredible! Mormon missionaries are a billion times better than paid movers, that's for sure! It was kind of an incredible experience. We were really stressed out about moving 5 years worth of accumulated missionary junk (our apartment has been used by missionaries for 5 years) and didn't know how things were going to go. But we did our best at packing everything and tried not to inconvenience too many people. Then Heavenly Father sent in an army and things went so smoothly! It was just a testimony to me that when we try our best we cannot fail because Heavenly Father will always be there to help us and support us. On our own we would fail, but with Him all things are possible. 

This Sunday I sang in Sacrament Meeting with Sister Van Valkenburg and a couple other missionaries in our ward. It was so cool! I had so much fun! As I was singing and looking out at the congregation I just had this moment of pure happiness. I'm so grateful to be a missionary! I'm also so grateful that I was able to participate in that musical number. It's not like I have the best voice, but I was still able to participate which was awesome! 

This week we had a multitude of Thanksgiving dinners.... I think I've had enough Thanksgiving for the next 5 years! It is so amazing to me how kind the members are here! In fact, a week before Thanksgiving we went to the Ward Mission Leader assistant's house for dinner and they were all excited to surprise us with American Thanksgiving! It was so funny because they were a week off! It was so sweet though and it made me feel so loved! I am SO GRATEFUL for the people Heavenly Father allows me to serve around. Being on a mission has taught me so much about loving others and how much our Heavenly Father loves us. 

Something I've been learning about this week is the phrase "perfect love casteth out all fear" I used to think that meant that a knowledge that Heavenly Father loves us, will help us to not feel any fear. But I've been beginning to see that phrase in a new light. Love is an action word. When we love people we care more about them than we care about ourselves. Fear is when we're afraid about what will happen to us. So when we love someone, we act even if we don't know what is going to happen to us as a result. And when we act in love, that action is what casts out all fear. And Jesus Christ helps us to act. That's why as missionaries we talk to people even if we don't know how they'll respond to us. That's why we're able help our friends and families. It's pretty incredible!

Have a great week!

Sister Bloomfield ​

Happy Thanksgiving {week 20}

Hello everyone!

To be completely honest I don't feel like I have too much to say since P-day was just last Tuesday and that went by really fast. But it's been a good week as usual!

I hope everyone has had a good week. We had the opportunity to teach some people from Brazil this week! They are amazing! We have had a lot of little adventures this week that have been fun but nothing too exciting. 

We got to watch the YSA broadcast and it was sooo good! One thing that really stuck out to me was what was said about receiving personal revelation. In order to receive inspiration from God we need to be living a clean life. If we are focusing all our attention on coming closer to God then we will be able to more fully see God's hand in our life along with His will for  us. Heavenly Father loves us so much and wants us to be happy. 

One of my siblings said "it sounds like you are in the best mission ever." I think I'd have to agree with that statement. Pretty sure this is the best mission ever. Mostly because Heavenly Father's plan for us is perfect. And the mission He has called me to is perfect for me. One thing that's amazing about Heavenly Father's plan for us is that He allows us to use our agency. He doesn't just provide a perfect path for us, He creates our life hand in hand with us and our choices.

I am so grateful for this gospel. I cannot even express how grateful I am to have a knowledge of Jesus Christ and the perfect love He has for each of His children. 

Sorry there's nothing that exciting to read this week! Have a wonderful week and a great Thanksgiving! I've already had a great Canadian Thanksgiving but there are some Americans in my ward who want to give us American Thanksgiving! So thanksgiving round 2, here I go! It makes sense that I'd get to have 2 thanksgivings though, I have so much to be grateful for!

Sister Bloomfield 

Go team Gryffindor! {week 19}

Hello everyone!

This week was such a good week! I don't even know where to begin!

On Monday we found this really cool guy who was so sincere! He has such a strong faith in Christ! The spirit was so strong while we were talking to him, it was such an incredible experience.We invited him to come to church and he was so excited! He came with his two little kids and stayed for all 3 hours. He said he felt the spirit so strongly and that he knew it was true! 

Sunday was actually a pretty incredible day. There are these 2 wonderful women whom I love SO MUCH that we've been working with. They've been baptized but are hesitant to come to church for a variety of reasons. However there is an angel in our ward who just loves them and supports them as their friend. This week they both came to church and told us they were coming to stay. They said it was because they knew God loved them because of how much their angelic friend had loved and supported them no matter what. All of you people out there who may feel discouraged because a loved one is not active in the church, do not give up! The small things make a big difference.

