From Elder Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan
Date: Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 4:06 PM

Mi querida famila, quien les amo caleta,

Another wonderful week has passed by in Chile Santiago, first I am super sorry I left the BYU I paper in the pention, I will ask to see if I can email it to you real quick tomorrow.  Next my mission is 26 miles long and about 10 miles wide not including the mountains because they go all the way to Argentina my sector is a little less than a square mile and that is not even the smallest sector.  but it is definently one of the best.   When I say the whole city leaves, during febuary they go to the beach which is just an hour away, or the south and stay there for the whole month, it is kind of weird to because normaly on the weekends everyone is out on the streets during the evenings having bbq or hangn out but the streets have been bare lately.  I exaterate a little not every last person leaves but a good majority.  We just have to look harder to find more people,  we did talk to a drunk guy the other day,  I always have a love hate relationship with those kind of people,  I love them because they are always so friendly and happy when they are drunk but I hate the fact that when we come back and they are not wasted they genarally want nothing to do with us.  But it is still fun talking with them.  We met some little kids as well this week playing soccer in the street that were really cool.  We gave them each one of those spanish CTR rings and they loved it thank again for that by the way, I only give them to the coolest of the cool.  We told them that when they had on the rings they couldn´t do or say a naughty or mean.  They agreed.  Kids are so awesome.

  

Today we woke up at 6:25 to go hike the mountains that are close to here I love going because it is increadably beautiful back there.  When we got to the waterfalls I had some time to think while just looking around and seeing so many aweing and beautiful sights and then to think that God made all of it for us.  Wow.

Te amo mas que hay peses en el mar.
Elder...

Cool Grafiti in our Sector

The Trail Hike Up

The Waterfalls

The  Pollution of the City

Weather Vanes

The weather seems to be syncing with my brain waves or my brain waves are syncing with the weather, but one way or the other we are both quite unsure of what we are supposed to be doing and seem to be blowing inconsistently hot and cold. Some mornings we start out at a chilly 20 degrees and by mid day the sun has come out and we are spreading our warming 60 degree rays only to beat against the window panes, by eventide, with rain and gusty winds. It's a little unnerving in nature but seems especially accentuated and pronounced internally as I struggle to work on my Personal Progress goals, one of which is currently being a peacemaker. I know--me? Crazy!  It seems that the more I focus on the goals at hand, the more aware I become of the uncomfortable temperature of my inadequacies making it feel like Spring will never come. My only hope is that the people I love will find the eye of the storm that is supposedly inside every tornado and stay safely there until the weather vanes stabilize.

My patriarchal blessing talks quite directly about choosing what talents I should develop and the "struggle, effort and discipline" that will entail. I received that direction at age 14--you'd think I would have developed at least a few of those talents by now, but I am just getting serious about the choosing stage. I think I have always been a late "Bloomer" in the really important things.=)

A new "For The Strength of Youth" just came out. When that happens I love to take the old version and compare them side by side, because I know how much time and prayer has gone into every single word. Eden and I did that together for the first half of the book Sunday afternoon. The sections on media and education were, not surprisingly, extended, but there was wording change in every area and a new section was added for "Work and Self Reliance". I'm excited to absorb it all.

One of Mikayla's good friends was ordained an Elder yesterday. He looked so bright and happy--definitely has that prepared missionary glow, but he is stir crazy to get going (another thing that was easy to recognize=). I told him to stay busy preparing spiritually. He's going to Antofagasta and is burstingly excited. I told him about Taylor, who has agreed to write him, so that will be fun. He'll be in Chile probably by mid-July and Jordan will be home two months after that. I never talk to him about it, but I am started to feel giddy--ecstatically giddy, anticipating. I think the last 6 months may turn out to be just as emotional as the first 6 months, but in a blissfully different realm for me and I can imagine a heart rending one for Jordan. I'm glad to be on this end.

