December 9, 2013

GOOD LUCK TO MARI!

Last night I had a great idea - "lets go running in the morning before it gets too cold or snows"... bad idea. woke up and looked outside - crazy snowfall! that plan was scratched pretty fast.

I had a great week and got so many surprises from you all! It made my day like no other! thank you for all that you sacrifice to do so - it is more than gratefully appreciated.

This week was not good in terms of teaching investigators. The few we have are out of town. But we are having great member lessons. We went to a member's house last night to watch the Christmas devotional and they had a neighbor over for dinner that we crossed paths with. they are a cute french family who are athiest, grew up catholic. The members talked with her at dinner about questions she's had throughout life that haven't been answered. They said she is going to come back with her husband and they're going to discuss those questions and they said they are going to talk to her about missionaries, what we do, and will invite us to come. The coolest part is...it's one of my teammate's brother! Small world, right?! We talked about that family and they got so excited - they said it's a little different because she's athiest and we said "but not really. think about who and what she thinks god is. she's just been rejecting falsehood her entire life. good for her." they started talking really fast back and forth at eachother: "this is just something we have to do! sharing the gospel is not an option!"..."yeah! i'm convinced it's totally normal to just ask questions and bring up religion like the weather! other religions do it all the time! why the heak are we so nervous?"...."this week im just going to do it...im inviting all my co-workers to come hear the christmas program in church." this continued forever. it was one of the most energetic, exciting member lessons ive ever been in. 

When we truly understand the atonement and understand the covenants we have made - it begins to click...and we realize that living the gospel and sharing it with everyone we know is not an option. it's not only a blessing..but a duty. And how hard is it to genuinely care about someone, invite them over for dinner, and ask them what they think about God? Many times people dont believe there could be a God or dont understand what it means to have a relationship with him because they dont even get God in the first place. Of course they hate organized religion, or of course they dont understand why someone would want to be with their family forever, or of course they dont believe religion can bring peace. Because they don't understand the other half - THE TRUTH. As a result, they've just been REJECTING FALSEHOOD. Kudos to them. They're closer to truth than they think!

I've been thinking lately a lot about patience and remembering. We all sometimes feel like we get in a spiritual rutt, or we feel like the heavens are closed, or that maybe God heard our prayer 2 weeks ago, but it doesnt seem like he's hearing the one today. I've been learning that a lot of times that's just simply when God wants us to remember - to remember all the promptings we've received, remember all the revelation and answers, and remember those simple and grand spiritual experiences...then we just get off our knees and go forward, knowing that it's ok..that revelations haven't ceased.

Those are the random thoughts for the week. By the way, hate to say i told you so...but we have a real christmas tree :) all yall said i wouldnt get one....WELL - there were left over branches from ward wreathmaking, so we took home some trash leftovers and wired some branches together. Classily duct taped to a laundry soap container. julie graciously sent lights - so now it looks even better. boo-ya - real christmas tree. On the bright side, the bishop's wife bought us the set for wreathmaking. it was so nice of her. we were able to make a wreath that is hanging on our door like all the classy belmont people. wreathmaking was a joooookke. josh groban was there (ok not him...but his twin) and the gym looked like black friday maddness to the max. if all these hours of set up were given to women tying quilts or putting together soldier carepackages instead of busily grabbing your favorite bow i wonder how the world would change. nonetheless it was a great event - over 75 nonmembers came. busy busy for the next month doing "whats next" lessons with members. couldn't ask to be in better wards! love love love it here!

2 christmas parties this week thanks to covering 2 wards..then we were put in charge of decorating for the missionary christmas conference next week so we will be busy! 

Love you all!

Sister Bell 

Dont forget to take a moment to remember 

December 2, 2103

Hope you had as much of a fantastic thanksgiving as I did!

This Thanksgiving will go down in the books because Sister Crane and I got to teach our first lesson OVER SKYPE. What? Yes. You heard that correctly. President Haight has a friend who moved to California who is going to stanford but is moving to new york soon - its kind of a crazy situation so WE are teaching him. And we get to teach him via skype. At first it was a tad awkard...waving hello..can you hear me? But then..it was magical. Not that this should be a surprise but you could feel the spirit SO strong. He had so many deep but simple questions. "What is the purpose of life?" "Why do bad things happen to both bad people and innocent people?" I dont doubt his traumatizing past that has led him to ask these questions. He is coming on vacation to Belmont in a couple weeks! We are excited to meet him in person. He is from the lowest of classes in India (literally divided) and somehow made it to America and completely changed his life around. Now he's proving himself to be one of the best business men. We feel so lucky to get to teach him. and SO blessed that we have access to technology that make it possible to literally "teach all nations".

Other than that we've been ingrained in the ward so much which is great. Helping with their "50th anniv. wreathmaking" - talk of the town...literally THE TOWN. they expect around 300 people. its over the top insanity - but welcome to belmont. went to the 8 yr old baptism of the cutest little boy who i got to teach when we did exchanges so we already had a fun connection with them. Where else in the world do you print out classy programs and cater california pizza kitchen for the baptism? Oh belmont you can do better than that. jokes.

loving life - loving being with sister crane. and we just bought christmas lights that we're going to hang up. yay! Woa - just occured to me.....get to see ya'll over skype in T - 23 days. Woa. Weird. Weird weird

Love you all - thank you for your prayers, love, support, letters, and packages that brighten a missionary's day.

Sister Bell

November 25, 2013

Family!

Enjoying my first weekend in the great town of Belmont. Its quite exhausting being transfered from little Ellington to 2 HUGE wards and learning how to be a sister trainer and on top of that the APs gave us a mini missoinary for the weekend. The first 2 days i felt like a brand new missionary- worst feeling ever but im gettin the swing of it. I love it here but church is just one big joke. First of all we are in church or in a church meeting for 8 hours each sunday. I never thought sitting would be so exhausting. The first ward has their primary program....but im not really sure you should call it a primary program when youre competing with mormon tabernacle choir orchestra status. They had a progressional walk in with the kids in 2 rows holding hands and 10 violenists and a chelloist. The whole focus was inviting friends though and so many people came! They even gave us a small part in the program. Despite all the fluff and stuff, you know the church is still true because kids on the front row still picked their noses. I looked at sister crane and said, "this is just pathetic". she laughed and said "youre not in kansas anymore". Don't worry, at least the members are normal. To define "NORMAL", im refering to you know, your typical sunday ward: Mitt Romneys son sitting in front of you, clayton christansen sitting beside you, pres haight, the stake president, patriarch, jane clayon johnson from good morning america a few rows up, Elizabeth Smart's brother, eh thats just a few i care to name right now. The rest are just boring old millionaries and harvard and MIT grads so theyre not important enough to mention just yet.

