Week 27 - Elder Bednar's Visit and Getting Transferred - 23 October 2016

Hello!!

Yep this week was great! 

Here is my letter I sent to President Nagano:

This week was super great. We saw so many miracles and I really feel like Joetsu is starting to move. On Monday as we were coming to the honbu (Mission office), we met a "sweet spot" investigator named Yuki in the eki (train station). We ended up talking to him and he decided he wanted to see the church. So we walked all the way to the church and chatted with him and then met Elder Munro and Elder Clark. Elder Broberg and Elder Clark ended up
teaching him and committing him to baptism. He was so prepared and such a great guy! It was amazing to see such a great miracle and meet some one who has been really prepared by the Lord. 

Elder Bednar (He is one of the 12 Apostles of our Church.  He traveled to Japan from Utah and met with the Missionaries in Tokyo.  It is a very special thing to have him or any Apostle visit the missionaries and speak with them) was also great and I learned so much about letting the spirit guide. The spirit was so strong and it was an amazing experience to be in the same room as an Apostle. 

On Thursday night we met a kokosei (Senior High School student) and he agreed to meet with us again. He gave us his phone number and said he would gladly meet again. We also had Hashimoto shimai at church today for the third week in a row! It's so exciting that she is coming back to church and enjoying it too! The best miracle of this week was Teru. We meet him at the Naoetsu Eki, kind of by accident but he was way excited to talk to us and super friendly. We actually met him while waiting for the Nagaoka elder's to come. When the other elder's got here, Elder Moore and Elder Broberg went with him back to the church and taught him a lesson and committed him to baptism and he has a date! His date is November 26th! Also during the lesson when they talked about baptism he was like "I want that."  He is so prepared and we are going to meet with him as often as possible. Teru is so genuine and seems way excited about the church. I'm so excited to see Joetsu finally have a baptism! I can't wait to see Teru grow in the gospel and the happiness it will bring him. I also know that he will help the Joetsu group to grow and start their dendou (Mission) Fire!

Every day is getting better and better and I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn and serve the people here in Joetsu. It is such a great feeling to be apart of this work and to know that you are a tool in God's hands helping his work to progress.    - End of letter.


As you can tell we saw some great miracles this week and I sat front row at the Bednar Choro conference and he looked me in the eyes. Yep way spiritual and I learned so much.

Next all that I can really think about right now is transfers. I am going to Kawagoe. That is in Saitama Zone. I will be white wash training (White wash is a term that missionaries use when they are going to a brand new area that others have not been to before and they start the work from scratch without any prior leads or knowledge of the area)!! This is so crazy. I'm going to an area I have never been with a companion (His new companion will be coming strainght from the mission training center in Utah having never been in Japan before. Mason will help him with his in country training and getting use to being in Japan and being a missionary) who has also never been to

Japan and who also needs to be taken care of for a while and I don't even know Japanese. Hahahah  I'm a bit nervous as I have never been to this area, but I am so excited. We will see so many miracles and grow together so fast. I am very excited for this opportunity and I know my Japanese and everything else as a missionary will grow.  

It's been getting pretty dang cold on the daily these last few weeks. I'm way loving it here. I was hoping I would get to see the snow in Joetsu cause apparently it's pretty crazy out in the Niigata zone but I guess not now that I am transferring to the city.

Oh also exciting news, today while riding my bike I got hit by a car.  Hahahah   Me and my back are 100% fine and I didn't even fall over or anything. The guy driving was waiting to turn and then right as the oncoming traffic cleared up we were biking through and he didn't see us at first but then when he did notice me in the middle of the street he hit whiskey throttle and accidentally stepped on the gas Hahahah then the brake. But basically it ended up so perfectly that the first thing hit was my calf. Basically momentum caused me to sit on the hood of his car with my bike in between my legs for about 2 feet. It was pretty neat.  He was pretty shaken up but nothing like what I saw in Vegas (The night before Kyle's wedding, a guy was sitting at a stop light and the people next to him were taking shots at him out the window.  In panic he hit his gas and came flying through the intersection at our car and just missed us.  When the poor man got out of his car, he was in shock so bad, he fell to the ground and was pretty out of it.  - That is what Mason is referring to) so we were all good. Also my leg feels the same as when you get kicked in soccer and it's just kinda sore for a few days but that's all.
hahahahahahhaha   Adventures in Japan neh?

Love, 

Elder Bloomfield

                                                         Thought of the week:

Week 26 - Sorry, No Time to Write - 18 October 2016

Sorry,  I have no time to write today. I had to get up at five this morning so I could go to Tokyo for Elder Bednar's Conference tomorrow! I am way excited to hear him.  We had to ride on a bus for several hours to get to Tokyo.

Also in the train station in Tokyo tonight, Elder Broberg and I started talking to this guy and he was way prepared and said he wanted to go to the church. So we went together to the church and then meet the AP's and chatted. His name is Yuki and he was like it was destiny that we met. Anyways Elder Broberg and one of the AP's taught him and I went on "splits" with the other AP.  

Anyway tomorrow is Elder Bednar so I'm way pumped! 

Also we get to go to the temple tomorrow!

Bye Love you!

Talk to you next week!

                                                            Thought for the week:

Week 25 - General Conference - 12 October 2016

Hey,

First off,  I wanted just blank cards so I could write on them with an expo marker and then erase them once I have memorized them, but what you sent sounds like it should work. 

Also that kanji that I supposedly sent last week wasn't me I have no idea where those came from or what they are. Somehow just slid in my email.

This week was great. I had the opportunity to go on splits twice this week and I saw a lot of miracles as well as finally getting to watch General Conference.

