Things are busy as always. 20 November 2010

Hey what is happening??

Sounds like things back home are pretty crazy. Seems that you guys keep pretty busy, as did we this last week. We had to get up at around 4:30 to 5:30 every day this whole week. It was a really tiring week, but it seemed to go by rather fast. Time here just flies. I can't believe it is already the 20th of November. Before we know it Kara will be home.

This last week we had to close a bunch of areas, so that is why we stayed real busy.

Also we bought a Christmas tree and a put that up here in the office. It is still missing a couple things but it looks really cool. It is orange and blue. They are random colors but they look real cool.

I attached 2 photos of the tree that you sent me. It is in the room that we sleep in and I see it every night. I have now received 4 of the 5 packages and the red envelope, so every thing is good there. I can't even think to write I am way tired so I am going to go sleep on a futon on the floor here in the office.

We'll talk later.
Elder Bloomfield

Friends and family sent Christmas notes for Kyle and I (Kyle's mom) printed them all out and made ornaments for the tree with them and then also made another ornament with their picture. I just mailed the tree with the ornaments in a zip lock bag and this is how Kyle decorated.

Last P-Day with Elder Sanders 7 November 2010

Speaking of baptisms me and Sanders (Sanders is the AP that has been Kyle's companion) are going to finish strong. We had one baptism yesterday and 3 more maybe 4 on Tuesday (2 priesthood and one family) and they are amazing. Then Sanders goes home on Thursday, so we are working hard till the last day.

Crazy story of helping a guy out today. He was running down the street and seemed just like a homeless guy and we had extra chicken from lunch that we were looking to give away so we rolled down the window of the car to give it to him and he started freaking out that his wife was making tortillas and her water broke and she was about to have a baby. They didn't have enough money to get a taxi and go to the hospital so he asked for a ride but the mission rules don't allow us to let people in the car, so I just jumped out of the car and started running to the nearest store to break the bill that I had so I could give him money for a taxi. While I was looking for someplace to get change Sanders was talking to the guy. The guy was super happy and was so nice and was like of course I will go to church on Sunday. Then he asked what is his name talking about me. Sanders was like that is Elder Bloomfield. The guy then said, "is it ok if I name my son Bloomfield Raynaldo?? How cool is that? Just giving some one in this country a tiny amount of money makes them gracious enough to name their kid after you. Some time this week I am going to go back and see them. We are going to be way busy all week long with changes and all the new missionaries coming and stuff.

For p-day this week, we drove to Matagalpa with familia Arredondo for Sanders last p-day and we hung out at a jungle and hiked trails and stuff. I will send photos of it later. It was really fun. It reminded me of all the little hikes we take with Dad. The Arredondo family (they are the mission president's family) is so funny. Their kids are named Rebecca and Jose.

Elder Sanders and Kyle on their last P-day together in the Jungle near Matagalpa


Nice Pose!!!


Million Dollar Smiles!! Who wouldn't want to be converted by these two??? No wonder they have such success together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Taking a rest and pondering in the Jungle

We get 14 new missionaries this change (2 Latinos and one hermana from Canada and all the others are Elders - gringos). 7 missionaries are going home. I am writing in Elder Sanders note book right now. It is like his year book but for his mission- its kinda sad. It is rough to meet so many people and get to know them and know that you will never see them again once you return home, but it's alright that's life

Also I forgot to tell you that one of my recent converts died. She got ran over by a car. I went to her viewing, lets just say they shouldn't have been having a viewing. She was in really bad shape. It is kinda sad to know that she died, but really cool to know that she is just fine in heaven. Pretty cool to think about. I helped her get to where she needed to go. She was only baptized for like 3 or so months.

Love ya,
Elder Bloomfield

Baptisms at the Beach in Leon 31 October 2010

There was not much of an email this week, but there were lots of pictures at the beach in Leon. The mission Elders and the Arredondo's went to Leon to help with the baptisms as there were 22 people baptized.

All the the people and members that were dressed in white for the baptisms.


Sunset on the Beach in Leon.


4 Strippling Warriors (Office Elders)




The Arredondo Family


Elder Gomez, Elder DeFigueiredo, Elder Bloomfield (Kyle) and Elder Sanders










Great Warriors


A dish of Gallo Pinto

Being a Missionary is so Awesome!!!! 23 October 2010

Nicaragua is nice and sunny and hot. I don't really know what we are going to do today for P-day, we thought about going to the zoo, but I don't know. There is not much to do here in Managua, it is the ugliest capitol city in all of the Americas.

I have never cut my hair, I don't have clippers. The ones you sent me broke in the MTC so I just go to a place and pay 1.50 to get my hair cut. Great Nica prices. Always a bargain.

This week was amazing we had trainings all week long and they were all so spiritual and after that all of our lessons were so amazing. Being a missionary is so awesome. 2 weeks ago we had like 5 investigators now we have like 50 it is crazy we are so busy and we only have 4 hours in the area to visit them we run around so crazy short super spiritual lessons. It is so crazy.