Sister Crane and I have a musical number in a couple weeks and im really looking forward to playing in front of people who have literally mastered in music.

The good news is that i had dejavu flashback moment in Brandon's shoes. Sitting in a members home and i said im from Camarillo.

Camarillo? I have good friends there!

Oh yeah? Who?
The Barfus family! Their pictures on our fridge

I go to the fridge and sure enough, they weren't lying.

 

THEN! I look in the directory and I see Wunderli. Wunderli? Well thats not a common name. I have sister crane point them out and sure enough it's Dave's cousin! Small world...but what else is new these days.

 

In all reality it's great and im happy...and its really great to be back with sister crane. We ran into president the other day (because its just common to happen to run into people) and told him it was the best thanksgiving and christmas gift he could have ever given! We were like "what is going on? what does god want us to do?" He laughed and said "I have no idea- that's your job to ask and figure it out!"

 

Our Bishops are AWESOME. They had a really cool experience before i got here - sister crane was praying and studying one day and had this impression that someone needs to get baptized by christmas, she just new it. then they had a meeting with the bishop and he said "sisters! ive been thinking....someone is going to get baptized by christmas". Here is the new list of investigators you can pray for: Bernard (ESPECIALLY BERNARD...missionaries have been praying for him for years), Jessica Tao, Susan Bonn, Vickram, Yolanda & family, and Levit

 

I love you all. The church is still true no matter who sits on your left and right on a church pew. People with perferct lives aren't actually perfect. And the spirit is as strong in your life as you'd like it to be.

 

Love,

Sister Bell

BELL in BELMONT - Does the gospel ring true or what?

Pictures-Nov. 20, 2013

1. Goodbye elllington

2. Present for Don & Audrey - their family pictures surrounded by the Proclamation. Yup, they cried.

3. Bye compy! 

November 20, 2013

Family! If any of you would like to be added to the email list so you dont have to read it from my blog and want it straight away...let me know - id be happy to add you on.

Guess who i got to meet? Elder Nielson of the 70! The "Exclamation Point" guy from conference. Im pretty sure his smile is super glued on his face its almost scary. We got to have the best zone conference with him. The most spiritual experiences of my life. We got to hear further into his study about how "exclamation points" came to be and the process of preparing a talk for general conference. He's so humble and so real. He's also been with Elder Cook of the 12 and explained the miraculous process of joining him for choosing where missionaries are assigned to. What a spiritual and confirming process that we are called where we are for a reason.

 

This week was transfer week. Saturday night of transfer week we have what's called t-txt (transfer text) and we get together as a zone at the stake center and sit around our phones and wait for a million texts to come in at the same time which has the list of where people are getting moved to. It's a hilarious sight to see all these missionaries.

 

IM GETTING TRANSFERED. Bittersweet. I see in the text S. Bell: Belmont. Wait a second here.....i read it over like 5 times. BELMONT, MASS? That's where sister crane is serving....that means im replacing her..or her companion?....

Then I see the phone RING: President Packard. Oh Great. I answer it and he called me to be a Sister Training Leader. Then he asked if I saw where im going yet. I said yes, to Belmont, but im confused - who will be my companion? He laughed and said: Sister Crane. Does that make up for having to leave Ellington?

WHAT? WITH SISTER CRANE AGAIN??? MY RUGBY BUDDY FOR LIFE????? yes that kind of makes up for it. In Belmont!!! We just did special 4 day exchanges there! Does the Lord prepare you or what??

Belmont covers 2 wards which will be a lot of information to pick up all at once. I serve in the area of the temple. SPECIAL! They have few investigators right now and there's like 2 less actives on their record so itll be the complete opposite type of work that ive been doing in Ellington. I love sister crane so much and ive always wanted to be her companion again. It's a car area but everything is so close together that a lot of times we'll walk. I get to be in the same ward as our counselors to the mission presidency President Haight and President Christensen (smartest business man in the world....literally.)

 

As sad as I am to leave Ellington, it's hard not to look back and see all the little stepping stones that have lead me to this point as clear signs that I know I am supposed to go there. I know itll be a good opportunity for me to be a Sister Trainer. I have no idea what the heak ill be doing but it means i get to go to the best leadership meetings and i get to do exchanges across a lot of the mission. Such an exciting time. Its such a testimony to me that Heavenly Father simply just loves us. He wants to make us happy and help meet our righteous desires. He blesses us in unexpected ways because he knows what will make us happy more than what WE think will make us happy. 

 

It's so sad to hear about all the natural disasters that have occured. We received wind gusts and a little rain from the tornados in the midwest and it is devistating to hear about the Phillipines. Im not sure if its as a missionary or just me but its weird, the Lord numbs you of experiences like that....either that or im an inconsiderate person. you feel sorrow but ok. That it's all going to be ok, and everything erases from your memory. Sister Barney's family lives in the area of the tornados so that was a scary time for her - but we got news that all her family is safe so that's good. It's so hard to leave ellington, my new home and its even harder to leave your investigators and members that youre closest to because they feel like literal family. I got to have one last lesson with Gary and he is praying about Dec 28th as his bapitsm date. Im hoping that with the perks of doing exchanges I can come down for his baptism.

 

I love you all and I love the Lord. I could probably be a missionary forever - - but for some reason i dont think my mission president will let me do that :)  A lot of days are rough and thinking of days like tomorrow where ill be stepping into a whole new world where i dont know what the heak the Lord wants me to accomplish there. But somehow, we just wake up and start moving and something happens. Im sad to think that i probably wont get freshly killed chickens from peoples backyards or walk into nasty hoarders homes...but im sure the classy people of Belmong have something fun to add :)

 

MUCH LOVE,

Sister Bell

 

Be ready at all times - you never know what the Lord's going to call you to next!

November 12, 2013

Sister Barney and I had the best week! We have been planning this huge musical fireside the past month and this sunday was finally the day.

IT WAS PERFECT.

