Easter

I love Easter and I try hard to keep perspective and focus on the day, but I do hold onto some fun (usually), but frivolous traditions that took me to the brink this weekend. Finding a spring dress that is modest for teenage girls is a nightmare! I have gotten out of the habit of sewing for my children because it is so time intensive and can become quite expensive, but next year that may be the only option. I spent two weeks, on and off, looking in every store in Nampa and we could find nothing that covered the girls knees. On Saturday I got desperate and went to the mall in Boise (you don't even know how desperate I have to be to go there) and after HOURS and embarassingly loopy girls =) we finally found things that barely brushed over the knees. Oh for the days (that I still have with the twins) where the hardest decision is which princess dress to buy. After that marathon I didn't even want to look for me, but I think my family felt fresh and "beautiful" Easter morning. 

We had stake conference this weekend, which added so much to our Easter celebrations. I love the adult, Saturday sessions, which are always so intimate. Our stake presidency is remarkably powerful and their messages were profound. I am always sad that those talks aren't recorded so we can re-read them over and over again like General conference messages. I forgot my glasses that evening and was taking notes as fast and furiously as I could write , but I couldn't see which made the task so much more difficult. =) An announcement was made that our stake has been authorized to organize our own Young Single Adult branch. Currently there is a branch that combines 3 other stakes and which meets in Caldwell, but it doesn't attract a huge amount of our youth because it is far away and Caldwell has so many spiritual struggles, but there is much excitement about having our own branch. I've never been a huge advocate of singles wards outside of the college environment, but I do see a unique potential in this case for unity and leadership training opportunities as our huge group of youth come to and fro from college or prepare for those experiences. Even Mikayla is excited and she has never shown any interest in attending the student ward before and Fred and I get to be right in the middle of it all. I'm feeling a little giddy! ;)

After the meeting we got to talking about the announcements and the talks and I asked Jet what he thought about Elder Uchtdorf's talk on fulfilling a mission and without a pause he told us that he had already decided to serve a mission, right after listening to General Conference. The boy is a mystery to me, but that was exciting news for all of us. He will still fulfil his enlistment and so isn't planning on going for 3 years, but that will give him time to prepare himself and I will continue to make sure we stay in touch as he leaves in June, so he doesn't get "lost". He has a warped "shock and awe" sense of "humour" which he thrives on and which often crosses "the line", but I am learning not to feed into that, which only eggs him on, and I think he is learning to respectfully retreat when I call him on crossing the line. Mikayla says the change is much more dramatic than I know. I feel invested in him and am glad for that insight.

As part of our family Easter basket we bought the new all Men's voice Tabernacle Choir CD. I know Mom doesn't always especially care for Mack Wilburg's arrangements--he loves spirituals and big, dramatic music but we love that and I was so impressed by the way that they could take common, everyday songs and make them into Sabbath fare. Jordan would love the CD and I thought of him all day. I miss his music (well some of it =).

As the close to a perfect Easter day we attended an Institute Easter concert right outside the temple. It was a cantata about the life of Christ. Cantatas can be a bit random for me and this one had it's moments but the Spirit was there and the setting was perfect and some of the pieces were beautiful and we all enjoyed the opportunity to re-contemplate the true meaning of Easter. We are so blessed to live in a spiritual lap of luxury where our opportunities are boundless. I just feel grateful every day to live where we do. I invited Jet to go with us. He never says no, so I try to use that to his advantage (though he may not know it now) and invite him to anything where he may be able to feel the spirit and leave behind the "dark" that he seems to constantly be attracted to.

Things are as crazy around here as usual. Abe is getting stranger by the day (trying to fill in the gaps that Jordan's absence has left=) and sometimes I don't know who raised Mikayla and Eden. They are loud and boisterous and find much pleasure in sitting on each other and being genuinely unladylike. When we are having family time in our back yard Fred and I just shake our heads and feel sorry for our neighbours who no doubt are shaking their heads as well. And yet we often find ourselves laughing at their antics and the twins witty remarks to their antics. They are all a goofy bunch of bones.

The next few weeks have much to keep us looking forward. Fred and I leave for Taylors wedding on May 6th. I'm nervous and excited and am so glad that I don't have to go on my own. I don't think the farm girl will ever be squeezed out of me and when I board my first ever plane, destined for a big, wild city my husbands presence is the only thing that will keep me from shaking. It will be fun to have a little bit of date time in between planned family events because it's the only get-away we'll get this year. And then, when we get home on Mother's Day, we get to talk to Georgie. That will be the most perfect gift of all.

A Smile Only a Mother Could Love;)

Ditto

Our Elder Ware and Elder Crosby

Hunting For Eggs

Eden and Mikayla's Favorite Pastime

Easter Basket looms for Humanitarian Service

Easter Dinner

From Jordan

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

From: Jordan Bloomquist
Date: Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 3:53 PM


Dear Bloomquists,

             First of all I would just like to say what a privelage it is to be on the lords errand while recognising the very reason we have to be joyful.  Easter here was wonderful,  for the most part here in Chile people have a belief in Christ and over all the people are super friendly so everywhere we went people were glad to let us in their houses and here a message about his resurection.  We found many people in this way.  For this next week we are going to have a lot of visits.  We found some people in some sad ways.  One lady we found said her grand daughter had a ping pong table fall on her head and was in her 3rd operation in 10 hours.  The other was a young man that had his aunt pass away recently so started drinking and doesn´t know how he will ever fill the gap.  These are both sad stories, but I am so excited for our next visit because I know this will fill the gap the only thing that can fill the gap.   What a blessing it has been for me to be born with the gap filled.  On good friday it rained hard here I always love it when that happens because the air clears up and the mountains tower over santiago.  Those are what the pictures are.  I also used the rat trap object in a couple of lessons but I found a rat trap that was `pure metal with jaws so when I put my pen in there it shattered in pieces.  I am pretty sure it would take a finger off.  We used it with Alvaro that has been with the missionaries for 4 years  and it made a good impression on him to take the step to be baptised.  I hope the spirit will work with him to give him the courage to make that step.  As for my birthday presents I recieved them on tuesday and I could not have been more excited or pleased.  I have already given out one of the ctr rings to the girl I baptised last week and I carry my book around everywhere I go to show off my family.  Thank you so very very much.  Lily I want you to know that the ctr rings were not rude,  it was the mostest bestest.  I am so excited to talk to all of you in two weeks, I will let you know next week the times.  You all have the best week.  I love you to the end of the universe.