Well have a great day.
Love,
Elder Bloomfield

Much success working in the field at night. 16 October 2010

Well I love working in the field. Every night we just have the craziest super spiritual experiences. People here are so amazing. Also the members if you give them a little push they are amazing. The other night we prayed and asked what 2 families from the ward we should visit to ask them for referrals. We had one family in mind but after the prayer we felt that we should go to this random family all together that we had never visited. When we got there they were really surprised that we were there. So once we got in and settled we started teaching them and we told them all about our prayer and how the spirit guided us there. The family just started crying and said that about 20 mins. before they were talking about how no one in the ward comes to visit them and they felt kinda like out casts but then we showed up and they were super thankful. Then we asked if they knew of any families that we could teach and they have told us about 3 or 4 families now that we can teach. Then like 3 days later we walked over to the other family that we had in mind the first time. We sat down and started to teach them and they just started crying and saying how they could help so much more and all of that stuff then Thursday night we have a thing kinda like mutual but its a little different and they showed up there with friends and gave us the address of a couple families to teach and they said they are going to bring investigators to church.

Also we have another lady that is just crazy, literally crazy and she is so positive we are now teaching her and her son. They are both so positive and fun. The crazy lady prays like she is angry at god and yells at him. It's pretty scary. Last night she prayed for 10 min while yelling it was crazy. It was a rather awkward situation, but she said after the prayer that she wanted to cry.



I will keep your advice to make the mission better with my mind on it always.

Oh by the way Elder Defig and I won the ejemplar umm in English the exemplarary secretaries award for all the missions in Central America. So that's pretty cool. Pres. made us write out all the stuff we do to show to all the other missions because we only have 4 people in the office and there are others that have like 10 or more so the area presidents wanted to know how we do it.

Well I made it to the gym every day this week again, so that makes it 2 weeks of gym every day.


Well keep me posted.
Much love, Elder Bloomfield.

Finding all kinds of people to teach. 10 October 2010

I have gotten up that early every day this week to go to the gym. It is awesome, but at the same time it really sucks, because it makes me more tired but at the same time it makes me feel much better.

Nothing really exciting happened this week we just did the usual office work and interviews for the whole mission started last week also so Pres and the APs are going to be gone a lot the next week or so.

Alright so last week we talked to this crazy lady and invited her to church to watch general conference and she showed up. But the way we found her was real funny. I was walking down the street and turned a corner and she was standing right there. She just got this huge smile on her face so I decided to talk to her. The second thing she said was that she has been waiting for us to talk to her so that she can get baptized. This week we were able to teach her and it was really good. Also a lady that we baptized about 2 weeks ago had out her baby on Sunday. Baptizing a pregnant woman is like 2 baptisms for one they are great. haha just kidding. Any ways she had a little boy but won't be able to make it to church for a little while.
Also the girl that was baptized like a week ago, came up to us and was like can you teach me how I can pay my tithing and told us that she reads principals of the gospel for 3 hours every night. It is a huge change for her..... her family was asking us what we did to her to help her change so much. The thing is we did nothing it is all the gospel.

Well sounds like you guys are keeping busy.
I love you,
Elder Bloomfield

Busy, Busy, Busy 4 October 2010

Wow mom your emails are so advanced these days the whole urgent red letter and all. haha just kidding (Every week I ask him questions and he never answers them, so I thought I better put them in Red and bold this week so he would answers them -which he did, well most of them as you will see below).

I don't really need any thing or want any thing so what ever is fine with me. (Christmas package requests).
It would be great if you collected stuff. (I was thinking that he is always giving his ties and has given some shirts to the new converts, so I am going to collect old ties and white shirts from members in our ward and send them to him to give as needed), they are always needed here. Sure stockings for others would be nice (I know there are many Latino missionaries that do not get anything for Christmas from their families, so I asked him if I should put together a bunch of stockings full of gifts and send those down for some of the elders that don't get anything. I know most of the US elders Moms are pretty good to send something for their missionaries companion) and some thing for President and his family would be nice also. The po box address I think works better.

Alright so lets see this week- Monday I have no clue what we did. Tuesday all the new missionaries came from Guatemala and from the states MTC's, so we hung out with them and had training and stuff like that for them. They are some pretty cool kids. Then Wed. morning we had changes. We opened some amazing new areas. I missed most of changes because I had to go pick up the Mission Presidents kids from school so I am not sure on a ton of the changes. Oh just so you know, the other secretary left like 4 weeks ago so I have been flying solo for a while now. There were no changes to the office or any thing like that. We are all new in the office except for Elder Sanders. He has been here for like 6 months but he goes home in 4 weeks. He is the ap and my comp. It will be a sad day when he goes.

Sorry I haven't written yet. (He usually write on Saturday afternoons and this email came late Monday night) Things here are crazy, the changes and the end of the month at the same time puts a real downer on every thing.

How is family home evening??
I will finish writing when I have more time .
Sorry,
Elder Bloomfield (One of the benefits of Kyle being in the office is when he does send his emails, they come from the office and he is usually still on the computer doing other things, so we can chat a little bit. We exchanged 18 emails Monday night after we got this one as he was working on some reports. He told me that he has joined a Gym there for 17 dollars and month with a trainer and all. He said they run to the gym and then lift weights with the trainer and then run home usually 4 mornings a week. He also said that being in the office and eating so much good food and eating out all the time he has now gained about 12 pounds. He said not to worry though because when he goes back out into the field he will lose it all again with the crappy food. He had a cute conversation with Cassi she told him that she "Loves and misses him from the bottom of her heart" he responded back that he has sure missed her also. It was cute and of coarse I had to cry. Anyway, I love it when we get the chance to email chat as I feel they are not so far away and I know they are okay).