Someone counted and said there was 180 people that attended. We figured out there was almost 20 nonmembers out of that 180. How crazy is that? That's more than our average church attendance! We had it put in the local paper and a random couple showed up that said they saw it in the paper! They said "Wow, we always thought you guys were closed doors!"

We also put the worship times on the program so any nonmembers there hopefully saw that. We got a child prodigy to come from over an hour away and it was really cool because we got it approved to have someone do an acoustic guitar piece. Members loved it and loved that we kept the actual program to 45 minutes that way they could have time to mingle with refreshments afterwards without feeling like they had to jet home. It really gained even more of the trust of the members - they were impressed the simple ol missionaries could pull something like this off! Duh people. who do you think we are. :) In all honestly, sister barney and I were amazed and quite surprised how it came together. we felt like there were loose ends that weren't tied up or how it was all going to come together because we had a few things switch around last minute this week - it is such a testimony to me that heavenly father cares about each of us and whats important to us AND ties up our loose ends. So many members stepped up to help us organize refreshments and help with the invitation design and most importantly, accept the bishop's challenge to invite at least 1 friend.

 

It's amazing how the Lord can support us and strengthen us. The day before an important lesson i always think "i don't know what the heak we're going to teach this investigator or this member". Somehow...we figure out an awesome lesson plan. Then before the lesson i always think "I don't know how to explain this....this is going to be a train wreck...i don't even remember all the points we wanted to mention." yet somehow....it works out! Somehow...the spirit is there! we remember the points!

I feel like one of my weaknesses is teaching - that i have no idea how to expain anything or that i never say anything at the right time. and even though its never perfect, holy cow the Lord works miracles each time with me. On the way to our last lesson with gary, sister barney and i were talking through the lesson in the car on the way over. after i said some things i said, "wow that was awful...it cant go like that. im rambling"

BUT walking out of the lesson, I felt like it was one of my best. Scriptures came to mind that we hadn't planned and I was able to testify and explain clearly....but its only in the lessons that happens. whenever i try to talk it through it is a DISASTER. I am kind of grateful that's the case actually because it is very humbling and it makes it very easy for me to recognize that it's 100% the Lord stepping in and speaking through the spirit, definitely not my own ability. I still have much improvement to go and yeah sometimes lessons don't turn out as beautiful, but I know that the Lord is 100% ingrained in his work and that as we figure out how we can match that, allow ourselves to become 100% ingrained in his work, somehow everything aligns beautifully. :)

 

Can't thank you enough for your prayers - we need them most desperately...especially our investigators: please pray for them this week..specifically Gary (he's feeling stressed about baptism), Susan (as we invite her to let us regularly teach her), Tammy (that shell come to church!!) and Don!

THANK YOU! Much Love!

This Saturday i find out if I get transferred (AH! NO! Right before thanksgiving!! :( ) which means no p-day next Monday. Talk to you all Wednesday!

 

Bundles of Love,

Sister Bell

 

Keepin it real....because it is real. All of it.

November 4, 2013

ANNNNNDD THE RED SOX WIN THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I told you this land was blessed in more areas than one!

On the other hand, a college nearby just got put on lockdown because of a shooting. Dont worry its out of my area :)

 

Last week was fun - one of the members that had us over invited us to stay for FHE and carve pumpkins with them. Halloween we cant have lessons or proselyte so the cutest lady (we do laundry at her house) took us out to dinner.  

We also got a member referral! A member invited his co-worker - we've only taught him one lesson. It was kind of frustrating because for some reason it just wasnt the best we've done - we just didnt feel "on our game". I was bummed because we want to do our best, especially for member's friends. Unfortunetly, missionaries arent perfect. The good note is he agreed to let us come again so phew, we get a second chance :)

 

I also believe the Lord works in mysterious ways. We had an awesome lesson with Gary on Sat. Part of the lesson was reading him the baptismal interview questions so that if there was an area he didnt feel as good about, we could focus our lessons more on that for the remaining weeks he has until his baptism. After reading them he was surprised when we finished and he said, "Oh, thats it?" We laughed and said yeah that's it. We had preped him before and said it wasnt like a quiz and he didnt have to memorize anything but he said "ah man, i memorized the baptismal covenant! You dont have to tell them that?" We were like no, but thats awesome! You should tell US!" He told what you commit to and then said really excited "and this is the good part - the blessings. He named off a few and then you could see him thinking about one more and he said....ooo and my favorite, the constant companionship of the holy ghost.

I wanted to fall of the couch. We talked about faith and why we set a date and asked him when he said he wanted to get baptized in november if he had a date in mind. We were like...uh because its november...like today. We pulled out the calendar and said just to give you a visual. He held it in his hands for a while and looked really nervous. We told him that he could change it, but that by making a plan and taking it to the Lord says a lot more than just asking the Lord for a plan. He gets that but said I cant pick a day right now. Buuut he said that he would fast about it. Sunday he wasnt at church. We saved a seat and waited and waited and he didnt come :( We got a text from him though saying he had a huge rash break out from either something he ate or stress. Great - the mormons are stressin him out! However....this is the lord works in mysterious ways part.....it was the WEIRDEST fast and testimony meeting ive ever been to. normally our ward has legit testimony meetings. but our wonderful LA talked for all the testimony meetings hes missed for the past 20 years.......i wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it all was - i felt like i was in some reality tv show...yet at the same time i wanted to cry out of horror. its ok it was good for him. next month we will give him a prep lesson.

 

Our off the hook fireside that me and Sister Barney are putting together is this Sunday! It's called "Tune in to Gratitude". We've searched far and wide for the best of the best musicians and had the bishop challenge the ward to invite at least 1 nonmember friend/family. We got relief society to deligate the awesome fancy refreshments and our awesome member did the artwork for the poster and invites. Hopefully its amazing and a great finding opportunity because we are still starving for a bigger teaching pool. members are still trying to find the connect between inviting your friend to an activity is not just to plant a seed and walk away...its a search for who's ready for the next step of inviting them to meet with the missionaries!

 

Still working on finding the joy through the journey and not just work work work through the journey. It stresses me out when we have a blank spot in our schedule and having to determine which the best way to most effectively use that time. But we are doing lots of good. This new idea of missionary work is so exciting and i feel like the luckiest person in the world to be on the front lines. Our ward is AWESOME. Ward Council is amazing - we have the best ward leaders. and ward councils keep getting better and better. i want to stay in this ward my entire mission im getting so attached! which can only mean one thing...

