Don't Worry, Be Happy! {week 30}

Hello Everyone!

It's been such a great week! I've been learning so much lately. I feel like over the past 6 months I've changed my way of thinking, and the world looks different now. It's incredible! I'm so grateful for and I love my mission.

This week we had another lesson with the family from Africa! I love them so much! There is a bit of a language barrier... the father thought the Book of Mormon said we use the blood of men to cleanse ourselves from sin.... most definitely not true! But teaching them is such an incredible experience. We tried to give them a chapter from the Book of Mormon to read and they said that they would have the whole book read the next time we see them! The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ and I have gained a testimony that the Book of Mormon is "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." (Joseph Smith) As we read the Book of Mormon we become better acquainted with the Savior. Not to mention it's a pretty good book! 

We're also still working with another girl whom I also love so much! We gave her a church tour and she just kept saying "it feels like home here. I feel comfortable here." That made me so happy, because I know the church is a place for anyone and everyone to come. Everyone's welcome! No matter what!

We had an amazing lesson at a dinner appointment the other day! We planned on teaching a short message based on the restoration of the gospel, but the spirit took it a completely different way! It was one of those lessons where I walked out thinking "what in the world did I just teach?" There was a moment where I knew I needed to share a scripture in Alma 34 but I didn't know what verse so I just passed it to Sister Nerenberg and she read a verse that fit perfectly in with the lesson. It was so cool! I know the Lord has His hand in this work because I could not accomplish anything on my own. He knows what we need to hear and He provides us with a way to receive the spiritual nourishment we need. 

We met a member of the congregation who doesn't attend much anymore from Ukraine! I love her so much! She's teaching us Russian! I know what you're all thinking "Sister Bloomfield is crazy, why does she keep trying to learn so many languages?" but in all honesty one of the goals I've had since I was like 12 is to be at least quad lingual. And I'm dead serious when I say that. My mission has been giving me a nice opportunity to sample a lot of different langues! By the end of my time here I'll have an endless amount of languages to choose from to learn. But the sister was so happy to hear we wanted to learn Russian! When it comes down to it, languages aside, I love just connecting with people. It helps me to see how much Heavenly Father truly loves all of us. More than we will ever be able to understand. 

This Sunday we had an amazing regional broadcast from Salt Lake. It was so incredible! The talks were mainly about finding joy in this life and helping others along the way. I have gained a testimony that our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and enjoy our time here on the earth. 

Anyways, have an amazing week! 

The picture is of my and Sister Nerenberg walking in the rain! Taken by one of the sisters we live with :)

Spring in BC! {week 29}

Hello!

This has been such a great week! I don't have much time, so I apologize in advance!

We found a family from Africa to teach! They are so amazing! They came here 4 months ago (straight from Africa) and weirdly enough I remember watching them move in! I finally decided to knock on their door and turns out they had been taught by missionaries in Africa! Amazing! I love them so much!

We also started teaching this girl that I met like 5 months ago and have been texting ever since. She was finally able to meet up and we had an amazing lesson! It's so cool being in an area for a long time because you get to see little things like that come together! I love it!

I love this area so much and most importantly I love the people in it!

One scripture I've been focusing on is 1 Nephi 11:17

Have a great week! I know this gospel is true and because of that I can have hope and happiness. I don't know how I could live without this knowledge.

Also it's so warm here it feels like spring! I love it! I hope I didn't just jinx us....

Sister Bloomfield

Hello World {week 28}

I hope everyone had a great week!

Lots of changes have been happening here. I honestly feel like I'm in a completely different area. It's a little crazy. This week has been full of a lot of contacting! It's been fun!

I'm so sorry to everyone but I'm kind of at a loss for words today. So this email is going to be pretty short. Please forgive me. 

Oh, Sister Nerenberg is my new companion and she's great! She's only been out for one transfer so it's been a HUGE perspective shift. It's been great though and I already love her so much! She's going to go to BYU after the mission too! It's the best!

Have a great week!

Oo random thought from an amazingly good talk in Sacrament meeting. We are not here in this world to prove ourselves to God. We've already done that. We're here because earth life is a reward for the choice we already made. "Look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not"

 

 

God of Miracles {week 27}

Hello!

This has been quite the week. I was debating whether or not to write about what I'm about to write about, because it's personal and crazy, but I'm going to. I don't know why but I hope it will help someone. Also just writing things out is good for me a lot of the time. So really this email will just be me blabbering the whole time. Feel free to not read :) 

I'll begin with transfer calls. I'm staying!!! Words cannot describe how happy I am! This area is like home to me. I love it hear so much and have already promised people that I will be returning after my mission. I'm so grateful I get to serve here another transfer. At the end of this transfer it will be 6 months in this area! Yay! I'm so happy! Both my wards were blown apart by transfers though. Out of the 3 companionships I work with, only one other missionary stayed the same. And they're adding another set of missionaries to the Brookswood ward! So this is going to be interesting.  Sister Van Valkenburg is going up to Prince George! So exciting!

