Weekly letter written to Kaicho:
First I will update on the progression of our investigator, Sho. He is just a couple of weeks away from his baptismal date. He is worried about having to keep all of the commandments and because of that our lesson on Monday was a bit rough. We were not teaching how we should have been, we were more focused on him keeping commitments to follow all of the commandments for baptism rather than teaching to all of his needs and teaching to help him personally to grow. As a result, the beginning of our lesson on Saturday he said he feels he wants to stop taking the lessons. He said he wants to be baptized one day, but maybe after he is married when it will be easier to keep all of the commandments. We listened to all of his concerns and basically taught in a completely different way and by the end of the lesson he had committed to follow the law of chastity and word of wisdom despite his concern to stop the lessons. I have most definitely learned my lesson that it is not all about marking off the lessons to progress them towards baptism but it is truly just all about listening to their concerns and letting them know you care. "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care." I feel this last week was a real turning point in my mission.
I had a good friend who was in the Leyte, Philippines mission who was hit very bad by the typhoon. Her experience she shared with me was very sad and really struck me with the thoughts of "what if my mission had to end right now as well, would I be satisfied?" Have I truly done everything I possibly could? I have been working hard and I do strive to be as obedient as possible but I know there is always room to improve, and I want to make that improvement and give everything I have to my Heavenly Father. I have set goals for myself and will do my best to give all I have to Heavenly Father every day.
This week I also started the 40 day spiritual fast that I'm sure you have heard of before. In order to become a better person and a better missionary I fasted and decided on 12 things I want to stop doing and I will fast from those things for 40 days. I have planned it out so that it will last me all the way until the start of next transfer. I am excited for this experience of having to depend on my Heavenly Father to relieve me of my burdens.
The work in Saijo is moving along and I want to be the best missionary I can to give Saijo what it deserves. Elder Wynn seems super cool and I am super excited to learn more from him. Thank you for the work you did in getting the building! Miracles everyday!!!
Back to letter to family:
First I will update on the progression of our investigator, Sho. He is just a couple of weeks away from his baptismal date. He is worried about having to keep all of the commandments and because of that our lesson on Monday was a bit rough. We were not teaching how we should have been, we were more focused on him keeping commitments to follow all of the commandments for baptism rather than teaching to all of his needs and teaching to help him personally to grow. As a result, the beginning of our lesson on Saturday he said he feels he wants to stop taking the lessons. He said he wants to be baptized one day, but maybe after he is married when it will be easier to keep all of the commandments. We listened to all of his concerns and basically taught in a completely different way and by the end of the lesson he had committed to follow the law of chastity and word of wisdom despite his concern to stop the lessons. I have most definitely learned my lesson that it is not all about marking off the lessons to progress them towards baptism but it is truly just all about listening to their concerns and letting them know you care. "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care." I feel this last week was a real turning point in my mission.
I had a good friend who was in the Leyte, Philippines mission who was hit very bad by the typhoon. Her experience she shared with me was very sad and really struck me with the thoughts of "what if my mission had to end right now as well, would I be satisfied?" Have I truly done everything I possibly could? I have been working hard and I do strive to be as obedient as possible but I know there is always room to improve, and I want to make that improvement and give everything I have to my Heavenly Father. I have set goals for myself and will do my best to give all I have to Heavenly Father every day.
This week I also started the 40 day spiritual fast that I'm sure you have heard of before. In order to become a better person and a better missionary I fasted and decided on 12 things I want to stop doing and I will fast from those things for 40 days. I have planned it out so that it will last me all the way until the start of next transfer. I am excited for this experience of having to depend on my Heavenly Father to relieve me of my burdens.
The work in Saijo is moving along and I want to be the best missionary I can to give Saijo what it deserves. Elder Wynn seems super cool and I am super excited to learn more from him. Thank you for the work you did in getting the building! Miracles everyday!!!