Im trying to love every second and enjoy having sister barney as a companion every second of it as well. :)

 

Love you all! Go preach the good word!

Sister Bell

 

p.s. - if anyone would like to be put on the direct email list, let me know! id be happy to put you right on that way you dont have to go to the blog

Pictures

1. Trunk or Treat - twinner style

2. pumpkin picking :)

3. District hike

October 28, 2013

Happy Fall, Family!

SHOUT OUT: Barlow family hellllllooo in Church News?! Look it up people!

What a happy week! Our schedule has been so full! Rockin sister barney asked someone to be baptized on the first lesson to someone this week. I was so proud of her. They said not right now, but i know she was meant to say it and it gets people thinking. we also set up a competition of who can give away the most pass along cards. 1 point for a give away, 2 points if you get a number in return. Whoever has the most points at the end of the week gets a reward. we confirmed that we could only do this if it was poistive and built zion..and we both agreed. and guess what? of course sister barney won this week because shes awesome! its actually working really well..getting me to talk to people i normally probably wouldnt go out of my way to talk to.

We had the best lesson with Gary on Friday. i wish we could take a fraction of the credit.Love him so so much. it kills me to think i may not be here for his baptism. KILLS ME.  We invited a couple to come to the lesson which we had at the church to give a tour so he'd know what to expect on sunday. he was so excited. We ended in the chapel of course to talk about the most important reason why we come to church and how this is a time of revelation, just like how he received revelation during general conference. The entire time though I was trying to figure out how we'd extend the invitation to set a date for baptism, because it wasn't flowing there...but at the same time we knew it had to mentioned. The entire time I was praying in my mind for the spirit to give me the courage to just do it and say it how it needed to be said. The topic got on faith, and taking steps of faith and so we were able to lead it in by inviting him to take the next step of faith to progress and set a date. It was perfect because it turned very real for him. His parents are hard catholic and said they would roll over and die. Other family members he know would not be of mental approval which is concerning but we had a really good chat and told him that he didnt have to set a date then, but it would be something to pray about this week. Sunday comes:

It's 10:01 and Gary is nowhere to be seen. We asked the couple that came with us to the lesson to save him a seat next to them. We see bro. singer walk out and the opening hymn starts. My favorite hymn - The Spirit of God. 10:03 - in walks Gary with Bro. Singer. You see them on the pew and hes scooting all the kids over for them and gary. The spirit hit me so strong. it's amazing how i am slowly being able to recognize it more and more. We are sitting a few rows behind Gary and I see Bro Singer's arm on the pew around Gary sharing the hymn book. I look over to the left and Al is sitting with the Rowlands whom we asked to save a seat for. He thought he would never make it in an actual pew. Beside me sister barney is grabbing a hymn book and sharing it with a less active and i look behind me and the cute tongan family gives up their hymn book to the less active that just walked in and sat on their row. As I looked around I felt such a strong spirit of love. Water filled my eyes and I couldn't not smile as I kept looking around at these individuals. It was amazing how tangible the feeling was. It was a good realizion to me that we always teach that yes the spirit teaches and confirms truth, the spirit comforts...etc but I didnt really feel any of those feelings....i simply just felt HAPPY. Not the kind of happiness that you feel when you open the christmas present you wanted or the happiness of winning a rugby game (as happy as that is)....but a different kind of happiness. The kind only the gospel can offer. So when people ask what we do and we say we show people how they can be happy...they think theyre all set because theyre already happy. If they would only feel the happiness i felt in sacrament meeting, they would feel that theyre not truly happy. The spirit brings happiness. Even when the talks are quote "awful" - its amazing the spirit can still teach you something.

We taught sharing time in primary which was fun and had to leave our precious investigator in the hands of our trustworthy membres. we had to make sure we had people connect him from gospel principles to priesthood. we texted him (yes we TEXT our investigators all the time and they love it :) ) that evening and he said that he loved it and that he felt so welcome. "2 thumbs up" he said. he also said he's already looking forward to next sunday. phew.

For dinner we went to the tongan family's home. You know the boy in the Other Side of Heaven that fell out of the mango tree? That boy(not the actor) is their nephew or somethin. crazy. They are an amazing humble family. They feed us like 3 portions worth and they dont eat while we are eating. Its cultural to let us eat first and they eat whatever is left over after we leave. Theyre our favorite because you feel so much love. and the husband speaks hardly any english which ends up being HILARIOUS but we always ask them if he can say the closing prayer because he says it in their native language. Best experience is hearing him pray. You can feel the spirit just by the way they change their tone of voice - very sincere, with the upmost reverence tone. It's an amazing experience. 

Hope you have a stelllllarr week everyone. Hope everyone has a family mission plan like we've been ask to set up in general conference. What a great family home evening idea. remember to post it!

Love you all!

Sister Bell

Keepin it real...because it is real.

Want to know whats even more real? The fact that we had to move our ice scraper from the trunk officially to the back seat as this morning was the first morning i've had to do that so far. Greeeeeaaaattttt - hold our breath, here comes winter.

October 21, 2013 Cont...

One last thought I failed to mention in the previous email:

THIS COUGAR IS OFFICALLY IN THE BYU ADVERTISING PROGRAM.

Each one of you have contributed so so much to help me get there. I knew that if I got in it would be because thats the route i need to go and if i didnt i knew that the Lord had an even better plan. Being said, i am VERY VERY happy. Shout out to Big B aka Brandon that spent countless hours on the video editing and answering all my silly editing questions on my portfolio. Shout out to Brad who had the ultimate connections to print it. Shout out to Matty who made sure it got in the right hands and shout out to you all for all your continuous prayers. you guys ROCK. and so does the gospel.

would send pictures but its not letting me right now. Lots more to come next week.

love, sista bell

October 21, 2013

Family!

I didn't write last week because I was gone all day partying in Boston. A member has a membership to the science museum and got us in for free. Shout out to you matt - totally thought of you the whole time. Dont worry - we'll come back together and you can explain everything to me. Then we got to go on the duck tour which was fun but defintiely wouldn't do it again. We had such a fun day and was 100% graciously sponsored by our wonderful member.