Remember the random guy I was praying to run into on the streets and then we ran into him twice? Well we had a lesson with him and his family that was really powerful. The spirit was so strong. Michael (the guy) really wants to come to church but his situation with his family life, etc, makes it nearly impossible. Through the spirit I promised him that if he went to church every Sunday from here on out, even if it was alone, that one day his entire family would join him. I know that promise came from God. I also know that God loves his family so much. Anyways, we were in charge of getting a ride for him but come Saturday night no one was responding. Sunday morning in ward council I was sooooo sad we couldn't find them a ride. I said something to the elders about it and the Young men's president over heard. He had a lot of responsibilities to take care of but he dropped everything to go and pick Michael up for church. It reminded me of the Savior leaving the 99 to go and rescue the 1 lost sheep. The Savior refuses to let us go and as His missionary I refuse to let His sheep go as well. Michael was so surprised that we actually found a ride for him that he wasn't ready for church unfortunately. But his mom and sister came! We are going to make sure Michael has another chance to come though. I am so grateful for the Young Men's president who was willing to do whatever it took to get one of his fold to church. I want to be that kind of ward member some day. 

I had this moment at church where the spirit just washed over me. I looked out at all the people who came to church and my heart just filled with such gratitude. This is what I'm here for. This is what all the hard work is for. The church is true and the reason we want people to come to church is because we love them and we know that it is what will make them happy. Heavenly Father is just waiting to bless us. 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be on a mission. The gospel changes and improves lives. I know it's real and tangible and I know it is for everyone. 

This was honestly such a good week and I'm so grateful for the experiences I've been able to have. 

Also to explain my subject line, we've been having Harry Potter themed district challenges lately, so that's been fun. 

My companion loves to sing so we've been singing in lessons a lot lately. We have 2 musical numbers in Sacrament meeting coming up with the elders in our ward and I'm so excited! Singing is always something I've wished I was good at but never had the opportunity to see if I actually am! And now I'm singing all the time! (For better or for worse haha :)) It's so much fun!

Have a great week!

Sister Bloomfield

 

I know that the greatest joy comes from serving God {week 18}

Hello!

I love being on a mission so much! It's amazing to me how loving and merciful Heavenly father is. He is aware of us and wants to bless us. In the words of one of my amazing STLs "God doesn't know how to disappoint you. Only bless you." 

It becomes more and more evident to me each day how much Heavenly Father is guiding this work. This Sunday we had a miracle! Since we cover 2 wards a lot of our meetings overlap. One of our investigators told us she was coming to church. I will call her Martha. She's the one we found in front of the church last week. Anyways, we waited for her but she didn't show so we decided not to go to sacrament meeting but to go to a meeting with the other ward instead. While we were sitting in that meeting we got a text from the elders that said "Martha is here and she is bearing her testimony." My jaw just dropped! Sister Van Valkenburg and I bolted out of our meeting to find Martha surrounded by a bunch of ward members thanking her for her testimony. Apparently while on the stand she told the congregation that she thinks she has found the true church. It was such a miracle! 

Not to mention this past week we had an AMAZING lesson with Martha and some people from the ward. The spirit was SO STRONG! I know that this is Christ's true church restored to the earth. Martha is starting to discover that for herself too. 

This area is SO AWESOME! We have a ton of awesome activities coming up to kick off Christmas. Since Thanksgiving is over and done with here Christmas is in full swing! And I am in heaven! Not to mention the other day a wonderful ward member signed up to feed us American Thanksgiving! I couldn't even believe how kind they are! They don't just let us celebrate their holidays, but they let us celebrate ours as well! I am in my home away from home :) 

Yesterday at church we sang "oh Canada" it was just another small reminder that I'm in a completely different country. It really is pretty different here. 

Anyways, nothing too exciting happened this week. It is so pretty here! I can't even express to you how beautiful it is. 

There's a scripture that stood out to me this morning from the Book of Mormon. It's in 3 Nephi 27:10 and is Christ talking describing misisonary work. It says "and for this cause ye shall have fulness of joy and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father; yea your joy shall be full even as the Father hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are one"  I know that the greatest joy comes from serving God. 

Have an amazing week!

Sister Bloomfield

So Many Miracles! {week 17}

Hello everyone!

I don't even know where to begin so sorry if this email ends up making no sense, because it probably won't. Haha oh well.

This has been a week of miracles! So amazing! One thing I'm learning is that the only way for God to perform miracles is if we act in faith. The key word is act. There are so many people that we talk to and after the conversation we say "wow that was a miracle!" But would it have been a miracle if we decided to not talk to that person? Nope! If we didn't act and talk to people, we would see no miracles. But they are all around us!

Here's a list of miracles:

1. Our car was broken into :( but we felt inspired to bring our GPS inside for no apparent reason! So it wasn't stolen! Only Sister Van Valkenburg's flash drive was stolen! 

2. This one is pretty cool. We were on our way to a meeting at the church. We get there 15 minutes early and see this random car parked on the speed bump. We creepily pull up next to it and roll down our window to talk to the driver. Come to find out she's not a member and just comes to the church because it feels good there. We give her a church tour and set a return appointment. She's been looking for a church and is super cool. After she leaves we look at our phone and see a text pop up that was sent at 3:30 in the afternoon to tell us that the location of the meeting had moved. It was 8 at night. And we had been using the phone all day. If we had got that text we never would have gone to the church. It was a miracle! I couldn't even believe it! God's hand is in His work.

