Hola Amigos! {week 69}

Hello Everyone!

Transfer calls came and I'm staying in Langley YSA!!!! That makes me so happy!!!!! I love this area so much!!! I'm getting a new companion and her name is Sister Guzman. She's from Hondorus!! I'm so excited because I'm going to finally have someone to try and learn Spanish from!!

This has been such a good week! I love serving in this branch so much!! I am so spoiled because since we cover so many areas of the mission I get to see so many different places and meet so many different people. It's absolutely incredible!

We are teaching this awesome guy! I don't know if I've written about him, but he's the one we found on the day we were without our car. He is just soaking everything in! We invited him to be baptized but he originally declined. Then after one of our lessons he texted us and said "about that baptism thing, I think I want to do it!" It made us so happy! We invited him to an activty on Monday and he told us he would rather have another lesson! It was so cool! Watching him learn about the gospel really made me realize how much happiness it brings. Knowing about Jesus Christ can truly change your life.

So much happened this week and I learned so much! I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to serve in this area, in this mission, with all the companions I've had so far. I know that it is God who has given me everything. Even when I strive to serve Him with all my strength, it is him that gives me the strength to serve Him. In Mosiah 2:11 King Benjamin says "I have been chosen by this people... to serve you with all the might, mind, and strength, which the Lord hath granted unto me"

Have a great week!

Sister Bloomfield 

Loaves and Fishes {week 68}

Hello Everyone!

This has been one of those weeks that I will always remember. There is nothing better that serving others and inviting them to come closer to Jesus Christ!

This week I had a really cool experience with the name of the church. I sat down to talk to this lady at a bus stop and she immediately said "Oh you're so beautiful, you must be a Mormon girl." I was surprised but said, "Oh well I go to the church of Jesus Christ." We got to talking and I was able to share some of the Book of Mormon with her. She had been searching for the true church for so long but had had such negative experiences with other churches that she had given up her search. I felt the spirit so strongly and bore my testimony of Jesus Christ and that this church is His church and that He wanted her to come home to Him. It was such a powerful experience that I don't think I would have had had I not been trying to emphasize the true name of the church. My testimony that Christ is at the head of this church has grown so much these past few weeks. This isn't Mormon's church, this is Jesus Christ's church! I know He is reaching out to as many people as will listen. We don't have to search for Jesus Christ's church anymore. It's right here. Alma 5:38 "Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd."

Yesterday Sister Robison and I both felt prompted to pray that someone would bring their friend to church. And what do you know, when we got to church someone had brought their friend! There has been random but special moments on my mission where I have felt prompted to pray for a miracle and it always happens. God really does answer prayers!

On Monday the Willoughby elders had to borrow our car so we were stranded in the middle of Langley. For our area, that's not so effective because all the YSA people we'd need to see or talk to wouldn't really be walking around neighborhood streets. We decided to just work as hard as we could with the resources we had and ended up finding some of the coolest people I've found before! We met with one of them, whom I'll call Amelia, on Saturday and invited her to be baptized. She said yes! She has been searching for the true church for so long, it made me so happy to share this gospel with her! The other person we found, whom I'll call Conor, came to a branch activity and is reading from the Book of Mormon!

I've really learned that when we try our hardest, God magnifies our efforts. Sometimes all we have to offer is 5 loaves and a few fishes, but Christ can take that and feed the 5,000.

Have a good week!

Sister Bloomfield

Alone, I am Nothing {week 67}

Hello Everyone!

It's been a beautiful fall week here in British Colombia! The leaves have changed into beautiful shades of red, yellow, and orange and lay scattered all over the ground! I love this time of year and I love BC! I love this area too because I get to see so many corners of the mission and find so much hidden beauty everyday! Being a missionary is just the best! 

This has been such a good week! This week I had another Skype lesson with the Sisters in Burnaby to teach a different deaf person they were teaching. To be honest, I was panicking all morning. I'm not fluent in ASL and it's been over a year since I've taken a class. I prayed so hard all morning that God would bless me with the ability to effectively communicate with this person so I could teach by the spirit. During the lesson I continued to pray. It wasn't easy and took a lot of concentration. Luckily the man was very patient with me as well. I was able to teach about the gospel of Jesus Christ and he loved it! I asked him if he wanted to get baptized and he got really excited and even asked if he could be baptized a week earlier than I suggested!!! It was such a miracle and the spirit was so strong! I know it was all God. I honestly couldn't even tell you how it all worked. It was a pure miracle. The gift of tongues is real. Or I guess I should say the gift of hands haha.

The theme of this week has been that I can't do this alone. Alone, I am nothing. But when I take what I have to Christ, He uses my efforts to accomplish his work. As we were driving to the ASL lesson a song came on the radio that I've heard a million times but took on a whole new meaning. The lyrics say "when you're lost, when your strength is weak, when you're worn out and find yourself on your knees. He will come, he will take your load, and with the 90 and 9 He will bring you home." That hit me so hard! It truly is only through Christ that I can do any of this. There is so much we have to do in life, but through God it can all be accomplished. 