What was even better....we got to pick up sister crane and her companion that night to come down to Ellington to do exchanges down here! THEN we got to drive them home and spend a few days in the one and only Belmont, Mass. Very different from Ellington. I spent my hoytie toytie days walking around in harvard square and for dinner went to a members house who happens to be....Jane Clayson Johnson. NBD - just  the person from Good Morning America who now has books and recipes about motherhood. Her husband has the most miraculous and sacred conversion story that he shared with us. We got to teach their 7 year old who is getting ready to be baptized. It was so cute - at the end of the lesson, Bro and sis johnson said to their son "wow, don't we have the most wonderful missionaries?" and he said, "I was JUST thinking in my head 'These are the best missionaries ever! This is my favorite lesson!". Their kids ate salmon and kale salad for dinner. Um hello, where do you freaks come from. Then we visited this old lady who had a stroke who lives in a mansion of 52 rooms. Welcome to Belmont. Belmont aside, it was mostly just a tender mercy that I got to be sister crane's companion again for the week. It was a tender mercy for sister barney too as her companion sister nielson used to live with sister barney before the mission. Happiness all around the block and back again.

I learned so much from that exchange. I learned that i'm not as much of a consecrated missionary as I want to be. I learned that I've been slacking in the comp department - forgetting to put her first a lot of times. We are taught that in lessons we forget about the material, in some cases we have to forget about the people we are teaching and focus just on our companion. If we do everything inside and outside lessons that do nothing but glorify your companion than we succeed. I havent been very good at that so im workin on it. Sister Crane said she was amazed at our area and how its progressed. She said she didnt have any advice for our area or for our investigators - that we are being very productive and on the ball about everything. she just gave us single advice as us personally as missionaries which is good and which i really needed. its hard to let go of an area and trust someone else with it which i think im struggling at doing and im too concerned about getting it all done that im loosing the love of missionary work. sister crane reminded me how to love and calm down and i taught her some productive and effective tips how to plan and be on the ball :) needless to say - we all learned a lot. We went from Belmont who everyone puts on a pretty face and wont tell you how they struggle to Ellington who has people who daily just unload all their burdens and problems on you. i guess you just cant pick and choose in this life :)

I am happy. It can be very very hard but everytime I struggle or cry I realize they are things not all in my control so it makes it seem ok. This will 99% likely be my last transfer in ellington so i made it my goal to make these last few week the best weeks not just for me but for my companion. ive taught her how to be productive and how to work through members and now its time to show her how much i love and appreciate her...a new department im working on. Sister Barney is wonderful - i couldnt ask for anything better.

A few of you have asked for specifc names to pray for for those we are teaching. way to take gen. conf advice :) and prayers are needed!: Don, Gary, & Stephen are our main progressing investigators. Yes - all old men. we keep it real over here.

Love you all and say goodbye to fall and hello winter. This morning our car had frost on it. GASP.

Love,

Sister Bell

"Happy are we, happy are we"

October 9, 2013

I thought I was going to get transferred annnnddd.....

IM STILL IN ELLINGTON.

Im really happy about it. I feel like this is my home ward and live here permanetly.

Sad news is that the corn is all chopped down. You wont believe it - i was telling Sister Barney that i've been here for a whole corn season. when i first pulled up teeny green weak leaves were poking out of the ground. I got to see it grow SO high and so strong even when strong storms came. The teeny green leaves grew to thick stocks. I was telling her don't worry - the harvest coming soon. We reap what we sow and miracles are on its way - keep your eyes out.

We've been fasting and praying for new investigators - for someone that is ready to accept the restored gospel. We set a goal that by the end of this transfer we'd have 3 new investigators. Last week I was sad thinking we had a week to get 2 more people and considering the pace we were at and spending a majority of the time setting goals with members I didn't see it happening. But I knew it was ok and that we were still doing amazing things.

WE GET THIS PHONE CALL. It's from a guy that was a referral when Sister crane, my previous comp was here with me. We lost connection because we kept playing phone tag and it was going nowhere so we decided to let it be. He calls and says "ive read some of the book of mormon you gave me and im ready to talk mormonism." He lives in practically a mansion, about 45 yrs old, and is single. We schedule an appt and go over there with an awesome member really praying that he'll be ready and continue. Turns out....he' been talking with online missionaries for a long time. He knows practically everything. We randomly somehow talked about tithing because he knew about that and then he said how he found out about the word of wisdom and wanted to see if he could really do it...so he did it. He said the first 3 weeks were hell but he's ok now. He's read up to mosiah so far in the book of mormon. I was like uhhh...I dont even know what to teach you. He wanted to come to church on sunday but we had general conference. He was excited and said hed watch it from home (probably on a giant bigscreen - i dont blame him). He cancelled the appt this week because of a huge work project but said he was coming to church on sunday even if we dont end up meeting this week. Next meeting we want to extend the baptismal invitation. You dont just need the gospel....the gospel and the ward needs YOU buddy.

THE BEST PART.......driving home from the appt to our apartment...the corn fields are all cut down!! Harvest day! It wasnt like that in the morning! Heavenly Father really knows how to make us laugh and make us happy. Coincidence that we get "our harvest" on harvest day?! THEN we meet this guy at the library...long story short...new investigator. WITH JUST A COUPLE DAYS TO SPARE - THE LORD CAME THROUGH ON HIS PROMISE.

We cant decide if its more hilarious or more stunning.

 

Conference was...the best conference ive ever listened to. I get to hear Elder Nielsen (exclamation point guy) in person this next month. what up. We feel so so beyond blessed. There is still so much to do but the members are starting to set goals with us and sloowly understand our purpose and THEIR purpose.

It was so funny we go to this members house (2nd visit...first visit we explained our purpose and why we dont have a lot of time to tract anymore) and then we go in and talk about how awesome Pres. Haights visit was in church (he really explained our role). Then he goes with 100% seriousness: "So, how's the tracting going? Any success lately?". It took everything I could not to laugh and cry out of sadness at the same time. I said "were you at church when president haight was here?"

 "Yes." Ok man, now im just confused.

We told him how much success we were having but not because of tracting. We are helping out the ward leaders a ton more which is gaining a lot of trust and the Lord is really magnifing our efforts! I am playing the piano a TON for things and I feel like Heavenly Father is blessing me a lot with that ability - being able to sight read better off hand for primary and such more than ive been able to in the past.