So, I am reading the letters of E.B. White (the author of Charlotte's Web) right now. He doesn't seem to be a man who ever quite got a firm hold on what he believed religiously, but like all people, he did have strong feelings about some things which he didn't seem to recognize as religious. Those kinds of discoveries intrigue me. Speaking about civil liberties and the press to a friend he wrote, "...there is much that can be taught about rights and about liberty, including the basic stuff: that a right derives from a responsibleness, and that men become free as they become willing to accept restrictions on their acts. These are elementary concepts, of course, but an awful lot of youngsters seem to emerge from high school and even from college without acquiring them. Until they are acquired, the more subtle, intricate, and delicate problems of civil rights and freedom of speech are largely incomprehensible." I really enjoyed the wording and impact of the sentence about rights and responsibleness, and thought his taking for granted its basic-ness was intriguing. Great truth for thought. Reading a man's life letters is an odd experience, but is a truer autobiography, I think, than reflection--less engaging sometimes, but more insightful into the soul of someone and their progressions or recessions. Half-way through the book I have started skip reading letters, because as the author ages his language and some of his topics seem to deteriorate, but I have become kind of attached to him and his family and want to hang in there with him--partially-- to the end. At over 700 pages that is sometimes a chore and I don't know that we would have "got on" well, but there are some vulnerabilities and needs displayed in his letters that I occasionally recognize in myself and that has made me feel subjectively vested, not passionately, but more concerned curiosity.

Fred stayed home on Tuesday and worked from the house this week, to see if he could get more done without all of the added office distractions. I relished the idea so tried hard to keep focused on my tasks so that he would be productive. I didn't find it difficult at all but found that he needs a lot more small breaks than I do and he was the one who wanted to visit. It was nice to have that option and I so much enjoyed his company and even just his presence, even though we were doing our separate "jobs". I think it ended up being a good day for him as well. He mentioned trying it again this week. I don't dare hope for this to be a constant thing--but it is an incredibly fun thought and I will enjoy whatever extra time I can get.

Fred and I tried to go on a mini-date on Friday before Eden's stake Priest/ Laurel formal, but we didn't have much time and she needed errands run so we never made it beyond Walmart, which I try to desperately to avoid, because either I can't find what I need or the employees have no helpful information. That night we encountered both problems and by the time we made it to the front and saw the enormous lines and reconciled ourselves to the fact that we weren't going to get a date I was feeling irritated; Fred was feeling resourceful. He saw that the service desk wasn't busy so walked straight to the counter where a young man was standing, with the greeting of, "you look like a guy that knows what's going on!" The young man agreed to check us out and mentioned that we both looked familiar. I hadn't been paying much attention, but that peaked my curiosity so I looked at him carefully and saw nothing recognizable. Fred didn't either but good naturedly mentioned that we lived in Middleton where everyone looks familiar. The young man wasn't discouraged and kept questioning, "Did you by any chance live in Boise? Was it quite a few years ago? Did you live behind Gordan's? Is your name Bloomquist? It is a queer feeling to have someone mentioning details like that about you without stirring up any remote faint glimmers and so of course I was now intrigued--up close and personal. For the first time I thought to look at his name tag which just said Eric--still nothing, so I asked for his last name and when he said, "Goostrey", I let out an audible gasp, which he cutely imitated. It took me a few seconds to connect the little boy from our farm ward with the young man standing there, but what fun. At the age we knew him, he has changed much more than we have and I don't really know him (obviously), but I LOVE his parents and the things I learned about me during those years of association with them. Some people make such an impact in our lives, in such a short time. I think it was one of the few times in my life that I left Walmart more cheerful than I went in.=)

Since we didn't get a real date on Friday, Fred took me out on Saturday afternoon as well. We went to see, "Tin Tin" in a theater that was so cold that even with my wool coat and scarf on, I couldn't concentrate on much more than it being over. You McCall-ites will have to take that up with Bro. Denning for us.=) Even so, Fred enjoyed it as a fun afternoon diversion (which was about it's animated action/ adventure level) and then  we stopped for dinner at a restaurant just so we could warm up. It was fun and relaxing--and didn't even end at the grocery store. It landed me back at home with full reservoirs, adoring my children and feeling grateful for my blessings. I loathe going to town on errands but I guess I need to spend more time during the week getting my household all organized before the weekend, so I will get more of those kinds of dates. They should be a fundamental necessity.

Quote of the Week: "I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." -- Galileo Galilei

Father's and Daughters...

Sophie on Picture Day

Lily on Picture Day

Eden Before the Stake Priest/ Laurel Formal

From Mikayla

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mikayla
Date: Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 5:11 PM
To: Dad
...