Con amor, 

Elder Bloomquist

Los fotos son de

the rain

my chilean ID i am know chilean

me reping my colo colo hat, the best soccor team in chile

The North Star

It has been a busy week and our bodies are just starting to pull out of the tiredness of it all. Everyone, except Mikayla and I were in bed by 9:00 last night which is a miracle. I planned on going to bed early, but then I remembered I needed to make granola and Mikayla wanted to talk so we went to bed late AGAIN.

The craziness all started on Saturday when the temperature climbed past 65 and we were compelled into the yard to accomplish a weeks worth of work in one day (Fred was so sore the next day from all the manual labor and my arms were were scarred so badly from the raspberries and rose bushes that I had to wear a long sleeves--I wasn't bright enough to do that on Saturday.) It was also Prom for Mikayla, who had the most horrendous cold and the stake dance for Eden. At 4:00 Jeff, Mikayla's date showed up and we met him in the back yard holding tools of various degrees of intimidation =). We needn't have worried, after all the girls incense (the other day he told Eden she didn't need to get a drivers license because there were no roads between the kitchen and the laundry room =) I was prepared for a more chauvinist attitude and greeted him with, "...so this is the infamous Jeffy--I am assuming that all of the talk is just that?" At which point he hastily assured me that it was and then almost swallowed his tongue when his phone went off to the tune of some "screamo" band, so we didn't really get to meet the "real" Jeffy at all, but I did feel confidant that I didn't need to worry about him with my daughter. And after they left to go Frisbee golfing Mikayla said he immediately relaxed and they had fun. They brought the girls back by 5:30 and went home to make dinner for the girls, giving them 2 hours to get ready (which is the kindest thing any of her dates have done for this mother =). Funny note that the girls were ready before the guys who were still shaving when they called and Jeff showed up with his hair still uncombed. =) Eden says she fixes it for him in student council--I had to hold my hands behind my back so I wouldn't be tempted to do the same. =) We took pictures (a tiny bit of his goofy side started to show up then) and Eden and Fred whisked out the door for the stake dance. Fred and I played board games with the little kids until they begged for bed and then exhaustedly waited up for  both of our girls. Eden was home by 11:30, at which time Jeff called to tell us that the dance was over and they would now start cleaning up (the girl they doubled with is also on student council and was on the Prom committee). We had been forewarned of that and they were given previous permission, but I asked them to call us when they finished and were heading home as they were clear in down-town Boise. That phone call didn't come in until after 12:45 and she didn't walk in the door until after 1:30 and then of course we had to talk so we went to bed after 2:00 and I woke up at 6:00 on Sunday morning. Such fun!!!

Sunday morning a good friend of Jordan's, Jancen Walker, spoke in sacrament meeting before leaving on his mission, so we attended that in Eagle, then went straight to our ward, then came home for 15 minutes to grab something to eat and headed over to a different building to hear Bro. Leeren and Sis. Beverly Walker report from their mission. They were both such uplifting meetings. Jansen and his family are so inspiring to me...always so joyful and gracious. I went up to hug them afterwards and when Jansen grabbed me in a bear hug I had such tender feelings thinking of Jordan and the mission field and motherhood that I cried and cried. I told Mikayla and Eden they had my permission to marry any of our Middleton Walkers, but they just roll their eyes and tell me that they are cousins........... which really isn't true because there are no blood relations there, but their loss. =) We are so happy to have Leeren "the Tornado of Love" back in our midst. I love the genuine concern, inclusion, cheerful energy and pure joy that radiates from that entire, huge family. It is addictive to be around them. Maybe that is because I am nothing like that and I yearn to be.

As we were waiting for the meeting to start in Bro. Walkers ward, I noticed that Brooklyn, one of the young women that I have learned to love in the stake, who has Down Syndrome, sitting a few rows ahead of me. I noticed that she was wearing a formal as has become a tradition the Sunday after any dance. I thought maybe she was just dressed up because she knew some of the other girls would be, but as I made my way up to talk to her, I noticed she was also wearing a corsage. She saw me coming before I reached her as gave me a vivacious greeting, as she always does and I commented on her dress and her flowers and she excitedly told me that she had gone to Prom. I was so pleased. When I sat back down I asked Mikayla who had taken her and she pointed to the sacrament table where a beautiful young man was sitting; dark and handsome and I almost cried. These Middleton youth never cease to amaze me. Mikayla's date walked in and I saw crazy hair and a suit that was way too big, but Mikayla and Eden and their peers see intelligence, wit, kindness and goodness and as this young man at the sacrament table came off the stand and sat beside Brooklyn, I could tell that he could see a daughter of God. I am greatful for the strength of this generation and the way in which this community of young people live up to their potential because of the support of each other.

One of our missionaries, Elder Ware was transferred on Monday. Lily wrote Jordan and told him that he was "translated". He wasn't that perfect but he was fun and I will miss his southern drawl and hearing his "yes ma'am". I will be interested to see who takes his place and what their visits will add to Jet's visits. This is the fourth missionary to leave since they started teaching in our home and it is always sad to see them go.

We are enjoying the week of Easter as we changed our family scripture study to incorporate Christ's last week. I am always trying to think of ways to make it more spiritually meaningful for the kids. Honestly, it is hard to keep my youngest ones focused on things of depth when there are so many fun traditions surrounding Easter. I think there is a place for all of it but it does take work to keep everything in perspective. We have a tradition that our Easter basket on Sunday morning is a family one and filled only with spiritually relevant things. I am always so surprised how hard it is to find things that satisfy that goal and are relevant to all of the age groups of our family.

Mikayla had her bottom 2 wisdom teeth removed on Monday. They gave her IV sedation and she was in there for hours so she wasn't firing on all cogs yesterday afternoon. She had a mouth full of cotton when I brought her home and kept trying to talk to me, but I could tell she was "falling a little behind" and she fell instantly asleep when I brought her in the house. An hour later her best friend stopped by with a milkshake just as she was waking up and we sat on the couch with her for an hour as she volleyed between fits of laughter for no apparent reason to sobbing in my arms because of the most minute things. Eden started cam-cording her at first but it became a bit too vulnerable when the sobbing started, so that was immediately terminated. Drugs are such a powerful thing. Of course after she pulled out of it we all had a good laugh, but it was sad at the time and I didn't dare leave her side. The soreness is starting to kick in today and she is getting sick of the liquid diet, so I'm hoping she heals up as quickly as Jordan did as she lives for Choir Tour in San Francisco next Thursday.

