Craving the Spirit February 7, 2010

Kara and her companion, Hermana Castro from Honduras
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> The food here is the same as Panama City, but I only eat with the members for lunch so I'm not getting fed as much. The members we live next to, rarely make us food but they often give us fruits or vegetables.

> My area that I live in is flat, completely flat. I have definitely walked more than a thousand miles and my shoes have huge holes in the bottom of them. I finally gave in and bought new shoes this past week because my feet were burning from the concrete. The nicest shoe store they have here is Payless, but you don't really pay less, but its the best quality they have here, so I bought 2 pairs of shoes. Less comfy than my old ones, but they'll do for the next 10000 miles. I don't need any clothes or anything here.
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> I still haven't gotten your packages or pics, the mail is a lot slower in this area. I'm pretty sure it sits in the mission office a few weeks before they get around to sending it down here. But I'll get it at some point...
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> Changes are today and I am getting a new companion. I'm still waiting for her to arrive from the 8 hr bus ride so I'm not sure who it will be... but I'm staying in the same area and things are great. Cecilia got baptized this past Saturday and the baptism despite a few obstacles was AWESOME. I am so blessed to be here helping people find the true happiness that we all crave.

> The biggest obstacle for me I think right now is the fact that I'm blond and mas o menos attractive, that is what the men tell me. I am trying to figure out if the men I'm teaching are really interested in the gospel or just interested in me. I refuse to baptize anyone that doesn't have a true testimony but figuring out if they have a testimony or not leaves me boggled. I am just going to have to rely on the Lord. I am so grateful for the gift of the spirit, half the time I don't even know I'm being guided but the things like the baptism of Cecilia happen. I know that I was being guided. It is interesting how as a missionary I crave the spirit and feel lost and muddled when I don't have it with me strongly. I hope this craving never leaves me.

> I love you all so much and my prayers are always with you.
>
> Les amo!
> Hermy

Sacrifice February 3, 2010

One of my favorite quotes by Joseph Smith is that without sacrifice we will never have the faith sufficient for eternal life.

Things were a little tough this week, but it ended up good. My investigator that threw out her coffee had her baptismal interview yesterday and is all set to go for this Saturday. She cant wait. We baptized a girl this Thursday who went directly after on a temple trip with the ward. It was so cool to see all of my converts here drive all night 8 hours in a bus to go to the temple. LOVE IT.

Right now we are teaching a guy who had a car accident 8 years ago and now his legs don't work. A lot has changed since then, his wife left him, he could do his job and was left all alone. Now he is a taxi driver - he uses a stick to drive. He is super awesome, I know he can be healed through the atonement and I am enjoying helping him. He has a baptismal date for the 20th and can't wait.

Changes are this next Monday, I'm not sure what will happen, I'm pretty sure I'll be staying here, but you never know.

Love you all,

LES AMO!!

Obedience,washing our sins down the sink! January 25. 2010

Hey mom!!!

This week was an interesting week. One of the 70's came and taught all day in our Zone Conference this week which was AMAZING. I learned so much and felt so uplifted. It was like being in the MTC all over again.

Thursday, the day after I worked the hardest and most intense than I have since I got here, I was so fired up from the conference. I contacted 60 people, taught 9 lessons and it was amazing. I love being a missionary and being guided by the spirit.

Also this week I had an awesome experience with my investigator that is preparing to get baptized. We taught her the word of wisdom last week and she told us she drinks coffee everyday all morning long, so we challenged her to stop drinking so she could get baptized. This week when we got there, I asked her how she was doing with dropping her coffee addiction and she said she was still drinking her coffee and that she didn't want to stop drinking and was asking what would happen with her baptism if she decided not to change. I began to share with her an experience where I knew the right thing I had to do but chose to follow my own will and do what I wanted and how I suffered until I chose to follow the Lords will and then taught her about obedience. At the end of the lesson she was unusually quiet and I was kind of worried, so I asked how she felt, what she was thinking and she got up and walked into the kitchen and said come here. So I followed her into the kitchen and she proceeded to dump her coffee, all the coffee grinds everything into the sink and washed it all down and then threw her coffee pot in the garbage and said, I want to follow Gods will. No one in this house will drink coffee ever again. Its been 3 days and she hasn't had any coffee. It was such an example to me, she immediately cast away her sins without even looking back. It definitely humbled me. How many times do we hold on to old sins because we don't want to change. I challenge all of you to think about your own lives, is there anything you need to wash down the sink?
I am teaching a lot or people right now who are incredible examples. The Lord is truly blessing me in finding the people prepared here.