3. There's a member of the church here who doesn't come often because him and his sister are only 17 and 11. And his parents aren't members. But I've always felt strongly that we needed to work with them. One day last transfer Sister Crane and I ran into him on the streets but weren't able to talk to him. Ever since then I've felt really sad and have been secretly praying for a second chance since he's never home when we drop by. Yesterday we ran into him on the street but it was in the middle of a crosswalk! I was so sad we couldn't talk to him for longer! So I said a prayer that we would run into him again. And within the hour we ran into him and were able to talk to him more! It was a miracle! Especially since we wouldn't have been walking if we hadn't run out of gas earlier that day. Incredible! Heavenly Father is so good!

In order to see miracles we have to act and use our faith. But excersizing our faith is different for each person. As long as we act in faith Heavenly Father will bless us! Don't forget how much God loves you! I cannot even express to you how much effort He goes to for the well being of His children. You should see our multiple area books... and the billions of meetings we have. Just to know how to help any and all people. Don't doubt for a second that He loves you!

To answer some questions:

Yes I am working in both wards now, it is fantastic! I love it so much! God has a lot in store for this area. Haha and yes a lot of exciting things have happened this week...see above :). 

Have a wonderful week!

Sister Bloomfield

 

Dressing up for Halloween!

 

The chicken nugget becomes the chicken {week 16}

Hello!

I hope everyone has had an amazing week. Things have been pretty great here in Canada! It's been so exciting to figure things out with the new ward added to my area, but it's been so awesome! I never even know where to begin when writing this email though, so sorry if it doesn't make sense or doesn't include interesting information.

It's been raining here a ton! It's so fun to run around in the rain :) Canada is absolutely gorgeous!

It's kind of cool because Sister Van Valkenburg came from my last area! It's been so fun to talk about the people we both left behind! It's definitely making me homesick for my last area though. I absolutely LOVE Brookswood/ Willoughby! I am so grateful Heavenly Father allowed me to stay here! I was sad to say goodbye to Sister Crane, but I know she'll do amazing things in her new area! My subject line is one last parting quote from Sister Crane. She always called me chicken nugget :) and when she left she said "it's time the chicken nugget became the chicken." 

Things are going great here though! I love getting to know all the ward members. Funny story, yesterday the elders had to give us something so we were trying to figure out a place to meet up. We ended up meeting in front of a members house. The elders parked in the driveway and handed us what we needed. Right as we were about to leave the member came out of her house, confused as to why there was a gathering of missionaries outside! It was so funny! The member is a good friend of ours though so we had a good laugh :) 

Something I've started to work on is studying the life of Christ. I've learned that it is only because of Christ that we have to ability to become anything. Because Christ loves us so perfectly as we come closer to him we learn how to love more perfectly. I know that He is with us before, after, and during our trials. Even if we can't feel His presence until after the trial. It is because of Him that we can experience pure and lasting happiness. So if you ever wonder why the Mormon missionaries are always at your door to bother you, that's why. We just want everyone to have this same happiness.

Have a great week!

Sister Bloomfield

Transfer Calls! {week 15}

Hello!

Transfer calls came and there were some interesting changes! Sister Crane is going to Northshore and I'll be staying here! Weirdly enough my new companion is the sister who took my spot in Victoria. So far I've always been companions with my previous companion's current companion! Kind of weird! I'm sad to see Sister Crane leave but I am excited for the challenges that lay ahead! They just added another ward to my area! So now we cover Brookswood and Willoughby, We also moved zones and districts and we're moving in with the STL's! (Sister training leaders) It's going to be an exciting transfer! Also I'm slightly jealous of this elder in my district who randomly got called to Spanish work after serving English speaking for the past year or so. He wasn't even called Spanish speaking to begin with! Talk about a cool challenge! I'm super excited for this next transfer though and beyond grateful for the opportunities Heavenly Father has given me and will continue to give me on my mission. 

I love the people in this area SO MUCH! Let me just rave about one of the members of our ward.  She is one of the people who gave us Thanksgiving dinner. She is always calling us, asking how she can help, hosting activities for us to invite people to, making flyers for us, and introducing us to her friends. Not to mention she feeds us dinner a lot. And she's not even a ward missionary! I just wanted to take a moment to talk about how amazing she is! The other day she was telling us that sharing the gospel just felt so good that she wanted to do it all the time! Talk about amazing! I want to be that type of ward member some day. This ward is on fire though, there are multiple people like that who are eager to join in on the work. I know that as people become more engaged in missionary work their happiness and love for the gospel increases. 

I love the people so much, if I haven't already said that enough! I love the people we're teaching, the people on the streets, the people in the ward. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to be a missionary. It really is a privilege. 