Life is crazy---crazier than I ever imagined it would be. I am so grateful for the lifeline of the gospel and the absolute confidence that I have that the prophets words are equal to the Lords and that the Lord is omnipotent and has everything under control. Without the Sun and the North Star I am sure I would be lost, wandering to and fro. It's easy still to feel that way some days when I take my eyes off the skies. One of my favorite quotes says, "I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars." Most days I see a bit of both.

 

From Jordan

From: Jordan Bloomquist
Date: Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 4:02 PM


Hola Chiquillos,

          Hey remember that time when you guys are like my most favoritest people in the whole wide world. SHazamm.  So this week has been so great, I have gotten to know Elder Erickson much more and so we are working on the same page and going to town, going to town is a figure of speach we only go to town on p days so don´t you worry your little horses, ... which is also another figure of speach.  Anyways  we Baptised a girl named Liz yesterday, she is such a strong girl.  She is only 12 years old but has already had a harder life than most people I know.  I am so grateful everyday that I had the privelage to be born into the church.  The baptismal service was so special, it felt like we really were just a big family.  I forgot to fill up the font until an hour before the service and it take about 5 hours to fill up using warm water so we turned on straight cold water and I didn´t do it right the first time so I had to baptise Liz twice in freezing cold water, I felt so bad for her but the best part was she was so calm about it, she is usually so shy but she had no fear just pure calm and the spirit was so strong.

  We have also been working with this other family of 4 that are so great they have been praying every night as a family even though they don´t like to because it brings tention and fighting being in the same room.  I have seen that they are growing closer together through this simple act.  I know that Heavenly Father blesses us through the small things.  Its like dimonds they are only small rocks so why bother with them but we don´t realize that the banker is waiting with a thick stack of cash if we will only turn the rocks over to him.

   Mikayla and Eden take lots of pictures on tour and have so much fun.  

Dad the white stone is working magic.  I was wondering if you could send me my line of authority if you have that.   

   Tonight we have a lesson with a Jehovas Whitness which will be interesting I hope we just don´t start fighting.  Because I here they like to do that so we will go and talk to them the best we can.

 Well I love you all 5000 google times 

Love Elder Bloomquist

 P.S.  Por favor manda saludas con amor, say hello with love,  a hermana y hermano Walker 

P.s s  I haven´t recived any package yet I did recieve the letters but only a couple from semenary

The foto is Liz at her baptism

Little Things

They read a first presidency letter today in sacrament meeting asking us not to speculate about the location of the Meridian temple. Whoops! That warning came a little too late.

There was a big stake Relief Society mtg. this last Tuesday. The Laurels were also invited but Mikayla couldn't miss choir so I went on my own. The theme was compassion and the wife of one of the Bishops in our stake spoke. She is an entertaining woman, but she is also a woman with an immense amount of depth and insight. It was both humorous and moving. She based her talk on a Neil A. Maxwell quote that differentiated between compassion and pity. I can't seem to find the exact quote online, I'll have to ask her to send it to me, but her talk was so intimate and profound and she emphasized that compassion was tough and the real McCoy and that pity was weak and an imposter. I was moved and motivated to work more on becoming truly charitable. One thing that she said was that Christ had the power to have accomplished everything he did by his words alone, but he chose physical touch. She talked quite a bit about the healing power of that alone. I almost didn't go that night. Tuesdays are busy and I'd almost always rather stay home by evening time, but something bigger than myself got me out the door and I am so glad that I went.

We are over a week into Middleton Unplugged. We forgot about it during Spring Break, and then conference was on Sunday so we started two days late, but it is always a good thing to go through "screen de-tox" and spend more time together as a family. We've been playing lots of games and made our annual trip to the YMCA yesterday, which I think the kids really enjoyed. Abe, Lily and Sophie were issued a "screen free challenge" from school and signed the contract. Those who make it will be awarded with a special party and prizes, so they are excited. Their challenge only involves "entertainment" so they can still get on the computer for homework or work charts or to write Jordan, but we try to keep the computer off as much as possible after school hours and they have all been very stalwart and will have no trouble reaching their goal. It is a little more difficult for some of the rest of us and a downright struggle for Eden, but we are all doing great as well and as usual I am seeing positive family benefits. It's a unique community challenge and I love how it brings us together.

Speaking of our little community a brand new Ridley's is slated to open up in June and in anticipation of that we now have our first stoplight in Middleton.=( It is not working yet, but it is standing as a testimony to progression, no matter how hard some of us (me) resist change.

Mikayla was asked to Prom last Friday by a boy the girls refer to as "Jeffy". I hear of him continuously in Eden and Mikayla's conversations and I could tell they both enjoy his company, but their comments have always been about his male chauvinist jokes or his "nerd appeal" or his Star Wars obsession or his "Phone Call" hairdo etc., so I was a little surprised that Mikayla seemed excited to go. He isn't a member of the church, so of course my mom alarms have been going off like crazy, but Eden and Mikayla both insist he is a good kid with high standards, from an actively religious family and that this is purely a "friend date" with absolutely no attraction on either side, so what can I say? Since the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet was revised there are no black and white RULES. I guess Eden works with him on student council and gave him quite a tongue lashing when she discovered that he wasn't planning on going to his Senior Prom and convinced him (or probably more likely verbally abused him until he gave in=) and the next thing she knew he was planning on asking Mikayla, so Eden is sure she has accomplished heroic feats. I just hope he passes "the mother interview" at the front door.

He asked her with a sandwich delivery during lunch period at school and a note attached that said, "I did the womanly thing and made you a sandwich, now why don't you do the womanly thing and say yes to going with me to Prom." I guess there is quite a bit of sparring (they say, all in good fun) that goes on between him and the girls at school and the amount of feminine incense directed towards him is encouraged (what better way to get so much female attention). Mikayla answered him with a box of tide detergent filled with old clothes that had a Mikayla poem written on them about doing more womanly chores and washing the laundry and wrote most of it in washable marker and the words, "of course" intermingled in the poem in permanent marker. This was pretty late notice, so I am glad she already has a dress she hasn't worn and we found a pretty jacket so I don't have to sew one this time.