I miss you all and love you but I may never come home.

Cuidanse mucho
hasta la proxima semana, todo de mi amor
Hermana Bloomfield

Learning from my Companion January 18, 2010

Okay so this week I experienced a heat like I have never felt before in all my life. I honestly thought I was going to melt away one day this week and the good news is that this is just the beginning of the summer. yipee!!!!!

But work wise things are great. I love my companion, I am definitely learning more patient with her as I often feel like I am working with a grandma, but she has such a pure heart. It's hard to get really frustrated with her. She is 25 and has quite the story. Her mom died when she was 4, so her dad took all the kids and gave them out to random families. The lady that raised her would beat her and was horrible to her, she had no friends. It is amazing to hear what a difference the mission has made in her life and it definitely humbles me everyday. For example the other day we passed by a little boat, nothing exciting and she kept pointing it out and talking about it and I was just kind of like yeah, a boat great, and I said, cool and then she began to explain that she had never seen a boat before and how much she wanted to ride in one and I felt horrible. Needless to say I am learning a ton from her.

The work is going well, teaching and working hard. It amazes me how many in actives there are here. It makes me so sad how easily people give up the gospel here. I can't imagine how my life would be with out it.

I love you all and miss you. !!!

Becoming Humble January 11, 2009

Things were the same old, same old this week. I am getting into the routine of working here. A member of the ward took us in his car to show us all of our area this week and it took an hour just to see everything. My area is HUGE. I don't know how I am every going to get to all of these people. I definitely have a lot of work to do.
This week I found a lady and put a baptismal date the second lesson, she came to church on Sunday and is really excited. Looks like we will be having another baptism soon.
The Lord has definitely shown me more of my weaknesses this week. It seems like every time I start to get comfortable the Lord just helps me humble again. I have so much to do, but I am so grateful for the Lords constant reminders. I know that he loves me and that he is truly shaping me into a better person daily. I can't even imagine how different my life would be without this experiences and the people I have met here. I am so grateful that the Lord knows best and that he guides us when we are humble.

Transfer December 29, 2009

December 29, 2009

Hey!!
So I got changed in cambios (transfers) yesterday. I am now in David, it was an 8 hour bus ride from Panama City that wasn't so great. It was cool to see all of Panama out the window when it was light, but most of our ride was in the dark. I did however see the canal. I don't know much about this area except it is HUGe and my new companion is from Peru and is half my height. Literally, Olivia is probably bigger than her. But she is super sweet and I really like her already.

January 4, 2010

Hey!!!
Things here are great, I had a baptism on Saturday, we put the date of the baptism and baptized the kid all in the same week. His name is Ricardo, he is 14 and his mom and sister recently joined. When we asked him to be baptized in two weeks he said he wanted to be baptized this weekend, so we taught him everyday this week and dunked him on Saturday. It was awesome to see his whole family united in the church.

David is in the province Chiriqui and is close to Costa Rica. The sun here is INCREDIBLEY strong, my tan lines get worse and worse everyday. But most days there is a nice breeze that makes it almost bearable.

I really love it here, it has kind of a in a grandmas neighborhood feeling and the members are awesome. In the mold area that I just came from, none of the members were willing to help and the bishop was a joke. Here the bishop and his wife are awesome.

My companion is from Peru and definitely comes from a very different background, but she is a very hard worker which I am loving. We are hechando fuego aqui (making fire).

For the New Year many people here make a big scarecrow looking thing and burn it along with lots of fire works, so my companion and I made one as well and burnt it a midnight, it represents the leaving of the old year and entering the new.. Anyways we burned it at 12 and then hit the sack. I sent you guys a letter with pictures today.


This is Kara and her new companion Hermana Calderen from Peru and the scarecrow they made for New Years Eve to burn and send away all the old and welcome the new.


The Scarecrow


The Scarecrow burning.




This is a Hermano from the ward who helped them burn their Muneca (scarecrow). He is 83 years old and still Kicken (as Kara says). He told Kara he is looking for a wife. He works in the Temple but hasn't been sealed to anyone as his wife wasn't a member and passed away, so he will continue to search!!!

