Victoria!!!! {week 4}

Hello everyone!

I have so much to say I don't even know where to begin!!!

So I've been assigned my first area!!!!! I'm in Victoria!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I an soooooooo happy to be here! My companion and I are actually whitewashing so it's been pretty awesome. We got to Canada on Thursday but weren't assigned our areas until Friday. On Thursday I was talking to the AP and he was saying that one of the new sisters would be whitewashing in Victoria. I had a slight feeling it would be me. But I just pushed it aside because EVERYONE was hoping to get assigned to Victoria. When I met my trainer I also had a feeling she would be my companion. So when I was assigned I was pretty surprised it ended up being what I expected! But I'm so grateful to be here! This area is so amazing! And it's pretty cool to be whitewashing because it's kind of like going on a scavenger hunt all day long looking for people we can help! We're both clueless so we have to figure everything out together which is so awesome!!!

The ward here is SO awesome! They are so missionary minded! The bishop is absolutely incredible too. Both the Ward Mission Leader and the Bishop are so involved! It's great!

I feel like I'm living in a dream!!! Being a missionary is SO AWESOME!!!!! Not to mention it's GORGEOUS here! It's super touristy so there are a lot of visitors all the time so that makes it really interesting! 

It's so culturally diverse here too! I've already tried lots of different food and a lot of the people here have English as their second language. Or they don't even speak English. I wish I spoke Chinese! And Tagolog! And Punjabi! 

Lately I've been noticing the little miracles that happen everyday. We had no clue who to contact or what to do the first day we were here but then this lady called us 3 times saying "hey will you please come over I want to talk to you guys." She's a new investigator and we're teaching her and her boyfriend. Talk about a miracle! She literally called asking us to teach her!! It was amazing! 

I love the people here so much! I wish I could talk to all of them! I can't even believe how blessed I am to be here! I was able to get to Canada safely which is such a miracle and I'm just so grateful.

One other thing is I love my mission president! He is soo funny!! Him and his family are from China which is so cool! He's also so kind! I love him! I am so blessed to be in this mission! It's amazing how well God knows me. I needed to be here and no where else! 

I love the gospel of Jesus Christ so much and I know He has a hand in this work! I'm so grateful to be able to participate in it! 

Thank you for the emails and updating me on things back home!! Oh dad! Later today I'm going to get my first taste of Poutine! I'll let you know if I like it haha! Also there's some people from Winnipeg here so I always tell them about you! 

Love you! Sister Bloomfield

Canada Bound! {week 3}

Hello!

It's my last day in the MTC!! I can't believe it! I have loved my experience here but I am excited to go to Canada!! I leave tomorrow at 6:25 AM and arrive in Canada at noon or something. I'm so excited!! I am a little sad to be leaving my companion, but I have a feeling we'll be companions again :)

I've had so many great experiences this week I don't even know where to begin! One thing I've learned is the importance of saying "I know that Christ lives" or "I know Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God" versus "In our church we believe..." Our beliefs are not just something we believe but something we know to be true. I'm not just a member of this church because it seemed like it would be fun or anything like that. I'm a member of this church because I know that it is true. I know that because of this gospel I have experienced so much joy and happiness. I want to help others know they can experience this joy and happiness for themselves. 

It's been so awesome to see the people I've met here leave and prepare to leave myself. I know there will be challenges I face but with Christ I will be able to overcome them.

I have grown so close to the sisters I'm serving with and I love them so much! We have so much fun together! 

We had the opportunity to go to the temple today! It was so wonderful and peaceful. I'm so grateful I was able to go before I leave!

One thing I love about my companion is that she loves art! Sometimes we draw pictures for each other and then color them. It is so much fun! 

It's amazing how Heavenly Father will always answer your prayers! Earlier this week I was worried about something. And then in class we were doing role plays and I was the investigator while these two really good elders were teaching me a lesson on the law of fast. Their lesson was really good and it reminded me that I had fasted for my worry a while ago and that I had no need to worry. Heavenly Father is aware of us and will provide us a way to accomplish the things He has commanded. 

Well, I've had a marvelous experience at the MTC and I'm so grateful for the time I've spent here. I can't wait to see what the future holds either! 

Love, Sister Bloomfield

Travel Plans and The Promised Land {week 2}

Hello!

Thanks so much for keeping me updated on things going back home! I love hearing about it!

Thank you so much for the letters too! I love getting them and they totally make my day!

Here's the answers to some questions I got:

How many elders and sisters there are in my district: There are 10 elders and 4 sisters (including myself). 6 of the elders are going to West Virginia and the rest of us are going to Vancouver Canada! It's a little weird, for some reason I was expecting there to be a lot more sisters! But my district is pretty awesome! Funny story, two of the elders in my district grew up together and then got called to the same mission. And now they're MTC companions! They keep calling each other by their first name on accident and it's kind of funny! I'm hoping my companion and I are companions again later on down the road!

What is my room like: It has 3 bunk beds and 6 closets I think, I can't remember. There are only 4 of us right now which is pretty nice

Am I able to use the new classrooms: Yes! They are sooooo amazingly beautiful! In fact, tours started yesterday which is a little weird haha. I feel like I'm in a zoo. There are floor length windows in each classroom and floor length murals on each floor, it's amazing and the spirit is so strong!

