August 28, 2013

Well kids, this letter is coming on a wednesday which means it was transfer week this week. Good and sad news:

 

Good: IM STAYING IN ELLINGTON!! I love everything about ellington - the smell (stinky cows), the people (fat and half naked, or those who strut out their front doors wearing their brand new kahki pants from cabellas not knowing theres a tag still on them with their dirty hat on and coffee mug in hand) and i have the perfect angle outside my window. when the alarm goes off i get to lay in bed and peak out the side of the curtains and watch the sun rise over a hilltop...every morning. Yeah I live the dream.

Sister Barney is also staying and my love for her grows each day. I couldnt ask for a better companion. I want to stay in ellington forever with her as my companion...is that too much to ask? I know im getting transfered next transfer though i just know it - i love ellington waaay too much.

 

Sad: Im sick. one day i woke up with a little scratchy throat and YES MOM i took doterra right away and ate the doterra on guard drops through out the day. Then last night was the worst night of sleep ever. I couldnt breathe and we leave our windows open at night because the fresh cool air feels good, but it randomly got so hot and humid last night which made matters worse for breathing. it hit me like a freight train. I feel like a baby when im sick and I hate it but sister barney has been SO great. I feel like a zombie half the time and my body is pretty achy. im sure it wont get worse.

 

Satan is real. He's mostly real because he's where a lot of people don't think. We have been going to members homes and setting specific measurable goals that have deadlines with them and teaching them the beauty of that and we realized that as a companionship we haven't been taking our own advice. missionaries set goals all the time, look in my planner and youll see weekly and daily goals - BUT look in my heart and youll find a lot of desire but not a lot of deadlines. Sister Barney and I decided to make goals for the area and goals for a companionship and the deadline is by the end of the transfer. We are both so excited about this. It just happens to be a coincidence that right when we set these goals - my weakness is attacked. I'm not saying satan got my sick.......but i AM saying that some fishy things have been happening. Watch it satan - i dont like fish so youre going to have to try a new tactic.

 

Last week we had a mini missionary (it was a 20 year old that just wants to see what missionary life is like - so for 4 days she's a missionary and lives with us and has to follow mission rules) how cool is that?! i wish i had the chance to do that. hope we didnt scare the poor girl. We had that and then exchanges where i went to the city of hartford and didnt see a single person my skin color all day. Apparently buenos tacos isn't enough to get you through the day with those people. The comp i was with spent langugae study time helping me right down my story of  how i came to the decision to go on a mission and my testimony. then i read it to their investigator that day. That was a cool experience - it was fun to be a language missionary for the day....and it was probably only fun because I knew that i would be going home to english that night.

AND on a very happy note, on sunday, a bunch of people came up to us telling us of their missionary moments which never happens as often as that! Nothing that is like "meeting with the missionaries tomorrow" but hey this is an amazing step - we'll take it!

 

This monday I get to go inside the boston temple. couldnt be more excited! Ill think of you Big B looking down at the carpet :) anyway I know the power of goals and of deadlines. its in everything we do - mortgage payments, home teaching, etc. Sanctify yourselves by making these goals - i promise that it will protect you from the advesary. I also promise you that if you ride your bike up lots of unexpected hills like me, you'll be tired and sore. And I promise you that if a skunk walks by you and sticks its tail up at you, you are 99.9% likely to get sprayed. THANK HEAVENS I was in the .1%. thats all im sayin.

 

Love you all. Stay true, go cougar blue and ill be cheerin for the big BYU....in my heart.

 

Love,

Sister Bell

 

Keep it real. Fight on. 

 

if i had an editing program out here i would make them legit but here's the classy book of mormon ads for the week:

 

1. Are you in the MOOOOD to hear a message about Jesus Christ?

2. Life's a maiz. Let the Book of Mormon help you find your way. 

 

 

1. just a typical sunset

2. just shows ellington's priorties

3. And this is why we work through members...because many who are ready are getting harder to reach...LITERALLY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. our last family photo before transfers

2. Our DL (the one farthest right) ripped his pants in district meeting. so for support, the rest of the elders tied their suit coats around their waste as well. probably the hardest ive laughed on my mission so far. they need to give more modesty talks to the elders than the sisters these days. elders, please stop buying tight suits.

