From Elder Jordan

Forwarded from: Elder Jordan

Date: Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 12:27 PM

Dear Crazy Bloomnerds, 
I love ya all, It sound like you have had a great weak. Whoooot woot, I had a good week as well. Dad I am not too far behind you, yesterday I poured a glass of ice water on my companion while he was taking a shower. He was like ooooooh but in a much higher pitch and more like AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Some times it is hard to wake up in the morning so I was just doing my part to be a good friend. : )
This week we were invited to a stake primary activity. We took our investigators Diego and Sebastion, they came in there white shirts and ties all excited. The activity was about becoming missionaries. Each child recieved a plaque with there name on it, and then went through a mini MTC. Elder Ramirez and I taught about testimonies. We share what a testimony was and then bore our own. We then gave the opportunity to anyone that wanted to come up and bare theirs. Some of them were short, and many very simple but every single one was powerful. The spirit was definantly present. It was cool to see a bunch of little missionaries running around. Getting excited for the time when they actually are set apart as full time missionaries. It´s amazing how fast that time comes up.
We are teaching 3 investigators that have dates to be baptied in September. I am so excited for them. They are super excited as well. Two are 9 and 10 they are cousins and the other is 19. Many times they come up with deep doctrine questions like if we have a heavenly father then shouldn´t we have a heavenly mother. Whooo they always leave me squirming in my seat but I love that they love to ask questions and are interested about learning more.
Cultural note last night I helped an old lady put her garbage up in a tree. They don´t have garbage bins here, on trashday you hang your garbage on your fence on tree branches or anywhere else where the dogs can´t get to it but the garbage men can. niffty right
Next time you see dillon give him a big huge hug for me, and interesting that Erin is still single hmmm. ha ha ha
Well I love ya have a week of wonderful ness
Elder ...

Family Home Evening

Diego and Sebastion

Through Thick and Thin

This week:

--School started

--Peach Canning commenced--unintentionally

--Mikayla's friend came to visit Weds-Mon

--Annual neighborhood B-B-Q

--Jordan's friend came home from his mission on Tuesday and visited on Thursday

--A trek son, Cameron, had his homecoming and enters the MTC on Wednesday

--Sis. Stevens (1st counselor from the General R.S.) came to Middleton and held at least 5 different meeting for girls/women of all ages throughout the day on Sunday. 

Yes, it was busy and crazy and exciting and fulfilling and exhausting! Abe's school Open House was Monday and he walked around his "campus" like someone had just beat him into submission. With enthusiasm, all of his new teachers greeted him with, "Are you excited about school starting?!" and with apathy every time he answered, "Not really." What could I do but just put my arm around his shoulders, smile, and say, "At least he's honest." He doesn't like to see his summers end, and I don't blame him, but Tuesday was better and he actually came home excited about his day and has seemed content ever since. A Young Artist flyer came in the mail last week announcing the new choir season and I mentioned auditioning to Abe and he seemed slightly interested, which is HUGE. I'm just holding my breath to see if I can actually get him to join again without resisting. He's old enough to advance to Concert Choir with Eden and I think he would enjoy that age group much more, but we'll see if his interest lasts through next week. He's actually got a nice voice and the discipline and camaraderie would be good for him as he definitely has an "artistic" personality. Jordan LOVED it and I'm sure Abe would too if he is just willing to become invested.  Lily and Sophie are both anticipating choirs start with excitement and Eden can hardly wait. I'm trying to figure out how to let her audition for Premier choir as she wants to be in that additional group so much, but that would mean traveling to Ontario and I'm not sure that I am that committed with my time and gas. I'm still weighing out the pro's/con's.

Tuesday, our family went to pick peaches for a ward assignment at the church Orchard, but the lines of communication are often muddled in that endeavor and after an hour of picking the orchard overseer came down on his 4-wheeler and told us the peaches we were picking were too ripe to send to the cannery and just sent us home with them instead. The YSA branch was picking at the same time and the bins were full of peaches the cannery couldn't use and we weren't prepared for home transport so we just took home as many as we could carry in a single layer in the back of the Suburban and I have been canning and making pies and smoothies all week. A blessing yes, but not one I ever go seeking. This is one Mormon mom that will passionately declare that I do not enjoy canning!