Last P-day I had the amazing opportunity to see Sister Beckstrand and Sister Fababier! Their zone joined ours for a BBQ! I was so surprised to see her! It made my day! Life is full of a lot of ups and downs but it's the ups that amaze me. Heavenly Father could have just sent us to earth to suffer, but no He loves us and has provided us with so many opportunities to experience happiness. Happiness is not just for the next life, it's for right here and now too!  

It is so incredible to see the gospel change people. I have seen people who were once hostile to the church completely change and begin attending again. I've seen people in extremely difficult circumstances turn around and give and serve others. I've seen people bear their testimony of Jesus Christ despite the difficult trials they are facing. It is incredible to watch people begin to discover their divine potential because of the gospel. I know that each individual has a divine potential that can be reached with the help of Jesus Christ. 

It's also amazing how much Heavenly Father has a hand in the missionary work. If it weren't for Him we could completely and utterly fail. The other day we were teaching a lesson with our incredible investigators who are preparing to be baptized. They were asking some questions that I was unsure of how to address but words were coming out of my mouth that were not my own. It was such an incredible experience! As a missionary I am not the teacher, the spirit is and because of that I can learn with my investigators. Talk about amazing! 

Also funny quote from Sister Crane: "If you had to eat cheeseburgers for the rest of your life..... would you eat them?" I don't know if that's funny to you but it's funny to me! Sister Crane is always asking me the randomest and funniest questions! We're always laughing!

Have a wonderful week! Look for the miracles that are all around you!

Sister Bloomfield

 

 

When in doubt, just be normal! {week 14}

Hello everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving! Yes it's Thanksgiving here in Canada. I feel like Christmas should be just around the corner but we still have Halloween to get through! Thanksgiving here also spans 3 days so thanks to our AMAZING ward members Sister Crane and I had quite an extensive Thanksgiving. I'm so grateful! I love these people so much! I may be away from home but the people here have opened their hearts and homes and I feel just like I belong! Canada will forever be my home away from home! 

I'm quoting Sister Crane in my subject line! Prime advice from my amazing trainer ;). All I'm going to say about that is sometimes you get into weird situations as a missionary haha! 

I hope everyone had a great week! Enjoy the snow in Colorado!

It's been such a great week! So many amazing things are happening here in Brookswood. The other day in a random parking lot I met four more deaf people! It made me so happy! I am so grateful God gives me the chance to use ASL! I also know that it is because of Him that I can even understand these people and they can understand me. This week I'll also be meeting the lady that the elders found so I'm super excited for that!

I seriously love the people I have met here so much! One thing that is amazing to me is the effort people go to to serve others. We truly are happier when in the service of those around us. 

I've gotten to try so many different kinds of food here. This past week I had Japanese, Mexican, Vietnamese, and African. I'm sure there's more I'm just forgetting! There are so many different cultures here! I love it so much! 

One thing I've been realizing is that being changed by the atonement is a lifelong process. I know that I am who I am because of the atonement and that I have the ability to become something because of the atonement. It is only through Christ that we are able to become anything at all. Truly, anything is possible through Christ. Don't give up because Christ will never give up on you! 

I love being a missionary so much! And what's incredible is that we can focus all our efforts on serving God even if we're not a missionary. I am honestly so happy even in the difficult moments because it is only through this gospel that we can find the pure and everlasting happiness. Have a great week!

Sister Bloomfield 

Another Amazing Week! {week 13}

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! Wasn't general conference just AMAZING!?!? 

To answer the questions about the weather, yes it's been quite nice here. There has been a bit of rain but not as much as I was expecting. Although the worse is yet to come apparently. It's so beautiful here! I love it! Canada is surprisingly pretty different from America. 

It's been such an amazing week with a lot of great experiences! I don't even know where to begin! I'll start with a funny story. The other day Sister Crane and I had plans to drop by a member of the ward we hadn't seen in a long time. So we go and knock on their door. When they opened the door they started laughing and said "come and join the elders!" Apparently the elders had the same idea because when they walked in they were sitting on the couch! It would have been too weird to just leave so we just joined them. It was very weird. What makes it even funnier is that Sister Crane had a dream that that was going to happen the night before! We were laughing so hard! Although now that it's written out I don't think people who aren't missionaries will think it's funny. Oh well! 

A few days later the elders called us and told us they wanted to pass us a person who potentially wanted to learn about the gospel. So we went to her house with them and it turns out she owns a doll making studio. So there were porcelain dolls everywhere! And I mean EVERYWHERE. It was a strange experience. But still pretty cool! 

And now for the miracle! God is so good to me! Yesterday the elders called us with some really exciting news! They were really excited because they had run into a deaf woman and her deaf husband who want to learn about the gospel! They told them that I know ASL and we are planning to meet them some time this week! It was such a miracle! I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!! I was wondering what my purpose was in this area, but I've met multiple deaf people that I've been able to communicate with. I cannot even begin to tell you how happy it makes me! It is no coincidence that the elders ran into this woman at this time! I am so grateful God is allowing me to use the different skills I've been blessed to learn. I'm so excited!!!