 

 

August 19, 2013

Familia!

I am practicing my spanish because tomorrow we are doing exchanges with our sister training leader and im serving in their spanish area in Hartford. Ill just tell them all that ive been taught: buenos tacos. Im sure theyll love it.

 

It's been a good week - the sister missionaries before me were amazing and I've really felt almost feelings of dissapointment. They worked so incredibly hard so fix the momentum in this area and get great things rolling and I feel like i've slowed things down. I feel like I'm doing all I can but I feel like theres SO much more that could be happening in this area....I just dont know how to get there. If I look back at the week, our numbers aren't that impressive but if I look back and think of all that has happened, the Lord has given this area so many miracles. So many things happen in one day and millions of things happen in a week that sometimes I forget when i'm asking for a miracle that He gave us a huge one 24 hours ago - we just felt like it happened 24 weeks ago. Revelations and miracles dont happen over night usually - its a process. We've just been focusing on changing little things and making more direct commitments with members and seeing how we can help them with their callings more. A few people that we thought would take forever to break through with we visited this week and as a result we had such a busy sunday. We did sharing time in primary as a last minute favor and went into youth sunday school to share about journals on our missions..we were bouncing everywhere. and we loved it! I think some members were surprised and we know that its the little things like that that will help these members trust us with their friends.

One of the many miracles this week:

We found this cute couple! We were early for a dinner appointment so we went knocking and it took a lot of doors that I just thought "just throw tomatoes at me...itll probably be nicer"...hey one guy did actually give us tomatoes from his garden! they were pretty good :) Finally we go to this door with a huge bathtub out front very confused we decide to knock on the door and before we even said our names or ANYTHING...all i said was "hi, what are you guys doing? its not everyday we see a bathtub on someones lawn." she laughed and long story short invited us in to show them what they were doing. We wont say no to that. Turns out they are redoing their bathroom. We told her who we are and what we do and she was so excited to show us her christian cds that she listens to of Joyce Meyer. We showed her our articles that we wrote for the digital mission. she told us we could keep the cds. we told her we would take them and burn a copy and come return them. We went back a week later. It was later in the evening and she walked out of the house so we thought ah man this is going to be a quick drop off and shes not going to invite us in. But we asked how the remodel was going and she said oh good come help me pick a paint color! This time her husband was in the room and we talked about their family and all that theyve done and then we talked about what we did and it naturally flowed until i looked at sister barney and said outloud in front of them, "oh my goodness, wouldnt she just LOVE relief society?" Then we turned to her and told her all about relief society and how its the largest womens organization in the world. she liked that and said, "How can I sign up?!" How cute is that - i was dying inside. We told her about the self defense class that got rescheduled because the teacher didnt work out and she said wow if you guys need help with that i would love to get involved and i know some people that could help teach it. Why yes, we have a calling in mind for you. We told her husband about priesthood and he seemed a little hesitant when he found out church is 3 hours. We then asked them what they look for when they go to church and what they hope to get out of it. All that they said is what this gospel has to offer - and we told them that. He was still a little hesitant and tammy said come on lets do it - pinky promise me youll go with next sunday. so they did right in front of us. We hope they really will make it to church this sunday.

 

Love you all! thank you for all your prayers!

 

Love,

Sister Bell

 

Keepin it real...because it is real. 

 

picture 1: amazing sunsets in ct every night

picture 2: a member got us hooked on hot chocolate cooladas from DD. We are now local DD goers. How embarrasing. 

 

 

August 12, 2013

I always have a million thoughts and stories to share each week. Missionary life is filled with the most up and down emotions that I have ever experienced. But at the same time even through out the downs, I have never felt happier in my entire life.

