Smartphones {week 38}

Hello,

This has been an great week! Abbotsford is pretty awesome and I am beyond grateful to be here. 

This week we got some training for the new smartphones coming in! It's going to be interesting haha but I am pretty excited. The work is going to progress in ways I hadn't even imagined! Couldn't be better timing either. Just yesterday we got a text from an investigator that's really hard to stay in contact with. The only think the text said was "how about you just add me on facebook?" Sister Tapon and I just looked at each other and shook our heads. I'm starting to become very grateful for the technology that's about to come in! 

So many things happen in a week I'm always at a loss when it comes to figuring out what to write. We're teaching an amazing lady from Chile. She has been taught for 4 years and is so faithful. She wants to get baptized but special circumstances have made it difficult. She amazes me so much!

We're also teaching a really sweet girl from Germany! She is so sweet and sincere. I know that since she is so earnestly seeking for the truth she will find it. 

We're teaching an older Indian couple who are just so amazing! I love the Indian culture! They are so kind and will almost always let you in! It's been such a different experience teaching people who have absolutely no Christian background. I've learned so much.

It's been so much fun working with the members in this area! On Tuesday night our Ward Mission Leader came with us to a lesson. The lesson fell through but rather than just go home he stayed with us for our back up plan. It was so much fun to have a member coming around with us! I wish we could take them everywhere. 

2 Nephi 22:1-2

And in that day thou shalt say: O Lord I will praise thee; though thou wast angry with me thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust  and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he has also become my salvation. 

Tagolog & Trust in the Lord {week 37}

Hello all,

Things are going great here in Abbotsford! This ward is on fire! This is the busiest I've been on my mission! It's incredible.

Right now we're teaching this amazing girl from Germany. She was so prepared by God. We had a crazy lesson where we brought a member who brought her baby and the baby cried the whole time. That made it hard to teach but as we left I had this weird feeling that things were supposed to happen that way. Don't really know why, but I know that God has a plan and he's figured everything out down to the minute details. We had zone conference this week and one thing we talked about is how God can use things that we may see as failures, for our benefit. For example, in 1 Nephi 3 and 4 when Nephi failed to get the brass plates, maybe Laban had to have all that money so that he would go out and party and get drunk and maybe Nephi had to go to Jerusalem just so he could recognise Laban's face so that when the time was right Nephi could not just get the brass plates, but also save Zoram and put an end to Laban. God always has a bigger plan than we do. Maybe we're supposed to do more than just get the brass plates, even if that's all we want to do. Sorry if this makes no sense. Just go read 1 Nephi 3 and 4. 

The other day sister Tapon and I had a feeling to go to this park. When we got there it was just a playground with a bunch of little kids and some old ladies from India who spoke no English. Usually we would just leave but we felt like we should walk around, so we did and found this Indian lady who speaks Tagolog! She only speaks Tagolog and Punjabi. Luckily Sister Tapon speaks Tagolog. We met with her and her son (who also speaks English thankfully) and were able to teach them. The spirit guided the lesson so much. I didn't understand about half of it, but I was still able to teach and feel the spirit testify.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.

Sister Bloomfield

 

 

Flowers Blooming in the Field! {week 36}

Hello from Abbotsford!

I absolutely love it here! I love the ward so much and have spent some time getting to know them. This ward is seriously so awesome! Not to mention it's BEAUTIFUL here! It's a lot like Colorado. It makes me so happy! 

Since I've been here I've met a couple of deaf people! It makes me so happy to use ASL! It's so amazing to me how my mission is so customized to me. I love it so much here and I can't imagine being anywhere else. I love my mission with all my heart!

We're teaching a lot of really amazing people here. It's been really different because a few of the people we're teaching are from India and don't have much of a Christian background. It's been an incredible experience as I've studied in the morning with the purpose of preparing to introduce people to Jesus Christ for the first time. A huge theme for me this week has been how unconditional Christ's love is. He never ever gives up on us. Even when you want to give up on yourself, He refuses to let you go. 

On Wednesday we went on exchanges with the STLs! It was such a weird experience because I got to go back to my old apartment and see a little bit of my old area! On Tuesday night I even got to go to my old chapel and Heavenly Father blessed me with running into a couple of people from my last area! It made me so happy! I love love love all the experiences I've had on my mission and each of my areas hold a special place in my heart. It made me so happy to be back in Brookswood even if it was for a brief moment. It was also so fun to go on my 3rd exchange with Sister Buur! We've both been in this zone for so long haha. 