Always an Adventure 25 September 2010

Bat Man on the Piano

Making a rescue call.


Alright, we had some pretty sweet road trips, but they don't stop here. We leave in like 20 min. on another road trip to Siuna where Elder Brown, Sanders and others are to help with their first baptisms ever. 25 at one time. I will take pics, it will be sick. Well we have already driven over 1000 kilometers this week, so we will probably drive another 1000 today and tomorrow. It will be 2 long days. (I heard from the mother of one of the Elders Kyle was traveling with, that they drove from 3pm to 2 am to get to Siuna. They had to help pull a truck up a ledge that had gone over and was blocking the way. Siuna is the place I sent the email from the other Elder about last week. The missionaries have only been there a little over 2 weeks and they had 25 ready for baptism. They were baptized in a river as they do not have a font there yet.)

Wed. or Tuesday night we slept in a hotel in a little town called Ocotal. It is up by the border of Honduras. It was pretty awesome!! We found an amazing new area for the missionaries to go to.

Also we had a super awesome experience, I think on Tuesday. We were visiting this other area that we were going to open called Rio Blanco. We looked up on the computer to see if there were any members that lived there and there just so happened to be one family that lived there. So, we went to Rio Blanco, it's like a 5 hour drive. We got a flat tire on the way, but no biggy. Check out the cool pic from that. So, we searched around the town to just see how it was. It was really cool. Then we started looking for the families house. We found them and it is a family of 10 people and some of the kids are married already so it is a huge family and they are all members. When we got to the house the dad of the house took us to the back room of his house and started talking to us and letting us know about the family and about his life. It turns out he is a member and has been sealed in the temple to his family and use to be a branch President when he lived in another city. You couldn't ask for any better of a set up. We left with him immediately to try and find a place for the missionaries to live and a place to have the church. We had great success. After that we went back to the house to talk with the whole family. We all shared scriptures and sang and every thing. They had a little six year old kid that had the hymns memorized. It was awesome, after that we gave them the message, we gave every single family member a blessing of comfort, then we dedicated their house with them. They were really scared that we were just coming to see and not to establish the church there. They had been praying that the church would come to the town and every thing. It was so awesome. It was an amazing experience. They all cried as the spirit was so strong and they were happy to have the church in their town.

Beware of the motorcyclist that may be coming down the side walk (country side).


Green Countryside.


Tejas or Texas is spray painted on the front of the house.


With every road trip, you have to have a flat tire. Kyle was the lucky one that got to fix it. There was a bag of white clothing for baptisms in the back of the SUV, so Kyle put on one of the women's white blouses over his shirt so it would not get ruined.

The "Angel" that was fixing the tire is glowing with radiance as he is serves others.


Who is going to drive now?

Well we got to go, love you and talk to you soon.
Elder Bloomfield

Elder Clark's Visit 18 September 2010

Conference with Elder Clark and his wife.

Alright finally I have time to talk to you guys (His email came in at 10:30pm on Saturday night. That is when he finally found time to write). Things have been nuts this week up at 5am every day and to sleep at around 11pm or later. We didn't even get p day today because another member of the Seventies Quorum came into town.

So Monday Elder Clarke and his wife came into town. Elder Clarke is the area president and is a rather mean guy. Well he is not mean, strick would be a better word. He says things how they are and doesn't mess around, but he is rather nice if you impress him. Monday we had a zone conference in Leon so we went out there at about 7 in the morning. Every thing went really well, it was incredible, we learned so much stuff from him. he is an amazing teacher. He talked about how to find, teach, baptize, and retain. Those were the main things and then he talked about the value of our calling and stuff like that. It was awesome. I learned a ton. After that we got back to Managua at 7pm or so and worked what we could in the area. No one was really home.

Tuesday we woke up super early again and we went to Matagalpa. We drove through the mountains and stuff. It was really beautiful. When we got there, we had another multi zone conference there with Elder Clarke and the zones in that area. By this point in the trip with Elder Clarke, he is just super surprised with how well organized every thing was and all that we had planned. That night we had a fire side at 6:30pm, but for the first time ever in Nicaragua history people showed up early for the meeting and were super reverent so we started 15 minutes early. It was awesome! Elder Clarke is a funny guy. Tuesday night we had to stay in a hotel because it was to far of a drive from there home, so we ate dinner at the hotel with the Mission Pres., his wife and Elder Clarke and his wife.

Wednesday, we woke up at 5 again got ready and drove straight to a church in Managua to have another multi zone conference. Once again, we learned a lot more as his talks were not always the same. After that at 4pm, we had a leader counsel with all the zone leaders, us in the office and Elder Clarke, his wife and Pres. Arredondo. I heard it was really good. I actually didn't get to go to it cause I had to go run a couple errands super fast. After every thing was done and we had all the meetings, I had to make a going away letter and print off some pictures and stuff, so didn't get back to the house till like 9:30pm. Time just flies super fast.