I'll share just one experience from this week:

Sometimes it's easy to forget - easy to forget the spiritual experiences we have and times when we have felt our testimony almost physically increase. Sometimes I think I take them for granted as a missionary. On wednesday we visited a very very inactive woman, most would probably say its a waste of time, but she is right next door to our weekly community service location so we figured it's good to stop by at least once every other week especially since she really does like missionaries. we visit her because she takes care of her 9 year old granddaughter who we "teach". I just hope that if she keeps having weekly examples from missionaries she can be able to choose for herself when she's older. This time we asked when and why Jean (the grandma) left the church. She saw people in the church acting hypocritical to our beliefs and thats when she decided she didn't need to go to church..she could practice at home and have a relationship with god without the hypocrites. i asked her why she thought we go to church...why she thought God would think its important to GO somewhere to worship when we could just do it in our homes. She said well i know that its because God wants us to learn from people and to be taught in sunday school and a chance to learn. I felt the spirit so strong as I thought in my own heart why I go to a building to worship.

 

 I said very directly, "You are right, a lot of times our prayers are answered through people and so church gives us that opportunity to learn things in a new perspective but no, jean. That is not why I go to church. I can stay at home and read the manual and pray and im pretty sure God would tell me what I needed to learn and I could probably figure it out. If that's what church was about I think it would be a waste of time. I go to church for the most important reason, and that is the sacrament. I made a covenant at baptism that i would keep God's commandments and in return he promised to bless me with His spirit. I can't remind myself of that covenant I made and become completely clean and worthy again each week without taking the sacrament. THATS why we go to church jean." As i looked in her eyes I knew she felt something and the words i said may not be exactly how i wrote it...but close enough. her eyes were almost piercing as i spoke to her. I was so grateful that the spirit reminded me in that moment why i go to church...why i do what i do. it was silent for a little bit and then she laughed it off and said I thought you were here for Jemma.

it broke my heart as I thought of the week before how we invited her to bring Jemma to church for Jemma's sake because jemma keeps saying "when can i go to church?". The Bishop has asked that hopefully Jean can just at least drop her off and to not have members take her even though jean could care less if a stranger picked her up. I remembered how we asked and she said no and we walked down the ghetto street full of run down apartments with broken families inside as we heard the screams and cries of an innocent 9 year old, "You never do anything! You just sit in your chair and watch your tv all day and just smoke! That's all you ever do!" She went on and on and I thought of how true every word was. I remembered sitting on the curb waiting for our ride hearing over and over again the screams. Water filled my eyes as i just wanted to rock back and forth and put my hands over my ears.

 

Those same feelings came to mind as Jean laughed it off when she felt the spirit as we testified of church attendance. I had the thought that Jean will never change no matter how often she feels the spirit. But then I thought how important it was to still testify to her to remind her that she is now accountable. she did make a covenant and she knows exactly what she needs to do and willingly chooses not to do it. The Lord is very very merciful but he is also just. I felt so sad for her thinking of how she will be accountable for not only her actions but how she is "raising" her granddaughter.

 

A lot of the time as missionary I feel like I dont say the right things or not studying the right thing or dont know how to find the right people....but then i get a few moments like in Jean's house where I feel the spirit so strong....almost physically within me as I testify to people. Remember to cling on to those moments we get - write them down, remember them, put yourself in opportunities where you can feel it agin (i.e. share the gospel) because even if we don't get through to people the way we hope, it is a testimony to ourselves which is just as or more important. In relief society the teacher gave an awesome thought that i needed. she said that on her mission she realized that she didn't need to be the best missionary. she just needed to be the best her while at this time she was a missionary. I think the same is true at any stage in life: not to be the best student or mom or wife ...just to be the best US while we are in that stage.

 

GROUNDBREAKING OF MY AREA'S TEMPLE THIS WEEKEND. HARTFORD, CT. (technically Farmington). SO EXCITED. THE LORD HAS AMAZING PLANS FOR THIS AREA - FOR EVERY AREA IN THE WORLD ACTUALLY. I AM SO HUMBLED TO BE A MISSIONARY AT THIS TIME IN THIS LOCATION!!

Go preach the good word people - time is running short!