I am looking forward to Easter in two weeks, as it is my second favorite holiday. Our stake conference is scheduled that weekend which will add a nice touch. I am hoping for beautiful weather so we can have our family's traditional semi authentic Easter dinner outside. The chill has been hanging in here pretty well lately, but everything is greening up and blooming, so nature is convinced that it is spring.

Jordan still hasn't gotten any of his birthday packages that we mailed over a month ago. Taylor said he never had any trouble with mail in Chile but I'm getting worried. We put so much time into making him a book of family pictures and quotes from prophets and even had it published and bound online. We also sent him 30 spanish "CTR" children's rings that he wanted to give away, but I guess we'll just wait and see. I guess those are all "little things".

I'm waiting for the temperature to hit 70 degrees so I can start officially come out of hibernation and start working on my yard. It better warm up fast, because I'm already falling behind! =)

From Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Bloomquist
Date: Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 3:22 PM


Dear Bloomsqueekers,
  Middleton un plugged huh what a great program an opportunity.  That is something that I would have loved to do more.  I love music and I loved talking to my friends on the computer but I have noticed that all those friends that I had in high school are kind of faded away with an exception of some of my best friends.  But more time spent with family here means less awkwardness up in heaven when we have to say we chose electronics over family time.  I know it is much easier said than done but I have learned from my mistakes.  I am so excited for this new temple in meridian.  That will be cool...   CODY PALMER is coming to this mission that is so awesome I knew him really well in high school what a wonderful kid he is.  That will be so fun.  Mikayla you will have to tell me everything that goes down in your prom date I already know that you are going to have a memorable experience.  As well as a fun experience.   This week has been a good one with my new companion it has been different and I miss Elder Lyman but Elder Erickson is awesome and we have found 3 wonderful families together that are working toward baptism.  It is starting to get cold here and begining the raining season.  Im excited for that I love the rain and they say that you can swim in the streets because there is so much rain. 
   So I am starting to get a little bit of love around the middle and about 5 chins instead of three, I am doing my excercises and have made the choice not to eat after 10 when we get back to the pention but the people feed us so much here that sometime we end up throwing the food away because it goes bad faster than we can eat it.  We have started giving everything that we get from members to homeless people and it has led to finding contacts.  We have had some wonderful experiences that way.
I love you guys, have a wonderful beautiful rest of the week.
Elder Bloomsqueek

From Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Bloomquist
Date: Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 3:44 PM


Dear Family,

   Isn´t it that so cool that we have 3 Christmases a year.  Wow what a blessing to have a prophet in our day, someone who can speak face to face with a being that has more glory and greatness than we can imagine,  a being that has created everything that the human has ever seen and not seen and has more love for every single person on this earth that our minds can not even begin to wrap our mind around the concept.  I felt a little bit of guilt during Elder Scotts talk for not telling those I love how much I am grateful for them and how much I love them often, so I am saying it right now.  My family is the most important thing to me ever Mom, Dad, Mikayla Eden Abe Sophie and Lily you are more important to me than food, than shelter , than Fun, I love you guys and I am so happy that we can live together forever.  I think my favorite conference talk was the one about pain and how sometimes we think it is just hurting us but if we understand the deeper meaning, it only hurts so we can become stronger.  

    Some days out here all of our appointments have fallen through and it is in the middle of the day frying out side so everyone is sleeping and doesn´t want to come out of their houses and it would be so much eaisier and less PAINfull to go back to the house and just rest up using the excuse that if we rest we will be more strengthened when night comes.  But every single time and I mean everytime that we have stuck with it I have learned so much about my self weather self control, perseverence, or we find someone to teach and we are filled with strenghth happiness joy and everything else wonderful.  I know that this is the work of our God and when we do it in HIS way he will bless us with HIS blessings which far out weigh any riches of the world.

  One of my new favorite scriptures is 1 Nephi 17:50 because he has such great faith despite everyone else murmuring, geting beat, almost killed, numberous times by his enemys and by his own family and having to leave his home to live in the middle of the desert, and to follow a ball that apeared out side one day.  Through pain we learn.  another one is in Hebrews 11:40 JST.

    Today was changes and Elder Lyman left, I am still in my sector but I have a new companion his name is Elder Erickson, he seems like such a great guy and I am excited to work with him for the next 8 weeks.  

My favorite person in the book of mormon is Nephi or Moroni.

My favorite snack   Food

My favorite song He is risen or um I can´t remember what it is called in english but in spanish Tengo gozo en mi alma hoy

My Favorite color Maroon

Hobbies Music, I love to play the guitar and sing and also draw

Well it seems that time again but I just want you to know I love you all so very much.

LOve 

 Son and Brother  

Elder Bloomquist

Now Is The Time

Spring break was wonderful! Just enough clouds and rain to make us want to cozy together under quilts we were tying and watch long Victorian movies and just enough sunshine to be enticed to dig in the dirt and lounge, arms spread wide on a hammock, feeling incomparably grateful for the promise of warmth. Unfortunately Fred had to work all week, but the kids and I were able to just relax and do whatever we wanted. We worked on goals and callings, visited cousins and friends, shopped, read, watched movies, played games, had a family barbecue, and had the missionaries and Jet over. He made the comment to me on Thursday that it must have been a hard week with all the kids home all day. That seems to be a common mis-perception and I'm not sure why people think that--I LOVE having my kids home! 

By far my favorite thing this week was being together as a family (I knew Jordan was doing the same thing, so our family felt complete) and watching conference. It is so inspiring to sit at the feet of prophets and feel the Spirit continuously for two full days. As it was wrapping up and Elder Holland was speaking I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my face-- the Spirit was so intense. He has a tremendous gift to be able to draw on the powers of heaven like he does. There were so many messages that touched me. I was especially moved by Elder Scott's talk on eternal family relationships and the profundity of Elder Lynn G. Robbins talk on being and doing. I loved Elder Uchtdorf's symbolism of the road to Damascus and Elder Bednar's object lesson about time lapse and intensity of light. I was so surprised and pleased with the Meridian temple announcement. Only Utah has anything that close together. Fred is positive he knows where it is going to be built. It will be interesting to watch the construction unfold and see if he is right. The excitement of that announcement fueled my motivation to follow Pres. Monson's call to follow Pres. Kimball's suggestion to post temple pictures in every bedroom. It has taken me years just to get one in the living room, and I finally got one framed and one my wall a few weeks ago, but I will just keep moving forward. I was excited to learn, from Elder Eyring, about the welfare projects that each of us will be involved in this year and to recommit to my covenants to help those who are less fortunate. I was grateful for the reminders to attend the temple more often, be more attentive to my devotions on the sabbath day and regain childlike attributes. I was comforted by promises of peace and healing through our trials and strengthened in my role as a woman. I was reminded of the monumental importance of simple gospel truths like faith and testimony and the sacredness and importance of this name which the church bears and which we have taken upon ourselves. I was emboldened by the call to hone my desires, firm up my integrity and reach high expectations and humbled by the profound, ponderous truth that all these things are possible because of the atonement that is available to each of us. 