We are working with the cutest girl that I will call Michelle. When we first met her she was so shy but as she's learned about the gospel she has changed and opened up so much. Recently she shared that any time in her life that she struggled missionaries would somehow always appear. It really showed me that God is aware of us, and won't stop reaching out to us. 

I love Jesus Christ and this gospel so much! 

2 Nephi 4:20-21 "20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh"

Have a great week! 

Sister Bloomfield

Happy Thanksgiving! {week 66}

Hello Everyone!

I hope you've all had a great week!! Happy Thanksgiving from Canada!!

This has been such an amazing week! I don't have too much time so I'm just going to quickly write some highlights:

-This week I got a call from the Burnaby sisters asking for some help because they have like 3 deaf people they're teaching!! I got to skype in for a lesson and it was such an incredible experience!! I love ASL so much!!! It was a really humbling experience too because I honestly have only taken 1 year of university ASL so it's not like I'm fluent by any stretch of the imagination. But I prayed so much and studied the limited ASL resources I had. I truly felt God helping me. I honestly could not have done that on my own. It sounds like they're teaching a lot of deaf people so hopefully I'll get more opportunities like that! It was so incredible!

-General conference was so incredible!! There are so many things I could write about but one thing that stuck out to me was President Nelson's last talk. He spoke about why we will no longer refer to ourselves as "Mormons." It hit me so hard because he talked about how emphasizing that our church's name is "the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints" will help us to remember whose church this truly is. This is Jesus Christ's church and as we keep Him the center of our lives all of our doubts and fears will flee. On my mission I have learned so much more about the atonement of Jesus Christ, and that knowledge has changed my life forever. He really can heal anything. Also super excited to respond to the challenge he gave us in the general women's session! This is a great time to be alive!

-We've been teaching a lot of people by skype lately and it's so cool to see how that technology is allowing us to reach more people in a more meaningful way!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Sister Bloomfield

Courage, for the Lord is on our side {week 65}

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone has had an amazing week! I know I have! This has actually been such a good week!

This Friday we had MLC with Elder Klebingat! It was so good! He taught us different principles of leadership and I learned so much. I've been thinking so much lately about the importance of being fully consecrated. On a mission we try to direct all our thoughts and everything we do to Jesus Christ and to helping others. But I learned this past couple of weeks that the true meaning of consecration is being willing to give everything we have to the gospel. One of my goals is to be fully consecrated and I know it will be something that I strive to do for the rest of my life. The spirit was so strong this MLC. We also had an opportunity to be taught by President Wong. I am so grateful to be in this mission! I'm pretty sure I have the best mission president ever. At the close of the meeting we were about the sing the closing hymn, "Let us all press on" (one of my favorites after the April general conference) when one elder suggested that we stand and sing. As we stood and sang I felt the spirit so strong and had the thought "this is the happiest moment of my life so far" I've learned that true happiness comes when we are doing the Lord's work.

We are blessed to be working with some amazing people right now. We got to meet with Jessica again and she's just so incredible! We taught her about the plan of salvation. It's amazing to see her just soak up what we're teaching her. She texted us right after our lessons to tell us that she had read some of the scriptures we had left with her to read and that they had really resonated with her. It's amazing to me how interested she is in the temple. I am so grateful for the blessings of the temple and it makes me so happy to think that Jessica could one day receive those blessings too! We've also started meeting with some of her friends! Jessica is the best missionary ever! She practically goes around campus telling everyone all about what's she's learning. The people who live in her dorm say that any time we are going to come over Jessica always gets really excited and says "the mormons are coming! The mormons are coming!" Haha that cracks me up. I guess we should probably tell her that we go by "Latter day saints" now haha. It's honestly such a miracle the people we've been able to meet through her.

We've been able to find some amazing people this week and I know without a doubt that God guides us if we are willing to act on the promptings we receive. This week I met people from Mexico, the Congo, Dubai, the Philipines, Japan, China, and of course India. It's so cool all the people I get to meet!

I love serving in this branch so much! Serving in YSA has really pushed me outside my comfort zone. It's stretched me and I'm so grateful for all I've been able to learn. I am so grateful that God provides ways for me to grow.

The past few months I've grown a lot closer to Jesus Christ. During sacrament meeting this thought flew through my mind "Jesus Christ didn't die for your sins, He died for YOU." That hit me really hard. I know that Christ isn't some random person that lived 2,000 years ago who died so that I could be forgiven of my sins. But He's someone who lives today, who walks beside me, and magnifies everything I do. He takes my best and even my worse and makes it enough. Because of Him I never have to be trapped in who I am right now, I can always become something better.

I am so excited for general conference this weekend! Something I've learned is that when the prophet speaks, the best thing we can do is listen intently. I've been trying really hard this week to spiritually prepare and I'm excited to see what message he will have for us.

Have a great week!

Sister Bloomfield