We had quite the interesting lesson the other day. It was just so funny I have to write about it. We have two investigators who are just so awesome and hilarious. They live a bit of a street life so it's interesting sometimes. The other day we invited a member, Brother Friesen, to our lesson. When we got there both our investigators had thought we were coming at 9 instead of 8 like we had planned (don't know why they thought that, we're home by 9). They were wanting to go get some dinner so they said we could tag along with one of their friends. The member was a bit confused so we told him he could leave but felt like it would be productive for us to stay with our investigators. Brother Friesen took it like a champ and just shrugged his shoulders and said he would come. We ended up walking all over downtown Langley in back alleys and such. It would be normal for us missionaries, but it was just so hilarious to have a member with us. I'm so grateful Brother Friesen's such a trooper. Now that I'm writing this I'm realizing that it's probably not funny to people who weren't there. Oh well. 

Anyways, this Wednesday I took a field trip to Vancouver! Vancouver is beautiful! I wasn't going to write about my experience there, but I've decided to anyways for some reason. The purpose for going to Vancouver was to renew my passport, which expires in June. No good because I'm supposed to be here until January :) So I went to Vancouver with the Cranes and another sister who got her passport stolen. The other sister was able to get her passport, but I was not. I was a little bit miffed but I didn't have much time to dwell on it because the sister I was with started talking to someone at the US consulate and I had to join in because it is my responsibility as a missionary. We have no time for such things as worrying haha. So I had one of the best conversations with some people ever and we met this guy who lives in the other sister's area and now he gets a chance to hear about the gospel and it's just wonderful. I never felt the spirit support me so much. I think it was because I wasn't letting myself think about my passport.

Anyways, we had a bit of a drive home. As I sat in the car thinking about the whole situation I really felt a lot of peace and comfort about it. But if there's one thing I've learned as a missionary it's how Satan works on me. And I knew he was going to use my passport as arsenal. So I decided to ask Elder Crane for a priesthood blessing, even though I felt fine in the moment. In the blessing I was reassured that I would be able to stay in my mission for the full 18 months. I know that Heavenly Father is watching over me and that I had to go to Vancouver last Wednesday for reasons unknown. Reasons I may never know. Regardless, Heavenly Father sees and understands more than I do. The spirit told me that one of the main reasons Heavenly Father is having me experience this is that I needed an experience to increase my faith. We learn in the scriptures that Heavenly Father can only work miracles according to our faith. And I know that there are things in this mission that Heavenly Father wants to accomplish. Things that will take miracles. And I could not develop the faith I needed to on my own. If I were a mathematical equation, the things I need to do and the faith I had previously did not compute. But the experiences Heavenly Father has been giving me have been helping me realize that "if ye will have faith in me (Christ) ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me"  (Moroni 7:33). I know that Heavenly Father's hand is in this work, that He is guiding and directing our lives. If we allow Him to direct us, we will experience miracles. I know that we are literately in God's hands. 

Alma 37:7 "And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls" 

Hold on and have faith. No matter what your situation God can and will work miracles. 

Sister Bloomfield 

Happy New Year! {week 26}

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a happy new year! This is going to be such a great year!

I had kind of a cool experience this Saturday. On Saturdays we park our car and walk all day long. So this Saturday we parked our car at the church and walked all over the place. It was a bit of a discouraging day and by the end of the day I was physically and mentally exhausted. We started our trek back home and things were looking a little dim. After a while we finally reached the base of the hill that the temple is on. We started walking up the hill and as I looked up I saw the temple at the top, lit up and shining in contrast to the darkening sky. I kept my eyes fixated on the temple as we walked up the hill and soon enough we found ourselves at the top. At times it felt like I was crawling up that hill. But with the temple in my sights I knew there was no way I'd ever give up. It reminded me of life. We are sent here, away from our Heavenly Father, and often times experience difficulties and trials. Sometimes it may feel like we are barely crawling along. But if we keep our eyes on heaven, ensuring we maintain an eternal perspective, we know that giving up is not even an option. Heavenly Father has provided us a way to return home, and if we rely on the Savior success is guaranteed. We just have to keep our eyes towards heaven. 

3 Nephi 11:5

And again the third time thy did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came

I absolutely love serving in the Canada Vancouver mission and am so grateful to be here! I've learned and changed so much. I'm excited for this year, 2018, because it will be a full year of me serving the Lord as a full time missionary.

Sister Bloomfield