One thing I noticed about General Conference is how much the apostles and prophets were emphasizing the importance of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is so important! It is essential to read it everyday! And if you're already reading it every day, redouble your efforts! I learn so much every time I open and read it. The other day I was reading in Alma 58 and I noticed something interesting. Life is hard, there's no question about that. But we can choose to notice all our inconveniences. We may be cold, tired, and hungry as the army of Helaman undoubtedly was in Alma 58. But we can choose to focus on the negative and end up bitter and sad all the time, or we can be like the army of Helaman and focus instead on the good in life! The people in this chapter trusted in their God and knew that he loved them and wanted them to be happy. He loves us and wants us to be happy. There is SO MUCH good in the world. We choose to be sad or upset when we choose to ignore the good and focus on the bad. I testify that there is a way to be happy in ANY situation. Choose to see the positive through the negative.

I know that the words spoken by the apostles and prophets this past weekend are God's words! 

I hope you all have a marvelous week! 

Sister Bloomfield

 

To which we owe all our happiness {week 12}

Hello!

Isn't life just great? It's good to hear things are well in Colorado :) I'm so blessed to have such an amazing family!

Those of you who have read the Book of Mormon are probably familiar with the fact that the Book of Mormon is full of a lot of war. In one of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon (...ok it's all my favorite) Captain Moroni (a prophet and captain of the army) is describing the reason they have success in war. He attributes it to God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. In expressing his feelings for the gospel he says one sentence that has been echoing through my mind as of late. He says "to which we own all our happiness" (Alma 44:5)

The other day Sister Crane asked me "who would you be if you weren't a member of the church?" That thought causes me to shudder. I truly do owe ALL my happiness, everything I am, to Jesus Christ and His gospel. I cannot adequately express my gratitude for this church. The gospel is a gospel of happiness and I know that only in living by the words of Jesus Christ can we find the pure and everlasting happiness that everyone is searching for.

This has been another wonderful week in Canada! I am so grateful for my mission and the experiences I've had already! God truly does love all His children.

We were blessed with the opportunity to listen to the Woman's broadcast of General Conference the other day! It was SO GOOD! If you haven't had the opportunity to watch it go back and watch it! Even if you're a man! It was incredible and just what I needed to hear! 

The other day in the mall I ran into 3 deaf people! I can't even tell you how excited I was!!! I was so flabbergasted though that I was only able to have a quick conversation with them. But it was still cool! I love ASL!! Heavenly Father is so merciful to allow me to have such cool experiences!

Another cool thing happened the other day too. Sister Crane and I were kind of down about something and we were walking sadly home. Then we ran into this random man on the street and he just walked right up to us and was so kind! He wasn't a member of the church but he just wanted to talk to us. He had just come from the dollar store where he had purchased a couple of candy bars. He insisted that we take them. It was really random, but it was just a witness to me that Heavenly Father is in the details of the details of the details of our lives! 

General Conference is this weekend!!!!! YAY!!!! I CAN"T WAIT!!!! Everyone, go and watch it! It's an opportunity to hear form God's prophets! The people He has called to speak for Him!! Is there anything more amazing on the earth than that!? Just go and listen to it! I can promise you without a sliver of a doubt that if you go and watch General Conference, you will have your questions answered. You will feel God speak to you. So just go and do it! 

Being a missionary is so great! I am so blessed!

Have a great week everybody!

Sister Bloomfield

Lady they met that really wanted to take a picture with them :)

Vancouver Temple

Vancouver Temple

Thanksgiving, gluten-free cookies & ASL! {week 11}

Hello!

It's so great to hear about how you're all doing! Thank you so much for your emails. It means so much to me! 

I'm doing great! My new area is so amazing! The ward here is on fire! I have had such a great week, it's been amazing!

Some highlights from my week:

The annual BC thanksgiving food drive!: Here in Canada Thanksgiving is at the beginning of October, which is really weird. Now that everyone is prepping for Thanksgiving I'm getting pumped for Christmas and it's throwing me off because Christmas isn't for a while! Anyways, here in BC the church hosts a non-denominational food drive! And the Brookswood ward goes ALL OUT for it! We got to volunteer for a couple of hours unloading the food people were bringing in. It was so wonderful to be working along side members of the church and people not of our faith! Last year the Brookswood ward collected 6,000 pounds of food... this year we got 20,000! It was INCREDIBLE! Service is the absolute best! One thing that really impressed me was a massive donation of food from the Seek Temple. They donated about 7,000 pounds! I was astounded! They are such amazing people! It was just such a wonderful experience! Not to mention the ward put on a pretty stellar after party :)

Adventures with making cookies!: We have these WONDERFUL investigators that we just love SO MUCH! They just moved from Victoria so they're my type of people :) We haven't been able to meet with them for a couple of weeks because they're so busy. Randomly I had the idea that we should make them cookies. We texted them and said we were going to which made them happy. We asked them if they had any allergies and come to find out they are gluten free! At first me and my companion were like "umm how are we going to do this?" But then I randomly found a recipe for gluten free cookies in our cupboard. I made them and we gave them to our investigators. We were both a little nervous about what they would think... luckily we got to see them again and they told us that the cookies were the best they had ever had! It was a miracle! We had an amazing lesson about Jesus Christ with them too! They have so much faith! I love them so much! 

