Apparently I'm Asian Now :) {week 34}

Hello everyone!

It feels like a lifetime since I last wrote! I also did not do very good at budgeting my time today so sorry, this email isn't going to be very good. 

This week I said goodbye to all of my dear friends in Brookswood and Willoughby. That area will be very missed, but I'm excited for the opportunities that await me in the Abbotsford 2nd ward! I love it here! I'm closer to the mountains and the scenery is very similar to Colorado. Practically everyone here is from India. There are multiple Sikh temples everywhere, and one very large one across from the church. It's so intriguing! That culture has always interested me a lot. I'm getting to learn a lot about it!

I love Sister Tapon, my new companion! She is the sweetest, cutest thing ever! When I first got here she started asking me about my taste in food. After a few questions she said "oh man, my plan was to make you Asian, but you're already Asian!" And now she always refers to me as an Asian. Haha I love it! She is so amazing though and such a hard worker. She's also making me want to visit the Philippines now haha! 

It snowed a ton here the other day! In fact, we actually got rear ended. That was a little startling, but luckily everyone was all OK. The car only has a little crack too. Heavenly Father has protected us so much! 

There is a scripture I've been thinking about a lot lately. It's D&C 19:23 "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me." That scripture is the new youth theme! A lot of times it is easy to capitalize on the fact that Christ and His atonement bring us peace. That is very true. But part of obtaining that peace is to learn of Him, listen to him, and walk with Him. That peace we receive comes as we strive to become like Him by living as He did. The promised peace and rest come not from just knowing that Christ lives, but from taking His yoke upon us and diligently choosing to serve Him. I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and His perfect life and sacrifice for each of us. 

Sister Bloomfield 

 

 

 

Me and Sister Tapon

Cute sister Tapon :)

 

Hello {week 33}

Hello Everyone!

I'm getting transferred!!!!! In all honesty, I am SO SAD to be leaving this area! I've been here for 6 months and it feels like home to me. Last night I kept waking up all night thinking about different people I am sad to be leaving. I love this area and the people in it with all my heart! 

Despite the fact that I'm sad I'm going to be leaving Willoughby and Brookswood, I'm really excited for next transfer! I'm staying in the same zone and going to the Abbotsford 2nd ward. My companion is Sister Tapon! She's been out for a transfer and is from the Philippines! I'm so excited! I can already feel that some exciting things are coming in this area! I'm so excited! I love my mission so much. I never thought it was possible to love a place and the people in it so much. I can say in all honesty, I love being a missionary. I'm so grateful Heavenly Father allowed me to come on a mission. 

This has been such a good week! We had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators where we ended the lesson by kneeling to say a prayer and ask God if the Book of Mormon is true. The spirit was so strong it was tangible. After the prayer she looked at us and said "can you feel that?" It was amazing. I know with all my heart that the Book of Mormon is true. I couldn't deny that even if I wanted too. This girl we're teaching has a lot of overcome to be baptized, but I know that Heavenly Father will provide a way for her. And luckily I'm close enough to witness it happening :) 

The other day we found a Chinese couple to teach. We knocked on their door and the man got so excited when he saw us! He said that he really wants to be Christian he just doesn't know how to since he moved from China. He said he doesn't feel prepared to be a Christian because his knowledge is so limited. But he wants to believe in Christ! It made me so happy to hear that, because our purpose as missionaries is to help people to know about Christ and His restored gospel and what it means for them personally. Heavenly Father is so aware of all His children, and He is aware of that man who wanted to believe in God but just didn't know how. It's so amazing to participate in this work! 

After transfer calls we spent some time visiting some people. I am going to miss these people SO MUCH. I know that God has so much in store for me in this next area. I love missionary work! 

Lately I've been studying how to have the spirit with me more. I've been learning that the spirit is something we RECEIVE. Meaning, we have to be prepared to receive it. If you were playing football, your teammates wouldn't throw you the ball if you weren't paying attention. That would do you more harm than good because it could hit you in the face or your teammates would get mad at you for not catching it! But if you are prepared to receive the ball and intend to run with it and score, then your teammates are more likely to throw you the ball. You have to prepare yourself to receive the spirit. And not just the spirit, but all of the blessings Heavenly Father has in store for us. There's so much more than I think we can even begin to comprehend. 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Hello from Ukraine! {week 32}

Hello Everyone!

This has been a great week! I don't really remember what happened though to be honest. I love being a missionary though!

We had zone conference this week! As usual it was AMAZING! We learned a lot about acting in faith and immersing ourselves in the scriptures. I've been learning that there is so much to the scriptures that I can't even begin to understand. I love reading the scriptures so much so its's so exciting to see how much there is to learn! 

I had a really cool experience this week. Remember how I said we were learning Russian? Well a couple of days ago we got a call from Sister Kovolska, a sister in Vancouver YSA who also was my STL in Victoria! She's from Ukraine and it turns out the family from Ukraine that's been teaching us Russian wanted to invite her over for dinner. She got permission to go because only one member of the family is a member of the church and they are wanting to learn more. We went on splits so I went with Sister K to the dinner and SIster Nerenberg went with Sister K's companion to another appointment. The whole night I spent confused as everyone around me chatted really fast in Russian. It was a really cool experience. Every now and then they would be polite and try and talk in English... but it was a stretch. I told them about Grandma and Grandpa and they said "this is what they're experiencing right now! You must feel very connected to them right now." So shout out to Elder and Sister Bloomfield in Russia! Anyways, Sister K taught them and I was able to bear my testimony at the end. We went back yesterday (Sister Nerenberg and I) And were able to teach them again! It was so amazing! 

I've been thinking a lot about the plan of salvation lately. I've gained a testimony that Heavenly Father loves each of his children individually more than we can comprehend. This plan He has for us is affixed, and if we follow Christ we are GUARANTEED eternal happiness. He is so loving and merciful. Go and watch "our eternal life" it's a mormon message that talks about this plan and is amazing! 

Anyways, this has been a pretty normal week! I hope everyone has a great day! Happy Valentines day! 

Sister Bloomfield 

Happy New Year!! {week 31}

Hello Everyone!

It's been another great week here! 

Chinese new year is coming up and we had a HUGE activity to celebrate! It was so cool! President Wong even came! Not to mention the chinese people we were teaching came! It made me so happy to see them!!! Mostly everyone there was Chinese, so it was a ton of fun trying to talk to people! It was so cool to see so much culture too! Sometimes I feel like I'm actually in China. I love it so much! President Wong even taught me some Chinese! I can now say "You are SO good!" in Chinese! Yay! 

One thing I've learned is that Christ provides a way for those who earnestly seek him. It won't be easy. But it will be worth it. We have an amazing investigator who is hoping to get baptized soon! She has a brain injury, but has been praying for the ability to learn and remember everything we've been teaching her. Her progress has been incredible! It's amazing to see the gospel of Jesus Christ work in someone's life and change it for the better. She came to church this Sunday and just loved it! I know the only thing that gives us the power to improve the quality of our life is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It gives us purpose and meaning in this life. It makes me so happy. 

I read this amazing conference talk this week by Sharon Eubank. It was in the latest general conference. One thing that stood out to me, is that Christ enables us to change us so that our hearts have no more desire to do evil. He can change our desires. We can't force ourselves to have charity, or force ourselves to be humble. But if we invite Christ into our life we can overcome the natural man and be blessed with the attributes that enable us to become like Christ and love those around us. 

Have a good week!

Sister Bloomfield