Mikayla's friend Nathan, originally planned on coming down Thursday and leaving on Sunday, but called Tuesday and told Mikayla he was coming Wednesday. With peaches all over my kitchen and school starting for the girls I was a little anxious about the timing and I tried to get pristinely organized so everything would run smoothly, but life just keeps moving forward and I have limits and when he got here there were still peaches all over the kitchen and the frenzy of the first day of school was still tangible so I immediately discarded the idea of presenting a "normal front" and just announced to him that hostessing was not my greatest talent, that the nature of our Bloomer household was usually chaotic, but that he was most welcome and I would appreciate it if he would just make himself at home and hang on tight for the ride. I believe I sensed amusement in his eyes. Undoubtedly, by the time he left Monday morning he had certainly experienced the "real Bloomer deal", which, unfortunately, seems to me an intense and stressful kind of initiation, but miraculously, he didn't seem too scarred from the experience. 

Our neighbors invited us to their annual B-B-Q on Saturday. I'm realizing that I'm not very "good" at those. Even with the conscious effort in my head to interact with my peers I continually find myself sitting with and visiting the children and teens--I just naturally gravitate there. I really need to learn to be more friendly with adults. I finally did drag myself, with the teenagers, into the adult circle

Sunday, Sis. Steven's (first counselor in the R.S. General presidency) came to Middleton and held at least 4 different meetings that I know of, with different groups of women, before heading to Boise. Eden was in the first two groups--the first being an exclusive meeting with just Sis. Stevens and the 6 young women who are serving on the stake youth committee. Eden said it was intimate and incredible. Then Sis. Steven's met with all of the Laurels in the stake, then all of the YSA women (which Mikayla got to attend) and then all of the rest of the stake R.S. women (which I was a part of). She is a soft spoken, seemingly refined, emotionally controlled, beautiful woman who spoke all four times without "script" and carried individualized, powerful messages from the Spirit every time. How I admire all of those qualities--and how far I am from so many of them. What a privilege being in that environment was for all of us.

Lori called last night wondering if Mikayla would be interested in nannying for a young family in her ward, on a personal yacht, while they travel from Maine to Central America from Oct-Dec. I just about had a heart attack and so did Mikayla (for different reasons!) This young mother of six and Mikayla have started communicating as the family is starting the interviewing process. We don't know many of the details or how many young girls will be applying for the job or if the timing and salary would even work out for Mikayla, but she has always had that adventurous spirit and has been yearning, since High School, to join Green Peace or the International Language Program so she could experience travel and different cultures. All of it makes my heart quiver, because of safety issues, but I don't want to hold her down and this could be the safe experience of a lifetime. The thought of losing my girl right when my boy gets home does not thrill me, but I want her to fulfill her dreams. We'll just have to see what happens as the process continues and the opportunity is explored. My kids just keep sliding through my fingers and I can't seem to hold on. Oh how I want them to experience all of the joys and opportunities in life, but I want them with me too--the trick is balancing both wisely.

Quote of the week:
"Create the best life possible. The decisions you make determine where life takes you....make every effort...to get closer to Heavenly Father, to get the most education possible, to make...home a heaven on earth, and to learn how to manage ... time and finances....seek for any experience... to make...life happier and more fulfilling." --Sister Kristen McMain Oaks

Annual Mutual Mud Volleyball

Abe's the little guy in front

Eden drenched

Mud Models--Eden and her best friends Gabe and Hailey

BFF--literally through "thick and thin"

Abe is front right--Ready for home and showers!