This week someone gave me a backpack, which was really nice and appreciated because I usually kill my back just trying to haul around half of my stuff, now I won't have to rush back to my apartment to get everything before I go to class and I can use the time to actually glean some knowledge from studying.

So Tessia, Mackenzie, and Me are trying out for I-COVER under the band name A Blonde, A Brunette, and A Redhead... I know clever right? We are going to sing a cover to arms by Christina Perry.

I did a lot of creeping this week and I think people are going to start recognizing me and I won't ever get married then! Dang it! So for Tessia's class me Tesh and Kenzie went to the MC and stared at people in the private study rooms and Tessia had to write down what there reactions were (they would usually half smile, look down, wait a few seconds, look back up, make a confused face and then pretend that we weren't there.) For my class i had to watch someone for 10 min and record what they did and guess what there major was and such and  then interview them ( we didn't have to tell them that we were creepin on em). 

Creeping is fun... but sometimes it makes me feel like a creep, as it should!

So did you guys figure out what to do on Saturday or did you just end up cleaning all day? I mean cleaning does have it's virtues so this is a non-judgment question!

Have a super week love ya!

Mikayla

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mikayla
Date: Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 6:07 PM
To: Mom

Good Evening,

Just came to write you a little letter. I actually came and sat on the couch and was about to write you a letter and then I fell asleap with my head back and started snoring and woke myself up.

I am so proud of myself for keeping track of my time and money, it really destresitizes things. Its been pretty windy up here, but besides that it's been getting a li'l warmer. 

I told dad already but me and Tessia and Mackenzie are trying out for icover, I'm going to play the guitar, Tessia is going to do the melody and piano and Mackenzie is going to Harmonize. It will be fun even if we don't make it. Or maybe we will become famous, one of the two. 

So we went to this show and these two hipster girls sang Dee Da Dee da doe da doe doe (that song from robin hood) They were awesome! They had kazoo's and ukelelies and a mini guitar, it was super fun to listen too! I really want to learn it, but it just wouldn't be the same, I will have to find some other song to play thats almost as cool! Any suggestions? 

They have a lot of free shows here and it's super cool! How did your guys's non-work party go? Oh and I remembered the name of the game, it's called NERTZ. IT's fun, the more people there are the more fun it is as well!

Have you a wonderful week! Love you!

Mikayla

Sweet Dreams are Made of These

I wish I would have snapped a photo, but picture this scene:  Mikayla has been home from college for two full days and we have all hung on her every minute. By Sunday night she's exhausted and laying on her makeshift bed on the floor of her room--eyes closed, with Lily sitting on one side and Sophie on the other, both writing schedule lists of all the things they are planning on doing with her on Monday, before we had to pack her up around 3:00! To her credit as an amazing big sister, they were all up by 6:30 and accomplished almost the entire list. She is going to be a fantastic mother.=)

Sohie's List

Lily's List

It was High Council Sunday Lily spent the time drawing the speaker, whose parents are in our ward and were sitting directly behind us.  She got frustrated with the face so asked Mikayla to draw that and then proceeded to embelish her drawing the rest of the time. The High Councilor's mother, who had apparently been watching her, leaned over and praised Lily and asked if she could have the drawing to give to her son. Lily was so self conscious that she nodded and then fled to primary with the picture still in her hand.=) When we got home I didn't try to take away the original, but asked if we could e-mail the mother a copy--thus the to/from inscription.

My Detailed Little Artist

From Elder Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elder Jordan
Date: Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 4:44 PM