 

Sister Crane is a sister trainer...not MY sister trainer, but mine is.........well anyway....she got approval for her and her comp to come down to ellington for 2 days so we can get some fresh eyes here and then we get to serve in Belmont for 2 days to get some ideas from their area too. SO EXCITED especially to get to be sister crane's comp for a couple days! A member offered to drive us to Boston on monday to play and to pick them up and bring them to ellington. Hopefully I get time to email but we're not 100% sure yet because itll be a crazy day. YAY! First playing time in boston! Hopefully her less active son comes too so technically we'll be doing missionary work too :)

 

We had a CRAZY storm. Rain was pouring sideways. A few people have given us coats and boots but considering im a giant and have psycho long arms nothing fits....but on the bright side sister barney is covered. Members keep saying you dont understand - you need to go get a jacket. So i think im going to take their advice...their starting to scare me. Last year halloween got cancelled..literally the state CANCELLED it because powerlines were down and trees fell on peoples houses. Good stuff.

 

Love you all a million and a half pieces.

Life is really tiring and sometimes its really hard. But there is so much joy! And a lot of people dont know where its at! Tell em where es at.

 

Sister Bell.

Choose to make today a happy day.

 

pic 1: changing leaves

pic 2: made a book of mormon brownie for Don as he prays to know this week if its true. He loved it. #sistermissionaryswag #allourinvestigatorsareoldmen #itsfine

September 30, 2013

Family!

You gotta mix up your life a little bit as a missionary soo first come the bangs...then come the wanna be glasses. I just wear them when I need some extra confidence. People think theyre real so its fine. :) Plus ive gotten in with a lot more people with them - a girl in primary now loves me because she has the same ones and this nonmember said i look like his daughter.....WHO IS A MEMBER. good story with that one. i knew they were inspired glasses :) 

Leaves are changing - happy fall!

Wow it sounds like there is a lot of love in the family because everyone is happy.....and everyone is pregnant. I guess thats the nature of the beat with big families....literally.Youre gonna have to retake that grandkids picture...like tomorrow. 

Watching the broadcast on saturday for relief society was incredible wasn't it? What a blessing covenants are. The 2nd speaker who talked briefly about the work of salvation was an amazing reminder that we COVENANTED to share the gospel. Are we doing all we can to keep our half of the promises to our heavenly Father?

We had the cutest lesson with our investigator. SOMEHOW we mentioned heavenly parents and he caught that and asked about heavenly mother. Boy was it a nightmare trying to explain how we have a heavenly mother and why she is not mentioned very much. In our first lessons there was a clear differentiation between the bible and the book of mormon. And THIS lesson when he asked things, he asked where they were at in the scriptures, meaning either one/both bible and BOM. That was a flag to sister barney and I about how much he really is progressing without realizing it. He is referring to them as ONE. We asked him to give the closing prayer. It was SO funny - he said, "Dear heavenly father...and also heavenly mother if youre there". We werent going to expain that we dont do that in this lesson but it was down right hilarious. For the opening prayer his wife said it and said "thank you for sister bell and sister mackey" and Don goes "Sister Mackey? It's sister barney! Who are you talking about??" and she goes "oh my gosh you guys im running on 3 hours of sleep here i cant even think. Im sorry sister barney." this is all IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PRAYER. I just kept my eyes closed while i couldnt refrain myself from busting up laughing. Dont worry - thank goodness the spirit still came in after that. It's pretty much how 1/2 the prayers go in that home..they turn into hilarious conversations midway. we're working on that :) Can you see why he's my favorite now?? 

 Sometimes its hard to see progress in others or even ourselves but when we step back we begin to realize how the lords hand really is in our lives and is our source of progression.They raise their grandson and when they came to church last week they got him a part for the primary program which means now he has to keep coming..and for all 3 hours...bummer.  :) He made comments in priesthood and afterwards kept asking how we knew that the lesson was going to be on that, That our lesson with him that week prepared him perfectly so he could answer the questions!

Don, its called following the spirit - we had NO idea the lesson was going to be on that but thanks for giving us the credit. They are like my family now - they brought us back souveneirs from their trip to florida for us, "their girls", it was so cute. Just for them alone make me NEVER want to leave Ellington.

Transfers are comin up. Should know this weekend during general conference. We had interviews with our president this past week which was AWESOME. Part of me thinks im leaving Ellington, part of me thinks im staying. But ive quickly learned that you can think whatever you want but no matter what the lord still ends up being in charge and surprises you so i just dont think about it. President asked if I could stay another transfer with sister barney and I said of course. We talked about the frustrations of having so much in my head, so many principles, so many things i want to apply, but im not able to in ellington because of our low pool of investigators. My district leader told me that in his interview he recommended that i get transfered to a busy area so i can apply my learning so we'll see. My president is SO SO inspired and each time i'm 100% confident that his decisions are under the direction of the spirit. It's exhausting. Im so so tired and I try not to get discouraged but i just see ellington for what it COULD be and the Lord is definetly teaching me patience - that this is his work and not mine. Right now we are spending all of our efforts working through the members - teaching THEM how to be missionaries and set goals, which is an exhausting process when they dont fully get it. but i know that patience will pay off - that its the lords way of doing it.

Love,

Sister Bell

"We go to the temple to make covenants, we go home to keep them."

Choose to make covenants. Choose to keep them.  -- THAT is CHOOSING CELESTIAL. 

1. my favorite little black friends

2. Turning over a new leaf - - HAHA - get it? :)

3. My little oreo cow friends we practice teaching the Restoration on 

September 23, 2013

As a missionary weeks are crazy. Im sure that's just life though. I look at the computer screen and my brain is just....dead. Im struggling to remember what I even did this week that you guys would want to hear about.

This morning we went golfing with our nonmember buddy Paul. he's like 60, retired, has terminal cancer, and is agnostic. Right on. I hit like 150-200 yrds so that's not TOO shabby for a first run on golfing I guess. He saw me hit one and set up the next one and look at my goal target and said uh oh, you have that look. When golfers get a hit like that it hooks them like a fish. Youll have 500 terrible swings and one good swing and then youre hooked so you can try to get the perfect swing again. He's right - I had so much fun and want to go to a driving range so bad again!

Funny moment of the week:

we went to dinner at a less actives house. we invited a LA to invite a LA over for dinner with us there. Killing a few birds with one stone. We had a GREAT time and they had dr. pepper on the table. He kept saying how it was his herbal drink. I said, "Bro. Ortis my mother would faint if she heard you say that and my dad would give you a giant hug". ive never seen someone look so serious - for a second I almost thought he ACTUALLY  might think its good for you. We were laughing so hard - I read the ingredients to him and said "the 2nd ingredient is corn syrup!!!" he said "exactly!! corn! hello that is so good for you!" dad you'd be so happy, and mom youd be so proud for me reading the ingredients.