ASL!: Yesterday at church a lady came into Sunday school that I didn't recognize. I tried to introduce myself but the woman that had brought her came up and told me that she was deaf and couldn't understand me. I got really excited and asked her if she knew ASL and SHE DID! So we started talking and it was so amazing! I love her so much! It was such an incredible experience! I am so grateful I was able to learn ASL enough to be able to communicate with others! It is such a blessing! She wasn't able to communicate with anyone at church and then suddenly people were asking me to help translate. I can't even express how beautiful it was to see her open up. I also got to use some Spanish the other day which was pretty cool. I love languages! I'm trying to learn Chinese too so we'll see how that goes! 

It has been an incredible week here in Canada! Sometimes I can't even believe I'm here. It's so amazing! 

A guy in the Brookswood ward just got home from his mission and gave his homecoming talk yesterday. Guess where he served?? Colordado!!!!! It was so awesome to hear someone talk about Colorado! It made me so happy! 

One thing I've been thinking about a lot lately is faith! Faith is so incredible but it can be hard to develop. Having faith is having the courage to take a step forward even though making mistakes is inevitable. Having faith is knowing that even when we do make mistakes Jesus Christ can fix any broken thing. It makes me think of the parable of the talents. Sometimes it can be scary to invest in the world, to use our "talents", for fear of losing them. But we need to have the faith to invest our talents trusting that because of Christ all things will eventually work for out for the best in the end. If we have the faith to allow Jesus Christ to work in our lives we will be able to be happy even in difficult circumstances. If we have faith in Christ losing our "talents" isn't even a possibility. I found a quote the other day that says "We know that challenges, disappointments, and sorrows will come to each of us in different ways, but we also know that in the end, because of our divine Advocate, all things can be made to work together for our good" 

Have a wonderful week!

Sister Bloomfield

This is a picture from last week that I was waiting for permission to post.  It's with her 1st Companion, the ward mission leader in Victoria, and a recent convert.

Into the woods...Brookswood {week 10}

Hello!

I hope things are going well back home! 

I am now in Brookswood! Saying goodbye to the people in Victoria was SO HARD. But I know they're in good hands! The Brookswood ward is so awesome! I'm now in the lower mainland so I actually saw some rain for the first time since I got here! It's so green and beautiful and I love it so much! The church building is right across the street from the temple and it makes me so happy so be so near the temple! 

My new companion, Sister Crane, is so awesome! We have so much fun together! Langley is very different from Victoria so doing missionary work is very different as well. It's so interesting how missionary work changes so much in different cities! I guess that must be because my mission is so big and diverse.

Yesterday I got to meet one of our investigators! She's and old Japanese lady and she is SO CUTE! She's been investigating the church for a long time. Her son became a member a few decades ago and he actually served a mission in Japan! He's been trying to get his mom to join the church for a while. She is so sweet! She's going to teach me Japanese so I'm going to be a pro by the end of this transfer ;) 

There are so many different people from different parts of the world here, it's incredible! I've met someone from Vietnam, Africa, Korea, China, and the list goes on! 

We had such a cool miracle the other day! A member of the ward took us to a super fancy Greek restaurant. Our waiter said "Are you the mormons?" so we told him we are and he got super excited! It turns out he is a member of the church who was baptized in Ecuador!!!!! I told him that I had gone to Ecuador and it was so fun to talk about it! He hasn't been to church for a while but we told him where the building was so hopefully we'll see him again! I'm so happy I found someone to talk about Ecuador with! 

In this mission we are only allowed to listen to EFY music and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I just wanted to let you all know that EFY 2017 is the bomb. If anyone wants to know what's been running through my head just go listen to the song "He believes in you" from that album. Dad, you would love all of those songs haha. 

One thing I know to be true is that Jesus Christ loves each of us so much. He would never give up on us, so don't ever give up on yourself. He knows we're going to make mistakes, don't let that stop you from coming closer to him. As the prophet Nephi said, "why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of mine afflictions?... Awake my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul" (2 Nephi 4). Never give up! God loves you! 

Sister Bloomfield

Sea Shells by the Sea Shore {week 9}

Hello Everyone!

I'm so glad to hear things have been going well back home! So many things happened this week! It's been awesome.

I also just found out that I'm being transferred!!!!! I can't believe it!! I've only been here for 1 transfer! I'm pretty sad because I love Victoria with all my heart. Leaving is going to be so hard! I hope I can return someday. The people here are so wonderful and I love them so much and I'm sad I won't get to see their progress. Also the ward here is amazing! I feel like I'm leaving my home! Also mom, you should be getting an email from our AMAZING ward mission leader. He said he writes the mother of every missionary that comes through. He is so awesome and does so much for missionary work here! He is so committed to his calling and missionary work in general. I'm going to miss Victoria SO MUCH!