I invited Jet over both days to experience conference. I am learning that he is not a boy that says no readily so I try not to be too overpowering. =) I think he enjoys being here, but that many meetings in a row was new for him and he was exhausted by Saturday night and by Sunday night I think Mikayla was exhausted from being hostess. =) He is very young, his testimony is fledgling and based more on logical, intellectual fact than feelings and I think emotional reactions to the Spirit in our home are a little confusing for him (oh, who's kidding who--my emotions are a little confusing for everybody, including me=) but I think his familiarity with spiritual feelings will come with time as he continues to learn and do and become. His life is still dominated by violent computer gaming, and books and media which sound dark and oppressing, but I know learning comes line upon line. I am sure there are many who are more spiritually mature than I that could probably look on my some of my choices the same way, but we each have to learn on our own, through our own experiences, how to increase the light in our own lives. No one can learn that for us.

Sometimes that concept is frustrating to me; things can seem so clear to some and so impossibly murky to others. A few weeks ago, Mikayla was trying to program an excel spreadsheet to conform with my budgeting method. She is smart and persistent, but she isn't overly familiar with Excel and it was a complicated thing I was asking her to do. At one point a mathematical computation was not making sense to me (not a real shocker, I know =). Mikayla could prove that the computation had been performed correctly, so she could make sense of it and tried to explain the concept to me without a glimmer of success. We went over it numerous times until we were both a little frustrated. At that point, Fred came home from work and Mikayla explained the dilemma to him and because the computer said she was right, he could immediately see her point of view so he tried to explain it to me, without any luck. I really wanted to understand and I tried so hard to wrap my mind around what he was trying to explain to me and with complete patience, he tried various different ways to portray his point of view, but I COULD NOT grasp the concept, and was so frustrated that I was on the verge of tears and finally, in frustration, knowing my math deficiencies and Fred and Mikayla's superior understanding I decided to accept what they were telling me to do, even though it made no sense, trusting their experience and the computer's "intelligence". That is a hard thing to do! I had to run an errand, so left Mikayla working on other parts of the program and while I was gone she found a simple error in my transfer amounts which changed the math problem and in a moment was able to see that what I was trying to convey had been correct but because my information was skewed it messed up a function which was also correct. Within minutes of my return, Fred, Mikayla and I were seeing clearly and unitedly. The parallel is a bit of a jump, but I learned a few gospel principles from that experience. First that kindness and patience are essential characteristics in strengthening our relationships with each other. Even though each of our sights were skewed, our relationships, in that instance, were not. I felt loved by their honest, unpatronizing, extended efforts to help me and when the real truths were found there was no need for apologies on anyone's part. I also learned that no matter how right or wrong, we cannot force anyone to see our point of view. Points of view are colored by experience, by maturity and levels of understanding, by who we choose to trust and why and sometimes by mis perceptions and inaccuracies. I gave up on something I felt strongly about because I assumed that others knew best, but when we gain true wisdom we realize that we can't put our trust in "man" no matter how intelligent or experienced, but in God alone, who is truly omnipotent, and only then can we call our choices "faith". Over the years I have learned things for myself that I wish I could "make" others "see" and "see" things that others have learned that I wish I "knew", but that testimony isn't available by proxy. So, I have to keep reminding myself, "line upon line, precept upon precept". That is the whole purpose for our every single day.

Thursday, Fred and I went visiting our young single adults. We were able to talk to a young woman, who is trying to get back to college in a few weeks, and visit with the mother of a young man who is "drifting" It felt good to actually be doing something instead of just planning the doing, but conference reminded me that not even doing is enough. 

Last night Sis. Fisher called to talk to Mikayla and I happened to answer the phone. We talked for a few minutes about conference and about Jordan and about Young Women and then I handed the phone to Mikayala and cried in Fred's arms. And it finally hit me that what I miss so acutely is that constant, POWERFUL confirmation of the spirit that I felt continuously for almost 4 years because of the abundant programs and meetings that I was a part of almost daily. And now I have to WORK for that feeling, instead of it being consistently handed to me on a silver platter. It was like listening to conference for 4 years. And now I feel like it is the Monday after, which it literally is,=) and I have to get back to work and the "real" world. Well, you know what I've always quoted, "I am blessed with work". Now is the time to prove that.

FAVORITE QUOTE NOTES FROM CONFERENCE:

--"To do" without "to be" is hypocrisy and portrays a false image to others; "to be" without "to do" is void and portrays a false image to self.

--Never let failure be confused with identity

  (both from Elder Lynn G. Robbins)

--In this conference you may find a personal, prophetic epistle just for you.

  (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland)

--Live the full feminine splendor of righteousness.

  (Elder Richard G. Scott)

--Those who cannot endure chastening, will not receive sanctification.

--It is not about what we have done, but about what we have become.

  (both from Elder D. Todd Christofferson)

--Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women.

  (Elder M. Russel Ballard)

--Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our actions, actions determine who we will become.

  (Elder. Dallin H. Oaks)

--Move forward with faith--do not wait too long on the road to Damascus.

 (Elder Deiter F. Uchtdorf)

Small and Simple Things

Fred and I have had the calling of YSA Advisor for almost 3 months and have only been successful in visiting with 6 of the 24 youth in our group, all of who are still in high school and actively attending our ward. Of the remaining 18, 4 are on missions, and one has such intense special needs that her parents don't feel that the goals of this specific group fit her needs. We have found enough information to move 3 names off our list and have added 3 more, but after every temporal resource and avenue available, we are still trying to locate 8 youth who seem not to want to be found, which is really the group we've been asked to focus on. The nice clean print-out we were given is almost unreadable because of all of the notes and yet, in truth, we have not accomplished anything of real worth in all of these weeks and ultimately it comes down to the fact (in my case) that jumping into the actual trenches is terrifying to me. Sometimes you have to rely on other people in order to find any information and often that information can be intimidating, especially when they involve guns and threats if you show up on someone's porch. But, we can progress no further on paper and now is the time to ACT in faith.