Choir: So choir is optional but totally worth it! The choir director is super awesome and the songs we sing are beautiful! Not to mention we perform each Tuesday for a general authority. My companion and I are pretty excited about who we suspect is the visitor today...... we won't know until tonight though ;)

What are Sundays like: On Sundays we have Relief Society (taught by a companionship. My companion and I taught last time) then district meeting, then Sacrament meeting. Something cool about Sacrament meeting is that they randomly call an elder and a sister from the congregation each Sunday and you don't know if you're speaking until you're called on the spot. So far I've escaped it but I'm not so sure about this week. Anyways, then we have a temple walk which is pretty fun! Sundays are pretty relaxing! We also have choir of course

Congrats to Palmer Ridge on making it to Nationals! I hope Josh has fun with that! I'm also glad to hear everyone's been having fun!

Something totally cool happened this week! The other day I was in the computer lab writing my email to the president and my companion and I were talking about how we're going to Canada etc. when this random teacher in the computer lab says "Hey you're going to my mission!" I turn and look and it's the guy from the prepare to serve videos!!!!!! Before my mission I watched videos of an RM being interviewed from my mission. And it was him!!!!!  I told him I recognized him which he thought was funny. Anyways, my companion and I see him all the time now. It's kind of like seeing a celebrity. Every time he sees us he says "there are my sisters going to the promised land!!!" It makes me so excited haha! 

Also, I ran into one of my friends from my Ecuador group who I didn't even know was going on a mission! The MTC is such a small world, it's awesome!

We got our travel plans!!!!!!!! We leave Wednesday, so in a week and a day!! I'm so excited!!!! There are 15 missionaries in our travel group which is going to be pretty awesome! We had to say goodbye to our STLs last night which was kind of sad... but exciting because that will be us in a week!!!!!!!

I love being a missionary and I love the MTC!! I have loved learning how to teach and applying it when we teach volunteers for the MTC! It's so awesome and I'm so grateful to be a missionary!!! 

One thing I've been learning about is the importance of being converted versus having a testimony. Having a testimony is good but you need to be converted to the gospel! Being converted means you are dedicated to Christ and no matter what happens you will always be dedicated to Him. That's our goal as missionaries, to become converted and to help others (members and non-members) become converted as well! It's amazing learning about helping others come unto Christ because you get to see just how much He loves everyone! It's incredible!

Wow, this email is long! I hope everyone is doing well! Thank you for keeping me updated, I love hearing about how everyone is doing!

I love the gospel, I know it's true, and I'm so grateful to be a missionary!

Love, Sister Bloomfield

I LOVE the MTC!!!! {week 1}

I LOVE the MTC!!!! It's sooooo amazing here! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I've run into so many friends I've begun to lose count! It's so much fun!

 I absolutely LOVE my companion! Her name is sister Beckstrand and she is absolutely amazing. We are absolutely perfect for each other! She is also a dancer and even worked in a dance studio. She's from Texas and is going to Utah State to major in art. We work so well together and just have so much fun. If it weren't for her I don't know what I'd even do.

 My district is so awesome too! There is a sister in my district actually from Canada. But she's originally from the Philipines. She's so sweet! Other that that everyone is either from the deep south or Utah. So there's a lot of southern accents. Pretty quickly the sisters in my district started noticing me randomly doing ASL. So I started teaching them and soon enough the whole district got involved!! It's so much fun and really funny to see them try and do ASL. The sister from Canada does the alphabet wrong since the Canadian signs are different! At choir I was teaching Sister Beckstrand some ASL and a random sister from across the room noticed and we had a whole conversation! I've missed ASL!

 Time here is sooooo weird. The days feel like years but the weeks feel like seconds!

 I love my sister training leaders! They are some of the nicest people ever! I'm so grateful for the sisters I'm serving with. The MTC has been full of some of the lowest lows and the highest highs I've ever experienced, but it is the most wonderful experience ever and I honestly don't understand all those people who said negative things about the MTC. They're seriously missing out. Missionary work is the most wonderful thing in the world and it almost brings me to tears how happy I am to finally be a missionary. Putting on my nametag for the first time was the most incredible and amazing experience.

 Ahh I have so much so say! Our lessons have been going well, we actually get to teach real people who volunteer for the MTC. Some are members, some are not. I can testify that the spirit guides his missionaries. We had one lesson with such a wonderful girl. It was so powerful and looking back I can't even remember some of the things I said. The spirit put the words in my mouth. I did not teach that lesson. It was amazing.

 I love being a missionary! It is the most fulfilling thing ever!! I love it!!! The other day in class I was looking out the window at all the flags of the different countries. The Canadian flag was kind of in the middle of the line up and they were taking all the flags down. My teacher (who is amazing FYI) was saying that we are called to find specific people for a specific reason and that our call was very special and personal. I looked out the window again and the Canadian flag was the only one still up!! The spirit testified to me that I am supposed to go to Canada. Despite my setbacks with my passport.

 Anyways, I love being a missionary! It's so wonderful! I'm learning so much and I'm so grateful for all that God's teaching me. I love everyone! Have a wonderful week and thank you for the pictures and email!

Love, Sister Bloomfield