Anyways, you're probably wondering where I'm going! I'm going to Brookswood, a ward in Langley! It's really close to the temple so that should be pretty cool! Also I'm going to be companions with Sister Beckstrand's current companion!! I'm pretty excited! I was not expecting this transfer call at all though. It's so crazy! I still can't believe it. I always kind of had a feeling I would be assigned to Victoria, so coming here just felt so familiar! Victoria is so awesome. And I'm sure Langley will be totally awesome too! 

This has been a spectacular week! This week as we were park contacting (which in Victoria pretty much just means talking to people on the beach) we found a random piano! It turns out there are pianos all around Victoria! So me and my companion tried this new thing where I play the piano while she talks to people as they're walking by! We got to talk to a lot of people, but decided it wasn't the most effective so we probably won't do it again. But it was such a cool experience! While we were doing that we met these 2 really nice old ladies. One old lady told me that I had a genuine happiness about me that she could visibly see. Later that day we met 2 old men who told us they weren't interested but they could see that we were "wonderful representatives of the message printed on our name tags." The gospel is the only source of pure and lasting happiness. Once we have the gospel in our lives that happiness is visible and different from the rest of the world, and people notice it. Happiness is fleeting. But the pure joy that comes from the gospel lasts forever. 

We also met this incredibly kind old lady who let us in and talked to us for a long time. She is obsessed with sea shells and showed us her collection of all her sea shells. She even gave us one! We were invited to come back later too! She just made me so happy and I loved her instantly! I honestly love the people here SO MUCH! I love being a missionary! Sometimes it can be discouraging when you feel like you're not doing enough. But if you try your best and leave the rest to God, miracles happen. 

Lately I've been thinking a lot about something my mission president said to me. He said "your mission is going to change you even more than you can comprehend right now." I know that what he said is true and I can already feel my mission shaping me. Jeffry R. Holland once said "God is determined to make more of us than we thought we could be." Sometimes it can be scary to turn everything over to God. But I know that as we do he helps us to become who we're really supposed to be. I've been thinking about that a lot lately because of our transfer calls. I was wholeheartedly expecting to stay in Victoria. Getting transferred did not even feel like a remote possibility. So much is changing in my mission and my life that it feels a little crazy sometimes. But I know that if I just trust God, then everything will work together for good in the end. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ means so much to me. Jesus Christ means everything to me and I want to devote my life to serving Him. I know the church is true! 

Anyways, I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Sister Bloomfield 

Life is marvelous {week 8}

Hello World!

This has been an interesting week. Also an awesome week!!! Our mission president is really emphasizing the importance of changing things up! So this week we tried something pretty crazy.......service tracting! Service tracting is where we go knock on doors in jeans and a T-shirt and offer to help in any way we can! Let me tell you, it is SO WEIRD to be out doing missionary work in jeans. But so cool!!!! We saw a lot of hearts soften and a lot of miracles! Doing service is the best!

I hope everyone is doing well! It's so fun to hear about life in Colorado! Time goes by SO FAST it's weird to think that normal stuff is happening in the rest of the world. Sorry for the lack of pictures, I will send some this time. 

We set a baptismal date this week for our incredible investigator, Denise (name has been changed)! We love her so much! She's the one whose door we knocked on after that guy screamed at us! It has been so amazing to meet with her and see the gospel touch her heart. Please pray for her! The gospel is so amazing. I've never been moor happy then when I'm helping someone else come closer to Christ. 

There's one scripture that's been sticking out to me a lot lately "This was the Lord's doing and is it marvelous in our eyes?" (Mark 12:11). How many times do we just go through the motions each day? Wake up, go to work/school/whatever you do, come home, go to bed, repeat. So many times we fail to recognize God's hand in our lives. I promise you miracles happen every day. It's just a matter of us opening our eyes to recognize them. Life is so marvelous!! Sometimes I walk around and take in everything around me and just think "Everything is so amazing! I can't believe Heavenly Father has blessed me so much to be here!" Life is hard, but it's also marvelous!

I'm a little scatterbrained today so sorry this email isn't the best. But this week has been amazing none the less! The other day we had dinner with these members who are so awesome. They left everything behind to join the church. Their families, everything. They also are so amazing at following God's will. They felt like they needed to move to China so they did just that. Sold everything and moved to China. There they were able to have some amazing experiences! It just goes to show you that if you follow God's will everything always ends up being a million times better than you could have planned it. 

Have a wonderful week!

Sister Bloomfield 

"Oh my goodness, am I in paradise!?" {week 7}

Hello Everyone!

Thank you so much for all the pictures:) They really brighten my day! It's so good to hear that things are going well at home! I hope everyone has a good first few weeks of school!!