My testimony of Jesus Christ has grown a lot on my mission. I know that He lives and walks with us. If we chose to walk with Him, then we can more clearly see Him along side us. Something that's grown my testimony of Christ has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday. Abbotsford is a really really really religious town and I've met a lot of people who have a strong faith in Christ. But something I've noticed is that their faith is so easily dislodged. I was wondering how in the world I could ensure that my faith is rock solid. Then I realized that my faith in Jesus Christ is strong because it's rooted in the Book of Mormon. Any one can say what they want about the Bible, but the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ and clarifies the Bible in a way that no one can refute or deny. I know the Book of Mormon is true and that knowledge has become an anchor for my soul. The habit of reading the Book of Mormon produces the testimony of Christ that is necessary to see us to safety in these times. 

Funny moment of the week: We were walking along the street and ran into this old Indian man. He spoke pretty good English but the way he talked was a bit muffled because he was missing some teeth. Right when he saw us he got so excited and started saying all these funny things. He looked at my nametag and said "Bloomfield!?" then turned to my companion and said "Do you know what that means?!?!?!" Sister Tapon said "no...." and he said "it means that there is some flowers blooming in the field that's blooming!!!!" With a lot of excited hand gestures. Haha. Also people keep complimenting me on my accent and asking me if I'm from Europe... so weird

Sister Bloomfield

"And I was led by the Spirit..." {week 35} 8 months out!

Hello Everyone!

It's been another great week here in Abbotsford! I've been learning so much here in this area with Sister Tapon! We have so much fun together! 

I've been thinking about the scripture 1 Nephi 4:6 "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing before hand the things which I should do." In this scripture it is Nephi speaking. He and his brothers have been commanded of the Lord to return to Jerusalem, after having left it a few weeks prior, in order to retrieve the brass plates-a record of their lineage and their scriptures. Chapter 3 and 4 of 1 Nephi tell the story of Nephi and his brothers and their multiple unsuccessful attempts to get the brass plates. In chapter 4, verse 6 Nephi has made the decision to go back to Jerusalem, trusting that God would provide a way for him to be successful. 

This scripture story was referred to in zone conference a few weeks ago and has been weighing on my mind ever since. Yesterday Sister Tapon and I went to go teach a man named Gurdeep. The sisters found him the week before I got here and we were going to his return appointment. I didn't really know what to expect of this man but I went to the appointment excited to teach someone. When we got there he warmly received us and welcomed us into his home. We asked if his wife was home in order to make sure we could come in and still be obedient and he answered that she was. When we walked through the door Gurdeep's wife asked what was going on. In Punjabi the man explained who we were and what we had come to do. They started to argue a little and his wife asked him to send us away. He looked at us desperately so I tried to explain more about our purpose and the message we had come to share. The wife said some more phrases in Punjabi to Gurdeep and then turned to us and said "actually we're not interested right now so please go." Gurdeep just looked at her so sadly and said something along the lines of "please" (I'm not actually entirely sure what he said) She just shook her head and started to walk away. He turned back to us, took our number down and said that he was interested but that he would have to give us a call. Sister Tapon and I left the house feeling a little defeated. It was so sad! And to make matters worse as we walked away we realized we didn't even have his phone number. We stood on the street debating whether or not to go back and ask him for his phone number. Logically, I didn't want to go back because we had his address and he had our number and I didn't want to upset the wife more. But we said a prayer and both felt we needed to go back and get his phone number. So we walked back to his house, knocked on his door, and was able to get his phone number. And that was that. 

This story is probably really boring but it's made me think a lot. I don't really know what's going to happen to Gurdeep and his wife. And I'm not really sure why we both felt prompted to go and get his phone number. Ideally, I would love to teach him and his wife but that may or may not happen. But it made me think a lot about Nephi and his story. As missionaries, we are constantly striving to have the spirit as our constant guiding companion. I've learned a lot of what that looks like but also learned that I have no clue what that means at the same time. When Nephi was "led by the spirit not knowing before hand" the things which he should do he didn't just stand there, look up at the sky and say "ok what should I do now God?" Instead, he made the decision to go down to Jerusalem. He didn't know what was going to happen as a result of his decision, but he went anyways. I've found that being led by the spirit has a lot more to do with making decisions. We pray and ask God for guidance, and then we act. Most of the time when we act we don't know what the outcome of our actions will be. I'm someone who likes to have control over my life, so I don't always like that feeling of not knowing what's going to happen. But as we act, not knowing before hand what's going to happen, we're allowing God to guide us.

We didn't know what would happen if we went back to Gurdeep. But we went and got his phone number. And now that we have it we still don't know what's going to happen. But I do know that everything is in God's hands. As I've looked back on my life it's so clear to me to see how God has guided me so carefully. I know without a doubt that He has a plan for each and every one of us. And if we listen to the quiet and subtle promptings of the spirit, we will be guided. Even if we don't know before hand the outcome of our decisions, if we listen to God all will work together for our good. 

Well I wasn't planning on writing such a long email, so hopefully someone needed to hear that!

Have a great week!

Sister Bloomfield