A few weeks ago, as we were sitting in Sacrament meeting, Jet stood up to bear his testimony. It caught me off guard and as he stood there I realized that here was a young man, who a year before was slamming (literally) doors in missionaries faces and would have wanted nothing to do with me, in my YSA role and now he was standing in front of a congregation of hundreds sharing his belief in the gospel and I thought of the scripture in the D&C that says, "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." and I received the strong impression that if I would just be faithful and put forth the effort, I would be guided to those who do want to be found, no matter what I can't find on paper and I would be protected. Even so, I have let two more weeks go by and continue to put all my efforts after paperwork and active members and I think the Lord is tiring of my lethargy because I opened my scripture study a few days ago to D&C 60 and read, " But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them. And it shall come to pass, if they are not more faithful unto me, it shall be taken away, even that which they have." Needless to say, I am feeling severely chastened and have made a commitment to go out every week and start knocking on doors and just trust in the Lord. We have a formal appointment on Thursday and will see if we can't make some informal ones at the same time.

After all, I have spent the last 20 years of my life preparing Jordan to go out and do what he IS doing and what I have been refusing to do. It's funny--as a Primary president I visited every home of every child on my list consistently with no fear, even though I had to approach an adult in order to get to the child, but when I am asked to actually go looking for the "adult", I am full of fear. I know that's because I am not being full of faith, because we have been told that the two can not co-exist.

On a completely other subject...We have had to pull Eden out of Music Theatre of Idaho after only one day of "The Secret Garden" rehearsals, because the scheduling conflicted with Choir tour and was so intense that after missing only one F.H.E., we both knew it wasn't going to be emotionally sensible. The fact that there were a few mandatory Sundays involved made it a clear cut decision, but Eden was initially so disappointed as she has looked so forward to the experience. As novices, there were just so many things to know that we weren't aware of when we signed up, so we lost all of the money that we invested up front, but you live and learn. I will say, that the one practice that we did attend was so interesting. All of the cast showed up and after much kissing and hugging (most seemed to know each other very well) all sat in a large semicircle and did a dry run of the entire script ( a 3 hour experience). It was truly enlightening to watch these everyday (mostly rough looking) people share their amazing talents in that dingy little room in Nampa and when they were near the end, the young woman playing the part of "Lily" started singing her song, "How Could I Ever Know?" and became so emotional she couldn't make it past the first stanza and then the young man beside her became emotional and the young man playing "Archibald" got up and kneeled behind her chair and held onto her shoulders and I became emotional! She made it through admirably, but I was awed by the power of beautiful music and the ability to empathize so completely with a character. Eden got the vibe that the two were married, which would explain how easily she could get "into character" and she has played the part before because I saw her in the play when we first moved here.The talent in the room was truly amazing and I think a bit intimidating to both Eden and I. I am still excited to go see some of the plays even though Eden won't be able to perform in them. I think she has finally realized that her plate is quite full right now and other opportunities will come in due time. She wants to do everything but "sometimes more isn't better... it's just more". College is going to be FUN for her and she will have the responsibility of deciding on her own what she can and can't take on. I will be interested to see where her path takes her.

We are on Spring Break and as usual, there is no feel of Spring, but I have brave crocus and the grass is turning green so it is literally in sight. Mikayla and I will be working hard on Personal Progress this week and we have family activities planner, so an indoor vacation isn't so bad. We went to see Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella with our family at the Morrison Center on Friday. It was a BSU Theatre production and was very enjoyable despite the fact that Prince Charming...wasn't! (much more Mr. Collins than Mr. Darcy)  =). But he wasn't the star of the show and the rest of the cast made up for him. It's a rare treat to get to see a live production and so much fun. It was Jordan's birthday and we've been celebrating the whole weekend--we even made a cake and sang "Happy Birthday!" Tuesday we are going to see "Tangled" at the dollar theatre and the other days we will try to get in some clothes shopping since the kids are running out of clothes. I'm looking forward to just being together.

Abe's name got picked in our Charter school "lottery" last week. We have decided to give it a shot and see if we can have a better experience than Eden's middle school years. I will be sad that he is farther away and it will be a different experience for him since the Charter School is really just 8 portables in a field for now, but I think the different kinds of opportunities will be good for Abe's personality. He doesn't seem to care much either way since his best friends are both going to be homeschooled next year. I think he would like that option, but specifically for Abe we feel like we should encourage less isolation and we have seen good things come from having our children "in the world, but not of the world", especially here in Middleton where we are still very "sheltered" and there are so many good youth to stand together. My only real concern is that the Charter School starts a week before all of the other schools here and gets out at the same time, which Abe is NOT going to be happy with and neither will any of the rest of us since everyone else will be in the regular school district. I have a feeling it's going to get complicated with Eden moving into the new High School and Mikayla taking off to college--6 kids, 4 different school, 3 different cities, 2 different countries. Who would have thought! Things started out so small and simple.

Our sweet (destructive) little Maunzy

Happy 7th Birthday Lily and Sophie

Cover of photo/quote book we made for Jordan's b-day

Eden's "RM"

From Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Bloomquist
Date: Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 3:56 PM


My dear family,

  YOU´RE ALL CRAZY, and I love it because I have a few marbles missing out of the old nogon as well.  

  Thank you so much for all your love and your letters that alone is the best birthday present one can recieve.  

As for the earthquake it happen while we were in the middle of a prayer at one of our investigators houses, Christian, the one that speaks Hebrew, but I only knew it happened because his wife gasped.  I didn´t feel anything, neither did my companion, but when we left and went to our next appointment the asked us if we had felt it.   It was probably bigger in other parts of Chile but Chile is a big country.  When Japan got hit with their tsunami we had earthquake warnings all along the border of Chile and some towns next to the coast evacuated everyone.  Everything is ok with us though and we are still working strong.  Well that is... this last week I got hit by something I have no Idea what,  I was out for 3 days vomiting up a storm but now I am back to 100 percent so all is well.  Fabiola took good care of us as well.  She called us every night to see how I was doing, she brought Elder Lyman lunch, and then today she lecutured me telling me not to get sick anymore.  She is kind of like our second mom and one of our best friends here on the mission.