I know I say this a lot, but this has been another fabulous week in Victoria!!!! Even better than usual because we had zone conference! And having zone conference means we get to see president Wong! He is so amazing, I love him so much! I'm pretty sure that a large part of the reason I was called to this mission was because of him! He is the perfect mission president for me! 

We learned so many amazing things at zone conference and are so excited to go out and apply! This week I had so many moments where I caught my self thinking "oh my goodness, am I in paradise!?" I love being a missionary so much! And I love my mission so much! 

It feels like so much has happened since I last emailed, I feel like a different person! I can already feel Heavenly Father changing and shaping me for the better. It's so amazing! The atonement can work wonders in your life if you let it. One of the many quotes/ themes I've been focusing on this week is "Our focus must be riveted on the Savior and His gospel. It is mentally rigorous to look unto Him in every thought. But when we do our doubts and fears flee" -Russel M Nelson. I just love that quote so much! It is mentally rigorous to center our lives on Christ. But it is only in centering our lives in Christ that anything will fall into place. He needs to be the motivating force for everything we do,

We had dinner yesterday (an amazing dinner may I add) with a member that was telling us some of the experiences from her mission. She got a stress fracture the first few weeks and a couple of other injuries and was also paired up with a difficult companion. She said her companion pushed her so hard that it literately got to the point where she could not physically walk more than 4 steps without thinking of Christ and praying for strength. She survived on Christ alone. It's so amazing because if we allow Christ to be our motivating force in life, then we will be able to accomplish anything. Put real energy in those daily habits, like scripture study and prayer. It needs to be mentally rigorous if it is going to pull you closer to Christ, if you really want to draw His power into your life. I have felt the power of Christ's love for everyone and I know that we can grow to see the world through His eyes as we strive to become like Him in our efforts to answer His call to "come unto me"  

Missionary work is work, but when we put our whole heart and mind into it amazing things happen as a result. We met this really cool guy on the street yesterday. After talking with him for a while he said "Ok, you've got 6 weeks to turn me into a Mormon." It's so incredible because I know that the gospel has the power to completely change a person's life, and I know that it can and will work changes in this man's life. Haha it kind of makes me think "better be careful in issuing a challenge like that. Because the gospel IS true and it WILL change your life." 

I love being a missionary so much and I love the people I have the opportunity to come in contact with on a daily basis. It's sad when people choose to reject our message, because I know it will help them with all the difficulties they face. But I am so excited to see the gospel change people's lives. Because I know it can and will. Miracles are about to happen in Victoria! 

Victoria is the absolute perfect little city for me! It has such a special place in my heart now. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! 

Sister Bloomfield

BLOOMfield!?!?! The field is white and ready to harvest! Because it's BLOOMING!! {week 6}

Hello Everyone!

It's been another AMAZING week in Victoria! I'm quoting a random guy we met on the street in my subject line! Haha finding people is one of my favorite things because you get to talk to so many interesting people! Just yesterday I talked to someone from Brazil, Japan, China, and a refugee from somewhere in the middle east! The guy from the middle east was also a famous piano player who's going to tour in the United States soon! So keep an eye out for that haha! I can tell I'm going to be learning a little bit of a lot of different languages! 

This week John Bytheway visited Victoria and we got to meet him! It was so cool and he gave an amazing fireside! Unfortunately none of our investigators could come but it was such an awesome experience! 

Here's an awesome quote I found: "As a missionary we have to fight, claw, kick, and work to have the spirit" (Jeffry R Holland) It's a missionary quote but I'm going to modify it so it says "As a member of the church we have to fight, claw, kick, and work to maintain our testimony." Don't take your knowledge of Jesus Christ's gospel for granted! It has been amazing for me to see just how much Christ can bless someone's life. I know the gospel has blessed my life so much! It truly is the most precious thing in the world and I'm so grateful to have it in my life. Keep up the daily habits like praying and reading the scriptures, because it's the small things that make a big difference! 

We are teaching an amazing lady whom I love so much! She's from Peru and she's literately an angel! Haha the other day in a lesson we asked her to pray and she said yes. She then pointed to me and said "do you want to get married!?" I responded "um not right now" my companion said the same thing. She then said "when!? in a year?" Haha it was so funny! She didn't end up praying for us to get married (which is good haha) but she did say such a beautiful prayer! She's so amazing! She also has a lot of foreign exchange students! She's so dedicated to helping others I can't even believe it sometimes. I'm so blessed by all the people I get to meet! I love being a missionary and I love giving people the opportunity to hear about Christ's gospel! I know it's true! Honestly, I couldn't be a missionary if it wasn't true.Heavenly Father's hand is undeniably in the work. Or we would fail. But because of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ we get to meet these amazing people and watch the gospel touch their lives. 

I love it here in Victoria and I love being a missionary! Sometimes I feel like the prophet Nephi when he said "He (god) hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh" Heavenly Father loves His children SO MUCH! 

Anyways, I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Sister Bloomfield