Itchy Arms

Sunday, August 19th:

Abe was sick this morning so I stayed home with him from church. He slept for awhile and I read conference talks. When he started feeling better we watched Pres. Monson's birthday celebration on the church's website. It was a narrated musical extravaganza, including some of his favorite Broadway performances. Some of the music of the concert wasn't what I would normally choose for Sunday (the performance was held on Saturday) but it was all beautiful and uplifting and inspiring and with all of the spiritual thoughts and tributes scattered throughout it didn't seem like "just entertainment". One of the numbers was "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables. The song is so moving it always makes me emotional. The traveling Broadway company comes to Boise on my birthday this year and Fred, Mikayla, Eden and I are going for my "date". We are all so excited! 

Watching President Monson's celebration and seeing the conference center got me anticipating our family's Salt Lake trip to conference. We sacrificed our summer vacation so we could vacation as an entire family the week Jordan gets home. I requested conference tickets from our stake in April but was already the 40th family on the list and I guess they generally don't get more than 30 random tickets for various sessions. Getting in to a live session now seems an impossibility, but we made hotel accommodation that are non-refundable so we're still planning on going and soaking up the spiritual aura that I know will be permeating temple square...and praying for good weather since we'll be outside!=) Jordan gets home that Tuesday and we will leave on Friday so it will be an incredibly special time for our family, no matter where we spend it.=)

We had our last summer hurrah yesterday and went to the Discovery Center for the kids. Mikayla was at a ward campout so she wasn't with us but everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves. The Discovery Center isn't a place where I am most apt to invest emotionally in the experiments, but I love spending quality time with my family so I enjoyed being with them and watching their excitement as well. School starts on Tuesday and Wednesday so our change in gears will start tomorrow night. I'm grateful that Mikayla will still be around on her days off. I rarely prefer solitude to camaraderie--I sometimes enjoy quiet camaraderie, but camaraderie still the same.

One of my trek sons leaves on his mission to Arizona next week and one of Jordan's best friends just returned from his mission to Russia this week. I love being surrounded by these missionary youth!

I've been thinking about some of Jordan's previous letter comments this week, especially about the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, making what could have been a 7 days journey. I don't know that I have ever put those facts together before--they are amazing. I wonder sometimes how long I am "wandering" on my own journeys that could be so much shorter if I would just have the courage to be more obedient. Good food for thought! I need to be more diligent!

Mikayla's friend Nathan is coming to visit this week. I will be very curious to see if he can survive our family and make it out in one piece. Good luck, huh!=)

The peaches and grapes are coming on. Fred counted 6 small watermelons in the garden today and the tomatoes, cucumbers and winter squash are all but consuming their boxes and trenches and completely taking over the walking paths, so Fall must be coming even though the temperatures are still occasionally reaching 100 degrees. I won't complain about any of it.=)

Every day I wake up and think about my missionary serving and teaching and struggling and stretching and blessing lives (Chilean, his and ours) and am so grateful for sacrifices and the power of selflessness, but these arms are getting itchy for my boy!=)

Quotes of the week:
"The day obedience becomes a quest and not an irritation is the day you gain power." --Spencer W. Kimball

"It's not possible that the problems of this world be resolved by the pesimists and sceptics whose horizons are guided by the obvious realities. We need men and women who think of things that have never been thought of and who dream of things that have never been dreamed of, and who ask, "Why not?"--Spencer W. Kimball

From Elder Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elder Jordan
Date: Mon, Aug 20, 2012

Dear Mama, Papa, y mis hermanitos,

Today we received changes. Me and my companion are staying here in this ward together and we are overly content. This means that this is my last ward, and I know the time will just fly by because that is what happend last change. I am so excited we have a lot of work to do. Just reciently we had a sector slam which is where all the missionaries from this zone came and worked in our sector for a couple of hours. We got a bunch of references.

This past week we had our ward conference acompanied with some ward activities. On monday we had a Family Home Evening, we watched a movie and ate popcorn. Very inspireing movie and very true to the mission. Called the "Errand of Angels"

On friday we had a Talent night, I sang and played the guitar but from lack of practice I only remember two full songs. Maybe you all could make a list of songs that you like that I could learn when I get back.