  Lily the only holiday on your list that they do not celebrate here is St. Patricks Day all the others yes but they have different names.  Valintines Day is Called   Dia de Amor,    Christmas is Called  La Navidad   and Easter is called Pascua.   I am so glad that you and Sophie had a wonderful birthday it sounded like it was really fun.  The word EAT in spanish is Comer and RABBIT in Spanish is Coejo.

Lily and Sophie listen carfully, you are no longer allowed to beat up or attack Abe........unless you want to and then it is OK.   

  Today we have an appointment with a Jevova´s Wittness that we contacted on the street,  he and his family were very nice but we will have to be carefull not to get into any battles, that can be easy sometimes but it never ends out well.  

   I had an interesting spiritual experience this week.  Knowing two languages sometimes helps you understand one language much better.  The word SIN in spanish means WITHOUT but the word SIN in english means to do something bad but then I thought in away it means to be without.  To be with out the presence of the spirit, to be without true happieness, or Joy or comfort or peace.  Then I thought how wonderful the Atonement is to be At one with our Father in Heaven once again.  To be  RE united with the spirit and all of the feelings related to that.   

 2nd Christmas is coming "General Conference" I am so excited. 

I love you guys so much keep doing whats right.

Con todo el Amor en el mundo,

Elder Bloomquist

The pictures are of Elder Lyman and I making bread this week with Alvaro, one of our investigators.

From Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Bloomquist
Date: Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 2:51 PM


Dear Family,

        This week has been so good, like always.  Unlike you guys over there here it is starting to cool down it is nice and Chile in the morning, get it like I am in Chile right now and it is chilly in the morning, its kind of like a little joke.  Oh man I just crack myself up sometimes ha ha ah aha ha ha ha....um .. yeah.  

  Well we don´t have day light savings time here so I made it to church on time,  but I did have to speak for the third time in the same ward in three months,  I talked about prophets and how it is important to attend General Conference.  I am always stressed right up to before i have to talk but when I get up all of my fear seem to fly away.  Dad I just want to let you know that I shared the story of when we were on the father and son camp out then the rain came down so hard and then we had the beautiful sunset that you didn´t stop talking about.
   Where is Drew White headed and Josh and Connor.  And you will have to find out who is coming to this mission.

  So while working this week we have set 3 baptisimal fechas but none of them showed up to church this Sunday, which was a bummer we will need to just keep working with them.  One of our investigators that we are teaching right now wants to be baptised in a river that would be interesting but we still have a lot to teach him he has a lot of evangelico ideas like he believes he can speak hebrew but he just doesn´t know what he is saying.  He is such a great guy though.  His wife had a baby on friday and so we are going to see them tonight.   The castiano is slowly picking up to where I can understand almost everything people are saying and can hold a decient conversation.  I keep working hard at it so hopfully soon I will speak fluently.  

   For personal study the other day I was reading the conference talk of King Benjamin which starts in Mosiah 2.  I challenge you guys to read that .  It´s really good.  Dad what conference talk did you send me I looked through all my emails and couldn´t find any. 

I just found out that the mission has a blog with more pictures   www.santiagomissioneast.blogspot.com 

Thank you for all wrighting I always love to here what is going on in your lives.

I love you so much.

Elder Bloomquist 

P.S. Dad I told the story of the Blue and Yellow ball to my companion for his bed time story last night... he didn´t like it.

From Jordan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Bloomquist
Date: Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 2:56 PM


My Dear friends and Family, implying that as family you are my truest friends,

    Life as a chilean is wonderful and the life of a missionary is something I wish that everyone could experience.  Lucky I have the privalege to be both.  This change I get my carnet which is my chilean identification so I will officially be a chilean, I already am but I will just be more.  This week was a good one we are still on the constant chase of finding new investigators,  the hard part is keeping them but we have some hope for a couple that we have been teaching for sometime.  

    Jonathan was so excited to recieve a messege from you,  he actually talked to the stake president a couple nights ago to get his mission papers started.  He is a good kid.    Andrés recived the holy ghost yestreday and recived the priesthood,  he couldn´t be here the week before because of his work he has been traveling to Brazil and Venesuela with a construction crew.  

   This week I had fun with a dog, normally dogs are running around in their packs keeping to themselves but this time Elder Riding and I were walking down a street, Elder Riding is the companion of Elder Grillone, we were on Exchanges, and a female dog came up to me calmly but stopped an inch from me, it looked me and then made a dive at my calf... Im guessing it just wanted to play tag... with its TEETH it got me with its gums but I was to sly and slick for it to get a nice jucey bite.  It did get my heart pumping though which was actually a blessing because I had been really tierd that day but after the incident had a second wind and went full out with double the strength. 

   Something I have learned from my studies this week,  I have been reading in the new testement and I came to the part about Jesus raising Lazerus from the dead.   First of all I thought it was intersting that when Jesus heard that lazerus was sick he stayed where he was at for two days knowing that lazerus was going to die.  After two days he left for the city where Lazerus lived when he arrived Lazerus had been dead for 4 days,  something interesting about that is that back in the day they people believed that the spirit left the body after 4 days,  the part I like the best though is that when Jesus got there Martha was Crying or weeping because her brother was dead in John Chapter 11 verse 35 it says Jesus wept,  for a little while I was curious, why would Jesus be crying, he already knew that he was going to be able to raise Lazerus from the dead so why did he not just tell her everything would be alright. Then I thought perhaps sometimes it is better comfort just to morn with those who morn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort.  

I also had another idea in 2 nephi 2 25 it says Adam fell that man might be and men are that they might have JOY,  Chirst was perfect, never made a mistake, obviously,  but he was crying with martha which made me think that to have true gozo, felizidad y paz.  Doesn´t mean to just always have a smile,  life is difficult and everyone passes through malos momentos so to have true gozo in our lives maybe means more to have a knowledge and an understanding of the atonement a true understanding that we can know how to put it to work in our lives.

