Week 2 in Nicaragua

November 29, 2009

Alright, recap of this week. Lets see.

Monday- p-day played soccer with the natives. Beat them. Every one here is either a Barcelona fan or a Real Madrid fan. It is pretty funny.

I don't remember the rest of the days specifically, time flies when you are having fun. So last week this guy came up to my comp. and I and said he had read the whole Book of Mormon and wanted to talk to us. Just so you know, he was in a cart and horse. We went down to his house this week to teach him, but he was not there. His family was there. They live in a shack about the size of Olivia and Cassi's bathroom. All the kids but 2 were naked and they were all really dirty due to having no water to wash. There are so many things I want to take pictures of to show you what it is like here, but it is not safe to carry a camera so I can't.

Lets see what else? We had our bautismo(baptism)on Saturday. Every thing went well. It was kinda comical, he tried to dive in head first in stead of laying down backwards.

We will probably have another bautismo (baptism) this weekend and we have one next weekend for sure. This place is booming . It is one of the highest baptizing missions in the world.

So I don't have a pillow and I never use my English scriptures, so put one and 2 together and you get a nice solid pillow.

Due to poverty and different culture here. Feeding your child while doing other things such as listening to the missionaries talk is normal. In other words I see opies (spelling?)(this word means breast in Japanese) every day.

I don't live in the dump but others do. I live in the nice part of my area but it is not nice compared to home and what not, but a lot of people live in the dump so I have to go there some time, but I haven't been yet. I have seen it from a distance and they just burn every thing. It looks like it would be in Lord of the Rings where Sarumon lives or something.
(Steve and I googled the area/dump that he is talking about and it is a community that live at the dump. They get their food a shelter sifting through stuff/garbage. They recently built an elementary school there and the enrollment is very high because they offer a free lunch and that is usually the only meal the kids get unless they find something in the dump to eat. The poverty level is one of the highest in the northern hemisphere).

Yeah scary as in people(in his last email, he said it was scarey at times, so we asked him what kind of scary), but my area is real small and we say hey to every one so it is not as scary as before, but it still is pretty scary. People always throw fire works at us, like fire crackers and stuff.

We never go to one side of our area because that is where the drug cartel lives. They own that area. So we stay clear of it.

First Email From Managua, Nicaragua

November 23, 2009

Hey family and friends, how are you? Every thing here is great. My companion is from Panama. He is short and fat, looks like a frog but he is super cool. He doesn't speak much spanish (I am pretty sure he meant to put English) so that makes things difficult. He is a really good missionary, I like him. The house, lets see, no ac and um I haven't been in the shower alone yet, there is always a couple cockroches. They are my little pets. The sinks leak so every morning we have a river that we have to mop up. It is a one room place with a bunk bed and a couple tables. The power goes out about every other night, but we have a candle so it's fine.

The people are super cool. I like them a lot. The kids love me and for a lot of them I am the only gringo they have ever seen, but for the most part they are real nice and they love Jesus. It gets pretty scary at nights but its fine. Um lets see.

The area, Acualinca, it is literally the garbage dump of Managua. The area around the dump people make money by taking stuff from the garbage. The area around here has no paved roads they are either dirt or cobble stone but mostly dirt.

My ward is great, there are around 60 or so members. My bishop looks like a hipanic Denzel Washington.

I asked a guy to be baptized yesterday and he said "yes", so I have my first baptizimal date.

Oh the language, they talk real wierd. They don't say there "s" ever and "r = d" and "d = th" so there is some stuff I have to get use to, but I am starting to get the hang of it, but they talk so fast so I don't understand much.

By the way the houses here are basically glorified forts like what me and Zach make. Oh my shower is a bucket and a bowl. I take a cold shower every day but it is ok because it's real hot.


Also I was white washed in my area, in other words there has been no one in my area for 2 months so me and my companion know nothing about it. We have been doing a lot of meeting members and stuff.

I did get the greeny package, thats it.

Well thanks for every thing I got to go. Love you!
Tell all the friends and family hello and I miss you.

Love it here and can't wait to speak Spanish. It will be so much more fun here. Livin the dream.

Love you,
Elder Bloomfield

The Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah

This is the first email we received from Kyle in the MTC:
September 22, 2009
Hey mother and father and family,
How is every thing going in America?? Things here are great, my companion is a very nice soul and my other room mates are the best. I have learned so much. My spanish is excellent, infact my teacher thought I should move up to the intermediate class, but I didn't want to at all because my spanish is horrible, remember. The food here is terrible. I really don't like what it does to the body. Every where always smells like farts. For gym we play volleyball and it is great. We are having a district against district game tomorrow. It will be fun. I am going to the temple later today. The schedule isn't that bad, getting up early isn't so bad. I have made tons of new friends and my dorm room is a hang out spot every night. Um every thing is great. Don't think I need any thing. Tell everyone hello.