Thursday morning Pres. Arredondo took Elder Clarke to the airport and we were finally done with him and could take it easy, kinda. We had a an office meeting later in the day to evaluate how every thing went with Elder Clarke. So here is all the good news and feed back. In the 4 years of being a general authority this was the best and most organized trip he had every been on he said, and we were the best group of missionaries in the office that he has ever seen. Oh, in one of the zone meetings he told us to go up in front of every one so he good thank us for all of our work. After his wife whispered to me that Elder Clarke never gives compliments to any one, so we had to have done something right. Also she told me that she was going to count how many times she looked at me and I was smiling. So I had to pass the whole day smiling. My cheeks hurt and it was pretty funny.

Also the AP, my comp., Elder Sanders was like super happy and thanked me a lot for every thing that I did and said that Pres. Arredondo has never said or complained about any thing, so I have to keep up the good work.

Things here in the office are pretty sweet. My comp. did leave for a week so I don't have a comp for the next week, so I am going to have to figure that out some how. On the missionary mom's goggle group that I belong to, one of the moms posted part of her son's email. He is the Elder that Elder Sanders will be gone with for the week. Here is his email as I thought you would enjoy reading what is going on there and what arrangements Kyle is busy making. Here is his email

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On Thursday while I was on divisions with my District Leader, Elder Land -I get
a call from the office and they tell me that IÂ have to go to my house, pack up
my things, and get to the bus station before 6 o´clock. I look at my watch and
it is 5 30! I called a taxi and literally threw everything into a bag and then
called another taxi to the bus station. (I left a few things in the house
including my chocolate icing. I had only eaten half of it but I forgot to bring
it along with all my clothes in my drawer). Â How I forget to bring my clothes in
my drawer? … I have no idea.  I was just being obedient and I just grabbed the
clothes that I had gotten back from the laundry lady that day and the ones on my
bed and ran out the door.
   Â
When I get to Managua - they tell me that the Lord has called me to do a special
work. Â I had an emergency change. Â I was going to a place called Siuna. Â I had
never heard of Siuna before because no missionary in the history of Nicaragua
has EVER gone there. Â I had to take a plane to get out there.Â
        Â
When they told me that I was being called to Siuna - IÂ felt so sacred and
inadequate. I was thinking… “Why on earth did they choose me to come here? There
are so many other missionaries that are more capable and knowledgeable". Â IÂ was
excited but I was scared out of my mind because I didn´t want to disappoint the
Mission President. When I asked the Mission President why he chose me he told me
“I have no idea why, the Lord chose you. Good luck Elder�
   Â
As I was flying over the land -Â I saw that I was truly going to middle of
NOWHERE. There is nothing out here, there isn´t even a bank!  There is not  a
bank OR a church of ours. LOOK UP SIUNA NICARAGUA ON GOOGLE EARTH AND LOOK AT
JUST HOW IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE WE ARE.

The houses are super nice because there is a gold mine here and every one got
freakin rich. We are staying in a hotel with air conditioning today and I had
warm water in the shower for about 40 seconds. (That is a big deal).
I am here with Elder Sanders, (he is the First Assistant to the President)
Elder Ball who has 9 months in the mission and Elder Mendez who was the
secretary of the office and is from Costa Rica. My comp is Elder Mendez but he
is pretty much a gringo. He speaks perfect English, he likes to listen to music
in English and he loves to work hard. He is my best comp so far in the mission.
He is great!
So, as I said, there is no church here. We are renting a house  and using it as
a church. We aren´t just baptizing …we are literally searching for Branch
Presidents, primary teachers, mission leaders... etc. There are NO members here.
WE are the Bishopric…us 4 missionaries! We teach, clean, and invite everyone to
church. We are it! Four kids! Wow! - it is so awesome.

The Lord has prepared SO MANY PEOPLE for us. They have never heard of us. We
tell them that we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
and they have never heard of the name. Then we ask them if they have heard of
the Mormons and they also say no. When we teach the restoration… they are
amazed. We have people telling us that they want to learn more and change their
lives  after only one message of Joseph Smith. They are so pumped.Â
We have only been here for 3 weeks (I have only been here for one.) and we had
64 people at church yesterday and 45 were investigators, 5 entire families and 8
men who could receive the Priesthood.Â
Since there is no church here, this means that there is no baptismal font.
 Today for p- day we went river searching! We found a beautiful river that we
are going to baptize in this week. We have 30 people lined up for baptism but we
expect to only baptize 10 of them this week. The work is moving so fast here in
Siuna. If we baptize everyone on our list we will already have a branch.

I am just so excited and I truly feel called here. The Spirit is in every
contact and lesson. The Lord is working hard for us (and as usual the Devil is
working hard against us.) Â It is just so amazing.
So that is what I am doing and that is what happened. I have literally been
called by the Lord to START a church program! It is like I am a real pioneer or
a real missionary in the early days of the church. I am just so happy to be here
and I feel so blessed by the Lord to have the opportunity to be here.

Okay now back to Kyle's email . Some how in all the mess we had also had a baptism on Friday. We showed up to this girls house and she was like, well I decided I am going to get baptized, so we went through all the interviews and stuff and she was baptized. Miracles just popping out of every corner. Oh and I found some one this week that was like I have been waiting so long to talk to you guys, I want to get baptized. It was actually pretty funny. We turned a corner and she was walking towards us and just got this huge smile, but a different kind of huge smile, so we talked to her. She is awesome! After that, she walked around with us right then looking for more people to teach. She is so getting baptized!!!