Lily and Sophie 

Happy Birthday

Words of the week 

Gozo= Joy

Felicidad= Happiness

Paz= Peace

Malos momentos= bad times

Abe I found a scripture that may help you because you are now out number by girls who I know get crazy sometimes If that happens you know where to go.  Proverbs 21:19  

I love you all like you were my own family...wait a minute you are my own family, SAWEEEET

Elder Bloomquist

Panic and Peace

I got a message forward from Facebook last week from some guy I had never heard of, written in spanish, so I deleted it and chalked it up to a mistake on his part, but yesterday, while Fred and I were trying to track down some of these single young adults on our list, I got onto Facebook and the message was still there because I had only deleted it in my e-mail. So, I clicked on and deleted it from Facebook and then had one of those post-realizations that I had seen the word Santiago embedded in the message. Of course I got all excited and then panicked because I had deleted it, but my super "techy" daughter retrieved it for me and then I had Elder Navarette, our Spanish Elder translate it for me (and then had Taylor translate it for me since Spanish and Chilean are different). It was from someone named Jonatan Rodriguez who said he was in Jordan's ward. He told us that Jordan was a great missionary, that he loved him, and that they had shared some great times together. I wrote Jordan, asking about him and he verified that he knew him and that they were good friends, so Taylor said that if we want to write back and forth he will translate for us. What fun to have that contact!

A strange, scary thing happened with Maunzy, our chinchilla, this week. Friday night Mikayla had him out in her room and I went up to visit. He was being as crazy as ever and I started looking around the room at all of the damage that he has caused in there (which is very visible and extensive) and as he was jumping around my legs and being charming, as usual, I made a comment to Mikayla about how in the world I was going to keep him around for 15 years, as all my kids started leaving, with his destructo personality. He immediately got up on top of his cage and jumped off and landed halfway in Eden's purse that was hanging open on the closet door, which made him flip and he landed really awkwardly and then ran off. He is hyper and is constantly pulling dangerous stunts so I didn't think anything of it and I left. Five minutes later Mikayla came down really worried, carrying him. She said he was moving like something was wrong with his back leg and when she put him in his cage he flopped limply onto his side. I took him from her and could tell there was definitely something wrong because he wasn't wriggling around (the only time he is still is when he is sleeping and even when you hold him still you can feel the energy in his body). I took him back upstairs and called for Fred, who felt all of his bones, which seemed to be stable, but within minutes he couldn't even walk straight, but kept falling over on one side and then he ears became really limp, so we knew it wasn't just an external injury. It was late at night so we couldn't call the vet, so both Mikayla and Fred got on different computers and started looking up the symptoms he was having and Mikayla  found similar symptoms to heat stroke. The house was only 72 degrees, which is normal for us, but 80 degrees can kill Chinchillas and the post said they could work themselves into heat stroke if they are highly stressed or in pain and so we thought maybe the fall had hurt him enough to panic him. He was going downhill so fast it was scary. We opened the window, put him on refrigerated marble slabs and held ice packs against his body and then Abe suggested that we pray. Everyone was crying. We finally put him in Chester's (our late guinea pig) old cage so he wouldn't be able to move around very much and wouldn't have our added body heat, while trying to hold him still. After about 20 minutes he seemed to be hungry which we thought was a good sign, so we fed him and then left him in a dark, quiet room and checked on him every few minutes. Within a couple of hours he had started to regain his curiosity and by Saturday afternoon seemed to be back to normal. We were all so glad. He is truly a holy terror and I don't know how much will be left of the girls room by the time the responsibility of him gets transferred to a new child, but he would have been sorely missed. he really is a sweet thing.

Fred and I booked our flight to Taylor's wedding this past week and are getting excited for a mini trip together, since it will be close to our anniversary. This will be my first experience flying and I think we are on the same departure flight as Mom and Dad, so it will be fun. As an aunt I am not starting any traditions here. Taylor is probably the first and last wedding I will book a flight for until I am in the role of mother or grandmother, which makes this an unique experience, so I want to make the most of it.

Mikayla found out her college track to BYU-I yesterday. She will be on the Winter/Spring track which starts on Jan. 4 and ends in July. I would have preferred Fall/Winter but she did get her paperwork in one day late, so I guess those are the consequences. That will give her almost a year to work if she can find a job. If not she is going to get pretty stir crazy, I know, but I know it will all work out. I will be so sad to lose my daily work companion and confidant. Her leaving is going to make another enormous hole here at home, and we are all getting a little anxious. They need to teach mini classes in R.S. about the process toward "empty nesting" because it is HARD!

Still hibernating and waiting for the temperatures to come back above freezing.

Jordan's Letter

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jordan Bloomquist
Date: Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 10:09 AM


Hows yalls doin down in M town,

                         To answer your question about the picture the boy in the picture is the brother and he was in the family photo.  This week has been so awesome we had a goal to find 200 investigators this month and last week we were only at 120.  So this week between 18 missionaries through fast and prayer found 89 new people it was a great experience.  Somedays we knocked for four hours straight without any luck, but it seemed that everytime right before we were going to try something new we would find someone and have an incredible lesson with them.  I got sick this week from eating too much food,  it is tradition here that almuerzo is thanks giving but compact into 1 hour for example the other day I had soup first then they brought out a plate of lazagna piled with rice on the side, by the way i have rice at the very least 3 times a week,  when I was done with that they brought out a 2nd plate of the same thing for dessert I had cheese cake and not just 1 serving but not just one two big slices .... for 2nd dessert we had a plate of icecream.  I love the members here and the food but sometimes you CAN have too much.   We also this week were able to get a family to church that hasn´t been in 10 years it was so exciting to see them coming from afar as we waited for them at the chaple.  What even made me more happy is that almost every single member came up to them and introduced themselves.  Tonight we have a family home evening and we always do the treat or the game as well as the lesson.  We are running out of good games so if you guys have any good simple one you should let me know.   

  Mikayla and Eden are you both going on Choir tour and if so where are you going?

My card is now working I don´t know if you did something for that mom or if I just did something wrong the first time but if so thank you.  I will look get a camera next week hopefully.

All the best Wishes and the best love 

Elder Bloomquist  

P.S.

Dear Mom, Got the letter, thank you so much, I am glad manzie is ok,  Jonathan is one of my good friends here the past couple sundays we have gone on splits together and found and taught people together he is 24 and we have been trying to get him excited and started on the wonderful journey of serving a mission.
Have a simply scrumptious week
LOve ya mucho
your son,
Elder Bloomquist