Dear Bloomin yahoos,
  This week was a little bit difficult because every single one of our
investigators is on vacation right now.  So we went looking on our
ward list but 80 percent of the people on the list had moved or were
not there at the moment.  It is always frustrating when you can´t
teach lessons but I figure it is a lesson for us on patients and
endurence.
  As you know it is summer here so all the fruit is in full bloom and
it is super cheep.  Many of the members load us up with fresh fruit
that they just bought in the feria or let us go pick it from the trees
in there back yard.  I know I have said this a million times but I
love the chilean people they are so friendly and generous.  I may live
here some day.
  With the Missionary Admission Deferment I will send that back to you
next week because my I number is in the house.
   Something I learned this week is that Working out is a lot like our
life,  we all want to look good to some point, but we cant do that by
sitting around and doing nothing all day.  That would definantly be
eaisier but not better.  In life we have to have trials so that we can
learn and build spiritual muscels.  At first it may seem dificult,
really dificult but maybe we are out of shape.  So enduring and
pressing forward will help it to become easier so we can grow.  The
trick is that in working out if you get out of a regular rutine or
slack off you wont have good results.  It may seem that as you go on
the weight becomes lighter and lighter or the distance becomes shorter
and shorter but really you are just becoming stronger and stronger.
I love yall tanto tanto mas que hay estrellas en los cielos.  Tengan
una semana buenisima
Elder Bloomquist

Celebrations

Mikayla is home this weekend.  We cleared the calendar for three days and spent the first one visiting, playing games (of which, of course, she whipped us), treasure hunting, cooking, cleaning a TINY bit (it's just got to be done=) and watching a movie. This morning Mikayla and I are up alone in this quiet house, with the sunlight streaming in through the picture window. She's looking at artwork of Christ on her computer and I am writing you. I look forward to a more contemplative day together. What a joy to have our children around us!  It has been sweet.

Last weekend our stake had a Sadie Hawkins dance. I'm not sure exactly what auxiliary hosts it, but it has become a tradition to ensure that women get at least one Valentines date a year. =) When you formally ask your spouse to a dance he can't say no. Our friends invited us to join a group of couples for a potluck dinner and game night before the dance. What fun! We laughed and laughed, which was refreshingly enjoyable; it was fun to feel so youthful. Most of the couples dropped out of the loop when we headed for the dance, but there were a few of us who were glutton's for punishment and were swayed by the advertisement for an old time live band. I was hoping for "the swinging 50's" but it was more like "the rocking 70's". When the music got so loud we couldn't visit normally and they started a circle dance where you had to continually change partners and they started singing lyrics that I couldn't hear but which the YW president said were inappropriate, we decided it was time to go. It was fun while the slow songs lasted and good to see so many people that we loved, but unfortunately there will always be differences of standards and opinions when it comes to music. We did see some really fun and talented dancing and Fred and I were wishing we could ever retain anything from our social dance college days. Our former home teacher and his wife usually give us mini lessons, each year during the dance, but the music just wasn't that compelling and even they weren't dancing that much. Maybe, one day Fred and I can take dance lessons again, but Fred says he just doesn't feel it and I can't retain in as little as we do it, so I don't know if that will ever be a success.=)

Valentines Day was sublime. It has always been such a cheery holiday, but kudos to Fred for being ultra sincere and taking the day off from work to spend almost every minute together. It seems like he had a barrage of phone calls from teachers and students which he had to take since he wasn't in the office, but every time it got a little long, I'd hear him tell them that he had taken the day off to spend with his wife, so he'd talk to them tomorrow. Much of our day was spent in doing errands, helping at class parties and taxiing kids to choir, but he did take me out for a nice, quiet lunch at a little Greek restaurant and we even got some good quality time on a home date when the children had been put to bed. His time was all I needed and the best gift of all, but he couldn't help himself and bought me flowers and chocolates as well. It was nice and relaxing and non-stressful, which was different than most holidays where I try to do too much. With him there I just didn't feel the need.. Taking a day off from work, piled his responsibilities twice as high the next day, so the gift of quality time was a selfless sacrifice and so thoughtful. Of course I made a traditional Bloomquist Valentines Breakfast but the table never got quite as pretty as usual as it was a school day and we were eating in hurried shifts, but it started the day out right for my children anyway.

We have been asked to go out on Tuesdays or Thursdays as ward missionaries and to be strictly observant of not staying at anyone's home longer than 30 minutes, but we started at at sisters house who is single and mostly retired and quickly found the task impossible--at least tactfully. We were there for two hours!-- and still had to carefully extricate ourselves. It is amazing how much you can find out about someone when they do all of the talking, for that amount of time--without pausing. It was a pleasant visit for us and she seemed to really enjoy our being there. She did eventually tell me she used to think I was "stuck up". =) That's one of those statements that catch you off guard. She's not the first person who has told me that after getting  comfortable with me.  Chris Sparks from our farm ward said he used to think I was a "snob". They are both extremely extroverted people so I'm not sure if it is just that our personalities are so different or they are the only ones bold enough to state their opinions on the subject. Either way--not something you ever really want to hear. I'm just grateful in both cases that that statement came out in past  instead of  present tense as that would have been awfully awkward. Funny thing....I love both of those people!