I am living on the side of some of the members here, so they invited us over for dinner for new years which was nice. I have to say I LOVE the tamales here, they are nothing like those nasty frozen things we used to eat...

.

Hermano Carlos November 30 -December 21, 2009

November 30, 2009

This week was a hard week, almost every single one of our appointments fell through and I literally watched some ladies hide in their house after they saw me and refused to answer the door. It gave me a pretty good laugh. Something good must be coming because Satan is wrecking havoc this week. But despite it all I have definitely learned how to be happy despite the constant rejection. Honestly it has brought me closer to the Savior as I am beginning to feel in part how he must have felt and still feels every time we choose something else over him. He truly was a compassionate Savior to take on all of our sins and pains when the majority of the world won't even recognize him. I am so grateful for the sacrifice he made for me, and for the opportunity I have to be here serving him.

I put my first baptismal date yesterday, a guy who has been coming to church for 14 years but never been baptized, I have been working to help him overcome an addiction to gambling and he accept to be baptized Dec 19th!! Yay!!


Not much else happened this week, still just working my little heart out, I'm so tired I think I'm just going to take a huge nap today. My Area on the map is Acalde Diaz, it is close to Panama City.

December 7, 2009

The guy with the baptismal date is still on to be baptized. He is still working on his addiction but he really wants to be baptized. It is not one of the question in the interview, but I don't want to baptize anyone who won't be able to keep their covenants.

We started teaching a guy this week who is really really positive, he was really excited to pray and learn for himself if the church is true so we will see.

Things are good, same old same old. Except my hair gets blonder and blonder everyday and you should see my tan lines: attractive. And my number of admirers grows everyday. I get at least 4 or 5 I love yous in English everyday. I had a guy tell me this week that my mission is over, its time for me to marry him. Sick. I look forward to not having everyone staring at me all the time. Love you all!!

December 14, 2009

This week was good, hopefully the baptism of hno Carlos will happen this Saturday. He has given up lottery and the leader who interviewed him said he thinks he is ready but because of some past sins he needs to have an interview with the Mission Pres. first. So we are doing everything we can to get that done.
We had several good lessons this week, but we also had conference, a Christmas devotional and Tuesday was Mothers Day here, so I didn't get a whole lot of work in again. But I am definitely raring to go.
We are teaching several families right now that are pretty awesome, but none of them are married so we have to work on that first. Overall its the same old same old work in the Lords vineyard. This week I really noticed some of the ways I have become stronger and the many areas I still am faltering in. It is incredible to see the ways the Lord is shaping me to be a better tool in his hands.

December 21, 2009

Hey Everyone, This week was an interesting week. Hermano Carlos finally was baptized and confirmed this weekend. His testimony was so sweet, he said that he felt full of joy to finally be able to give his testimony as a member, that after 15 years of watching everyone else bear their testimonies he was really excited to be able to participate. I am glad for the example he has shown me of faith.

Hermano Carlos after his baptism with Kara and Hermana Chevez

My actual week didn't go so well, needless to say being sick with a fever when it is roasting outside is not fun. I worked as much as I could but being sick definitely put a damper on things. But I received a blessing and I was able to push through and today I am pretty much all better. I am so incredibly grateful for the priesthood. I know we have the power and authority of God on the earth today and I am so grateful to have the blessings it brings in my life. I can't imagine my life without the church. We are so incredibly blessed.

This Christmas I have been thinking a lot about the great sacrifice both my Father in Heaven and my Savior made for me and for each one of us. I beg each one of you, take advantage of that sacrifice. Don't let it go to waste, use the atonement in your life. Strive to repent and go forward, no sin is to great, our Savior has already paid for them all. I know we can change, it is possible to change. I testify that we can change for the better because in the last few months I have seen a change within myself and others that I can't explain except through the grace and atonement of our Savior. I love each and every one of you deeply and I don't want to return to my heavenly father without each of you there.
All my love and feliz navidad!!!!




This the Nativity as portrayed by the members in the ward at their Christmas Party.


Kara said the lady with the pink scarf is pretty old, but she danced her little heart out. Her eyes were on her husband the whole time and his were on her. The next day she was sick from dancing for him. She said they were really cute.

The Relief Society danced with Santa hats on for the Branch Christmas party