Back to letter to family:
I seem to enjoy just forwarding my emails to Kaicho (The mission President) to you guys cause that is the same stuff I will be telling you anyways. Sho once again had a roller coaster and when he remembered about the law of tithing on Monday he became worried about having to pay for school and yet again felt like quitting, but yet again is climbing back up into the saddle.
Pretty funny experience from this week. We contacted this old man who was smoking in front of 7/11. Little did we know it would turn into an hour and a half street contact. He agreed to meet with us again to learn more about God and told us he will be in San Fransisco for a week and then proceeded to give us his address in 4 different ways to visit when he gets home. While he was doing this he kept running back to his car and trying to give us things, and then remember he was giving us his information. He tried to give us hot lemonade, weird bean cake thing, fries (don't know where he got those from), coffee, oh and he tried to give us two packs of cigarettes too but we had to work ourselves out of that one. He then proceeded to tell us his job is secret and he can't tell us what he does but then we asked him if he was a detective and he said "oh yes, yes!" - some secret. After about an hour of this we told him we needed to leave so he said oh okay and set our bikes up in front of his car and proceeded to take a picture of us. haha So we stood next to his car and our bikes and he took a couple pictures of us then while he was doing that he noticed we were at the building of some friend of his and was like oh one second follow me, follow me! He said, "I want you to meet my friend!", so we figured okay 5 more minutes won't hurt, So we followed him up to meet his friend and next thing we new we were sitting in an acupuncture office and he is taking his shirt off and telling us how good it will feel. haha We tried to explain to him that we can't take our shirts off as missionaries and we can't get an acupuncture and he was just like ohh ohh its okay, I will pay! No worries! So we had to sneak out as he was taking another smoking break. That was quite the contact.
This week we moved apartments and that was quite the joy. Moving everything and cleaning our old apartment for endless hours is something for all men and women to look forward too. Moving plus transfers and that was pretty much our week plus a few lessons with Sho and street contacting.
I'm pretty sure it is Sapporo here cause it is just freezing here these days. Quite fun! It seems I get the best of both worlds from sweating the wrinkles out of my shirt everyday during the summer to struggling to get any flyer's out of my pocket because I can't move my fingers because they are frozen. As long as I have a prayer in my heart the spirit will keep me warm though, right?
I'm pretty sure it is Sapporo here cause it is just freezing here these days. Quite fun! It seems I get the best of both worlds from sweating the wrinkles out of my shirt everyday during the summer to struggling to get any flyer's out of my pocket because I can't move my fingers because they are frozen. As long as I have a prayer in my heart the spirit will keep me warm though, right?
Well I hope everyone is doing well. I know that Heavenly Father loves you all very much and if you will listen to him he will help you more than you can imagine. For 40 days I am doing a sort of fast that I encourage all of you to do as well. We all want to come closer to our Heavenly Father and be more Christlike so I will tell you how: tomorrow, fast and pray to Heavenly Father and think of a list of 10 things that may be keeping you from feeling the spirit or Gods love more everyday in your life. Then make that list and promise to Heavenly Father that for 40 days you promise to not do those things on your list. Promise him you will try your hardest. It may seem harder than you may have at first thought, but as you rely on your Heavenly Father he will relieve you of your burdens and help you to feel his strength helping you everyday in your life. You will be able to not only learn how to rely on Heavenly Father but you will be able to feel the spirit more everyday in your life and feel Heavenly Father helping you in whatever way you may need help.
Stay safe and don't catch a cold!
Stay safe and don't catch a cold!
Elder Bloomfield
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"How we get water in Hiroshima"
Saijo Missionaries out for Okomiyaki
Having some Okonomiyaki (Japanese style pancake). They are filled with all kinds of veg., fish, chicken etc.. Everyone cooks their own at the table. You just order what you want in yours and they bring it out in a bowl and you mix it together and pour it on the hot grill and cook it up. They are yummy!!!
You can tell Travis loves his by his eyes!!!! Silly guy!!!!!!
Little Scenery
Thought for the Day:
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