Tomorrow is President's day so we'll get to just "hang" for one more day together before Mikayla heads back up in the late afternoon. Jordan's influence is here everywhere with us as well. It's an incredible thing to always feel so close no matter how many miles are between us.

Quote of the week:
"Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness." -- George Sand

Dressed For Sadie Hawkins

Valentines Breakfast

Meaningful Gifts

From Elder Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elder Jordan
Date: Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 4:45 PM

How goes it you handy dandy family fellas, I wish you a very merry Valentimes day. I am glad all is going well there exercising and everything. My companion loves to work out so he is whipping me into shape and keeping me eating healthy, So all is well. Elder Chumbley and I gave talkes on Sunday, the topic was Missionary work, I know weird right? I am starting to like giving talkes alot, I feel like I learn so much just through preparing them. This week we are having trouble teaching because everyone is at the beach, it is burning hot here and all of Santiago are on vacation, ok so not all of Santiago but 99.9 percent of Santiago.

We did find a really cool lady that just recently moved here from the south, she was taking lesson down there from the missionaries and got super excited to see us which made us super excited to teach her. We are going to try to commit her to baptism tomorrow. She is legit. 

So Luke is suposed to be comming home preaty soon with in the month of March right? Crazy.

Today we went on a hike sooooo awesome and cool it was back into the mountains and it just felt good to get out of the hecktic city for a couple hours and enjoy the beauties of nature. When we got up by the waterfalls everywhere we could see was filled with wild black berries, we filled up a 20 oz bottle in 5 minutes and brought it back, and I just made black berry pancakes, que rico. 

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week may your wildest dreams come true.

Love ya
Elder Bloomquist

Having and Holding

We had a sisters luncheon (Lori, Renee, Marg, Liz and I) to celebrate Lori's b-day this past Friday. I went over early to curl her hair because she can't presently bend her arm past a 45 degree angle. Curling someone else's hair with tools that you're not familiar with never goes that grand, but she was a good sport and let me do my thing. For the past couple of weeks she has been dealing with a major infection in her arm that started at her elbow (for an unknown reason) and spread quickly to her wrist. When I saw it, it looked similar to Dad's when he had staff quite a few years ago--kinda scary--but they haven't diagnosed hers as staff. It did get quite aggressive and her doctor sent her to the emergency room for immediate antibiotics. When I saw her the infection and swelling had gone down significantly and she was no longer in writhing pain, but she had an adverse reaction to the medication and broke out in hives that have been making her crazy for days. She told me she is fine and that she has no right to complain because people in her ward are dying of cancer. That is so like Lori to continually be thinking of someone else and trying to be strong for everybody else. She is such a great example of having a charitable heart, but that can be awfully exhausting when you are struggling yourself. Of course she's human and gets feeling overwhelmed some evenings when she's not so crazy busy with her little children, and with trying to lift everyone else's burdens around her. I shared the quote, "People cry not because they're weak, but because they have been strong far too long." with Renee last week and told her it fit Lori like a glove. She agree that it was "perfect". Of course Lori will be mad at me for talking about her like this; she doesn't like that kind of attention...but she deserves it just the same. Love you Lulu. Hang in there!

Our ward mission leader has challenged each ward missionary or couple to visit 2 ward members a week and help motivate people about our Stake President's challenge to make a new friend, "no strings attached", this year. I am still evaluating what the challenge means to me personally and with my personality am having to dig deep to get a definitive picture of that, but while I am pondering it all, Fred and I both feel passionate about getting feedback and insight from the thoughts and feelings of others and are excited about asking for
direction rather than extolling it. It feels less intrusive somehow and so far the reception to that mindset has been positive. I'm not sure that is exactly the direction our mission leader had in mind, but it's the direction we feel inspired to take and hopefully that process can start changing some misperceptions of our religion and knock us out of our self imposed cliquishness. It may be smooth sailing for some and a long road for others, but we can all improve on reaching out.