The cool thing about the activities is that many of our investigators went to them and not only that but they invited their friends as well. One of our investigators, the one I told you about last time whos daughter brought her to church voluteered to come clean the church on Saturday........Um members don´t even volunteer to do that, this lady is as golden as they get.

This week for my studies I have been reading in the book of mormon for my studies in the war chapters. I have found out there are so many lessons that you can pull out of the battles and preparations and wars. We can apply it all to right know, because even though we are not fighting a battle with swords and shields, it is very much a battle of morals and standards. I was reading in Alma 50 about how Moroni was building up walls and pickets and ditches around the cities to prepare them for war. It says that he never stopped making preparations. I believe that the home is the same way. To protect it from the mighty attacks of satan we have to continually be making preparations to fortify the spiritual barkades in the same houses in which we abide, or little by little satan will chip away at the walls and destroy everything inside.

I love the book of mormon I know it is a book of God.

I love you sooo so so much.

Elder Bloomquist

From Elder Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elder Jordan
Date: Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 4:20 PM

Dear Family,     

What a great week it sounds like you have been wonderful as well a good crazy week much loceza good bloomin tradition.  Abe to answer your question the mission comes up fast and then it ends quick as well.  So enjoy every moment you have.  This week we had a ward mission activity,  it was lots of fun and we had investigator show up as well.  On sunday we had an even better turn out.  An investiator showed up because of her five year old daughter.  They said they were comming to church and were at cross roads with desisions to go to their catholic church or to come to ours, she asked her daughter where she thought they should go, and her daughter talked her into comming to our church.  I think they both loved it.  Blessed are the little childeren for theres is the kingdom of god.  I know god loves us and knows how to give each one of us that push to do what is right.

I love you so much

Elder ...

"Forever In the Middle"

Sunday, August 5th:
It is funny that the longer Jordan is out on his mission the more his letters home sound like he is speaking a foreign language--the spelling and grammar are becoming...interesting.=) That's alright, the personality that is shining through those words is still true blue, through and through, as solidly unique as it ever was!=)

I am a happy mom today with my kids around me physically and emotionally. The girls were up at Grandma's for the Granddaughter party Wed-Sat and the house was like a tomb. Abe and I went about our regular activities, doing many of the things we generally do individually anyway, but without the constant buzz of energetic activity it just felt lonely. When Fred would get home in the evening we had picnics and barbecues and occasionally went out for a treat, which was fun, but activities can never replace people. By Saturday all three of us were anxious to go up to the ranch and fetch our girls back. For the last four days our bedtime routine has been amazingly succinct. We read scriptures, say family prayer and the three of us are quickly in our rooms--not so now that the girls are back. It is amazing to me how long it can take from the time we kneel for family prayer and the time in which the prayer is actually started. It seems to be a call for visiting time and everyone seems to have something to say. I think it makes Fred a little crazy, probably because it always seems to be so late, but I love that we enjoy each other's company and that everyone together seems to energize us all.

Quote of the week:
"Jesus said several times, "Come, follow me." His was a program of "do what I do," rather than "do what I say." His innate brilliance would have permitted him to put on a dazzling display, but that would have left his followers far behind. He walked and worked with those he was to serve. His was not a long-distance leadership. He was not afraid of close friendships; he was not afraid that proximity to him would disappoint his followers. The leaven of true leadership cannot lift others unless we are with and serve those to be led."