They both came to church yesterday too! I played a musical number in church which was awesome because it gave us a great excuse to invite more people. Nonmembers and LA think playing in church is a big deal so its easy to hype it up when its really not that big of a deal to those of us grown up in the church. They came PLUS my favorite investigator came(woops awkward...youre not supposed to have favorites)...AND this nonmember that is neighbors with an old member who moved out of the ward who we do service for and she feeds us came! They said they thought they would never see the day where they saw her walk in the church doors. BUT she came!! It was a great sunday.

Ups and downs and all arounds.  

Love you all - go invite your friends.

Love,

Sister Bell

At the fair! A nonmember friend thought it was hilarious to take a photo of "sisters" with "sisters"

Hey Family!

No one freak out - I GOT BANGS. Never done it before and i figured i wouldnt after the mission so nows the time to get crazy. It's not as bad as i thought. Check out the picture!

 

Today I got to go to "The Big E" - the biggest fair in new england! A member in our ward (Bro Mehr..ive talked about him before) and his wife had us meet their nonmember friend Susan who we wont teach because shes not in our area :( but we are getting in contact w/ other missionaries. she had a priesthood blessing a year ago and everytime she brings it up she starts to cry because she said shes never felt so much peace. we told her how she can have that all the time and that there are more things waiting in store for her. Anyway, she took us to the Big E and we had a BLAST and she was able to ask mormon questions like crazy all day. We call her Auntie GiGi. Everytime I look at her I see her in white in the temple. When we gave her a book of mormon and told her that the passages marked will allow her to feel that same peace she did when she got a blessing, she started tearing up.

 

Our mission president counselor came to our ward this week. Answer to prayers. It was the most amazing spiritual experience. He asked us before the meeting about the area and our investigator pool. When we described to him about how it is basically empty and none would be coming to church today and that we havent taught an investigator lesson in 2-3 weeks....we looked into his eyes and said so sincerely "sisters i am so deeply sorry. you must feel so frustrated because i know you are working incredibly hard". Looking into his eyes was almost like looking into the Saviors and water filled my eyes. Not expecting that. Instead of asking what we were doing wrong..why we didnt have a big teaching pool...he responded with love and true understanding. We told him that we just want the members to take us seriously and trust us with their friends and really understand that they need to start sharing the gospel NOW...not in 2 years when the temple open house is here. In sacrament meeting he spoke so powerfully and a majority of his talk was focused on US. He used some temple phrases and said "no one else in this room, not even myself, has been directly called by the prophet of god except those 2." He had us stand and again emphasized of our divine calling and asked the members to ask themselves when the last time is that they had the missionaries over and challenged them to invite us over for a short 20 minute visit.

 

We were able to have a meeting with him and his wife and the bishop and our ward mission leader. what a privilage to have the opportunity to be in such meetings at such a young age. Great things are coming. I am amazed and humbled that I get to be apart of such a changing time let alone walk in the steps of the greatest missionary: wilford woodruff.

 

I feel like I am starting to feel like im getting in more of the swing of things as a missionary - being a trainer i feel like is being a parent, but not in a babysitting way. Sister Barney is amazing and ive been MORE than blessed with someone that doesnt need to be trained but its still very hard to teach someone else how to be a self sufficient missionary and to not rely on the trainer which makes me think of parenthood. Its a good opportunity the lord has given me to grow and learn and learn how to be more selfless which i need to take more advantage of.

 

Love you all - fall is slowly coming and im getting pumped! Fall leaves here we commmee! :)

September 9, 2013

When I first came to Ellington, I remember driving down the long road to our apartment and seeing empty fields with nothing but teeny little green leaves peeking out of the soil. Now i take the same drive today and I see those little green leaves are not little anymore but they are now over 8 feet tall and you can't see above them.

 

SIDE NOTE: Just paused to show this older guy a mormon message on the computer at the library. He liked it and said how refreshing it was. We see him all the time at the library so I said come back anytime and we'd be happy to keep refreshing you. Whatd up. Love being a missionary.

 

Anyway...the season is starting to begin where they take a patch at a time and are harvesting and cutting down the corn. The analogy couldnt be better fit for Ellington. When I first came, they were just sprouting, and as slowly as the corn grew, so has the area. Slowly..patch by patch...things begin to be harvested. We have a couple crazy months ahead of us. We are having a member of the mission presidency coming to our ward next week, the week after i play a musical number (which by the way i play the piano ALL THE TIME now..thank you mom!), the week after is testimony meeting where sister barney and i plan to share our testimony and have others with missionary experiences share theirs AS WELL AS it is a 5th sunday where the bishopric is doing a whole 3rd hour on missionary work, then the week after is general conference!!!

In the mean time, Sister Barney and I are planning a fireside!! :) Its not till Novemeber but we are doing a musical fireside and the focus for the ward will be to invite nonmember friends and get the word out to the community. It will all be songs and testimonies focused on gratitude. We have peen praying sincerely for opportunities and we know this has been amazing revelation. We are getting a couple other wards involved. The ward council was hesitant because the nativity will be coming up shortly after that and they felt like the ward would be burdened. (Burdened?!?!?! Im SO SO sorry that you HAVE to take an hour of your month to listen to peaceful music about gratitude and the savior. Im so sorry we are spoon feeding you ways to share the gospel with your friends.....can you tell i was a little upset that they shut down our revelation?) We agreed to cancel it though and to put it on the bench for future missionaries to plan in february. Then this past week in ward council the bishop said how they discussed it as a bishopric and they felt like we could and should still have it. We explained the simplicity of it and ward council seemed happy. The bishop held up our weekly progress sheet (which this week has been empty of investigators and just had our work with less actives) and he said look at this - we need to find people for these missionaries to teach - we could be doing much better. I was SO happy that he reconfirmed the power of how much we can't do this on our own as missionaries. I then shared my snipit testimony on member missionary work. At first, although i was happy that the bishop said it, I was also a little discouraged because it was another realization that our investigator pool is very very shallow. Its SO hard to not feel discouraged sometimes but I know that discouragement are thoughts from satan. The savior ENCOURAGES not DISCOURAGES. Then that night an amazing member called us and said he met someone that agreed to meet with us! We have an appointment this week! Talk about highs and lows in a day.

