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!