So today Elder Falabella, another president came to have a meeting with the district of Tipitapa so we spent the whole day with him until now when we finally got time to come and write. It is 9:30pm my time, so we should probably go home. Well things are great here in paradise. We might have to go on a super awesome road trip this week to go investigate the new areas we are going to open, but who knows. I am getting out of the city lots these days.

Well love every one,

Elder Bloomfield

Road Trip 13 September 2010

Kyle's "Nicaragua style missionary" When we lived in Japan when Kyle was born, when ever we would see missionaries riding their bikes wearing helmets, We would point and say, "There's the missionaries". One day after we had moved back to Arizona, Kyle pointed to his bike helmet and asked for his missionary. All those times in Japan when we would point to the missionaries, he thought we were talking about the helmets as the missionaries are the only ones that wear them in Japan while riding bikes.

This is a family that Kyle and Elder Sanders taught and baptized

I Love you. I don't know if I will have time to write this week. Things are nuts here. Elder Clark is coming for 4 days tomorrow, so we need to get ready. Life is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went on 2 crazy road trips. I ran over my first chicken. woooo hoooo and I left Managua(He has not been out of he city since he got there until this week.) finally.
Oh also we had 7 baptisms this week, talk about a miracle for never working in the area.
More later maybe.



These are pictures from the "Road Trip".

"Being a missionary rocks and still livin the dream" 4 September 2010

Well lets start off with my birthday, it was fun. It started at getting up at 5:00am to take a kid to the airport so that he could be flown out to the middle of no where and open an amazing new area with the ap, my teaching companion. Then we came to the office and worked all day till 6:00pm or so then me and one of the aps went to run errands and stuff together. Eventually we made it to go eat at this place called Rosti Pollo. It's like um I don't know, Nica food. Then we went back to the house and went to bed. We bought a cheesecake and ice cream but didn't have time to eat it, so its in the fridge. Hermana Arredondo, the Presidents wife, said she got me a cake and that we are going to celebrate tomorrow. But over all, it was really fun.

Alright my job as a secretary is:
1. Do what ever president tells me to do.
2. Get reports of all the numbers every week and send them to salt lake.
3. Record all the baptismal registros in the computer
4. I am in charge of all the letters and packages for the missionaries.
5. I am in charge of making sure all the missionaries have teaching materials
6. I take people to the airport
7. I pick people up from the airport
8. I buy the plane tickets for missionaries to go home
9. I get stuff ready for missionaries coming and going.
10. Make sure every body has there legal papers.
11. Put peoples (locals from Nica) mission calls into the computer because they don't have computers
12. more things.... the list just keeps growing

But I love being here it is so much fun. There are a lot of pros and a lot of down sides, but more pros then any thing I believe.

Alright so lets see, I got the dry food package and an envelope with a ton of photos but never got the dvd. So you know, I go to the other mission office like 2 times a week so if it goes there it is not a problem cause I will get it.

So we have an investigator that we are going to baptize this weekend, actually 6 but one of the six wants to get baptized in a river so it is going to be a little difficult because here in Managua all of the water is contaminated. We will see what we can do. The other 5 people are a family and they are so awesome. They are always going to the church and every thing. I can't wait to help them receive salvation and in one year get married in the temple.

Being a missionary rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe I never left the city, but I am still living the dream.

Love,
Old Boy (20 years old now)


Dead pig hanging out of back of the truck. You see lots of random things while driving down the road.

Cattle wandering on the highway.

Horse and cart, part of the normal traffic.

Things are Awesome!! 28 August 2010

Well things like usual were really crazy this week. Alright lets start with Sunday of last week, we had 14 investigators in church. It's super crazy how every thing is going because we work for like 3 to 4 hours in the field every day. We don't have much time, but we are killing it and should have a ton of baptisms this change. These days I am finding people just have the weirdest doubts and problems, like one lady past a ton of time and didn't want to get baptized but when we sat down to talk and figure out why, she said it was because she has always had the dream to learn how to be a belly dancer and if she got baptized she wouldn't be able to do that. Also this other girl stalled for like 3 weeks and didn't get baptized cause she wanted to get baptized in a river and not in a font. It's crazy if the investigators talk the whole lesson and us as missionaries just talk a little it is just far better,the spirit is so strong and we can figure out what peoples problems are much faster. That is what I have been learning about teaching these days. oh

On Sunday night we went to the Mission Presidents house to eat dinner. It was fun. I played the guitar for him it was kinda awkward, but cool.

Staying in the office is awesome. The mission finance secretary, the 2 Asst. to the Presidents, the secretary that is training me a sick kid and me all live together in this huge 2 story house that has one shower with warm water. Woo Hoo!!!!! And it has air conditioning in the room that we sleep. We don't have any people that make us food so we just eat out all the time. In other words I am going to get fat real fast here. But its fun.

Wednesday morning at 5:00am we got up to go play soccer. It was a lot of fun but I have really bad news. My soccer shoes soles fell off so I am going to take them to a guy to see if he can sew them back together or glue or magic or something. If he can't I will have to buy new soccer shoes. Sorry.

Oh other news here in the mission, we have 2 cars, a truck and a small suv. The small suv is a manual. I am one of 3 people in the whole mission who have permission from the Pres. to drive a car. It is crazy driving here. It's like driving in Malaysia or basically like I am driving in the formula one race, plus the streets are just straight crap. It is really sucky, oh well.