 

This is getting long. I do PLAN to keep them short, but then I ramble and it turns into a personal journal entry, sorry! Just one more thought for the week about agency:

 

We had an amazing zone meeting but our sister training leader and her comp talked about the digital mission. missionaries were told to write our own article so we would have a better testimony of the process as we help our members. sister barney and i are of course are way ahead of schedule but many havent written theirs yet. The sister missionary up there was like, "You have no choice. You have to do this article. President asked us to and we are like our investigators that dont follow through with our commitments." I turned to sister Barney and laughed and said "excuse me? i have my agency - i dont HAVE to do anything. spirits gone." Dont worry I forgive her.. I know shes still learning how to teach but sister Barney and I had a great discussion afterwards about the beauty of the gospel - and that is agency. We laughed about how if we hadnt already done our articles that would not have been motivating and it would make me not want to do it. We had to humble ourselves but we were like man if we were up there we would have pumped them up saying how much success we've had with them so far and how they should be so excited to work on them so they can have success as soon as possible too. success stories builds success - not scare tactics.

 

We visited a less active family that we've been working with to get to seminary. its hard - the 3 teenage girls have no support with their mom always being sick in the hospital and their dad who works 3rd shift. But the girls are so cute and have so much potential! They had a plan for the ride situation and we decided to make another visit yesterday since seminary starts today to make sure they had it all figured out. Sure enough, theyre mom got put in the hospital this week and so they dont have it figured out. they had it half figured out...just needed to make a couple phone calls (which they wouldnt have done). the girl that was least excited to go was excited yesterday and was the one that asked if we could help her make some calls for rides. The oldest that we thought would go said how much shes been dreading going and really didnt want to. we testified of seminary and told her how she should just do it. Then it was really quiet and i was so sad because in my mind i was like, "stop making excuses and being lazy! Just go!" Then sister Barney said, "you dont have to do anything you dont want to do. No one can make you go to seminary." I thought of how true that was and had to remember all those thoughts we had about agency. So glad sister barney listened to the spirit instead of my impatient mind. I said, "Sister Barneys right. You're a big girl. We recognize that it is really hard with your parents always gone and you feel like you are being pushed into going. But even if someone physically dragged you, you would have a terrible seminary experience because you wouldnt be in the right mindset. And if youre not in the right mindset, you wont be able to feel the spirit. and if thats the case, it defeats the whole purpose of seminary." She said after that she would think about going and was happy to know that she had a possible ride set up (since her sisters going) that she could go if/when she wanted to.

Agency. We each have it. Thats what frustrating about being a missionary and im sure even more so about being a parent is that we have our agency. no one can make anyone do anything. We do things out of our own free will and desire. We choose to do certain things because we have faith that positive blessings will come. We choose to do other things because we become hopeless, or feel like we need to prove something, or think there's any easier way...and that results in denying ourselves of the positive blessings that were waiting for us to claim. Thats what missionaries do....we teach the restored gospel...BUT underlying we teach people how they can use their agency in this life for good and the whys and hows. What a blessing to be able to do many good things of our own free will and bring to pass much righteousness.

 

This week will be powerful. Make yours a powerful one too. Thank you for your prayers. You guys sound like you are all so happy and accomplishing great things. Shout out to Jared for soaring through the hardest test ever and shout out to my cute pregnant sisters AND shoutout to my amazing nephew who rocked the diabetes campaign and was on TV - cool dude!! Love you guys!

 

Sister Bell

Hello family!

have you guys been praying for me like crazy? Because good news: Im not sick anymore! It seriously was a miracle from heavenly father.

I got to go to the temple today! Unreal. Boston Temple is BEAUTIFUL....not like LA or SLC though. The Connecticut temple is supposed to have a mural of new England in the fall. So excited for that!....oh wait too bad I wont be here.

The temple is the most amazing place. Whenever I describe it to nonmembers I don't even do it justice. Then I look at less actives, those who have been through the temple and are SO deeply saddened for them. they are people who built chapels out here with their bare hands and even those who were temple workers. I always think, "If they would have gone to the temple on a regular basis...regular meaning often...meaning you may have to sacrifice or set aside time......they would not be where they are at today. The new video was so unreal - blew me away.

If you haven't gone to the temple this month - GO. that's funny...its September 2nd...looks like you are all already due for another trip :)

Sister Barney has a friend serving a mission in California and they have ipads and are  using them to teach less actives and friends from home and getting referals...and crazy crazy things! We are SO excited to get ours!

Im learning a lot about myself, a lot about heavenly father's wonderful plan, and a lot about how individualized we are and how each of our personalities and talents are so much needed in this world for good! I used to be a missionary with a little bit of ADD....I didn't think I did but my trainer always told me I did..lovingly. Im a pretty go go go person. I have the mind adrenaline of Bob Bell (which is a good thing daddy :) ) which I never thought I would have. the difference is, Bob Bell actually has learned to control it and can go that fast WHILE going smart. im still learning that balance. we don't need to be frantic to feel productive...im learning that. im also learning that I can be happy without being complacent. still trying to figure that out too. I have to apologize to Heavenly Father all the time about how im not as good of a trainer as id like to be and that things aren't happening fast.....but heavenly father is definetly teaching me that my ways are NOT his ways. great things don't happen overnight....except the berlin wall coming down and even that was a process before it actually occurred. im learning that heavenly father knows that I want to do my best and that im trying to soak up as much as I can so I need to be happy about the pace he is having me learn at. I just want to learn everything NOW.....bummer that life is line upon line.

I love you all and I am so grateful for an eternal family and that each of you are so actively keeping your covenants. I see families where even just one has gone away and how it has an effect on the entire family. No wonder why our prophets counsel over and over to make the temple a priority and to make ourselves and our homes temples. We aren't frantic in temples. No one is running around inside...there is no contention...and there is no doubting about life...you feel secure, loved, and remember your purpose.  we quickly forget that when we get out. lets not forget that! lets make the temple a priority!

Go cougars - heard it was a rough game. don't disappoint cougs. we're counting on you. I still sleep with my cosmo pillow pet every night. proud of it kids - represent coug nation.

Love,

Sister Bell

Stop Worrying - Start Caring. Run Smarter - not faster.