 

All my love from tall tall rows of corn fields,

Sister Bell

 

Keepin it real....because it is real

 

p.s. - the man himself is going to be in my area this weekend. excited? definetely. seeing him? unfortunetly, as much as we tried...no :(

 

August 5, 2013

It's amazing how the weeks fly by. I try to recall what we did this week and it feels like last tuesday was 3 weeks ago. We've been teaching this old woman named Edris. We realized we didn't know her very well and so we asked if she could tell us more about herself. She said no no I dont want to get into that. Im here for you to teach me - this is supposed to be fun. It was really funny this lady putting us in our place just for wanting to get to know her. We had to explain why we ask her questions..because it helps us know what she needs to understand. Anyway we invited her to be baptized. She feels like she doesn't know enough, which we knew would happen, but we are so glad we asked because it brought up a great discusion and she really did need to know what our purpose is. We brought an awesome member Sister Bare (she feeds us ice cream galore and lets us do our laundry at her house on p days). She connected with Edris SO well and explained why we invited her to be baptized. For once she actually expressed interest in coming to church and Sis Bare said shed pick her up..but she didn't end up coming. in our lesson it was really sweet, she looked at me and told me how sincere I was. that everytime i spoke she knew that i meant it and i wasn't just saying it. she said she really liked that and it was interesting how i felt the spirit very strong when she said that...i think it was just what i needed from heavenly father to remind me of the love i have for her and how patient we need to be in her progression.

 

This week i've been really trying to focus on gratitude and I kind of made a secret deal in my head with Heavenly Father that I would say prayers of just gratitude ALL week and then when I fasted on sunday I wouldn't have to feel bad asking for something so sincere (asking where are these people ready to hear a message that will change their life?!?!). So all week I had been doing really good and was so excited for an amazing fast of miracles on sunday. Then at the end of the week, we got a mission wide text from president asking us as a mission to fast only in gratitude for the amazing things that have been happening in this mission. I just had to smile. You got to be kidding me Heavenly Father - what kind of deal is that? Just goes to show that you really shouldn't make "deals" of gratitude prayers in exchange for a blessing. I know that's not how it works but it was worth a shot :)

 

This week's tracting was exhausting - each time we do a little bit I do it as a reminder of why the Lord has revealed how missionary work is to be done through MEMBERS. Because let me tell you kids -  i appreciate the miraculous stories of converts that received the missionaries by them knocking on doors, i really do - but I dont think its most EFFECTIVE to sift out 1 million houses. Because most of those individuals are ready to hear the gospel...but from MEMBERS...not strangers knocking on their door. It is very humbling though and a good learning experience so I am grateful, even at doors where they try to tell YOU what the mormon church is all about. It's a huge testimony builder and when they try to bring you down it just ends up raising you higher. If you havent watched the missionary broadcast - WATCH IT. It's online. infact, watch it AGAIN.

 

On a happy and similar note we were asked to speak with this lady named Bonnie, who is a "nonmember". She is middle aged but went back to school to take a class to get certified in an area. So for her class, they are writing a paper about contreversies and discrimination. Out of all she could write about, she "randomly" chose to write about mormons and how they are indirectly discriminated and how members of the church handle and overcome things people say. As we talked with her...turns out her parents were in the church and she was baptized at 8 but then her parents got a divorce and they stopped going. BUT she remembers visiting teachers come over for quite a few years after that. We were shocked. she talked about it like no big deal and remembers being made fun of for being a mormon. She said she has been to a lot of churches and wants to go to one but can't find the right one that fits for her. I almost fell off my chair. People are guided everyday to Jesus Christ's true church on this earth and they dont even realize it. It would be down right hilarious if salvation wasn't so important....infact, most of the time its still hilarious. She is friends with our 1st counselor's wife so we will work through her and see how she can work with Bonnie. It didn't feel right when we were there to bring up her coming to our church but we'll see what happens.

 

Press onward kids. Thank you for your prayers!

 

Much Love from the CT,

Sister Bell

 

Keep it real...because it is real 

 

PICTURE: Picture of Hope on her birthday (mom's birthday)....we told her we'd bring a cake but she had already gotten one...and it said "Happy Birthday to Me" - I just about died