I am having some mental shock waves, realizing that Abrahm will  turn 12 in July? He is eligible to go to Scout camp this summer, if we decide to send him, though he doesn't seem very excited about going camping without Fred and it is 4 times as expensive as Girls Camp, but the fact that he is invited is alarming. It feels so odd that he will be a deacon and priesthood holder in just a little over 5 months. The transition from 10-12 seems so incredulous and abrupt. We have started to leave him infrequently, for very brief time periods to watch the girls, when Eden isn't available. So strange how time stands still for no man.

Mikayla is coming home for a visit this weekend and we are all giddy around here. At least one of us talks on the phone or Skype or texts or chats with her almost every day, which has been such a boon, and so different than Jordan at college,=) but it is just not the same as "having and holding". Our families are so precious!

I spent hours online and on the phone talking to BYU counselors about going back to school this week. I keep going through this same process and there are all these roadblocks that I keep hitting that halt me from actually enrolling in class. Many are financial, some are lack of exact direction, but in the end it all comes down to fear. I'm scared of the risks. I'm scared of not being up to the task. I'm scared of failing. In short, I'm scared of investing in me, when I have such hopes, yet feel so vulnerable and know that there are so many other important things that need "invested" in.  I have spent so many of the last 20 years being courageous for other people--such an easier kind of courage, thus less courageous, and now I am at a time of life personally, in my family roles and in my calling where the need for courage is turning inward and I find my confidence waning. It seems like the older I get the more my weaknesses become flashing strobe lights in my mind, distorting my perceptions. I'm sure at some point, hopefully soon, the steady lights will turn back on, the strobes will be shut down and the jerking shadows will fade away, but right now it's just giving me a headache.=)

Beside all of the self consciousness, I am well; we are all well... and happy.

Quotes of the week: "On the earth, even in the darkest night, the light never wholly abandons his rule. It is diffused and subtle, but little as may remain, the retina of the eye is sensible of it."--Jules Verne

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called." -- A.A. Milne

From Mikayla

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mikayla
Date: Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 5:53 PM
Subject: GeneID

Hello mama,

How's your week? Ritual as usual? Me too =). Have you started in on your projects yet (ie painting the piano) I can't wait to get home and see all the changes that have come about in the time that I have been gone, and also to be somewhere that is really clean again! I'm really missing that! We clean it but the apartment it's self is just... hehe well college. you know. The good think is we are away at class or studying or partying too much to notice it! Life is fast paced as ever here! I honestly don't know when I'm tired or hungry or thirsty or exhausted anymore. Sunday was peaceful today though, Nobody had any crazy movies on... they were all sleeping haha. So I just stayed out in the kitchen and did my book of Mormon study. Then I went to that place to sing like usual. The group was super big this time, so there was a lot of nice power. It's all by request though, so once in a while someone will say a song that nobody knows and it gets...interesting.

This week is one of the last sprints for this leg, All these papers and projects are due, so it will be structure or death kinda thing. The moto for my life I decided... just kidding, sort of. Like I telling you little things are really exiting up here some of the best happenings were: Finding a Zebra brand pen on the floor of the MC (amazing, i think dad has one, they write really fine). And getting Asian hot sauce and yams at the store. I almost got the multi-vitamins because they were on sale, but I think if I do than maybe I will become more casual about the healthiness of food that I eat, so i decided against it and got yams and cereal because there are vitamins in them. I finished that paper I was talking about... it's pretty scary disheveled. and thought broken right now, so I will have to polish it a little but I will send it tomorrow if you could be so kind as to gut it... or such.

Thanks for all. I hope you take some great pictures of your holliday! It snowed again!

Love ya,
Mikayla

It's popular to have a [different sign above the kitchen sink] but
me and Tessia decided we didn't like it so we turned the sign
around and made an alternative saying...

From Elder Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Jordan 
Date: Mon, Feb 6, 2012 at 4:59 PM
Subject: yeeha

Dear Family from up above,  

now when I say up above I am not implying heaven, not to say that heaven is bad, because its not, its just that your still on earth, which can also sometimes be related with heaven because it is so good,  which is not to say that life is not good, but I was speaking in more of geographical terms as to you guys are more northward... maybe that would have been alot easier to just start it that way so we all would not be so confused, so lets try that again.

