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