So on an average day, we get to the office at 8am and work here till 5:00pm then we go to work in the field. It is pretty different from what we did before.

Well I think that is all. Things here are awesome!!!!
Love, Elder Bloomfield


Elder Mendez is in the white next to Kyle, he is doing the baptizing. He is the AP from Costa Rica and Elder Sanders on the right is the AP from Calif.. Not sure who the two elders in front are, or who is getting baptized.

Wow!!! Mission Secretary 21 August 2010

Just so you know I now have p-days on Saturdays so you should probably change the day that you write me. Changes were sweet, I am now the secretary of the mission, so I work in the office. Right now there is another secretary so he is training me to become the new secretary next change. Um lets see what else. Oh I don't really have a comp., but for teaching in the field I teach with the Asst. to the President, Elder Sanders, the one you talked to on the phone once and also with Elder Mendez the other secretary. It is sweet, I have a lot of new work to do and learn now. Also I don't get to work out in the field as much so that is kinda a bummer. But over all it is fun. So my p day is Saturday for the next 6 months or so (just so you know when to write me).

Well every thing here is great. I hope to hear from you soon. Tell every one hello.

Love you
Elder Bloomfield
ps. Dad how was wake boarding this week?

Sweet Blessings 16 August 2010

Kyle and his companion, Taylor Whatcott chillin in a hammock


Alright so super sweet blessing this week.

Wednesday it was looking like we weren't going to have any baptisms this weekend, so we decided to interview a couple people and just see what the zone leaders thought, but Wednesday we got a phone call of a reference of a family that went to the church in Guatemala and wanted to keep going to the church. It was only a mother and her daughter that had been to church but there are 10 other kids and some have husbands. We went to the house on Thursday afternoon and we put a baptismal date for Saturday. Friday they had there interviews and Saturday they were baptized and Sunday they were confirmed. Also we baptized this guy that calls me Chuck Norris he is the brother of the black family that was baptized.

We had some super sweet blessings. As far as retention there are 35 recent converts that are in our area and so far in this month 25 of them have been to church so its alright. As a mission we have like 67 percent retention, so we have a lot of more work to do.

It is going to be sad leaving my area after 7 months but I am pumped to move on. It will be interesting to see what happens. I think I am in for a surprise on Wednesday, but who knows they are just rumors.

Sounds like things are going good back home. It is crazy to think Travis is a Junior and also I am old, I am almost 20. That is so sad to think about. Growing up sucks.

I think that is all. Oh I pulled 75 dollars out of my account. Sorry I needed money for the baptism and gifts and stuff for peeps.

Well love you and have fun back home.
11 months today - woo hoo
only 14 more.
Love, Elder Bloomfield


Home of one of the families with several children that Kyle taught and baptized.

Crazy Week 9 August 2010

This week was pretty nuts. I will start with yesterday. We had every thing planned out to have a sweet baptism of 8 people this week end, but every thing that you could imagine bad happened. Here are some of the things that happened. One of the guys was drunk, the others didn't come to church and the others couldn't get permission from their parents. I think for my first time ever, we only had one investigator in church on Sunday. It was pretty frustrating. now I don't know if we will baptize any body this weekend. We will see what happens.

This next week is the last week of the change or transfers. I think finally I will be able to leave the area but we will see. I have been here since February and can see my first area from here, so I am ready for a change. Any thing could happen, so I guess we will wait and see.

I am also kinda sad to be leaving. This change has been a ton of fun and real rewarding with my companion, good old Elder Whatcott. He is such a great guy and is doing so well.

I was thinking, Kara goes home really soon, that's nuts. It's just around the corner. It's crazy, it seems like I just left and like I am going home soon also (in another year and 2 months).

The 3 musketeers are all over the world now. I am in Nicaragua, Zach is in New Zealand and Mo is now in Ghana. Pretty crazy huh, but Mo only gets 4 months. Kind of a bummer for him.

I am not sure what else to talk about. I think that is all. Oh I might shave my head today with a 2 on the whole thing but I am not sure. Last time I cut it, it was like a 3 on top and a 2 on the sides. Don't worry I can't wait to grow it out when I get home. Then I will do sweet new Nica hair dos.

Well thanks for every thing have a good week.
Love, Elder Bloomfield

Getting even shorter emails 2 August 2010

This week every morning I had meetings with the the new President of the mission, Pres. Arredondo. It was for the zone leaders and district leaders (Kyle is now a district leader) from 8 to 12 every day. It was awesome. I was able to learn so much. It was super spiritual and it was fun to be there. If we can do now what we were taught, this mission will just fly off the charts.

Well I don't know what to say.
So I will talk to you next week.
Love you!

Short and Sweet (not much going on as he is sick) 26 July 2010

I am just hanging out here. It is super hot partially from the sun and partially the cold / fever I have. Don't worry not a big deal life goes on. Well I have been learning a ton these days with my kid (that is what they call a new missionary that is being trained). It's crazy how we can learn so much in just a week.
I don't know what all to write this week. I am doing great, the mission is doing great. In fact, this next week we have a 4 days of classes. All the leaders of the mission will be having a conference. It will be a long time to sit and talk, but I always leaved so spiritually pumped, so it is worth it.

Well sorry, but I think that is all I have for right now.