My dear family from the north, yes that is much better. giggle giggle sorry Im so weird I just like to mix things up a little bit.

It has been such a good week here.  Me and my companion Elder Chumbley have been doing a lot of service.  I love it,  sometimes it is just nice to get some good hard manual labor done.  It almost felt refreshing to by super exausted physically.  Most days I am just super exausted mentally which is also fun...um..  The service we did was for an Hermano that termites had eaten his house away.  So we got to tear it down with hammers and crowbars, the hermano has a big crowbar that he calls El Diablo, it is down right wicked, ha ha get it.  

This week we also worked with a lot of less actives.  Everyone of them is so nice, in fact pretty much everyone in my whole sector is super nice and good.  And the only difference, which I have figured out between members that are active is work.  The less actives don´t want to put in the work because they don´t fully understand the blessings.  So that is what we are trying to help them understand that the sacrifices that they make now, will all be paid in double in the end.  What we do here in life is an investment.  

I love you all 20 times more than any number Abe can make up.
Elder Bloomquist

Abe you better make up a big number

Tearing Up The House

The Youth of the Neighborhood

The Power of Choice

It is Super Bowl Sunday. Even as a disinterested party, you can't help knowing that fact as there are shelves dedicated to it at stores for the past month and even the recipe website I subscribe to sends "Super Bowl" recipes for weeks in advance. Prior to the game, Mikayla said she didn't know anyone up at BYU-I who wasn't planning on watching, and she and Tessia were having trouble figuring out somewhere to go. I encouraged her to check the buildings on campus, but she thinks they are locked on Sundays. Of course her friends and associates are only a handful of the students up there and it is easy to feel "alone" sometimes when you are trying to choose the "best" things. I was sitting here thinking that it is sad that a single event can get such hold on so many people to make them rationalize the Lord's day. It is easy for me to shake my head, but only easy, I suppose, because that particular thing has never interested me, which makes it easy for it not to become a "weakness"; I do have plenty of my own. It made me start pondering my observance of the Sabbath Day and recognize my own temptations, like getting caught up in the "good" things to do during the day like writing my grown children and updating the family blog, but to an extent where I leave little time for studying and praying and pondering and teaching my children here at home. It can be a weakness for me to rationalize that the Sabbath Day is over when I put on my pajamas at night and want to reach for that really great book on my nightstand, that is entertainment not devotion, so I have to be sure to always have a "Sunday" book in my pile, lest I fall into that trap--and trap it is, because although I am sure spending the day in ways that are not devoted to our Heavenly Father is hurtful to him, really it is more painful to us when we deprive ourselves of devotion and peace and progression that can be so uniquely powerful when we are really striving to put away the things of the world, like we can do more completely on the Sabbath than any other day. I need to be so much more diligent and effective. What a blessing and reprieve it can be for us when we really use His day as the Lord has asked us to. So whether watching the Super Bowl or simply not living up to the potential of the day, both are limiting and my weaknesses aren't just once a year. I guess it's all about true discipleship and is the same with all commandments. I love what Cecil B. DeMil said, "If man will not be ruled by God, he will certainly be ruled by tyrants—and there is no tyranny more imperious or more devastating than man's own selfishness, without the law. We cannot break the Ten Commandments. We can only break ourselves against them— or else, by keeping them, rise through them to the fullness of freedom under God. God means us to be free. With divine daring, He gave us the power of choice." (--Cecil B. DeMille-- Full speech @: (theboard.byu.edu/...) So eloquent and so profound even without the fullness of the gospel. Oh to be so wise, with it.

On more trivial concerns, I have been experimenting with graphic design in my Publisher program for the past few months and keep running into particular concepts that I don't understand. Mikayla has always been my go-to girl, but she's not always at my beck and call anymore so I have had to resort to using the Microsoft Office Help Community where you can post questions and other users try to help you solve technical issues or problems. I've used Publisher for a long time now--since the inception of our family newsletter-- and thought I was pretty familiar with it, but there is nothing quite like the feeling you get as a a computer novice talking to a computer expert. I am having to learn a whole new language just to communicate. Jordan and Mikayla both know what that feels like. Yikes! I wish there was some manual that explained everything. There was with the first version of Publisher that I had, but with these later versions it seems like it's all trial by fire--a little frustrating, but symbolic of life, sometimes. I'll keep asking questions and who knows, maybe I'll figure some things out and make Mikayla proud!=) I'll just keep pushing through and hopefully learning.