Love you, good bye
Kyle Bloomfield

Part of a email: Sept. 29, 2009
Lets see I sing alot these days since I can't listen to music. I sing "Come thou Fount" all day, every day. It's a great song.

Part of an email: October 6, 2009
We all watched conference together in the gym, all 2500 missionaries. It was amazing, I loved the talk by Brent Neilsen in the last session. I have also already listened to Elder Hollands talk 3 times since conference. He has an amazing testimony of the church. Priesthood session was great, the prophets talk was sad but really good. I got about 8 pages of notes from conference.


Part of an email: October 13, 2009
Every thing here is going well my comps. are good and we are ready to leave and get in the field. Some people are starting to get home sick so I have been helping them out.

I keep every one on their toes here. We need some comical relief so I do that and try to help keep every one in a good mood. I have become close with every one in the zone. Our room seems to be the hang out spot at nights. Last night we had around 8 people in our room.



Part of an email: November 3, 2009
I had the oppertunity to talk to another girl in the rc. Thursday night I was talking to her about life and life after death because she was worried that her boyfriend was going to die because he was in a coma. We talked for a while about stuff and I challenged her to pray about the stuff I had taught her and for her boyfriend to get better. I got an email from her that same night that said she knelt down to pray about the things I asked her to when she got a text. The text said her boyfriend woke up from his coma. I thought that was amazing. Her prayer was answered before she even asked. God knows our struggles and knows if we really have faith. She said she has been praying alot lately. I talked to her last night and shared a scripture from 3 Nephi 18:20 (I think). Actually I dont think that's right, but it basucally says if you pray he will answer, so I told her that is what happened with her. She doesn't want missionaries, but I feel she wants a Book of Mormon. She is a strong Baptist, just so you know. That is about it.

Part of the last email from the MTC before heading to Nicaragua: November 10, 2009
Nothing real exciting has happened this week, so I don't have much to talk about. My mtc experiance has been great. Here are the things i have learned: cool tricks with my pen, standing back flip, front flip, then the usual spiritually stuff. I have also learned a ton of spanish and can understand. For the most part and I can say what I need to say. I am still working on grammer it is hard.

The "Drop Off" Sept. 16, 2009

After spending a few days in Utah with Mom and Dad visiting family and friends, attending a session at the Salt Lake Temple and spending some time at Temple Square, the time had come.


The morning of the "Drop Off" was about to take place. We started out the day by doing some re-packing and making sure everything was in the suit cases. Once that was all accomplished, Steve (Kyle's Dad) gave him a Father's Blessing and we loaded the trunk for the ride to Provo (we were staying in Centerville about 1 hour away). It was an interesting ride down as we all anticipated what was to come. Since Mom and Dad had just done this 5 weeks previous with older sister, Kara (who is serving a mission in Panama, Panama City) they knew what was coming. Mom (Kris) of coarse had to give all her last counsel and instructions and Dad and Kyle just laughed. We arrived with plenty of time to take pictures and then the time came.

We pulled up to the curb, unloaded, took some last pictures gave our last hugs and kisses (and Mom began to cry) and off he went. Elder Kyle Bloomfield walked through the doors of the Mission Training Center and began a life changing experience and Mom and Dad drove away knowing that they would not see him for 2 years, but that he was exactly where he should be.

For 19 years, we had planned on this day and now it was here. It is a time of such mixed emotions (especially for Mom and Dad). Kyle will be greatly missed by many, but the people of Nicaragua will be so blessed to have him.

Go get 'em Elder!!!!!!!

Look out Managua, Nicaragua here he comes!!

On June 6th, 2009 the call (an envelope from the church headquarters with all the information as to where he would be serving his mission) came. Kyle was at the lake at the time, so Mom called him and encouraged him to hurry straight home. As soon as he got home, we called Kara, his sister in Utah, and got her on the phone and he opened the envelope and began reading. When he got to the part that said Managua, Nicaragua everyone was so surprised. Mom said "I told you you would be going to Africa, I win". What Mom heard was Nigeria. After things settled down, and we all knew where he was headed, immediately, Zach, Kyle's best friend, and Kyle headed to the computer to look on wikipedia and find out all they could about Nicaragua. It was great reading about a country we had hardly even heard much about. We were all very excited for him and went out for Mexican food to celebrate as we figured that was the closest we could come to the food and culture he would be experiencing.

The next day on Sunday morning, Kyle and Mom were in the kitchen. Mom said to Kyle, "so what do you really think about your call, Nicaragua is kindof a scarey place". Kyle's answer was very simple and faith promoting, he said, "Mom all you need to know is 1 Nephi 3:7 I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." Kyle later told Dad that Mom needed a Family Home Evening Lesson on Faith.

The next three months were used to work, prepare and play.