Oh and changes are in 3 weeks and if the intuitions I have are true, I will be happy in my next area, but we will see.

Love you and keep safe,
Elder Bloomfield

The curse of the Parasite! 20 July 2010

Sorry I didn't write yesterday, it was a holiday here in Nicaragua, so every thing was closed. It was good old Presidents day here. Every body was just running around like a bunch of crazies.

Let's see, oh I have a secret but you can't tell (I think that is so I don't tell his Mom). This week Elder Whatcott got a parasite so we didn't work much. He went to the bathroom with diarrhea over 60 times. We didn't leave the house to work for like 3 days. It was pretty bad, but now he won't eat anything because he is scared of getting another parasite. He is down like 20 pounds, but I am still rocking super healthy.

We had interviews with the new president on Friday also. They went really well. He asked how much time I have in my area. When I told him, he was like "wow that is a ton of time in one area". I said "I know tell me about it!!!" Then he asked how many I had baptized in that area and again he was like "wow that is a ton of people to baptize."

This past Saturday we finally were able to baptize the kid that was gay. He has changed a ton and we had to go through so much work to get to be able to do that. He had an interview with the new mission president and it was his first interview ever. It was pretty funny. I handed him the paper we have to fill out with every baptism and he just looked at it and was like why did you give me this. I had to explain to him all about the paper. It was funny, but now he knows.

Well changes are coming in 4 weeks, I can't wait to see where I go. I am so ready to leave this area. I am trying to leave with a bang and baptize a ton the last Saturday I am here. We will see how it goes.

Love,
Elder Bloomfield

No baptisms this week 12 July 2010

Well, this week was kinda sad. It was the first week in like 6 weeks not to baptize. It was really kinda weird. I didn't know what to do on Saturday with out a baptism. We have some this weekend.

Elder Whatcott and I are doing great. We are starting to have lots of success and he is getting pretty comfortable speaking to the people. He is a funny kid.

Sounds like you are having a ton of fun back home. You get to learn of the sacrifices of the members of the olden times and I get to give sacrifice with all the members today. In the MTC we would watch the Joseph Smith movie every other Sunday and watching it always brought tears to my eyes. Don't worry Mason, I didn't cry. You know that your big bro doesn't cry.

Sorry I don't write much these days, every thing seems the same to me every week. Time is just flying. It seems like nothing has happened since the last time I wrote you. The same amazing miracles happen week after week. Don't worry, just because I don't write much it doesn't mean any thing is wrong with me. I am just not a fan of writing. You know that mom.


New bed cover

I haven't gotten any letters or packages for like 4 weeks due to the splitting of the mission and the changing of offices. There has been issues, but don't worry one day I will get them.

Well I am still having a ton of fun and enjoy my mission like no other.

Love you,
Elder Bloomfield

Happy she made the right decision!! 5 July 2010

Elder Bloomfield (Kyle), not sure who the middle Elder is and Elder Francis.

Well it was a pretty eventful week. Every thing went real well, we had a couple of super cool spiritual experiences and others that weren't so spiritual. But every thing is alright.

One pretty funny spiritual experience was our baptism this week end. It was a family of 4 (a mom and her 3 kids). One of the daughters had gone to a church her whole life so she had little doubts about baptism. She loved the church and loved all the teachings. All week she was back and forth saying, "I will get baptized, or I won't get baptized, I will get baptized, I won't get baptized." She was just super undecided. when we went to pick them up from the house, the girl was like, "no I am not going to the church, I have to watch the house and stuff like that." She kept giving common excuses that she had to watch over the crappy tin house. We convinced her other wise that she could come to the church to watch the baptism, of her mom and brothers and sisters. After a little while she was like ok I will go just to watch. So we got her there and we were waiting for some other people to show up and while she was sitting there waiting every body passed by and congratulated her on her baptism and stuff like that. She would give us the meanest faces, it was really funny. When we were giving the rest of her family their baptismal clothes we convinced her to put some clothes on also and get baptized. So she put on the clothes and went into the the baptismal meeting. Baptismal meetings for the most part are opening prayer, hymn, talk, testimony, baptisms and then sing while they are changing their clothes, then welcome from a member, then song and prayer. Nothing luxury. Just saving souls. When it was this girls turn to get baptized she just sat at the door and was like "the door is holding me, it won't let me past" and stuff like that. It was funny. So I gave her my hand and helped her into the font. When I was showing her how to do it, she was saying "I don't want to, I don't want to," so I just said the prayer and dunked her before she could change her mind. After the baptismal meeting she was like, "well I came to the church thinking I wasn't going to get baptized, but I got baptized, and I am pretty happy I did it. Sunday she was the first person to the church. She had to wait out side because it was still locked. so that is my story of one of the things that happened this week.

Things with Elder Whatcott are awesome. We have so much fun. Having a gringo comp. is so much different then having a Latino.

I haven't met my new Mission Pres. yet, but I should meet him this week because we have a kid that needs an interview with him. He has been waiting for his interview for like 2 weeks so he is getting a little frustrated with us.

Another baptism from the week before of a young girl.

I will keep working hard here and stay safe so don't worry about me. I don't think I have any thing else to say so peace out.