Fred and I went on a date Friday night to look around at land in Middleton--just dreaming. Fred didn't find anything that grabbed hold of his heart but I did! Of course it already had a gorgeous, almost mansion on it  but there was farmland in the same area that maybe someone would want to sell someday.=) That's down the road a bit financially, but I am starting to envision my grown children marrying and having their own families and we need to have a place for them all to come home to.  It's no fun to visit when there is no comfortable place to call your own. 

Fred and I had to divide and conquer in order to get to all of our meetings this morning. He went to ward missionary correlation and I went to the Branch correlation. Fred loves efficiency and I love being with the youth, so it all worked out. I was so impressed with the diversity of strengths in my meeting. Pres. Quenzer was presiding so the meeting was succinct, Pres. Walker was supporting so there was an infusion of the Spirit, Bishop Lewis was contributing to spark our motivation, and my friend Kyle conducted which brought humility. It was a great teaming and I thrive being in that environment, surrounded by all those people that I love and bolstered by the strength and testimonies of the young adults. Last week we went to a reception, and Bishop Lewis came bounding over when he saw us in line. I'm used to him bounding; when I served with him in the Stake YW he was always brimming with positive energy, ready to shower praise and sincere compliments for our efforts. I haven't worked with him that closely for awhile, but he is still bounding up, but now it is to shower us with his gratitude for Mikayla. His has an infectious personality, the kind that makes you feel better about yourself just from being around him. I've never been that kind of person, but I'd like to be.

I've been thinking about how Jordan has been so grateful lately for the blessing of knocking on doors, because of the opportunity it affords him to get to know his companions. I guess if we all spent more time walking and talking with people we would learn to love them so much more. I glean perspective from those little insights.

Quote of the week: " …there is nothing you can want, there is nothing you can ask for, there is nothing you can need in time or in eternity, there is nothing living, nothing dying, there is nothing in this world, nothing in the next world, there is nothing now, nothing at the resurrection-morning, nothing in heaven which is not contained in this text — "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. -Charles Spurgeon-

From Mikayla

---------- Forwarded message ----------
On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 3:25 PM,

Mikayla wrote:

Hey =)

I must be really tired lately, I began to sleep through my alarm (it gets pretty loud). It started to integrate itself into my dream. That is a sign that I need to get to bed earlier. Or it could just be that it is fast Sunday. So Lucky for us the Superbowl starts at the time that we will be singing at the old folks home, I've yet to meet a friend that isn't watching it and Tessia says she doesn't think the campus buildings are open on Sunday but we will check just to be sure. It's been nice today though because nobody has been watching movies or anything. I am glad that we don't have to pay for utilities seperatly here because it gets so cold and we just have to crank up the heat sometimes and I wouldn't want to feel guilty for doing so, or taking long hot showers.

I need to read 10 chapters of 2 Nephi tonight! Oh boy! 

So did you get the publisher thing to work with the other file format? You will soon be a computer expert! (And no, not just "for your age" as I unsuccessfully tried to compliment you before.) 

I went and took some pictures with this guy who is minoring in photography, me and Kenzie were the models so we had a hard time being serious but we got some fun ones that I will have to send to you. 

This week has been tough there are a lot of high emotions going on, a lot of tears and heartache, the fact that it's February (the saddest month of the year apparently) doesn't help but I hope everyone will come through okay!

So for dinner like you were saying I've thought and here are probably some of my meal favorites:

Chicken Divan

Lasagna

Fish and Lime rice or Beef Stew or Strogonoff or biscuits and gravy (the kind with the sausage is super good).

Your awesome! Love ya mom!

P.S.... I got a voice mail from a little kid (I think it was a little boy?)That said something like hey Kayla I just wanted to say I love you your my dad hugs and kisses. Random experience... so wondering if you could give me some insight on that...