 --Pres. Spencer W. Kimball

Monday, August 13:
This week has forced me to face the fact that school is coming again. As is usually the case Lily, Sophie and Eden are feeling that positive anticipation of new beginnings. Abe and I are melancholy about summer endings and Fred and Mikayla seem to be immersed in that land of middle ground. Mikayla seems to be enjoying her hiatus from the pressure cooker of college. She is at various stages of reading and listening to 7 different books of diverse genre's--all of her own choosing.=) She rides her bike over 17-1/2 miles to/from work 3 times a week so she can save gas money. It takes her 45 minutes each way, so she has to leave at 6:15 AM and rides back in the hottest part of the day. She is, as always, an amazing example of dedication and self discipline. She is just trying to focus on feeding her brain and working as much as possible to store up financially for Winter. I guess all of our different stages have their purposes and we all continue to stretch, regardless of how "ready" we are, and that is the important thing. I often feel the stretching process is painful and sometimes even injurious but I just keep telling myself that if I can just make it through this "run" it will get easier. The irony is that the moment it does get easier more miles mysteriously seem to get added to the workout and I have to train even harder. It is a crazy circle cycle! (And Lori wonders why I don't want to do more "training"! =)

One of Eden's friends was baptized on Saturday. The chapel was packed with youth--and more people than are ever in attendance for an entire stake baptism. Trying to fit everyone into the RS room to see the baptism was a challenge, but miraculously we did it (though I'm sure the Fire Marshall would not have been happy). The youth of Middleton are incredible missionaries!

I got to teach our Gospel Principles class on Sunday. None of our investigators or converts were there as summer seems to take it's toll, so it was a tiny, intimate group of ward missionaries and the Sister missionaries. For 45 minutes we discussed eternal marriage and the spirit was pervasive and the sister missionaries had some powerful comments that added so much. I know it is awful to say, but one of my favorite things about this calling is having the opportunity to "miss out" on the huge, often opinionated, Gospel Doctrine class in favor of this tiny, simple, doctrinally sound Gospel Principles class. It is often the highlight of my Sundays (especially when I'm not teaching=).

This past week our days consisted of school supply shopping, work, Olympics, Fred in Las Vegas, mutual, Eagle Scout service projects, baptisms, community movies in the park, and the usual mayhem that seem to ever pervade the walls of this home full of Bloomers. I will miss the steady hum--and often explosions--of family interaction when routines start to change next week.

Quote of the week:
"Whatever our age, whatever our location, when things occur in our lives…we will forever be in the middle…Yes, there will be moments of beginnings and moments of endings throughout our lives, but these are only markers along the way of the great middle of our eternal lives…Being always in the middle means that the game is never over, hope is never lost, defeat is never final. For no matter where we are or what our circumstances, an eternity of beginnings and an eternity of endings stretch out before us." —President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Our Odd Duck Abe and his "Magazine Masks"

From Elder Jordan

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

From: Elder Jordan
Date: Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 12:14 PM

Dear Family,

     This week has been so wonderful, like all others.  We had 3 investigators in the chaple and 162 was the assistence, which for here is outrageous.  I gave a baby blessing as well.  One of the recient converts Cristian Montecinos asked me to do it, I accepted but was so nervous, all the way untill I got up on to the stand and instantly my mind was calmed and words feeled my mind of what I needed to say.  It was a testimony builder for me.  I think one of the happiest feelings one can have is to teach someone in their house about the gosple and to see them in church on sunday.  I wouldn´t trade that feeling for a million donuts from Krispy Kreame.  

  A couple of nights ago we were walking back to our house saludando a todos, and we met a guy from Russia that was speaking to me in English and Spanish both fluently.  He had just come from the states in BYU  helping with some transalating from Arabic to English, come to find out he is fluent in 12 different languages.  It was a weird feeling there talking to him, you could tell that he had a gift and he was a humble guy, he wasn´t bragging about it I had to pry it out of him that he knew 12 languages but it was cool speaking to someone with so much in side there brain.  I think that has been one of my many favorite things being out here is just getting to know new people everyday.

  Yesterday we had a sector slam, and me and my companion left with a joven of 13 years.  He reminded me of Abe,  we had a good time and were laughing the whole time.  Me and my companion were getting him cyked to go on a mission.  I think he got pretty pumped.  

  Well I, my fellow bloomers,  I love you so much.  

Love Elder ...