Love you,
Elder Bloomfield

July 1st, President Carlos F. Arredondo became the New Mission President of the Nicaragua Managua North Mission as it was divided from the Nicaragua Managua Mission. Here is a picture of he and is wife and a little information about them from the church news:


Lorena and Carlos F. Arredondo

Carlos Francisco Arredondo, 52 and Ruth Lorena Laparra Veliz Arredondo (five children) are from the Acatan Ward, in Gualemala City Palmita Stake. Pres. Arredondo serves as a public affairs director and is a former stake President and counselor, bishop, and missionary in the El Salvador San Salvador Mission. Materials management manager for the Church. Born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, to Victor Manuel Arredondo and Graciela Elizabeth Castro de Arredondo.

Sister Arredondo serves as a ward Young Women president and is a former ward Relief Society and Primary president and ward Sunday school teacher. Born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, to Gilberto Antonio Laparra Martinez and Amanda de Jesus Veliz Laparra.

"Greenie" Companion 21 June 2010

Alright so as you said the Lord has a sense of humor. You will find it funny that my new comp. is Elder Whatcott one of my old first grade friends from Gilbert, Arizona. He completed one week in Nicaragua today. I am his trainer, his "dad" as they say in the mission. It is awesome working with him, they (new elders) have such a different outlook on the mission when they come out of the mtc. It is sweet! We are going to do a ton of good work. Kinda sucks he doesn't know much Spanish yet, but my Spanish rocks so not a big deal. We are going to do some sweet stuff this change. It's so different having a comp that wants to work compared to my last comp.. I witnessed about 3 miracles just yesterday. I can't wait to see how the change ends.


New companion Elder Whatcott with the 2 girls that were baptized.

Family of the girls that were baptized.

I am also the new District Leader of the most successful district in the mission so that is real sweet. We are going to have a sweet 8 more weeks. I am super pumped right now. As for my health, it is perfect so don't worry about me.

Well I don't know what else to write. We had 2 more baptisms, and we have a going away devotional for Pres tomorrow. I am sweating a ton right now. It's so hot. Oh yes, I am still in the same area. Just so you know, when this change ends I will have been here 7 months.

Well I love you and miss you,

Good luck with every thing.
Elder Bloomfield

Lesson learned: Sacrificing and not watching the World Cup Soccer brings blessings! 14 June 2010

Well this week went pretty well. I bought a new phone for about 10 bucks . Stuff here at the market is really cheap.

Alright so lets see. I don't really remember this last week it went by so fast. We had one baptism.


Super sad the world cup started and that is all that is on tv, but I can't watch it. Well I could if I wanted but I decided with sacrifices come blessings so, about a month and a half ago I made a covenant with the Lord that I wouldn't watch a single soccer game for my whole mission if he would just bless me with people to baptize. To be specific I asked for 2 people every weekend, and since then I have baptized about 2 people every weekend so clearly the Lord listens to our prayers but it is hard not to watch soccer. At lunch every day there is a game that is on and oh boy it is rough. The usa - england game was on and I will be honest I didn't look at the tv once. But don't worry I have a little paper in my agenda to keep track of who is playing who and the scores.

Well today was the last p-day before changes so another elder and I went to the store and bought stuff to by hamburgers and potatoes to make french fries. Lets just say we were cooking from like 11 till 4. Hamburgers for basically all of the zone and about 20 pounds of french fries. It was a ton. Also an elder and I made a hotel California music video as I played and sang it on guitar it was a real fun day.


Well I am super pumped for changes Wed., it is going to be nice to get a new comp.


Have a fun day.

Love you, Elder Bloomfield

Robbed for the first time!!! Yikes!!!! and p-day at Mombacho Volcano 7 June 2010

What a pretty successful week!!!

Let's start off with Monday night. I was robbed for the first time. We were walking through this huge field that has about knee high grass at about 9 at night. The only light that there was, was the light of the moon so we couldn't see much. As we were walking 4 guys jumped out of the grass and put a knife to the neck of my comp and put a knife to my stomach and put their hands in my pocket and took all the money I had. All I had was 10 cents, so sucks for them but they also stole the cell phone, then they left. It made me really mad because they were all really little and I could have done something to them if I wanted, but I decided against it. The next day we went back there because we have investigators there in the area. The 4 little guys were still sitting right there. oh boy i..... putchika I didn't do any thing . Any ways just so you know I have to buy a new cell phone.

Lets see what else, oh I had to put a new hole in my belt this week not a new whole to be bigger a new whole to make the belt smaller. That is how my health is going - skinny but I am so weak it sucks. I want to run and go to the gym so bad.

Another highlight of the week. We convinced a gay that he should change his life and stop being gay. That was pretty cool, we just talked about the atonement and about repentance and he was like "I don't want to be how I was before".

We have 2 kids that we are going to baptize right now that want to go on missions and are of age. That is awesome! it will be super cool to send two converts on missions but they have to be members for at least one year.


Oh today we went to the biggest volcano in Central America it was super cool the assistants of the Pres. took us and 3 other companionship's because we baptized the most families in the month of May. It was pretty cool. A good privilege to earn. It is called Mombacho if you want to look it up on the Internet.










Um oh also I cooked a cake Saturday for the baptism of my district leader it was really good and look professional.


well good luck with summer make sure and take a good rest because I don't have any time to rest until I get home in 2011.

I can't believe it is June!

Love you,
Elder Bloomfield