On Tuesday I had splits with my district leader and that went really well. We ended up teaching a Chinese kid who speaks less Japanese than me and about as much English as Japanese. Between the two languages and a Chinese restoration pamphlet we were able to communicate and have a great lesson. He seems very prepared as he asked a lot of really good questions and we were able to teach him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. He said he used to go to church in China with his grandmother but when he came to Japan his Sunday's are really busy with Japanese class so he can't go anymore.

On Wednesday the new "traveling assistants" came to Joetsu. Traveling assistants are only at the mission home on p-day and Sunday night. So they just go and work with companionship's who have a lot of potential or need help or anything like that. So I had the opportunity to work with an elder who actually picked me up from the airport when I first came to Japan. We ended up finding two potential investigators and a guy who said he would come to church this past Sunday but didn't actually show up. It was way cool and I learned a lot from him and am

now trying to integrate that into our work.

Both my district leader and Elder Judd the traveling AP said they were really surprised at how I am a really good missionary and work hard and that I am a young missionary and usually it takes missionaries a few transfers to get to the stage that I'm at. So that made me feel pretty good and gave me some confidence to keep working hard.

On Friday we had Zone meeting up in Niigata and as we were walking back to the Eki after Zone Conference we stopped and talked to someone and actually ended up taking him back to the church and having a church lesson. It was way spiritual. He couldn't exchange phone numbers cause he is part on another church where apparently everything you own is he churches so it wouldn't be smart to have a different churches number in his phone. However, we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would definitely come to church again to hear more hymns.  Elder Broberg played some hymns for him while we were in the chapel and the spirit was way strong and he loved it.

Saturday we visited with two less active sisters and had good lessons with them. I am starting to really be able to understand what is going on and also be able to share my testimony more and apply it to them. I think my Japanese is really coming.  I just need to really work on my teaching skills and I think I will be able to be a good
teacher and a good finder.

On Sunday Hashimoto shimai came back to church again finally. We had called her the night before and invited her to church and told her about General Conference and she didn't seem to happy but said she would think about coming and kind of hung up. We didn't think she would come as she seemed pretty salty but she showed up for the first session and I think it really touched her. Especially Elder Nelson's talk. I felt that that talk was so catered to her needs. 

Overall it was a great week and General Conference was great. I loved hearing the Prophet speak, even though it was short, it is still very important.  I will get back to you on things I learned because I actually haven't watched all of it yet and I will most definitely be studying all of them again.  I loved Elder Cooks talk. The Gospel is so simple and yet people have always looked past it and changed the worlds views. The Gospel was,is, and always will be the same. Christ will always be our Savior. We need not rise to the philosophies of men. Just stick to what we have been taught and what we know is true. Look to and follow the mark which will always and forever be the Savior Jesus Christ.

Love you guys!

Here are some pictures of the Countryside, rice fields and scenery here in Joestsu:

Twins (Almost)

                                                     Thought for the week:

Week 24 - Weekly letter to Kaicho - 3 October 2016

We get to watch General Conference next week. I am way excited and like the week after that Elder Bednar is coming out to Japan so that is going to be way fun. I'm glad you guys went in with questions. You should always do that especially if it is a General Authority speaking. You can learn so much more if you pray and have a question.  At the MTC all of the speakers would always say, "I pray that the spirit will send me in the right way so that I can say what you guys need to hear." If we don't have questions it won't hace as much of an impact. The speaker will more be saying what he wants to say rather than the spirit prompting them to answer your questions.

Here is this weeks letter to the Nagano Kaichou. Also I haven't had interviews yet,  so no,  I have not received your hello from Nagano Shimai.

Dear President,
This week was way good! We saw a lot of miracles this week. We sadly weren't able to meet with Youta kun this week as he was way busy with his baito but should have some time to meet this week. We however did find a new investigator who seems really willing to learn and wants to improve his life. You can really tell that he has had some rough points in his life and that this gospel will really bless and help him change his life. We will hopefully be meeting with him this week.

While Dendouing in Takada a kokosei that Ogata Chōrō and I had talked with and given a Book of Mormon to a while ago,  came up to us and was like Morumon kyō? I have a Book of Mormon and I've read to Nephi and I'm
really interested and want to learn more. He is way nice and so prepared. He asked us our favorite parts and we each told him. Then a few days later we ran into him again and we talked to him and he told us that during school he had read some of Alma. Haha During class. That's so wonderful! He had a few questions about what he read so we answered them. He also has some interest in learning English too! We haven't been able to set up a time to meet with him because he is really busy right now with tests but soon he should be able to meet with him.

We also had a really great lesson with one of the less active Sisters in the area. Her name is Ishida shimai and she's been less active for quite a while. We were really trying to figure out why she won't come to church and why she won't read her scriptures even though she's been told by so many missionaries that it is important. She opened up to us and we really felt the spirit as we talked with her. She told us that she knows it's important to put God first and that she should read her scriptures and come to church. She promised us that she would read her scriptures and pray more often. She has never really opened up like that before and I'm so thankful that the spirit was there and touched her heart. As I've been thinking about Ishida Shimai, I keep thinking about Elder Bednar's talk, "Converted unto the Lord." So many people have testimonies and know it is true but when life gets hard they
don't stick to their testimonies and they fall away. It is so sad because they know it is true and they have seen the gospel work miracles in their lives and yet they stop following it and fall away. I am so thankful for this gospel and the comfort and assurance it provides. As we do our part I know the Lord will fulfill his promises and help us to reach our full potential.



I don't have to much to say for this week it was a quick week full of miracles. 

Well that's all I got for today! Oh also I might be going on emergency
exchanges soon but I'll tell you about that next week!

Love you!
�郅筏皮い蓼�
PS  Tell Cassi to write me!

                                                           Thought for the week: